AFRICA@21

A pan-African British Council project aimed to animate and further increase the impact of Knowledge, Information and Library services in Sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zimbabwe).

It will do this:

• through book promotion and reader-centred activities to create a wider audience for writing by African writers in English and UK writers with an African heritage
• partnership working with key UK and African organisations
• building the confidence and skills of library staff through training.

Readers in the UK and readers in Africa will share a common reading experience and achieve greater understanding and insight into each others' cultural perspectives.

· Build the skills and confidence of staff working in Africa in book promotion and reader development through training and development

· Create and develop partnerships within Africa and between Africa and UK organisations to build sustainable professional networks

· Increase awareness of writing by African writers and UK writers with African heritage or strong connections.

Reader-Centred Book Promotion Campaigns

Africa@21 will use two promotions to enable the training to be put into practice.

Promotion 1

Out of Africa promotion created by the British Council focuses on UK writing with a strong African connection. The promotion has been made available free of cost to Africa@21 project partners. The full Out of Africa booklist is available here.

Promotion 2

Reading Africa promotion created by Southern African Book Development and Education Trust (SABDET). The promotion is being sold (by SABDET) to UK library authorities, schools and colleges. Africa@21 project partners have received a free set of the promotional materials, paid for by the British Council. The full Reading Africa booklist is available here.

The promotions give the libraries involved an opportunity to create a wider readership for the selected books and writers. In the pilot of six British Council, six African public libraries and six UK public libraries the promotions will be used to encourage reader-centred activities. The exact nature and number of these will depend on local circumstances but could include: book chains, Reading Groups, talking about books on the web, video-conference between readers in Africa and the UK.

The promotions, reader activities and the professional networks are being supported by staff training and project support. British Council Information Managers from 19 countries in Africa received a one-day training course on using book promotion campaigns to promote reader-centred activities. 

British Council web site

A time-limited web site will be created as a part of British Council enCompassCulture web site to give all readers more background and resources about the promotions and opportunities to share reading experiences with other readers.

The British Council will also arrange video-conference exchange between readers and Reading Groups in Africa and the UK. Videoconferences will also be used for exchange between Africa staff and UK librarians.

The University of Sheffield will work with the British Council to ensure that appropriate evaluation systems are in place for the project. This will enable the British Council to learn from the pilot of five countries and to plan the extension of the training and professional networks for the future.

Africa@21 partners

The key partners working with the British Council on this project are:

Public Libraries in Africa

British Council Information Services teams in six countries will work with the local public library services to pilot a new way of working together to develop book promotion and reader activities. The British Council staff who took part in the training in the UK will cascade their training to their colleagues in their partner public libraries. British Council and public libraries in these six countries have been linked with a UK public library partner (see below) to create a professional network and set up activities and opportunities for readers to share their reading experiences. The countries are:

Malawi

Namibia

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

South Africa

Zimbabwe

UK Public Libraries

Six authorities with extensive experience in reader development have joined the six African countries in the pilot.

Birmingham City

Derbyshire County

Essex County

Glasgow City

London Borough of Lambeth

Blackburn Council.

SABDET

The Southern African Book Development Education Trust (SABDET) is a UK-based charitable education trust. Its objective is to advance education for the public benefit concerning indigenous publishing in Africa as a means of communication and literacy. SABDET’s book promotion, Reading Africa, is funded by the Arts Council. This builds on the Zimbabwe International Book fair and African Books Collective initiative, Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th century.

Follow this link for contact details for the Africa@21 partners.