IPA invites project proposals to nurture Africa’s reading culture ‘beyond the classroom’ in 2022-2023
USD 200,000 for the best ideas to get more Africans reaching for a book
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is accepting proposals for projects to develop reading culture beyond the classroom in Africa, with grants from the USD 200,000 Africa Publishing Innovation Fund (APIF) on offer to the best ideas.
African publishing leans heavily towards education – up to 90% of sales in some markets – with reading widely viewed exclusively as a means to further schooling or professional skills. In parallel, many African publishers are overdependent on selling printed textbooks to governments, a one-track business model that left them foundering when COVID-19 closed schools and drove learning online.
The 2022 APIF theme of cultivating reading culture is intentionally broad to attract a wide range of innovations. Examples could be developing the publishing value chain (authors, illustrators, translators, literary agents, booksellers, distributors etc.) or increasing access to books, such as through public libraries.
The APIF Committee, led by IPA President Bodour Al Qasimi and comprising veteran publishers from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa, believes cultivating reading for fun in Africa – especially among children and young adults – stands to bring continentwide socioeconomic advancements in the medium to long term.
Bodour Al Qasimi said: ‘The joy of reading and its enormous benefits to mental wellbeing, intellectual capacity and social aptitude are there for the taking in Africa, where 60% of the population is under 25 years old. Moreover, a diversified book sector is good for publishing and its many satellite industries, which employ hundreds of thousands of people. This year’s APIF challenge is especially exciting because it is so far-reaching, and I am hoping to see some really big ideas to get more Africans reaching for a book in their spare time.’
HOW TO APPLY
From 1 June to 31 August 2021, Africa-based entrepreneurs and innovators can pitch their ideas via the APIF website, at www.apinnovation.fund, after which they will receive a form to fill and return to info@apinnovation.fund. The eventual winners will be selected by the IPA Africa Publishing Innovation Committee.
About the APIF
The APIF is a four-year, USD 800,000 fund provided by Dubai Cares, a UAE-based global philanthropic organization, and administered by the IPA. This is the third round of grants awarded under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in May 2019 between Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, and the IPA. Since then, the APIF has supported eight publishing innovations and four library projects.
I am going to publish a book entitled »DAGBANG HISTORY AND CULTURE »This. fund can help me do my research work..I am a writer and translator of English to Dagbani (my own language) and vice versal. I will also use part of the money to mobilize and train young writers.
This is an innovative idea, well thought out. If properly implemented can achieve the development and maintenance of good reading culture. I wish I came across this opportunity during the time I organized Akwa Ibom Reading Competition (ARC) many years ago without sponsors despite effort to get many organisations into it.. My independent survey shows that not many people can read with the intended understanding that the written information require