Ethiopia Becomes the First Country to Launch Global Digital Library

Ethiopian children reading in a library, file picture

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 24, 2018/ — The Global Book Alliance, which is comprised of donor agencies from the United States, Norway, the UK, and other countries, is launching a new Global Digital Library in Ethiopia to increase the availability of high quality reading resources for children and youth across the country.

Ethiopia was selected as the first country to launch the Global Digital Library, which is a worldwide effort to provide children with the books and learning materials they need to learn to read.

The Global Digital Library which is expected to be launched on Thursday, 26, 2018 at the U.S Embassy, Addis Ababa, is collecting existing, high-quality, open educational reading resources, and making them available on digital platforms (web, mobile) and for print.

It will also eventually facilitate translation and localization of these resources to more than 300 languages worldwide. In Ethiopia, the Global Digital Library will be hosting openly licensed high quality reading resources in seven Ethiopian languages (Amharic, Tigrigna, Afaan Oromo, Af-Somaali, Sidama Afoo, Wolayttatto, and Hadiyyisa), as well as library resources for leisure reading in three Ethiopian languages from African Storybook.

Founding members of the Global Book Alliance include: the Norwegian Embassy and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UKaid, UNICEF, UNESCO, Save the Children, the World Bank, World Vision, ADEA, Australian Aid, and the Global Partnership for Education.

African Eye Report

 

 

Leave a Reply

*