With research completed for this multi-country study identifying effective policies and practices to improve primary-school-age children’s access to books, in-country dissemination events in participating Cambodia, Honduras and Rwanda amplified findings over the past year. Connections made across LIBROS partners are already broadening the impact of the discoveries made by each, as one country learns from the other’s challenges and successes.
In June 2024, an event in Rwanda brought an audience of government officials, development partners, educators and publishers to learn what the study had shown—the imperative for partnership across sectors to ensure more books are delivered to children. LIBROS partners from Honduras and Cambodia also attended virtually to present what they had learned about strengthening the book supply chain. Among the audience of government officials, educators, publishers, and development partners listening in was a representative for the Rwanda Basic Education Board, who found the results of research in Cambodia particularly compelling. As a result, a representatives of the Cambodian research team were invited to present their findings to government officials and development partners in Rwanda in July.
Dissemination events like the seven scheduled for LIBROS support information-sharing across partners and influence how these countries move forward with their next steps—an essential part of SHARE’s work to move evidence to action by helping to realize policy change, Andrea McMerty-Brummer, associate director of innovation and practice for the Pulte Institute and program manager for LIBROS, said. “We’re seeing that immediate, cross-country learning, and we hope we’ll see an uptake of those practices and successes that they have seen in Cambodia implemented in Rwanda,” McMerty-Brummer said. “This is exactly what SHARE was built to do. Seeing that happen so tangibly and immediately is exciting for the LIBROS study.”
Originally published in the Pulte Institute 2023-24 Annual Review.