FT loves Room to Read – so do I

John Elkington

November 28, 2009

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Reading the Financial Times in Vienna this morning, I was delighted to see the ‘Life & Arts’ section covering Room to Read in a major way. Googling, I then found that the FT, my favourite paper by far, has selected Room to Read, a social enterprise that helps millions of children gain access to education in developing countries, as its partner for its 2009-2010 seasonal appeal to readers.

The seasonal appeal, taking place from November to mid-January 2010, has raised over £2.3m in the past three years for organisations including Camfed and WaterAid. Chosen in a vote by 1600 Financial Times staff around the world, Room to Read aims to provide over 11,000 communities access to their first library by the end of 2010 and has a long-term goal of reaching 10 million children in the developing world by 2020.

Room to Read was launched in Nepal in 2000 and is now a global organisation with fund-raising operations in San Francisco, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong and program offices in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zambia. Partnering with local communities throughout the developing world, the organisation provides quality educational opportunities to children with the least access.

It is estimated that over 300 million children around the world do not have access to education and most likely will never learn to read or write. Room to Read seeks to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socio-economic conditions for their families and communities – breaking the cycle of poverty.

Room to Read has developed four programmes to promote and enable global education:

  • Reading Room Programme – establishes bilingual libraries filled with local language and children’s books, posters, maps and games that engage children in reading.
  • Local Language Publishing Programme – works with local writers and illustrators to create and publish high-quality local language children’s books for Room to Read libraries.
  • Girls’ Education Programme – funds long-term, holistic scholarships for underprivileged girls to ensure their ability to complete secondary school.
  • School Room Programme – partners with villages to build new schools, replace dilapidated structures, or expand schools to alleviate overcrowded classrooms.

For more information about the FT’s seasonal appeal partnership with Room to Read, please visit: www.ft.com/appeal and www.roomtoread.org/FT.