Learning Systems

Big group of Sri Lankan elementary students jumping for joy outside, in front of a fenced greenery. The girls are wearing short-sleeve white shirts and white pleated skirts while boys are wearing the same shirts with blue shorts. Overlaid words read "Making Room"

Children need room.

Room to read, room to learn, room to grow.

They need room to build strong skills, to lead more fulfilling lives and to create a better tomorrow — for themselves, for their families and for their communities.

In this report, we are celebrating the many ways we made room for learning in 2023. This year, we successfully surpassed a significant goal set in our Vision 2025 strategic plan: to benefit at least 40 million children worldwide by 2025. Room to Read has now benefited more than 45 million children in historically low-income communities around the world, making room for these children to develop literacy and life skills in a dignified and gender-equal way. Behind this milestone are decades of strategic program development, evaluation, innovation — and your steadfast support.

As we celebrate this momentous achievement, we also recognize that there are still too many children who lack room in their lives for education. Your continued support is crucial as we embark on the work ahead. In the coming year, we will mark our 25th anniversary by sharing a bold new strategic vision for the next chapter of Room to Read’s story, one focused on accelerating and expanding our programs to ensure all children have room to read, learn and grow — creating lasting change.

READ THE FULL REPORT

From our CEO

Dr. Geetha Murali in an Indonesian library reading with a female student. Children need room. It’s as simple an idea as it is profound.

When a child has room in their life for learning, when they have space to realize their self-worth and make their own choices, everything changes.

I first learned this lesson from my mother, who, at 13, refused to abandon her education and marry, as her mother and grandmother had before her. She created the space she needed — the space she deserved — to chart a new path. All the room I have had to pursue opportunities, to live a fulfilling life of my own making, is the result of my mother’s choice.

Room to Room is creating a world where all children have such opportunities, where all children have room to learn and create lasting change. And we’re making that room more quickly. I’m proud to share that we have exceeded our Vision 2025 goal to benefit 40 million children by 2025. To date, we have benefited more than 45 million children across 24 countries with foundational learning skills.

> Read more from Room to Read CEO Dr. Geetha Murali

Making room for results

Our reach in 2023

45+ million children benefited across 24 countries. 2023: more than 10 million active children benefited. 9.9 million active children benefited through our Literacy Program. 2.7 million new books distributed. 72,531 educator trained. 786,941 active children benefited through our Girls' Education Program. 96% of student participants advanced to the next grade. 422 teachers and 231 government officials trained in the delivery of life skills education.

Making room for more children under our iconic roof

The symbol of a roof has been part of our identity since the very beginning. At first, that roof housed books. It created room for reading, room for children to build strong literacy skills. As our programs have expanded to benefit more children in more ways, so has the room we’ve created. Our roof now houses more. Room to Read is making room for literacy and life skills that promote gender equality. We are making room for foundational learning.

We updated our visual identity in 2023 to align with our programmatic evolution. In our refreshed logo, our roof mark and our name stand simply yet powerfully for the room we create — physically, virtually, temporally and conceptually — for children to learn.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR NEW LOOK

Making room for gender equality

In honor of International Women’s Day 2024, Room to Read partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to broadcast our award-winning series She Creates Change across Asia, significantly accelerating our goal to reach all 432 million adolescent girls in the world with inspiring and educational content.

Presented in a series of six animated shorts with accompanying live-action mini-documentaries, She Creates Change features the narratives of six courageous young women from historically low-income communities in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Vietnam. Episodes portray how each girl confronts challenges unique to her life — such as harassment, food scarcity or early marriage — by advocating for herself and her future.

DISCOVER SHE CREATES CHANGE

"I see a little Ambika in all the girls I now mentor."

Ambika is a proud older sister — a didi in Nepal. Since 16, Ambika has been her family’s primary income earner, supporting her parents and four younger siblings. She completed her education, too, and ensured her siblings did the same.

Ambika now sees herself as didi to dozens of girls in Room to Read's Girls’ Education Program. As a social mobilizer, Ambika provides one-on-one mentoring and support. She also facilitates life skills lessons, helping girls navigate the many challenges of adolescence, complete secondary school and address gender inequalities affecting their lives and communities.

"If not for the voice of my own didi — my Room to Read mentor — echoing in my head, I would have given up on everything."

Read Ambika's story

READ THE FULL REPORT

Making room for learning: 2023 program highlights

Learning Systems

Supporting children in nonformal education centers in Lebanon

Millions of children in Lebanon have been out of school in recent years. Many of those children are refugees. To strengthen children’s literacy skills and support the transition of out-of-school children into the formal school system, Room to Read launched our “Reaching All Children” project in 2022 in partnership with The Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training. Since then, we’ve worked with local publishers to print and distribute original Arabic storybooks to non-formal education centers across Lebanon and established welcoming libraries where children have room to unlock the science and magic of reading.

By the end of 2023, we had delivered 45,000 books to more than 1,000 education centers, benefiting more than 58,600 children. Our team also supported the implementation of 15 new libraries in non-formal education centers in the Beqaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, training 145 educators on library management and reading activities in the process.

Inspiring new changemakers through libraries in Indonesia

Through new partnerships with primary schools in West Kalimantan and Maluku, Indonesia, our literacy team successfully established 12 new school libraries, making room for children to cultivate a lifelong love of reading. These colorful, child-friendly learning spaces now bring quality, local language storybooks to hundreds of children across the two provinces — books like those in our Becoming a Changemaker Book Collection, which features stories of ordinary people in Indonesia who have made a difference. Developed by Room to Read in collaboration with Ashoka, each book showcases a different social issue, from environmental protection to gender equality.

> Discover more

Establishing classroom libraries and reading corners across our partner communities

In Tanzania
Our literacy team in Tanzania established 35 new classroom libraries across Mkuranga District Council, distributing more than 57,300 storybooks and training more than 300 teachers and government officials in library management and reading activities. These new libraries, adapted from Room to Read’s library model and designed to fit within individual classrooms, are making room for more than 73,900 children to access quality, developmentally appropriate reading material, trained educators and a welcoming, child-friendly learning space in which they can experience the joy of reading.

In Bangladesh
As part of our ongoing work to scale Room to Read’s school library model in Bangladesh, Room to Read has partnered with the Directorate of Primary Education to establish 59 classroom libraries across 10 government primary schools in Dhaka. These libraries incorporate all the essential elements of the Room to Read library model — a welcoming, child-friendly space filled with diverse, high-quality books in local languages, the implementation of library reading activities like read-alouds, paired reading and independent reading, and ongoing teacher trainings — all within individual classrooms.

In Pakistan
In partnership with local organization Idaara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi, Room to Read made room for vibrant classroom libraries in 10 schools across Lahore and Bahawalpur, Pakistan, providing library management and literacy training to teachers and school administrators in the process. These small but mighty classroom libraries build on the success of our first phase of work in the region, during which we implemented 24 libraries in government public schools, with ongoing support from Room to Read’s literacy team.

Making room for partnerships

We are grateful to all our global partners around the world and want to recognize some of our most generous investors who gave more than $50,000 in 2023, along with those who provided crucial gifts-in-kind. Learn about them here.

We are honored to have an extensive global network of talent from across the globe who generously donate their time, services and passion to help us deliver on our mission. Our achievements in 2023 are thanks to the contributions of our valued global board members, regional board members, advocates, ambassadors and volunteer leaders.

Making room for disruption

Driven by a belief in hassle-free ticketing that puts humanity first, ground-breaking nonprofit ticketing platform Humanitix gives 100% of their profits to charity. As a Room to Read partner since 2018, Humanitix has benefited more than 30,000 children around the world over the past five years, with their impact growing significantly as their business scales. Humanitix is changing the ticketing industry for the better, and in doing so, making it possible for thousands more young learners around the world to exercise their right to a quality education.

Making room for inclusion

With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Room to Read has partnered with Research Triangle International (RTI) to implement the five-year USAID Inclusive Primary Education Activity. This project improves early-grade reading skills of children with or without disabilities in primary schools in Cambodia in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. Room to Read has contributed to the design, development and rollout of teaching and learning materials and supported teacher-training colleges to institutionalize early-grade reading models. By the end of the project, we anticipate that more than 6,683 schools will have adopted the program, benefiting more than 700,000 students.

Making room for access

Driven by a commitment to enhancing everyday lives, Aesop goes beyond offering sensory products by uplifting the communities we serve. The Aesop Foundation, in partnership with Room to Read, supports communities impacted by exclusion and helps address significant global challenges.

In 2023, contributions from Aesop benefited roughly 3,300 children in Asia and helped distribute more than 50,000 new books to schools and students, ensuring access to a quality education. Together, we strive to create a more inclusive and educated world, believing that every step forward is a step towards lasting change.