April 10, 2014
ACR GCD is pleased to announce a partnership with the Beyond Access initiative, a consortium of 11 international organizations funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The new partnership brings up to $450,000 in additional resources in support of ACR GCD grant awards that include innovative approaches for engaging public or community libraries in their project designs.
All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development, established in 2011 as a partnership between USAID, World Vision and the Australian Government, aims to catalyze the creation and expansion of scalable, low-cost education tools and initiatives to improve literacy for early-grade students in developing countries. The global initiative focuses on sourcing, accelerating, and measuring the impact of mobile and technology-based innovations with the potential to transform the learning process and classroom experience at a personal, community, and national level. Its current $6 million Round 2 literacy grant and prize competitions seek innovative ideas that leverage the transformative power of technology to leapfrog existing infrastructure challenges and empower children to read.
This new partnership means ACR GCD applicants within competitive range, whether a library or an organization incorporating a library component, may be eligible for technical assistance, capacity building and/or funding for technology supported library activities. Applicants are encouraged to propose ideas that build on existing library infrastructure, equip librarians with new skills and services, and show the potential to reach many more children.
“We are excited by this partnership with Beyond Access, as it brings attention to the role of libraries as a social and educational component contributing to literacy and reading,” stated Christie Vilsack, USAID’s Senior Advisor for International Education.
Beyond Access is committed to the idea that modern public libraries help drive social and economic development. The initiative, launched in 2011, supports innovative partners and solutions to development challenges that respond to local priorities and harness technology through libraries.
“When libraries are included in initiatives to improve lives in their countries and communities, the results are both impressive and inherently sustainable,” noted Beyond Access project lead Rob Cronin.
“We are excited to partner with the All Children Reading Grand Challenge for Development in the drive to bring new ideas to literacy efforts.”
To learn more about All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development or apply to its grant and prize competitions, visit AllChildrenReading.org or follow @ReadingGCD on twitter.
