2. John wood is the founder of room to read. He
is the author of Creating Room to Read: A
Story of Hope in the Battle for Global
Literacy, Leaving Microsoft to Change the
World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate
the World's Children and the children's
book Zak the Yak with Books on His Back. He
is a four-term member of the Clinton Global
Initiative's Advisory Board and a Henry Crown
Fellow at the Aspen Institute.
3. Room to Read is a non-profit organization for
improving literacy and gender equality in
education in the developing world. Headquartered
in San Francisco, California, and founded on the
belief that "World Change Starts With Educated
Children," the organization focuses on working in
collaboration with local communities, partner
organizations and governments. Room to Read
develops literacy skills and the habit of reading
among primary school children, and supports girls
in completing secondary school with the
relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.
4. John wood was an overworked Microsoft
executive. One day, he decided to take a life
changing hike in the Himalayas. On his hike,
he had met the resource director of Nepal
schools, who brought him to see schools that
had just a handful of books that were not age
appropriate for the children. The schools
headmaster had requested for him bring back
some books for the children.
5. Room To Read has benefitted close 10.7 million
children and 18,699 schools worldwide. They
have published close to 1300 books and have
delivered 18 million of them across the world.
Room To Read has also trained close to 9000
librarian and teachers. Also,children in the
program could read 51 words per minute — 20
words more than students in similar non-
program schools.
