Information about Friends of African Village Libraries

1. FAVL’s donors and partners have helped establish and support 38 community
libraries in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Uganda. We have also supported other
libraries indirectly, provided countless reading programs, and developed
expertise in supporting community libraries. There are challenges, however, to
the work that we do. Here they are.
1. Advocating for more public support for libraries. When we started FAVL
in 2001, we were optimistic that as governments achieved universal
primary schooling they would quickly turn to supporting libraries. Turns
out none of the three governments have invigorated their library programs.
(Many local governments in Burkina Faso, however, are now funding the
librarian salaries.) We reach out to local and national government partners
regularly, and we will continue to work on this issue.
2. Research on the impact of libraries in promoting reading, and on the
benefits of reading broadly (rather than only school textbooks). More
research on the impacts of libraries would be most welcome. FAVL board
members have conducted a variety of small-scale studies and we feel
comfortable in making the case that the increased reading (maybe 10-20
books a year, on average) justify the modest expenses of $10 per year per
reader. But it would be good to know more about library impacts at larger
scales. So, if you know someone at a major foundation that wants to
establish 30 libraries and study impact, let us know!
3. Motivating and training village librarians. Most FAVL-supported librarians
have completed secondary school, but they have not attended college, and
they grew up in homes and communities with few books. We provide a fair
amount of training and, we hope, inspiration, for these librarians (the
occasional polo shirts with FAVL logos help). But the salaries are low
(many local governments pay the half-time librarian's salary of about $100
per month, scaled to a half-time teacher's salary). Moreover, libraries are
remote, supervision by local communities and local government is
minimal, and so librarians have to be very self-motivated. Our main focus
has been to have the best librarians support and inspire the others. We need
to do much more!
Friends of African Village Libraries Newsletter December 2018
FAVL’s mission is to help create and
foster a culture of reading. Generous
donors and volunteers enable us to work
with local communities and non-profit
organizations to support libraries in
Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Uganda, to
develop innovative literacy programs
and to provide ongoing library staff
training.
As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization,
donations to FAVL are tax-deductible.
A team of North American volunteers
supports the FAVL paid staff in Africa.
Current fundraising priorities:
 Building an endowment for each of
the FAVL-supported community li-
braries.
 Renewing stock of locally-purchased
books by African authors.
 Producing more micro-books in local
languages and languages of instruc-
tion.
West Africa Director
Michael Kevane
Professor of Economics
Santa Clara University
mkevane@scu.edu
East Africa Director
Kate Parry
Professor of English
Hunter College
City University of New York
kateparry@earthlink.net
Address: P.O. Box 90533,
San Jose, CA 95109
Email: info@favl.org
Website & Blog: www.favl.org
Help us with our challenges: More. Why. Better.
Librarians holding a reading
session in Gowrie-Kunkua
library, Upper East, Ghana

2. The three CESRUD-FAVL supported libraries located in Upper East
region of Ghana had an amazing year under the leadership of
CESRUD-FAVL Coordinator Paul Ayutoliya.
 After-school reading programs were held in September in all
three libraries. Schoolchildren come after school for a series of
reading activities and lots of fun and games. Candies and cookies
and other small prizes are awarded. The program lasted for six
weeks and ended with a big ceremony at Sumbrungu Community
Women’s Center which houses one of the libraries.
 The libraries received significant gifts of books, games, furniture,
and computers from Biblionef Ghana, a non profit that supports
reading. The team from Biblionef also distributed materials to
local schools. The donations to Sumbrungu library were trans-
formative (see photo below). We hope the collaboration contin-
ues in the years to come!
 All three libraries continue to see very active patronage. Most of
the libraries average 1,000 visits per month. On many occasions,
almost all of the seats are used. The main patrons are students: many come to study, but there are many who also
read the books in the collections, do the puzzles, and play some of the games. Sumbrungu library now has a variety
of computers for users to improve their skills.
Update from Kitengesa Community Library
Update from Ghana libraries (Sumbrungu, Sherigu, and Gowrie-Kunkua)
Kitengesa library in Uganda is now a well-established institution and is asso-
ciated with important steps in the development of the parish where it is locat-
ed: a new factory being built by AfriPads, which started in our old library
building; the expanding use of grid electricity, which will soon include a con-
nection to the library so that the library can show videos; and an important
innovation in public health, when, last July, the library held a health camp for
adult women at which they learned about the most common kinds of cancer in
Uganda (cancer having become the biggest killer, surpassing even malaria).
Meanwhile the Kitengesa Youth Leadership Team, which is comprised of
graduates of earlier health camps for teenagers, is increasingly active: this
past year it initiated a GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/
supportstudentsinkitengesa/a) to raise money to help children buy equipment
needed for school. There will be an opportunity to recruit more members
when the library runs another teens’ health camp this December. And of course people come into the library all the time
to read: school groups (including students from the neighboring School for the Deaf), adults who want to read the news-
papers, and young children who come in independently and make a beeline for the children’s books.

3. FAVL produces 15 new French photo
books for Burkina Faso
Uganda Community Libraries
Association
The FAVL team in Burkina Faso produced, printed and
distributed 15 new photo books for use in libraries in
2018. There are now 165 photo books in the FAVL cata-
log! The books are set in the very villages where the li-
braries are located. They are among the most popular
books for children. Reading with a well-understood con-
text is a great way to easily acquire vocabulary. Below is
a sample of the covers of the new photo books. Congratu-
lations to the authors and photographers (almost all from
Burkina Faso).
Support more projects like these! Donate by mail or online at favl.org
Mobile library visits schools in
Kaya, Burkina Faso
The mobile library (also on back cover) was a big ac-
complishment of the Burkina Faso team. It started oper-
ations in June and regularly visits schools in the town
of Kaya.
In a year of great change, UgCLA finally realized that it
could not afford an office and was in need of new staff.
Emmanuel Anguyo replaced Brenda Musazisi, who re-
signed as coordinator. He works from our new office
provided by member library Kawampe Youth Centre in
Kampala. Due to the disruption, UgCLA was unable to
host a conference in 2018, but nonetheless new mem-
bers keep joining. UgCLA now has 144 members. Most
are community libraries, though some are institutions
such as Anabel Foundation, encouraging productive use
of social network resources. With their help, UgCLA
set up a WhatsApp platform which has proved very
popular. The 2019 UgCLA conference will be hosted by
one of its most active member libraries, The Centre for
Youth Drive Development Initiatives. The focus will be
on games for teaching, pioneered by Kitengesa Library's
Health Camp. Participants will learn how to play and
make games and will discuss how they can be used for
conveying and reinforcing information on any topics that
individual libraries choose to focus on.

4. NONPROFIT ORG
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SAN JOSE, CA
PERMIT NO. 1014
Friends of African Village Libraries
P.O. Box 90533
San Jose, CA 95109-3533
Current Resident or
Our New Mobile Library in Action!
The Penelope Mobile Library (named
after a generous donor) has been visit-
ing schools and other sites in the town
of Kaya, Burkina Faso with its 300
books and puzzle collection. Kids sit
on mats in the shade under trees and
spend an hour or two reading or play-
ing games. They are invited to visit
the library, and given a flyer with lo-
cation and hours. Kids really like the
FAVL photo books!