The document proposes a youth reading incentive program to motivate children in grades K-6 to read more by rewarding their reading accomplishments. The program would provide free books to students and encourage reading at home with families. Students would have reading goals set by their teachers and would earn praise, recognition, or tangible rewards for meeting their goals. The goal is to develop lifelong readers and improve literacy.

1. Youth Reading Incentive Program
About Us
Tahseen Consulting is an advisor
on strategic and organizational
issues facing governments, social
sector institutions, and
corporations in the Arab World.
You can read more about our
capabilities at tahseen.ae
Public Sector
We propose a program to motivate children in grades K-6 to
▲
Social Sector
read by rewarding reading accomplishments
Corporate Responsibility
CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY
Any use of this material without specific permission of Tahseen Consulting is strictly
prohibited www.tahseen.ae | 1

2. A youth reading incentive program will encourage life long reading, reinforce reading in
Arabic, and embed reading as a core family value
The Need: Few statistics on childhood reading exist;
However, a study from Egypt highlights several
trends likely applicable across the region
A study of 440 Egyptian children from 6 to 15 revealed the following: Goal and Strategic Objectives
Reading Habits Poor:
• 49% of the children do not read books; Goal: Motivate children in grades K-6 to read by rewarding
• 22% of children read books regularly (Kandeel, 1997) reading accomplishments with praise, recognition, and
tangible awards.
Social Background Influences Reading Habits:
• Middle and upper-class children are more frequent readers than Strategic Objectives
working class children ;
• Upper class and children in urban areas have access to more media • Offer a free program in classrooms that allows teachers to
than do poorer children and those in rural areas set reading goals to complement curricula and build reading
skills
High Book Prices Reduce Reading Levels: • Expose students to the power of reading at an early age to
• Although the amount of books for children has increased recently, the encourage life-long reading
high price of books make it difficult to buy them (Labib 1994)
• Cement Arabic language reading skills at an early age
Reading Habits Can be Addressed at School and In the Home:
• 44% of children read alone, 22.2 % with friends, 21.9% with family • Train adults to transform children into readers and book
members, and 11.6% with a teacher (Labib 1994) lovers.
Lack of Children’s Book Writers: • Provide a family-oriented experience to embed a reading
• Specialized writers for children are very few and most are not up to and learning culture as a family value
standards or comparable regions (Kandeel, 1997)
• Link learning outcomes to incentives that decrease
household consumption thereby reducing parental choice of
Internationally children working over pursuing additional schooling
• Children who don’t have books and who don’t read are among the
most vulnerable – they are less likely to succeed in school and life
• Poor childhood nutrition leads to delay in primary school enrollment,
repetition, and lower cognitive development and outcomes
| 2

3. Trends in childhood literacy in the United States have been researched extensively and
may provide additional strategic direction
Children in Poverty are Most at Risk
• There is a lack of age-appropriate books especially in low-income neighborhoods
• Children from low-income families are exposed to an average of only 25 hours of one-on-one reading time compared to an average of 1,000 to 1,700
hours for children from middle-class families
• The gap between children from low and high-income families on reading comprehension scores is more than 40 points
• Children from low-income families have far fewer literacy and language experiences at home than their classmates
The Impact on Children, Families, and Communities
• Large numbers of adults in correctional institutions cannot read or write at all
• Juvenile offenders often have reading problems.
• Illiteracy and low literacy in adults can be linked to almost every socioeconomic problem in the United States and abroad. Low literate adults:
• Do poorly in the job market
• Lack the skills to help their children be successful in school
• Are more likely to suffer from poor health
• Are more likely to receive public assistance
Access to Books is Essential to Reading Development
• Having access to a wide variety of reading materials is essential if a child is to grow and develop into a strong reader
• For many children, the home environment is the place they are introduced to books and reading.
• Children exposed to a number of reading experiences learn to love books and stories - a love that they often take into adulthood.
• Children from low-income families have no books in their homes or classrooms, as a result, direct access to books is extremely limited for these children
•The only behavioral measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home
• The more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher students score in reading proficiency
• Students who do more reading at home are better readers and have higher math scores
Source: Staff Analysis
| 3

4. Publishers, teachers, parents, and strategic partners will share the common goal of
increasing childhood reading; students will be incented to read with rewards and recognition
4
Target children in grades K-6
(ages 5 -12) Parents read aloud to children to involve the family and establish
an at-home reading routine; also receive read aloud tips and
refrigerator reminders
1 2 3 6
Result
Publishers provide free Students assigned reading More lifelong
Teacher sets goals; class
books to teachers and 3-5
reading, parental guides
goal s and incented for learners, readers,
books per student meeting targets and book lovers
5 Incentive partners provide awards and
vouchers for meeting reading goals,
password to unlock games on reading portal
| 4

5. The low-income countries in the Arab World with sizable youth populations could be
initial target beneficiaries of a reading incentive program
Income 2007 GDP
Country Population (millions) Though no
Group Per Capita
Somalia $600 9.56 concrete statistics
Mauritania $931 2.961 exist, international Population Age <15 (%)
Low Income
Yemen $972 22.29 trends suggest that
Palestine $1,067 2.8 children from these
Tunisia
Djibouti $1,099 0.765
low-income
countries likely Algeria
Comoros Islands $1,100 0.73
have little direct Morocco
Sudan $1,242 37.159
access to books in Egypt
Egypt $1,739 73.574
either classrooms Jordan
Syrian Arab Republic $1,946 19.405
Lower Middle
or at home
Morocco $2,389 30.732 Syria
Jordan $2,795 5.728 Djibouti
Tunisia $3,398 10.304 Mauritania
Iraq $3,600 28.22
Sudan
Algeria $3,825 34.4
Iraq
Lebanon $6,569 3.751
Comoros
middle
Upper
Libya $9,372 6.089
Saudi Arabia $15,481 24.289 Palestinian Territory
Oman $15,584 2.57 Somalia
Bahrain $25,731 0.764 Yemen
Income
Kuwait $33,634 3.31
High
United Arab Emirates $42,934 4.486 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Qatar $72,849 0.93
Potential Approach: Initially target countries with large youth populations and low incomes
Phase 1 Target Countries (2009 and 2010) Phase 2 Target Countries (2011 and beyond)
Egypt (24 million children) Iraq (12 million children) Palestine (1 million children)
Sudan (15 million children) Syria (7 million children) Comoros (306,000)
Morocco (9 million children) Total children <15: Somalia (4 million children) Djibouti (298,350)
68 million
Algeria (10 million children) Tunisia (3 million children)
Yemen (10 million children) Jordan (2 million children) Total children <15:
28.5 million
Sources: IMF, CIA World Fact Book, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, PRB 2007 World Population Data Sheet

6. Initiative Overview Suggested roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders
Partnership-based business Students
Teachers Parents
model to scale rapidly
Book Donations from Publishers Regional Advisory Board – Offer Read Aloud to Children - read Book ownership: Children have
– seek large-scale donations of expertise to suggest books and aloud to their child to involve the the opportunity to choose and keep
new books directly from publishers. age appropriate reading lists, family and establish an at-home five books per year at no cost to
develop read aloud tips, train other reading routine. If parent is the children or their families.
• Exploration of book teachers, provide lesson plans. illiterate, leverage older children as
marketplace to offer volunteers. Meet Reading Challenges –
subsidized books Participation Strive towards reading challenges
• Annual enrollment takes place Monitor Child – Ensure that child issued by teacher.
• Literacy website on before start of school year; is meeting reading goals.
Arabic Book portal that principals sent enrollment packets; Track Reading Goals - Every
generates money from Encourage Summer Reading – child must track reading goals
advertising to fund books – • Teachers provided books and in based on book list developed by under guidance of teachers and
www.literacysite.com class materials; Overview of
advisory board, encourage summer parents.
reading in which students reads 5+
Two Critical Touch Points
proposed
books and are eligible to enter a Summer Reading – Teachers
• Teacher sets reading goals for
children in the class; initiative
contest to win prizes. assign summer reading list from
• Classroom: Teachers read to which students choose 5 books to
children in their class at least 60 Collect Books At Libraries – One read over the summer.
• When child meets monthly possible distribution point for books
minutes a week in addition to other reading goal, teacher rewards
classroom activities and awards. is neighborhood libraries which Online Reading Tutorials – Via
accomplishment with praise, could complement in class book
recognition, external incentive; book portal, offer interactive
distribution. content that enrich reading
• At Home: Teachers provide tools
for parents to use at home when experience
• Potential to engage older children
they read aloud to their child. other organizations to mentor
younger students who have
Other Strategic Partners illiterate parents;
• Distribution Partner – On the • Young Readers Day - an annual
ground marketing and distribution event in which local “celebrities”
of books to classrooms. read aloud a favorite book to
classrooms;
• Incentive Partners – Contribute
free consumer products/services • All star readers contest - every
that incent children to read and student in the class has to meet all
increase family incomes. monthly reading goals.

7. • For Further Information About This Initiative ‫للمزيد من المعلومات عن هذه المبادرة‬ •
To get a copy of the full presentation or to ‫للحصول على العرض التقديمي الكامل لهذه المبادرة يرجى‬
discuss the findings, please contact Walid Aradi ‫االتصال بـوليد العرادي على العنوان‬
walid.aradi@tahseen.ae walid.aradi@tahseen.ae
• For Inquiries About Our Services and ‫• لالستفسار عن خدماتنا ولعرض أفكاركم علينا‬
Requests for Proposals
‫لالستفسار عن خدماتنا أو عرض أفكاركم علينا يرجى االتصال‬
To inquire about our services or submit a request ‫بنا عبر اإلنترنت باستخدام النموذج أدناه أو إرسال بريد إلكتروني‬
for proposal, please contact us using the online fikra@tahseen.ae ‫إلى‬
form or send an e-mail to fikra@tahseen.ae
• For Organizations Interested in Alliances ‫• بالنسبة للمنظمات التي لديها اهتمام بالدخول في اتفاقيات شراكة‬
‫وفي تحالفات مع شركة تحسين لالستشارات‬
We are interested in opportunities where our
technical skills and expertise can be used to ‫إننا مهتمون بالفرص التي يمكن من خاللها استخدام مهاراتنا‬
complement or diversify those of potential
‫وخبراتنا الفنية لتكميل أو لتنويع مهارات وخبرات شركائنا‬
partners to pursue specific government funding ّ
‫المحتملين بما يمكن من السعي للحصول على تمويل حكومي أو‬
opportunities, commercial contracts, or RFPs. To
begin a discussion about entering into an alliance
‫عقود تجارية. لبدء نقاش حول الدخول في تحالف مع شركة‬
with Tahseen Consulting, please contact Walid ‫تحسين لالستشارات يرجى االتصال بوليد العرادي على العنوان‬
Aradi at walid.aradi@tahseen.ae walid.aradi@tahseen.ae
• For Members of the Press or Media ‫• بالنسبة للعاملين في الصحافة أو في وسائل اإلعالم‬
For media inquiries, please contact Wes Schwalje ّ
‫لالستفسارات المقدمة من قبل وسائل اإلعالم يرجى االتصال بـ‬
at wes.schwalje@tahseen.ae wes.schwalje@tahseen.ae ‫ويـزلي شـوالييه على العنوان‬