Ready for Reading (RfR)

Mission/Vision: Ready for Reading (RfR) provides literacy, life skills and educational resources for people in rural Rwanda. We believe that literacy and education are not only basic human rights, but the foundation of life-long-learning, prosperity and sustainable change. Our vision is that literacy becomes the expectation not exception across Rwanda. When Ready for Reading began its work in Rwinkwavu, a poor rural area in eastern Rwanda with the lowest literacy rates, there were no adult literacy programs and schools lacked adequate infrastructure, books/learning materials and trained educators. No culture of reading existed and there was little incentive, and few resources, to encourage most people to read. Collaborating with leaders and community members we identified the root causes of illiteracy to come up with local solutions. Consequently, we built and in 2012 opened an 800 sq meter Community Library and Learning Center run by an all-Rwandan Team, designed @ the needs of the 323,450 people in Rwinkwavu and surrounding villages, sectors and district experiencing the burden of illiteracy and lack of education. Ready for Reading breaks down educational barriers for preschoolers to grandparents with adult literacy classes, IT and life skills training, early childhood education and youth programs, girls and women’s clubs, open library, provides access to global information and fosters a love of reading and through storytelling, music, basketball, community events, promotes literacy as the key to life-long learning. More than a decade later, the community is thriving and Ready for Reading’s Rwinkwavu Community Library/Learning Center is a replicable country-wide model, instrumental in the development of libraries and literacy in Rwanda. In addition to providing books, computers and programs it’s crucial at the granular level to change attitudes around the importance of literacy and education, learning doesn't only happen in formal settings. With a multi-generational approach, we engage people in homes, villages, schools, libraries. Over the past 11 years significant progress has been made in literacy rates, school attendance and graduation, university placement, socio-economic development as literacy has become a community-wide goal. Our development paradigm facilitates collaboration and prioritizes localization, expanding our low-cost/high-impact scalable model working with NGOs, the Rwandan government, community leaders and other like-minded partners. Partnering with existing libraries, community centers, ECD centers and schools we create regional hubs replicating programs locally, building a solid foundation set at the grassroots level so literacy and access to quality education become an attainable national goal.