What does it take to print more than half a million children’s books? Last week, we invited a few partners to see for themselves, in a behind-the-scenes visit to the printers Tandym Print (Pty) Ltd As Book Dash celebrates our 10th anniversary, we’re currently printing a whopping 609,000 books across 11 South African languages. This will take the total number of Book Dash books in the world to well over 4 million. It’s our biggest print run yet, and we suspect it to be the largest-ever print run of children’s storybooks in South Africa. Importantly, it’s coming at a time when young children need books in their homes more than ever. The books are destined for 120 partner organisations across the country, to be distributed through programmes to children to keep and own. Funding comes from donor partners looking to improve systems for early development and literacy levels at scale. Why is this such a big deal? Having books at home improves children’s early literacy skills, setting them up for success in all subjects. The book acts as a tool to support the parent-child relationship and for play-based learning. The earlier we start, the greater the gains so Book Dash advocates for book ownership from birth. Yet in South Africa, two out of three homes with young children do not have a single children’s picture book, according to the 2023 National Reading Barometer South Africa. In the past, cost and availability have limited our ability to get all children owning books, but with Book Dash’s work to optimise for efficiencies in key publishing and distribution processes, that isn’t the case anymore. As we kicked off the tour, we took a moment to reflect on the fact that there are around 1.2 million children born each year in South Africa. The current print run alone represents enough books to give half of the children born in 2024 a book of their own. Even 4 million books isn’t yet enough to fix the unequal access to books for preschool children – but it’s a significant start and a real effort to build literacy from the ground up. Keen to join us in tackling literacy challenges? Want to add books for all children in your programmes? Give us a shout! #everychild100books #bookdash #largestprintrunever #celebrating10years #earlybookownership Photos by Jennifer Khumalo of Surefire Communications
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5mo
This is incredible.
Tanya Bailey
5mo
Congratulations on 10 years of incredible work!! We so admire the work you do Uzwelo Bags
Sanri Van Wyk
5mo
Amazing milestone, guys. Well done.
Anita Lehmann
5mo
over half a million books? Wow…And congratulations!
Elaine Josias
5mo
Inspiring!
Karen Vermeulen
1mo
Amazing!
Dudu Thabede
5mo
Alison Kingsley-Hall @zintle
Senior Professional, with focus on Africa: Marketing | Strategic Partnerships | Communication Strategies
5moBook Dash, congratulations on your 10th anniversary. Dudu Thabede, there has never been a better time for you/@Sivusisiwe Africa, to launch its literacy programme. I look forward to seeing it's great success