Girl-centered books to 60 village libraries

Friends of African Village Libraries (FAVL) has been involved in a variety of activities in Burkina Faso to promote literacy and education. For example, FAVL has been working to expand access to books and educational resources in rural communities by establishing community libraries and providing training and support to local librarians. They have also been involved in initiatives to promote reading and learning among children, such as organizing reading clubs and sponsoring reading competitions. In addition, FAVL has been working to improve access to technology in rural communities by establishing computer centers and providing training in basic computer skills. Overall, FAVL's efforts have had a significant impact on improving literacy and education in Burkina Faso, particularly in underserved rural areas. Because of the conflict, many libraries and programs have been suspended. Nevereless, FAVL continues to support the activities of the various projects, in libraries that are accessible.

We have been producing (writing, illustrating, designing, printing) books friendly for girls and distributing them to libraries.

We received only a few donations for this project in December 2022, so we shall purchase and distribute about 100 girl-oriented books for the libraries that are open, in January 2023. The FAVL-supported libraries in Burkina Faso have had several tough years. A civil war, which started in 2016, has grown rapidly, and has pitted various Islamist-oriented groups (whose first actions are to close schools and insist that schooling be in Arabic, a language that few people in the country speak) against the Burkinabè military (which overthrew the democratic government in January 2022, suspended local government, and then perpetrated another coup within military ranks late-September of this year). The upshot of the conflict is that 12 libraries have been closed.  The FAVL representative in Burkina Faso continues to visit libraries that remain open, in secure areas. The office pivoted to a major initiative, the production of 10,000 copies of 50 illustrated books written and illustrated by residents of the town of Houndé. The books have been distributed to libraries that are open. This coming year our goal is to produce and distribute 50,000 copies. We are also exploring how we can expand the variety of books produced. We’d love to have a young adult science fiction series for readers in Burkina Faso.