By David Risher One question many nonprofits ask themselves is: To increase our impact, how much should we collaborate with governments? In many cases it’s a leading question: most of the areas that people like us hope to improve—health, societal wealth, education—are right in the middle of what governments should ensure for their citizens. So … Continue Reading →
by David Risher All non-profit enterprises raise funds. It comes with the territory. After all, if an organization could pay all its bills by selling its services at a profit, it should probably do so and allow Adam’s Smith’s invisible hand to do the heavy lifting. People in our field sometimes complain about having to raise funds. … Continue Reading →
By David Risher Stephen King says that when fans asked him where his ideas came from, he answers: “Utica. They come from Utica, New York.” So here’s my version: ”My ideas come from the dentist’s office.” A few weeks ago, I took my younger daughter to a new dentist. She wasn’t a big fan, but what’re … Continue Reading →
By David Risher Worldreader is conducting a small trial at our US Test Facility (OK, my back yard.) In June, Jon McCormack took a charger to Kenya to see how it would hold up in the field. It worked well, and will work even better once we address some practical questions about whether to charge directly … Continue Reading →
by David Risher Worldreader is working so every child in the developing world can have any book he or she wants, using e-readers. When you step way back, you realize that there are at least three groups you need to get on-board to make that dream happen: e-reader manufacturers, book publishers, and kids. Today’s hero … Continue Reading →
by David Risher My old boss Jeff talks passionately about how profoundly satisfying it is to build something important, and every day I understand that more. At Worldreader we’re creating something new– a new culture of reading in the world’s poorest countries. Soon we’ll write about what we’re learning: how Worldreader students spend up to … Continue Reading →
Yesterday evening, after an amazing show of drive and tenacity, Colin and Elizabeth walked out of Kenya’s Ministry of Education with the attached letter in hand. Now we have the official backing of the Kenyan Government who want to follow our work at The Kilgoris Project’s Intimigom School to evaluate if it can be scaled up … Continue Reading →
By Zev Lowe Shadrack Lemiso is the headmaster of Intimigom Nursery and Primary School, just outside of Kilgoris. In 2009, he graduated from the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor’s degree in Education. Shadrack, more than most, understands the value of education because he had to fight hard to get his. When he was younger, … Continue Reading →
By David Risher One question friends often ask us is: what happens if the students lose their e-reader, or they get stolen? Of course, it’s a real issue, and we have several strategies we use to deal with this. (We won’t talk about all of them here.) But so far, we haven’t found it to … Continue Reading →
by David Risher Last week’s introduction of the iREAD e-reader pilot rolled out in four major phases over three days in each of the six schools: The community introduction and pledge (Worldreader led) Day 1 of E-Reader distribution and instruction (Worldreader and teacher partnership) Day 2: E-Reader “deepening” (Teacher led; Worldreader absent) Day 3: E-readers … Continue Reading →