Global Book Alliance: ADEA and USAID support African Publishing Stakeholders in the creation of a Publishing Collaborative
Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) 16 May 2019 – The Books and Learning Materials (BLM) section of the Inter-Country Quality Node on Teaching and Learning (ICQN-TL) of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) recently concluded a successful forumin partnership with the African Publishers Network (APNET) which identified the elimination of piracy as well as the development of a National Book and Reading Policy as the top priorities for a Publishing Collaborative for Nigeria.
The forumunder the theme, Enabling African Publishers to Provide Quality Books in African Languages through the African Publishing Collaborative Initiative, took place from 8th to 9th May 2019 on the margins of the Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF) in Lagos at the Jelili Adebisi Omotola Hall, University of Lagos.
This key meeting is part of the long-lasting partnership between ADEA and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported Global Book Alliance (GBA) – and it was jointly organized with APNET, the Nigeria Book Fair Trust and the Nigeria Publishers Association.
Stakeholders of the Nigerian publishing industry, through rigorous group discussions, agreed on the formation of a Publishing Collaborative and identified two strategic priorities for the Collaborative: tackling Piracyand developing aNational Book and Reading Policy.Furthermore, the stakeholders adopted a structure for the Publishing Collaborative comprising of public and private entities that are relevant to the book industry and essential in addressing the two priorities.
The Action Plan on the Publishing Collaborative drawn during a workshop organized in Abidjan in January 2018 by ADEA, book industry stakeholders and GBA revealed that there are five major issues affecting the growth of the African book industry: distribution, taxation, piracy, national book and reading policies, and skills development.
To this end, Nigeria becomes the first country in Africa to agree on how a Publishing Collaborative would be structured at the country level and modelled a process for identifying key national issues that, if addressed, would be transformational for the publishing industry.
“Your effort contributed substantially in driving intellectual conversations around the provision of quality books in local languages during the course of the event and to the NIBF program at large,” said Mr. Gbadega Adedapo, President of the Nigerian Publishers Association who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Book Fair Trust and Managing Director of Rasmed Publications Limited.
The impact of the major outcome of the Forum will certainly contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda as well as Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016 - 2025 (CESA 16-25).
Although this gathering anticipated 30 participants to attend, its popularity was evident when 56 participants registered for the first day, growing to 75 participants on the second and final day. Indeed, the Forum brought together Nigerian book industry stakeholders, leading professionals and practitioners from across the book value chain, including key federal and state government officials, academics and readers. This is in addition to Mr. Denja Abdullahi, President of the Association of Nigerian Authors; Mr. Chike Ofili, a renowned author; Ms. Oluronke Orimalde and Dayo Alabi leading booksellers; Mr. Ernest Oppong, Executive Secretary of APNET; Mr. Emmanuel Abimbola, Executive Secretary of Nigeria Publishers Association; and Mr. Kiarie Kamau, MD East Africa Educational Publishers Ltd from Kenya, among others.
The management team included Ms. Lily Nyariki and Mr. Aliou Sow, ADEA BLM focal points; Mr. David Waweru, a consultant, writer, publisher and trainer; Mr. Samuel Kolowale, Managing Director of the University Press and Chairperson of APNET; Mr. José Borghino, Secretary General of the International Publishers Association (IPA), and Mr. Gbadega Adedapo.
For more information, please contact:
- Lily Nyariki, ICQN-TL’s Focal Point of the Books and Learning Materials section (Anglophone countries), T.(+254) 733 712117 / (+254) 706 569 707, lmnyariki@gmail.com / l.nyariki@adeanet.org
- Aliou Sow, ICQN-TL’s Focal Point of the Books and Learning Materials section (Francophone countries), T. (+224) 622 54 48 26, aliou2sow@yahoo.fr
Media:
- Stefano De Cupis, Senior Communications Officer, ADEA, T. (+225) 2026 4261, s.decupis@afdb.org
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About ADEA
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) is a forum for policy dialogue. It is a partnership bringing together African policymakers in charge of education, science and technology; development cooperation partners; researchers and education technical experts. ADEA contributes to the empowerment of African countries to develop quality education and training systems that respond to the countries' emergent needs and drive social and economic transformation sustainably.
www.adeanet.org
About ICQN-TL-BLM
The ADEA’s Books and Learning Materials section (BLM) of the ICQN-TL is committed to supporting processes conducive to formulating adequate National Book Policies that improve the provision of good quality educational materials, effective schooling, and literacy across Africa. It strives to accomplish this by calling on governments, the private sector, development agencies, and civil society to consider a holistic approach that includes substantial input from African partners to achieve viable book policies.
About GBA
The Global Book Alliance is an international effort involving multiple stakeholders working to transform book development, procurement, distribution, and use to ensure that no child is without books. Its mission is to guarantee that children everywhere have the books and learning materials they need to learn to read and read to learn. New and innovative solutions are needed to solve the learning crisis, and the Global Book Alliance is taking the lead on identifying and implementing these solutions.
www.globalbookalliance.org
About NPA
The Nigeria Publishers Association is a professional association of publishers in Nigeria and the only collective voice of the publishers in Nigeria. It has been in existence since 1965. It is a rallying point for all book, journal, and electronic publishers in the country since its inception. The Association provides a forum through which publishers come together and deliberate on various issues affecting the publishing industry and the book trade at large.
www.nigerianpublishers.com
About APNET
The African Publishers Network was formed in 1992 to strengthen the African publishing industry through indigenous publishing. APNET has been playing for many years a critical role in training, promotion of intra-Africa book trade, and coordinating information and resource flow among African publishers. During the ADEA/GBA Workshop for African Book Industry Stakeholders in 2018, delegates agreed on the urgent need to revitalize APNET and structure it in a way that makes its existence viable, sustainable and beneficial to the book industry in Africa.
www.african-publishers.net
About NBTF
The Nigerian Book Fair Trust, which organized the Nigerian International Book Fair, is a coalition of the major stakeholders in the Nigerian book sector, comprising the Nigerian Publishers Association, Nigerian Book Foundation, Nigerian Booksellers Association, Association of Nigerian Printers, Nigerian Library Association, Association of Nigerian Authors and the Association of Non-Fiction and Academic Authors of Nigeria. The Trust was incorporated in 1999, and enjoys the endorsement of the Education Tax Fund (ETF), Nigerian Education Research and Development Council and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
www.nibfng.org
