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Nal’ibali

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INTRODUCTION

Nal’ibali (isiXhosa for “here’s the story”) is South Africa’s reading-for-enjoyment campaign. It makes use of reading and storytelling in home languages as well as English to support children’s literacy learning and school success. It is the biggest literacy-based nongovernmental organisation in South Africa and was initiated in 2012 by the DG Murray Trust and the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA).

Key Nal’ibali funders: • The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) • DG Murray Trust (DGMT) • First Rand Empowerment Foundation (FREF) • Volkswagen South Africa (VW)

CONTEXT AND THEORY OF CHANGE

South Africa is experiencing a literacy crisis. The results of the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)] assessment placed South Africa last out of 50 participating countries . The study also revealed that 78% of Grade 4 children in South Africa cannot read for meaning in any language.

In its aim to grow a reading culture in South Africa, Nal’ibali recognises the power and potential of communities in literacy development, and the importance of reading and writing in home languages as a basis to improve economic and social equality in a country where indigenous languages have historically been marginalised.

The Nal’ibali campaign is built on three core principles:

1. Reading for pleasure: Extensive research over the last three decades confirms that children who read for pleasure experience profound growth in nearly all aspects of literacy[1]. Studies comparing groups of similarly disadvantaged children indicate that those provided with access to books, show consistently higher levels of literacy development , and multiple international and longitudinal studies have shown that when children read for pleasure, it has a greater effect on their educational achievement than their family’s socio-economic status .

2. Mother-tongue based biliteracy: Mother-tongue based biliteracy approaches promote either simultaneous or successive literacy learning, and support children’s learning strengths, allowing literacy knowledge and skills to be built and an additional language like English to be learnt effectively from a base of understanding and meaningfulness[2].

3. Positive peer pressure and identity to drive behaviour change: People’s choices and behaviour are driven in large part by a search for purpose, status, identity and belonging. Public communications and campaigns that exert positive peer pressure and model the desired behaviour as being part of the ‘in-group’, are more effective at behaviour change than those which simply provide information, training or invoke fear .

HISTORY OF NAL’IBALI

Nal’ibali was established by the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) and the Douglas Gordon Murray Trust (DGMT) in 2011 and launched to the public in 2012. It emerged after two decades of research on multilingual education conducted by PRAESA under Dr. Neville Alexander and Dr. Carole Bloch. Further, it is based on their successful trialling of informal after-school reading clubs to support children’s literacy learning.

It quickly achieved notable scale and momentum and PRAESA, which implemented the campaign from its inception through 2015, received the 2015 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) – the most prestigious prize in its field – for its contribution to children’s multilingual literacy development. In 2016 the Nal’ibali Trust was born and Nal’ibali became an independent entity with PRAESA continuing as a research and content partner, and the DG Murray Trust as a significant funding partner.

CAMPAIGN COMPONENTS

To support long-term behaviour change that results in adults valuing and supporting children as readers; reading, writing and the sharing of stories being part of everyday life in homes, schools, and communities; and government, industry and business dedicating resources and policies to growing and sustaining a reading culture, Nal’ibali focusses on four key areas:

1. Access Most South Africans have limited access to reading materials: 92% of primary schools lack functional libraries, 85% of the population lives beyond the easy reach of a public library and more than half of South African households have no leisure books. Of those that do, only 6% have more than 40 titles[3].

To ensure that children and adults have access to a wide variety of relevant and engaging reading materials in all South African languages, Nal’ibali produces, curates, translates and distributes children’s stories and other literacy materials through a variety of platforms including print, radio, and digital media.

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Nal’ibali newspaper supplement Produced in partnership with Tiso Blackstar, the Nal’ibali newspaper supplement is a 16-page bilingual resource. Each edition contains literacy tips, reading and writing activities, and two-to-three children’s stories. The supplement appears fortnightly in select newspapers titles in six provinces. Additionally, 36 000 copies are donated and delivered to schools, libraries, NGOs, and reading clubs that are part of the Nal’ibali network. It is available in eight different language combinations: English-isiXhosa, English-isiZulu, English-Sepedi, English-Sesotho, English-Afrikaans, English-Setswana, and English-Xitsonga.

Since the supplement was launched in June 2012, more than 100 editions have been produced, 20 million copies have been printed and 45million copies have been distributed for free.

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Radio stories Nal’ibali broadcasts children’s radio stories in all 11 official South African languages two-to-three times a week in partnership with the state broadcaster, the SABC. The stories are developed together with South African and African authors and/or early childhood literacy experts. They are also available on the Nal’ibali website and mobisite. The approximate weekly reach is 7.16 million listeners.

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Web and mobisites Designed for access from desktop and mobile devices, Nal’ibali’s web- and mobisites are a repository of the campaign’s different resources including print and audio stories, recommended reading lists, tip sheets and ideas, as well as training materials. These sites can be accessed at www.nalibali.mobi and www.nalibali.org. They are complemented by the campaign’s Facebook and Twitter channels: @NalibaliSA.

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Partners Nal’ibali shares print and audio stories with community and consumer media free of charge. It also supplies stories to loyalty magazines. Currently the stories appear in print throughout the year in the Jet Club magazine, the Ackermans Club magazine, the women’s consumer title, Living & Loving and in Die Hoorn community newspaper.

2. Role models Children look up to and mimic the behaviour of their caregivers and the adults around them. Nal’ibali trains, equips, and mentors parents, caregivers, teachers, librarians, community members and partners, to share books and stories with children and encourage others to do the same. Training workshops cover the following topics: the benefits of reading for enjoyment; writing for real reasons; how to approach language and multilingualism; creative ways to inspire a love of reading and writing children and adults; how to choose books and stories; how to read and share stories with a group; how to plan, manage and organise a reading club and how families and communities can nurture children’s literacy.

In 2016 Nal’ibali launched FUNda Leader, its volunteer arm, to allow members of the public to join its network, receive training, and support literacy development in their communities. Research conducted in 2017 showed that the activity of FUNda Leaders increased by over 90% after joining.

3. Opportunities Literacy is a socially-transmitted practice that is acquired in- and outside the classroom. Nal’ibali focusses on homes, schools, and communities to support literacy-learning that makes use of indigenous knowledge and languages. Direct action in the forms of training and mentorship, story-powered activations and fun literacy-related events are implemented by a passionate and skilled on-the-ground team and via partnerships.

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Homes Nal’ibali aims to increase the number and frequency of adults and children embracing stories at home; actively using their local library and engaging with Nal’ibali stories and content.

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Schools Nal’ibali aims to increase the number and frequency of teachers who read aloud and tell stories to children; permit children to choose their own books and read independently; and read for pleasure themselves. Further, it aims to increase the lending rates for school and classroom libraries, the number of parents engaging with reading activities in schools, and the longevity of pre- and primary school reading.

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Communities: Supporting adults and children in accessing and sharing additional stories outside of the home, Nal’ibali aims to increase the number of community and library-based reading clubs and support and promote libraries in a bid to increase their membership and the book-borrowing behaviour of children and adults.

4. Knowledge and awareness Nal’ibali includes a vibrant media and advocacy campaign to promote, encourage and model a culture of reading. Making use of radio, TV, print media, social media, and influencers to amplify national events and competitions such as its annual World Read Aloud Day celebration and multilingual storytelling competition, Story Bosso, Nal’ibali ensure that adults understand, and value reading for enjoyment and know how to nurture it. Nal’ibali drives are endorsed by South African public figures and celebrities including Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Orlando Pirates Football Club players, The Soil, Nik Rabinowitz, ProVerb, Gcina Mhlohe, Sindiwe Magona, Marc Lottering, Zolani Mahola, Bonnie Henna, Hlubi Mboya Arnold, Victor Matfield, Buhle Ngaba and Suzelle DIY.

TAKING NAL’IBALI INTO SCHOOLS

In 2016 Nal’ibali received a grant from The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help develop and sustain a culture of reading in 720 primary schools in selected schools in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The project, entitled Story Powered Schools: A South African Reading Revolution will run for a period of three years and is embedded within and supported by the broader Nal’ibali campaign. It aims to reach approximately 140 000 children directly and 64 800 children indirectly.

Through this project schools are provided with fully stocked hanging storybook libraries, supported to use the mandatory reading period and literacy curriculum time for reading for enjoyment and related literacy development activities. It also includes at least three reading clubs per school, run by teachers and mentored and supported by Nal’ibali staff.

The Nal'ibali Trust[edit]


This article "Nal’ibali" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Nal’ibali. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

  1. Trelease, Jim (1988-11-30). "Jim Trelease Speaks on Reading Aloud to Children". Reading Teacher. 43 (3): 200–6.
  2. http://www.praesa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PRAESAMotherTongue-1.pdf
  3. http://sabookcouncil.co.za/wp-content/uploads/Final-Report-NRS-2016.pdf