Here’s the Story with Nal’ibali

In South Africa, children are not reading well. 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.

There is a severe lack of reading material in South African schools and homes. Fifty-eight percent of households have no leisure books, and only 7% of homes have more than ten books.[1] Just 17% of schools have a stocked library,[2] and many contain unsuitable books, are locked most of the time, or do not allow children to take books home. Books in African languages are particularly scarce: while South Africa has eleven official languages, 41% of children’s books published between 2000 and 2015 were in English, 24% were in Afrikaans, and only 35% were in the other nine African languages combined.[3]

Reading culture is also limited. Only 35% of adults who live with children read aloud to them.[4] Few children have the opportunity to choose what they want to read or take books home from a school or library. This ring-fences reading as a technical decoding task – not an exciting, joyful and personally relevant activity.

Aims of Nal’ibali

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 one of the biggest literacy-based nongovernmental organisations in South Africa. It was initiated in 2012 by the DG Murray Trust and the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA).

Nal’ibali is built on the simple logic that a well-established culture of reading can be a real game-changer for education in South Africa. Literacy skills are a strong predictor of future academic success in all subjects – and children who regularly read and hear engaging stories, in languages they understand, are well equipped and motivated to learn to read and write. A significant body of research reinforces the link between reading for pleasure and improved outcomes for children.

Nal’ibali seeks to create and nurture the conditions throughout society that support children’s development as readers. These are:

• KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS: Adults and children understand and value reading for enjoyment, and know how to nurture it.
• OPPORTUNITIES TO READ: Frequent opportunities to read, write and hear stories exist in a variety of accessible spaces.
• READING ROLE MODELS: Adults share books and stories with children, and encourage others to do the same.
• ACCESS TO READING MATERIAL: Adults and children have access to a wide variety of relevant engaging reading material, in all South African languages.

Nal’ibali was established by PRAESA and the DG Murray Trust in 2011 and launched to the public in 2012. It emerged out of two decades of research on multilingual education conducted by PRAESA under Dr Neville Alexander and Dr Carole Bloch, their successful development of a model for community-based reading clubs, and the experience of the loveLife behavioural change campaign, which sought to reduce the incidence of HIV among young people.

Nal’ibali quickly achieved notable scale and momentum. PRAESA, which implemented the campaign from its inception to 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.

Projects and Activities

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.

At its core, Nal’ibali works with partners and individuals across the country to set up and run a growing network of more than 4 000 reading clubs for children. Reading clubs are relaxed, informal spaces where children can enjoy books, stories and other literacy-related activities such as songs and games in their home languages as well as English. Nal’ibali trains and equips individuals and organisations to run reading clubs. The sustainability of these clubs is supported through mentoring, resource provision and partnerships.

Nal’ibali also runs digital and mass media campaigns. More than 7.4 million people listened each week to its most recent radio story season on SABC stations, and it recently launched a national billboard campaign.

It also does significant work distributing reading materials. Most notably, it has distributed more than 33.8 million copies of its bilingual newspaper supplement since 2012. Each edition includes three stories (two can be cut and folded to make a book), activity suggestions for teachers and caregivers, motivational messaging and information about reading, news from the Nal’ibali network, and games and activities for children. Stories celebrate traditional storytelling and local authors, and reflect readers’ lived experiences. All content is bilingual (English and another language), and it is currently available in eight of the eleven official languages. Nal’ibali has also distributed nearly half a million books, and its website has 646 stories in all eleven languages.

Key partners include:

• Government: We have a Memorandum of Understanding with the national Department of Basic Education, and work with provincial and district education departments to implement reading clubs across the country. We also work with various municipal entities.
• Media partners: Key partners include Tiso Blackstar, a media company that prints and distributes Nal’ibali’s bilingual newspaper supplement, and SABC Education, which has aired three seasons of radio stories in all eleven South African languages between 2013 and 2018.
• Distribution partners: In addition to Tiso Blackstar, the Post Office distributes supplements to reading clubs and the general public. Publications including the Sunday Times Express and Sunday World, the Daily Dispatch and The Herald, carry our content to help us reach a broader audience. In the past, we’ve also worked with Wimpy, Pick n Pay, Boxer, NAPTOSA and Free4All.
• Non-profit organisations: Nal’ibali works with a national network of partners, who receive training and reading materials from Nal’ibali and run reading clubs in schools, pre-schools, after-care programmes and other youth development initiatives.
• Research institutes: Nal’ibali is working with NORC at the University of Chicago on a randomised controlled trial of its Story Powered Schools project, and recently worked with JET Education Services on an external evaluation of its bilingual reading materials. Nal’ibali continues to work with PRAESA, its founding partner, on reading-material development, and training curriculum and content.
• Funders: Funding partners include the DG Murray Trust, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the First Rand Empowerment Foundation (FREF), Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) and the HCI Foundation.

Key Outcomes of Projects and Activities

We track our social outcomes through monitoring, evaluation and research. Key social outcomes achieved (as of mid-November 2018) include:

Increased access to, and use of, reading material:

• Nal’ibali has distributed 8 million bilingual newspaper supplements, 466 253 books, and 1.4 million story collections and magazines since 2012. Also, 646 free stories are available on its website.
• An external evaluation of the supplement showed that supplements are well used in a variety of ways, enabling the reading behaviours we seek to support. 95% of organisations and 18% of newspaper buyers that receive the supplement use it. Of those who use the supplement, the most common reading behaviours include:
  • reading aloud to children (90% of organisations, 72% of newspaper buyers),
  • adults and children reading together (88% of organisations, 70% of newspaper buyers), and
  • children reading on their own (88% of organisations, 67% of newspaper buyers).
• Bilingual reading supplements are increasing availability of reading materials in homes: 85% of organisations that receive supplements let children take them home.

A network of reading clubs:

• 4 353 reading clubs reaching 126 829 children are active in all nine South African provinces and 84% of these clubs meet at least once a week. The reading clubs give children regular, enjoyable opportunities to learn.

A network of motivated, skilled adults reading aloud to children:

• 22 060 people have been trained on reading for enjoyment.
• At least 8 959 people are currently running or volunteering at reading clubs.[5]
• More than 17 000 people are part of Nal’ibali’s broader network of literacy activists (known as “FUNda Leaders”).

Mass media and participation:

• In 2018, Nal’ibali mobilised South Africans to read aloud to 1 295 449 children on World Read Aloud Day – an 80% increase on 2017.
• In 2018, 7.4 million people listened to Nal’ibali stories on SABC radio stations each week.
• Community activations and events have reached more than 200 000 people.

To create a culture of reading, it’s crucial to shift mindsets and, consequently, behaviour. Once people have taken ownership of an idea or a concept, once they see it is an integral part of their world view and identity, behaviour begins to change. Nal’ibali strives to acknowledge and promote reading and storytelling as a key part of South African identity.

Since launch in 2012, Nal’ibali has solidly entrenched its position as a thought and action leader for children’s literacy development and has spread the power of stories and reading nationwide – one story at a time.

[1] South African Book Development Council (2017). National survey into the reading behaviour of adult South Africans 2016. Retrieved here.

[2] Department of Basic Education (2015). National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS) Standards Report as at 12 May 2015. Retrieved here.

[3] Children’s Book Availability Report, by the South African Publications Network. Cited here.

[4] South African Book Development Council (2017).

[5] Nal’ibali does not have volunteer data for all reading clubs – this number is probably higher.