Worldreader Solutions FAQs
Where in the world are Worldreader Solutions implemented?
A Worldreader Solution can be implemented in schools and libraries in sub-Saharan Africa, though we are working to expand to other regions. For a complete list of countries that have Worldreader Solutions and have implemented e-reading projects, see here.
If you represent a country in Africa that is not on the list yet however, we still want to partner with you!
At this point, we are unable to implement e-reading projects outside of sub-Saharan Africa, but we welcome you to tell us which country you have in mind. If and when we expand there, you will be the first to know.
What does a Worldreader BLUE Box contain?
- E-readers: Worldreader works with you to select the optimal device and deployment model based on your school or library’s characteristics, need, and budget. The standard BLUE Box comes with 50 e-readers. Your Programs and Partnerships Representative will help design the right e-reading project for you.
- Accessories and shipping: Cases, chargers, and identification labels. Shipping to your destination in Africa is also included.
- Digital books: Each device comes with half African and half International digital books, curated based on your project’s characteristics and needs, for a minimum of 100 books per e-reader.
- Project management tools: Comprehensive training program for the Project Manager, teachers, and students; quick start guide; certificates of completion and achievement; launch planning tool; community outreach guide; monitoring and evaluation tools; sustainability guide and more.
- Technical assistance: Device registration, content provisioning, and books download prior to shipping. In addition, we provide technical support (replacing devices under warranty) and troubleshooting assistance for the first year, and more.
- Professional development opportunities: You will be part of the Worldreader community, which offers ongoing knowledge sharing, professional workshops, and more.
- Additional books: Ongoing access to Worldreader’s book catalog at affordable prices.
What does a Worldreader Book Pack contain?
- Your E-readers: You will provide your own e-readers or tablets that have the Kindle Application installed. Worldreader works with you to select the optimal deployment model based on your school or library’s characteristics, need, and budget.
- Set-Up and Processing: Registration of your devices in our system, deployment of content to each device, and customer support through this process.
- Digital books: Each device comes with half African and half International digital books, curated based on your project’s characteristics and needs, for a minimum of 100 books per e-reader.
- Project management tools: Comprehensive training program for the Project Manager, teachers, and students; quick start guide; certificates of completion and achievement; launch planning tool; community outreach guide; monitoring and evaluation tools; sustainability guide and more.
- Technical assistance: Device registration, content provisioning, troubleshooting, and more.
- Professional development opportunities: You will be part of the Worldreader community, which offers ongoing knowledge sharing, professional workshops, and more.
- Additional books: Ongoing access to Worldreader’s book catalog at affordable prices.
What kind of support does a Worldreader e-reading program require?
From You, Our Partners:
Purchasing a Worldreader Solution and implementing an e-reading project requires designating two main points of contact. Partners must designate a dedicated Project Manager at the school/project site as well as elect a point of contact at the sponsoring/operational organization.
The Project Manager is responsible for the daily management of the project and maintenance of the e-readers. It is the Project Manager’s responsibility to ensure the school/library understands the responsibilities outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) before the project launches. In addition, the Project Manager is expected to report on progress and outcomes routinely post-launch to Worldreader.
From Worldreader:
Engagement with our partners is a priority. Throughout the whole project lifecycle, there is a designated Worldreader point of contact for your project who will ensure your project runs smoothly, answer any questions, and provide support as needed. Worldreader provides training materials with the project as well as the option of sending a Worldreader staff trainer to the launch for an additional fee.
What’s the timeline for ordering a Worldreader Solution?
If funding is available, you could launch a Worldreader Solution in your school or library in as little as 6 weeks after contacting us! In that time, we will work together to finalize the details of your project, including the deployment model, training and launch logistics, and the booklist recommended for your e-reading project by our librarian. Then, we will prepare the devices and other materials for shipment and processing. Once the BLUE Box arrives, you will be responsible for customs clearance; once your Book Pack materials have been sent to your devices, you will be responsible for connecting the devices to WiFi in order to download the content. After that, you are ready to launch your e-reading project.
How much does a Worldreader BLUE Box cost?
Your Programs and Partnerships Representative will work with you to understand your budget and potential fundraising needs to design the best Worldreader Solution for you.
Basic pricing and offerings are the below:
- BLUE Box (50 e-readers, 100 books per e-reader, total of 5,000 books), which starts at $7,000.
- BLUE Boxes come in increments of 25.
- Additional 5,000 e-books for $2,500.
- Adding more e-readers to an existing project.
- Adding more e-books to an existing project.
- Demo e-readers, which are $150 each.
- Worldreader offers a discount for projects of 200 e-readers or larger. Your Programs and Partnerships Representative will give you more information.
How much does a Worldreader Book Pack cost?
Your Programs and Partnerships Representative will work with you to understand your budget and potential fundraising needs to design the best Worldreader Solution for you.
Basic pricing and offerings are the below:
- Book Pack (50 e-readers (provided by you), 100 books per e-reader, total of 5,000 books), which starts at $4,500.
- Book Packs have a minimum of 25 accounts.
- Additional 5,000 e-books for $2,500.
- Adding more device accounts to an existing project.
- Adding more e-books to an existing project.
- Demo e-readers, which are $150 each.
- Worldreader offers a discount for projects of 200 e-readers or larger. Your Programs and Partnerships Representative will give you more information.
What are the ongoing costs to maintain a Worldreader e-reading project?
Worldreader highly encourages you to think about not only the cost of a Worldreader Solution but also the costs to maintain the e-reading project once it has been launched. These ongoing costs depend on the size of your project and your needs. At a minimum, you need to make sure you are able to continue supporting a designated, on-site Project Manager on an ongoing basis. If you have/will be purchasing e-readers from Worldreader, you will also need funds to cover the costs of replacement devices and the shipping and customs fees of those devices (in the case where the devices are still under warranty, you will only need to pay for the shipping and customs fees). We also recommend budgeting for additional e-books in subsequent years to ensure a continual supply of fresh content, as well as for additional Worlreader Solutions to expand your project.
Is the cost of shipping for a BLUE Box included?
Yes. The cost of the BLUE Box covers the shipping cost to the destination country. However, as customs and clearing fees differ from country to country, the partner is responsible for those. In most cases we will be able to give you an estimate of these customs fees.
How do partners obtain the funds for a Worldreader Solution?
Unfortunately, Worldreader is unable to offer financial assistance to prospective partners. For partners who currently do not have the total funding available, Worldreader does offer fundraising tips and other ideas that will help cover the cost of the Worldreader Solution, and project launch.
Please contact our Early and Transitional Reading Programs Team who will assist you and share our fundraising guide. Partners often fundraise via various methods, which include online fundraising, community fundraising events, and grants.
While Worldreader does not offer direct financial support, we do have a pilot sponsorship project where selected schools/libraries enter a waitlist and receive the opportunity to be matched with potential funding partners. This sponsorship project is currently available to schools/libraries in Ghana and Kenya. Contact our Early and Transitional Reading Programs Team for more information.
Do I have to pay for the Worldreader Solution all at once?
A Worldreader Solution must be paid for upfront and in full upon the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
What kind of Worldreader Solution is right for my school/library?
Worldreader Solutions can be used in a variety of ways. In general, there are three Worldreader Solution deployment models: community (a set of e-readers available for use in a school or community library setting), shared (a set of e-readers shared by a few classes of students), and individual (each student has his/her own e-reader). The individual model provides the highest level of ownership and engagement, but of course, it’s also the most expensive. Therefore, your deployment model will depend on your budget and needs. Generally, a Worldreader Solution with 50 devices can serve 50 students in an individual model, 150 in a shared model, and 300 in a community model. We recommend considering additional books for the devices if they are used to serve students/patrons of a wide range of reading levels. Your Programs and Partnerships Representative will help you determine if this is right for you.
Additionally, we highly encourage you to engage the school administrators, teachers, and librarians in the design and decision making process to ensure the success of your project.
If given the choice, it is best to start with a Worldreader Solution for primary-level students because reading projects are shown to have the greatest impact on literacy skills when started early.
Many partners start with 50 or 100 e-readers and then expand from there. We are here to devise the right e-reading project that caters to your community’s needs.
What types of devices are available?
Worldreader is device agnostic. Rather than focusing on a specific product on the market, our objective is to choose the best device for our projects to distribute reading material to students in the developing world cost effectively. Currently, we use various models of the Kindle interchangeably across our various BLUE Box e-reading projects.
If you are ordering a Book Pack and therefore providing your own devices, we only require that they are e-readers or tablets with the Kindle Application installed, so they will be able to open and access our e-books.
Does Worldreader carry devices that support Special Needs children?
In the past, Worldreader has offered the Kindle Keyboard e-reader that has text-to-speech capabilities. Currently, we are testing the use of the Kindle Fire in select pilot projects. The Kindle Fire has text-to-speech capabilities. However, the text-to-speech function only supports the English language and the Kindle Fire tablet is only in color.
For a video of how we have impacted Special Needs children, see here.
Where do the devices come from?
Most of our current e-reader products come from Amazon. We are able to source new or refurbished devices in bulk at the best available price that is not available elsewhere, which turns into savings we then pass onto our partners. Worldreader’s San Francisco (US) and Accra (Ghana) offices are the Operations Hubs where we prepare, occasionally refurbish, and ship out most of our Worldreader Solutions. We have a field office in Nairobi (Kenya) that also processes and provides support to ensure the e-reading projects are locally sustained.
What does the BLUE Box process involve?
Preparing BLUE Boxes for use in schools and libraries involves a number of important steps, performed by our dedicated team of operations staff and volunteers. Prior to beginning this process, Worldreader works with each partner to finalize the booklist recommended for their school or library by our librarian. Once the book list is ready, Worldreader scans, unboxes and bulk-registers the e-readers for each BLUE Box. After the devices are registered, we label each device with its account name and serial number (for proper ongoing inventory tracking), put on protective skins and begin charging the devices and downloading the e-books. We download all of the e-books (typically 100-200 per e-reader), put the e-readers in cases then pack them into boxes along with all of our training materials and customized certificates before shiping them out to the project site. Worldreader continues to provide technical support to our partners after the e-readers are shipped, including assisting in device replacements and making new books that partners have purchased available for download on the e-readers.
Additionally, on an ongoing basis, Worldreader works closely with publishers, device manufacturers, accessories suppliers, as well as other suppliers and in-kind donors to procure the most suitable books and products at the best available prices for our partners to ensure the BLUE Box remains cost-effective.
What does the Book Pack process involve?
Similarly, preparing a Book Pack for use in schools and libraries involves many of these same steps. Worldreader works with partners to finalize the booklist recommended for their school or library by our librarian. Once the booklist is ready, Worldreader gathers device and account information from the partner to bulk-register the devices being implemented in each Book Pack. After the devices are registered, Worldreader “pushes” the new content onto the devices through our digital library system. We will then inform the partner that the books are ready for download, wherein the partner will take them to a location with WiFi, connect each device to the network, and begin to download the new material. During this time, Worldreader also provides the partner with project design support, training materials, customized certificates, and support making new books that partners have purchased available for download on the e-readers.
Additionally, on an ongoing basis, Worldreader works closely with publishers, device manufacturers, accessories suppliers, as well as other suppliers and in-kind donors to procure the most suitable books and products at the best available prices for our partners to ensure the Book Pack remains cost-effective.
How often are Worldredader Solution devices stolen or broken?
We have found that our projects have generally experienced a 2-5% breakage rate and that devices are rarely stolen. Before the Worldreader Solution launch, we ensure that Project Managers, teachers, staff, and students undergo a thorough training on proper e-reader usage and safety. Additionally, our projects include significant community involvement (we encourage partners to hold a community launch event) to establish respect and trust of the e-readers; during the community launch, students, community members, and even local/government leaders collectively make a commitment to protect the devices. After each Worldreader Solution launches, the dedicated Project Managers also help ensure the safety and longevity of the e-readers, which come with specially designed protective cases.
Worldreader continuously monitors ways to improve protection and dedicates ample on-the-ground training and protective measures to ensure devices are kept safe. Learn more about how Worldreader works alongside students and communities to address theft issues and solutions here.
What is Worldreader’s policy surrounding e-reader theft and breakage?
Worldreader provides guidelines for the Project Manager to properly educate and engage the community and develop policies around e-reader usage, breakage, and theft, before the Worldreader Solution launches. Preventative measures are the most critical. Occasionally, the e-readers do fail or break due to software issues or accidents. Our BLUE Box e-readers are covered by a one-year warranty for damage and defects. To replace devices, partners complete a form provided by Worldreader and return it to Amazon and the Worldreader team with an image of the broken device. Depending on project location, some sites are eligible to recycle their e-waste after the warranty has expired. Worldreader is committed to continuing to find the best solutions for prolonging the lifespan of the devices and recycling e-waste.
What kind of books come in a Worldreader Solution?
Each e-reader will be loaded with a minimum of 100 e-books. For Worldreader Solutions that serve students/patrons of a wide range of reading levels, we recommend considering additional books beyond the minimum of 100 titles. Half the books must be “Paid” titles, generally coming from African publishers and authors, and the other half will be “Donated” titles from Worldreader, generally coming from international well-known publishers.
Our library consists of 6,000+ titles in more than 41 languages, serving early readers (pre-primary) to adult readers. We have both fiction and non-fiction novels, active learning tools, spiritual content, language and learning based content such as phonics, women’s empowerment content, and much more! We believe it’s critical to help develop a strong African publishing ecosystem, and therefore we partner with African publishers to source and digitize their books.
We also have textbooks available for certain countries and curriculums. For our textbook coverage, see here. Please contact us if you would like to see a specific list of textbooks.
Read more about our books here.
After you decide to pursue a Worldreader Solution, our Librarian will assess your readers’ needs and recommend a set of books customized to your school/library’s needs. You will have a chance to work with our Librarian to finalize this book list.
What languages does Worldreader support?
Research points to the importance of mother tongue reading materials for learning and literacy outcomes. Our Library consists of 41+ languages. Please click here for our full list.
What if my language is not yet supported?
Most content we currently have available is in English, with some 1,700 books and texts in local African languages. As such, we are at this time not yet ready to expand into other territories outside of Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa. We are, however, working hard to acquire material in other major languages, chiefly French and Spanish.
How do I add books to the e-readers?
Books for purchase must be ordered through Worldreader. Worldreader holds book sales three times a year where partners can purchase new and exclusively discounted books from the Worldreader Library.
Free books can be added onto e-readers during these three Book Sales as well.
Worldreader pushes the books from its Operations Hubs in San Francisco (USA), Accra (Ghana), or Nairobi (Kenya), and partners then simply connect the devices to WiFi to download the books.
Can I add my own material to the e-readers?
You can transfer documents from your computer to your e-reader by connecting your e-reader to your computer via a USB cable.
How are the Worldreader Solution e-readers charged? And what if our school doesn’t have consistent power?
The e-readers use very little power. Generally, they need to be charged every 2-4 weeks, assuming about 1 hour of reading per day, with the WiFi off and backlight low (level 10 or less); there is no need for daily charging. It only takes about one hour to bring the device to full power (this will vary of course if you are providing your own devices.) Some of our schools that have little access to power, or lack consistent power, use a generator once every couple of weeks to bring the devices back up to full power.
Is solar energy an option for charging the e-readers?
We are pleased to offer a solar unit as a sustainable option to charge your devices. This unit can charge 1-2 BLUE Boxes (this amount will vary if you are providing your own devices.) Click here to read more.
Does an e-reading project require reliable internet/WiFi connection?
An internet/WiFi connection is not required at the project site in order to use the e-readers. The e-readers come pre-loaded with the initial set of at least 100 books; a connection is only required when new books need to be downloaded and added to the devices. Our partners have not found this to be an obstacle in running a project.
Where can I learn more about current Worldreader Solutions and Worldreader e-reading projects?
See an overview of our current projects here.
We encourage you to read stories and updates about our e-reader programs on our blog and press page.
