Reading Tanzania (2023-2025)

For children to become confident readers, they need something surprisingly simple: books they want to read and teachers who know how to help them read them. Yet in many Tanzanian primary schools, children have access to as little as three to eleven pages of text in an entire year. Classroom libraries are sparse, teachers have limited resources, and local publishers face challenges producing the diverse, high-quality children’s books young readers need.

In 2023, CODE launched Reading Tanzania, a new literacy initiative reaching nearly 5,000 girls and boys in Grades 1–3 across 15 primary schools in Ifakara, Kilombero District. The project is implemented in partnership with the Children’s Book Organization for Tanzania (CBO) and made possible by the extraordinary fundraising efforts of CODE’s 2022 Summit for Literacy team.

Reading Tanzania tackles the challenge from both sides. In schools, teachers, librarians and head teachers will build practical skills in guided, group and independent reading, gender-responsive teaching and creating print-rich classrooms. Ongoing mentorship and peer learning will reinforce this professional development, helping educators translate new approaches into everyday classroom practice.

At the same time, CODE and CBO are working to increase the supply of engaging, age-appropriate books created specifically for Tanzanian children. Workshops for more than 60 Tanzanian publishers, writers and illustrators will strengthen local capacity to produce inclusive children’s literature across a wider range of genres, from alphabet books and patterned readers to informational texts and stories.

The resulting locally published books will help establish mini-libraries in participating schools, giving young readers greater opportunities to discover stories that reflect their lives, languages and communities.

By connecting children, teachers, books and the people who create them, Reading Tanzania aims not only to strengthen foundational literacy, but to help build a culture and an ecosystem of reading that can endure well beyond the life of the project.