In 2001, reading a United Nations report, I got concerned about the high rates of illiteracy around the world.

Then when I travelled to Ethiopia in 2002, I witnessed first-hand the lack of educational resources and books in the classrooms and I could see the link between young people and the poverty trap due to their limited access to education.

After a successful commercial career, l wanted to give back to the community. Therefore in 2003, I established the World Literacy Foundation with the goal to bring books, tutoring and literacy resources to children without any support.

In 2005, we started with the transportation of children’s books to Africa and a few years later, we expanded our programs to United States and United Kingdom and Australia.

In 2014, we founded a small reading group in Colombia that has grown through the years reaching every day more families.

In 2016, we incorporated the Sun Books initiative in Uganda, a low-cost solution to deliver hundreds of eBooks pre-loaded in solar-powered tablets to reach students in off-the-grid classrooms. Today we have extended to Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Later in 2018, we decided to implement the literacy app in Northern Territory, Australia and included e-books and games to help children learn English in conjunction with their mother tongue.

Meanwhile, in 2012 we ran for the first time the World Literacy Summit at Oxford University to bring together the global literacy community to build greater collaboration and partnerships.

It was a complete success and we decided to celebrate it again in 2014, 2018 and in 2020 we moved to an online conference, due to Covid-19 and the unforeseen circumstances worldwide.

Last year, we reached more than 315,000 children and young people with our services in the USA, Australia, UK, Africa, and Latin America.

I am satisfied and keen to continue working for literacy and education for children because I strongly believe literacy is the vehicle, the pathway to young people reaching their full potential.

“Reading skills are the key determining factor for a child’s future academic success and reaching their full potential”

ANDREW G KAY

Founder and CEO World Literacy Foundation.