Country of Residence
Nigeria
Age
19
Project title
The Book Effect Project
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
The Book Effect Project is a nonprofit organization that works to bridge the interest and access gap in reading while transforming young people from passive to active readers, leaders, and changemakers.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.instagram.com/thebookeffectproject?cplk=YXVvd3hzbjNtajN3
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Scaling (We’re expanding impact to new locations or in new and innovative ways)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
A person who does not read cannot grow they say. But for me, I'll say a person who cannot dream is dangerous and dreaming is synonymous to reading because it changed my life. Reading about different characters and how they are able to do great things inspired me so much. I got the chance to experience different realities and by giving me a glimpse into these worlds, I knew I wanted a chance to experience these things in real life and it pushed me to work hard for them. Growing up in a small community, my world felt small, but books completely blew it open. They were my escape and my window to what was possible. But when I was 13, I looked around and realized so many kids around me were completely cut off from that feeling. They didn't see why reading mattered. So, I didn't wait for permission. I mobilized my friends and started renting books in school to gather money to donate to an orphanage. Taking action at that age was scary but it was one of the best things I have ever done. It taught me early on that I don’t need permission to fix a problem.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
My initiative is addressing the interest and access gap in reading. There is a decline in reading among young people in today's digital age. We talk a lot about the access gap (not having books) while neglecting the silent killer that the interest gap is. Reading is treated like a boring chore you only do to pass an exam. Many young people are increasingly spending more time on their devices and less time with books. This is truly concerning considering the numerous benefits that reading as to offer. As someone who has personally experienced the power of reading, I believe that it is important to encourage young people to develop a love for reading and provide them with access to books. Growing up in a small community, I didn't always get the chance to explore beyond my environment but my parents always bought books for me. From the comfort of my room, I would be transported to places I could only dream of. I would meet people from different cultures and get the chance to walk in their shoes. Books were my mirror of possibilities, a constant reminder that the world is beyond my environment and there's so much in store for me. So from an early age, I learned not to limit myself and the important lessons and skills I've gathered over the years from reading has shaped me into the changemaker I am today. I believe that it is only right that I share the gift that reading is.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
We address these problems by first rebranding reading to make it desirable. Our core approach is our school tour called "Why My Guy Should Be Your Guy." We don't just go to schools to tell students to read. We pitch books as a friend who makes you smarter, more confident, and takes you around the world without leaving your seat. They get curious trying to guess who this friend is, and we reveal it is a book. This makes reading feel fun and relatable. We also engage personally with children who don't like reading to understand their specific challenge. Aside from the tours, we run campaigns such as #MyReadingJourney where we had young people share how they started reading to inspire their peers, and another campaign targeted at parents and educators on reading as a cognitive tool. We also host engagements like essay competitions to keep students engaged, and in every engagement we've had, we gift students books. We are currently establishing book clubs in schools. These clubs are being built to use books as a tool to help students develop life skills. We have developed a five-pillar curriculum that links African books to five core life skills. These skills are: emotional intelligence, critical thinking, financial literacy, civic responsibility, and leadership and teamwork. We are currently setting up these clubs, and because we can't be in every school physically, we are also building a tech platform to host the curriculum so children in different states, including states where we don't operate, can access it.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
So far we have engaged over one hundred students directly and gifted over forty books. But beyond the numbers, it's the stories that have stayed with me. One experience I will never forget is 11 year old Goodness who entered our essay competition. The children were supposed to write about their favorite book character and why they love the character, and she wrote that she has never read a book before because of financial constraints. That broke my heart deeply and it reminded me of why The Book Effect Project is important. We were able to gift her her first storybook. Another moment that was deeply heartwarming for me was when someone shared a picture with me of them in a primary school where they had gone to speak to students and give every single student in the class books. They sent the picture to me and said they were inspired by what The Book Effect Project is doing, so they decided to also go and speak to students and provide them with books. For me, this what impact and the changemaker effect looks like. It is inspiring other people to take action in their own communities.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
What makes The Book Effect Project different is that we have moved beyond the charity-based model. Most organizations just do book donations. They go and drop books and leave. While that is important, we saw that it is not enough. We are tackling both interest and access at the same time. In some cases books are actually available but students don't know how to use them to change the trajectory of their lives, and even when books are made available, students are not guided on how to read beyond just the pages. That is what makes us innovative. We developed a rich five-pillar curriculum that links African fictional books to emotional intelligence, critical thinking, financial literacy, civic responsibility, and leadership and teamwork. It is designed in such a way that students truly gain every skill we identified just by reading these texts. We are also showing students that they can gain so much even from fictional books and become leaders and changemakers from what they are reading. And because we cannot be in every school physically, we are building a tech platform to host this curriculum so students in different states can access it.
How many people are on your team?
13
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I couldn’t do this alone, and I have an amazing team. Oluwanifemi handles our programs and curriculum, Michelle leads our communications with Ifeoluwa assisting her, while Trust coordinates our operation. We also have a brilliant media team of content writers, graphic designers, and video editors like Enyinnaya, Chimamanda, Heritage and Testimony. The exceptional programs team is supported by Yinka, Ebun and Queen. Hannah is our Lagos State Coordinator, spreading our mission and vision to Lagos.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
My focus is to transition The Book Effect Project from a community initiative to a much more structured organization that can be scaled for nationwide impact. A major priority is amplifying our visibility through partnerships with media houses, especially in Ondo State which is our home base. I believe that strategic media partnerships will help us not just tell our story, but also shift how parents, educators and young people see reading itself. I am also focused on strengthening our partnerships with schools and securing collaborations with African publishers to ensure students have access to high-quality books. I urgently want to complete and launch our tech platform as this will allow us to host our five-pillar curriculum and reach students far beyond where we can be physically. We have just expanded to Lagos State, and in the next year, I want to establish The Book Effect Project as a force in Lagos while also moving beyond Ondo and Lagos to create a nationwide effect across Nigeria.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
Encouraging people to join The Book Effect Project starts with sharing our story. I am constantly sharing our work on social media and using my personal platform to talk about how reading has shaped me positively and why I started this project. In fact, almost every person on my team today joined because they saw my personal posts about reading and reached out. My team members are not just volunteers. I treat them as leaders. Everyone has the autonomy to make decisions as long as those decisions will move The Book Effect forward. That is how we operate and it has been wonderful to see what they do with that freedom. Beyond my team, we activate others by showing what is possible. For example, someone who follows our work went to a school in her community, gifted books to every child in a class, and sent me pictures. She has been following up since then on how she can be more involved, and we are planning a school tour in that community which interestingly is the same community I grew up in as a child, so it is a full circle moment. Another person, who works in the media space has been seeing our posts and reached out to learn more about what we are doing and she donated money to get books for kids. So we encourage people by doing the work, sharing it consistently, and giving people room to lead and take ownership in their own way.
