Our Story

Over 60 million primary school-aged children around the world do not have access to education and most likely will never learn to read or write. Room to Read believes that all children, regardless of gender or background, have a right to education. By empowering children through this lifelong gift, we see a world in which people are able to realize their full potential.

Room to Read had its humble origins in Nepal in 2000, where we began bringing donated books to rural communities. Today, we are a global organization dedicated to promoting and enabling education through programs focused on literacy and gender equality in education. We achieve this goal by establishing school libraries, building schools, publishing local-language children's books, training teachers on literacy education and supporting girls to complete secondary school with the life skills neccessary to succeed in school and beyond.

We currently work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia – with plans to expand so we can bring educational opportunities and resources to children throughout the developing world.

Room to Read’s programs have benefitted more than 7.8 million children so far and we are on track to reach 10 million children by 2015.  Imagine a world in which every child has access to an education. Room to Read is doing our best to make this dream a reality, one child at a time.