May 19, 2021
The onset of the pandemic – and the resulting education emergency as over a billion children suddenly faced school closures – required our teams around the world to act quickly to find innovative ways to support the children we serve.
New, broad-scale initiatives such as TV and radio programming, the distribution of printed at-home learning materials, and expanded parent outreach allowed us to reach far more children than we ever had in a single year.
In 2020, thanks to the support of our dedicated global community, Room to Read programs benefited a record 4.9 million children – a 94% increase over what was previously our most far-reaching year.
Not only are we adapting our programs and expanding our reach; we have also conducted a thorough analysis to ensure that the ways we are reaching these children are truly making a difference in their lives.
Our global Research, Monitoring & Evaluation team worked with outside technical advisors to develop a framework to assess the reach and benefit of our new program activities. Several factors were vetted, including:
Our reach for the year was then conservatively calculated based on the variables unique to each activity and context. Room to Read is a learning organization and we will continue to refine our programs and assessment models over time.
Below, learn more about some of the new program initiatives that have allowed us to reach more children, families and educators.
Room to Read is pursuing these distance learning techniques in 2021 and beyond. Across many countries in Asia, COVID-19 cases are now spreading at devastating rates, resulting in a deepening of the crisis that began in 2020. As an organization dedicated to education, Room to Read is doing everything we can to ensure that learning continues amid this surge. Stay informed by signing up for our emails.
Thank you to our supporters for making this work possible!