Lubuto Library Project

In Zambia, as in many Southern African countries, quality education remains elusive for the most disadvantaged members of society, preventing them from becoming productive and engaged citizens. The Lubuto Library model provides open-access educational institutions in environments where only closed systems (such as schools) exist. Through their accessible and holistic educational services, Lubuto Libraries seek to open worlds of possibilities, particularly for out-of-school and other vulnerable children and youth. They also seek to create a valuable synergy with education, health and other sectors, making all these inputs more sustainable and effective.

The overarching goal of the Lubuto Library model is to provide vulnerable children and youth an opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills that will reconnect them with their culture and community, and empower them to participate fully in society. Each Lubuto Library starts with 4,000 books, selected and organised into a well-balanced and comprehensive collection of sturdy books. The selection is guided by professionals in children’s libraries, OVC participation, and feedback from library users. Collections are assembled and catalogued by United States (US) volunteers using a specially-designed access system and are sent shelf-ready to Africa, where local-language books are added. Library staff appointed by the host organisation receive in-service training from professional librarians to offer enrichment programmes and services sensitised to users' psychosocial needs. In addition, in 2009, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO laptops were introduced in Lubuto’s first library. The second Lubuto Library opened in Lusaka’s Garden Compound in November of 2010, and the third is planned for Nabukuyu.

The environments of indigenously-styled Lubuto Library compounds are intrinsic to the experience and impact of library programmes on individual users. Using vernacular building patterns as a source of pride and celebration of Zambia’s cultures, the purpose-built structures are made to support Lubuto’s range of services and programmes. They include defined outdoor space for performances amid the library buildings.

Lubuto Libraries are based upon traditional Zambian approaches, rather than western educational systems, by which African children learn about the world and their place in it. Beyond its libraries, the Lubuto Project works to identify and bring traditional Zambian stories back into print. These stories have been digitised and are available at www.lubutocollections.org. Lubuto has developed a child protection policy and has expanded its outreach to include a focus on vulnerable girls.

According to Lubuto Libraries, they are internationally recognised as model library services for disadvantaged children, with specially designed programmes, led by Zambian professionals, that support children in developing their talents, skills, and self-esteem, including: Performing and Visual Arts; Literacy, Read-aloud and Storytelling; Motivational Mentoring; One Laptop Per Child XO laptops; HIV/AIDS and Health; Environment; and encouraging children to write their life stories and create their own books. Lubuto’s staff has designed its model to scale up to at least 100 libraries in Zambia and provide ongoing support to its library network with continuous staff training, collection enrichment and updating, programme revision based on community and user feedback, and evaluative studies. Its collection development policies and classification and access system will evolve, according to LLP, as new needs are identified.

Children, Education, Gender.

"Lubuto" is a word in the Bemba language (of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) that signifies knowledge, enlightenment, and light. Lubuto was ‘born’ in Zambia, inspired by the observed impact of a makeshift library established in a converted shipping container at the Fountain of Hope in Lusaka in 2001, which enabled users to pass the secondary school exam and proved sustainable after 5 years with no external inputs. Lubuto’s headquarters are in Washington, DC, USA, an incorporated nonprofit since January 2005, whose regional office in Lusaka, Zambia has been a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) since September 2005. The organisation does not work as an isolated charity. The sustainability of its programme is ensured through partnership with government, community-based organisations, and professional groups, and Lubuto libraries are owned and run by Zambians.

The first Lubuto Libraries in Zambia have been embraced by the country's education stakeholders and the Ministry of Education is committed to supporting expansion of the model to each province, in partnership with the Zambia Library Service.

In July 2009, at the American Library Association (ALA)'s annual conference in Chicago, Illinois, United States, the Lubuto Library Project was recognised for its “excellence and impact with the ALA President's Award for International Innovations".

In 2012, The Lubuto Library Project was among 32 winners of an All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development grant, made possible through the support of the All Children Reading Founding Partners (the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, and the Australian Agency for International Development) to expand its LubutoLiteracy programme. LubutoLiteracy is a programme designed to create high-quality mother-tongue materials to teach children to read on an accessible, low-cost digital platform, and sustainably deploying them at national scale in Zambia in partnership with government and other stakeholders. The interactive materials are developed by Zambian teachers and youth in line with the national curriculum and leverage the open access learning environment and outreach of Lubuto Libraries to particularly benefit highly vulnerable and out-of-school children. Library staff provide supported access to interactive computer-based lessons in Zambia's seven major languages that adapt the printed curriculum to incorporate more familiar vocabulary. The project builds on the lessons of Lubuto's pilot programme in its first two libraries in Lusaka. (See Related Summaries below for more information on LubutoLiteracy).