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About who we are

The African Chapter of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Book Club was founded on UNESCO World Book & Copyright Day, April 23rd 2021. SDG Book Club Africa is one of the latest chapters of the UN SDG Book Club. It spans the entire continent of Africa and is, in size, second only to the global Club. The African Chapter operates in four of the main languages of Africa: Kiswahili, French, English and Arabic.

Like the global UN SDG Book Club it is modelled on, the African Chapter aims to encourage children aged 6-12 years plus to interact with the principles of the Sustainable Development through a reading list curated for the target age range and also through reading lists curated for Special Projects eg the Canon Europe & UN SDG Book Club African Chapter partnership conceived to come to fruition during the DRUPA 2024 trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany. This partnership will witness the production of between 500 – 1000 copies of books for young adults and adults in a variety of genres, all addressing 1 or more of the UN SDGs and all published in countries across Africa.

AMBASSADOR SCHOOLS

The African Chapter’s selection committees made up of representatives of the founding institutions: book-sellers, publishers, writers, editors, librarians, reading culture promoters, based in countries across the continent. Are responsible for the selection of books for each of the 17 SDGs. Titles cut across fiction, non-fiction and children’s books in other genres such as drama, poetry and biography.

SDG Book Club Africa launched the Ambassador Schools Program (17th May 2021) to motivate children to read more and to provide them with quality books of a wide variety of genres, whose themes address principles of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Our Ambassador Schools encourage healthy and creative engagement with the SDGs, both indoors and outdoors. At our Ambassador Schools, we seek to ensure that no-one, particularly children, the builders of our future, is left out of the global effort to make the world a better place. Children are our partners in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ambassador Schools ensure they institute after-school book clubs or reading corners (nooks) where the reading and reviewing of the SDG Book Club Africa’s books [and for older children, other quality SDG focused texts] addressing SDG themes and concerns will take place. The adult supervisors of book club sessions will be committed to sharing understanding with the children about the Sustainable Development Goals in a range of ways from film screenings to spoken and written film reviews, book reviews, arts and crafts, quizzes, puzzles, discussions and debates and field trips which foreground the concerns and the realization of the SDGs. The African SDG Book Club has produced a communication tool known as our IDEAS SHEET which is shared by email with Ambassador Schools with each new curated SDG reading list. The Ideas Sheet guides understanding of the current SDG themes and suggests activities that children can carry out with suitable levels of supervision as educators nurture their growth into active local and global citizens. Educators are encouraged to comment by email on the content of the Ideas Sheet and to propose ideas for inclusion and to give us feedback by email about the response of children’s to SDG activities. We are happy to publish some of the educators’ most illuminating articles (up to 800 words) on our various platforms.