Lubuto Library Partners
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The HIV/AIDS pandemic, conflict, systemic breakdown and poverty have left millions of African youth isolated from their communities and cast off. Looking forward, exponential population growth threatens to overwhelm the capacity to support the exploding numbers of children, including those with disabilities. Lubuto Library Partners (LLP), teaming with community-based programs, has pioneered a model for addressing this crisis. LLP creates an effective platform that connects children, with special attention to the marginalized, with their communities and the wider world and provides them with the knowledge and life skills needed to lead healthy and productive lives.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Storytime
Reading and enjoying excellent books with children is a core program of Lubuto Libraries and an essential first step toward literacy and English language acquisition. This activity is carried out by library staff, teachers, regular volunteers and visitors to the library, as well as by and among the children themselves. An adult taking time to read with a child, or to share an inspiring and entertaining book with a group of children and young adults, gives far more than the enjoyment or knowledge offered by the book. It tells the children that they are valued and cared for, and it opens worlds of possibilities for them, allowing them to envision a bigger world and brighter future. Reading aloud to children is a daily program offered in the library. Teachers are encouraged to bring classes to the library for read-aloud sessions as well. The library collection contains excellent picture books for this activity, as well as chapter books that can be read serially. Biographies and other nonfiction are also read. Children also enjoy reading together or among one another in groups. A bibliography of good read-aloud choices available in the collection guides teachers, visitors and volunteers in selecting books to read. In 2016, the Lubuto Model Library began offering storytime in Zambian Sign Language to help serve the large deaf community. We will continue to develop and expand storytime and other programs for the deaf in the future.
Arts
Lubuto Libraries work with local organizations to offer programs in both visual and performing arts.
Lubuto’s art program is designed and taught with children and youth in mind. It nurtures and develops creativity in young people and enriches their lives with a true appreciation and understanding of art. The participants acquire skills in artistic expression through color, line, shape, space, texture, form and design. Participants successes, growth, and creativity are supported by teachers and peers. Perhaps most importantly, Lubuto provides opportunities for young artists to develop their talent and gives them a mode of expression—a way to communicate their stories and thoughts to the wider world.
LubutoArts participants have held gallery shows in Lusaka (Henry Tayali Gallery and elsewhere) and even in New Orleans, USA at the Stella Jones Gallery. Lubuto’s artists regularly participate in national programs such as those of the stArt Foundation and Art4Art. Many have sold their first artworks through these events and have developed livelihoods in the arts.
Teen programs
Lubuto Libraries develop special programs to best serve teenagers. These programs address the specific needs of teens, including the development of STEM and other productive skills, digital and traditional literacy, and group-level cooperation for analysis and problem solving to support the successful transition of teens into adulthood.
Technology
All Lubuto libraries now have computers, which are very heavily used—particularly to improve language and computer skills. A recent addition to the libraries is the introduction of ZEduPads, touch-screen tablets loaded with interactive lessons for the Zambian primary curriculum. Staff and volunteers help to train children in computer literacy.
In 2012, Lubuto launched 700 LubutoLiteracy lessons, reading lessons in seven different Zambian languages. These lessons were created by Zambian teachers and youth to serve as engaging learning tools. Originally in an eToy format, these lessons have been updated and will soon be released in an even more accessible format. It is our hope that children and teachers in communities both close and far away from Lubuto libraries will use these new literacy lessons.
DREAMS
Public libraries are a platform for linking high-risk girls to the information and services that that empower them to develop life skills, avoid HIV infection and stay in school. This is the promise of Lubuto’s project, "Innovative libraries keeping girls mentored, empowered, safe, determined, resilient and AIDS-free," under PEPFAR's DREAMS Innovation Challenge which targets 15-24 year-old girls and young women in Lusaka. New Lubuto library programs include: a crowdsourced scholarship program, role model mentoring, expanded outreach led by female outreach coordinators, peer-to-peer mentoring, all-male mentoring, family mentoring and family literacy
Programs for children with disabilities
In 2016, Lubuto Libraries started offering storytime and outreach sessions in Zambian Sign Language for children with impaired hearing. We also recently engaged the Special Hope Center to train all staff to better identify, integrate and support children with disabilities. The libraries will continue to adapt their programs to better serve children with disabilities
Early childhood education
Lubuto libraries offer enriching early childhood educational programs for vulnerable young children between the ages of birth and eight in Lusaka, the vast majority of whom lack access to formal preschool programs. By providing a vital foundation in early learning and literacy experiences, Lubuto’s ECE programming promises to have a lasting impact on the long-term educational and psychosocial outcomes for vulnerable children in Zambia. ECE sessions are offered during Family Literacy program sessions and include early literacy activities focused on building skills such as phonological awareness, print awareness and motivation, narrative skills, and letter awareness that are evidence-based predictors of future reading ability. ECE programs also include music and movement, science experiments and math activities, and gross and fine motor activities, as well as a parent-child component that equips mothers and female caregivers to engage their children in quality early learning experience at home. Model early learning spaces developed at Lubuto’s Comboni American Youth Library and the Lubuto Model Library include themed play spaces that promote dramatic play and build a broader understanding among librarians, parents, and community members of the role of play in early learning and literacy development.
Child marriage prevention
Zambia has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Africa, with 31% of girls under the age of 18 already married. At the Mumuni Nabukuyu Library in Southern Province, Lubuto has pioneered innovative library-based programs to prevent child marriage by addressing two of its major drivers in this rural community: poverty and limited educational and economic prospects for girls.
Program activities include: a Family Makerspace offering skills-training and fabrication activities (e.g., sewing, technology training, pottery, arts and crafts, carving, carpentry, gardening, hairdressing) that increase the financial capacity of mothers and female caregivers to keep their daughters in school; Facilitation of meetings of chiefs, headmen, teachers and other local stakeholders to increase awareness of early marriage and to generate and deliver community-led solutions, such as the establishment of a local gender-based-violence reporting Secretariat, operated by area chiefs and opened with Lubuto’s support in June of 2019; Offer 10 comprehensive boarding school scholarships—including tuition, fees, uniforms, school supplies, and feminine hygiene products—to help girls who were removed from child marriages re-enroll in school and reimagine their futures;
COVID-19 programming
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lubuto has adapted programming to keep children and their families safe while also following safety and health guidelines. We have developed a Tonga translation of a COVID-19 book, are featuring our digital resources more prominently on our website, working on LubutoLiteracy lessons that will be accessible to everyone with an internet connection, and staff are carrying on their programs virtually and developing new programs. Our library technical services staff are working on long-overdue work with book collections that couldn’t be done with children in the library, such as inventory work.
Where we work
Awards
Presidential Citation for International Innovation 2009
American Library Association
Alumnus of the Year 2008
University of Maryland College of Library and Information Science
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nominee, 2009-10, 2012-2022 2022
Swedish Arts Council
International Board on Books for Young People Asahi Award nominee 2008
U.S. Board on Books for Young People
Dow Jones Leadership Award 2007
Special Libraries Association
Innovative and Creative Institution Award 2022
Library and Information Association of Zambia
“Friendly and Inclusive Spaces” Award Special Mention 2017
International Union of Architects
Affiliations & memberships
American Library Association 2005
Library and Information Association of Zambia 2005
African Library and Information Association 2011
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions 2007
Special Libraries Association 2005
Zambian Library and Information Association 2007
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of youth who have received full tuition scholarships to secondary school
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Lubuto Library Partners is an innovative development organization that builds the capacity of African libraries to create opportunities for equitable education and poverty reduction. Our mission is to enlighten and enrich the lives of children and youth in sub-Saharan Africa, especially those not in school and highly vulnerable.
We construct enduring open-access libraries whose design is inspired by traditional and contemporary social, economic and cultural patterns and which freely offer comprehensive collections of well-chosen books and technology resources. These libraries serve as safe havens and are the center for dynamic library programming offering education, psychosocial support and self-expression through reading, music, art, drama, computers, mentoring and other activities.
We maintain a continuous learning relationship for children and youth public library services with a growing network of Lubuto libraries owned and operated by Zambian organizations.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
LLP's model is based on creating safe and stimulating spaces through open access, child-friendly libraries. These libraries then serve as a platform for integrated and holistic programs that take into consideration educational, emotional, and social development from early childhood into the transition to adulthood. LLP has several strategies for advancing our efforts effectively and sustainably.
>Identify target communities and hosts
>Build library facilities reflecting indigenous culture
>Provide excellent collections and resources
>Establish targeted and innovative programming
>Conduct effective outreach
>Provide youth library services training
>Monitor and evaluate libraries' impact
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
LLP was founded and is supported by dedicated professional librarians, who work diligently to provide comprehensive and culturally relevant book collections for the libraries. Many library staff and volunteers grew up in the communities in which we work and also lived on the streets, so they play a key role in making all library programming relevant. Guidance is provided by an Advisory Board made up of librarians, writers and a range of other professionals from Zambia and around the world.
Development of new Lubuto Libraries is guided by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zambian Ministry of General Education in concert with the Zambia Library Service, and the Ministry has asked LLP to build libraries in each province. LLP works with community based host organizations who own and support each library once it is developed, with LLP maintaining an ongoing relationship primarily focused on training and professional support of library staff.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since its founding in 2005, LLP has built three fully functioning public libraries that serve as living examples of our model. Lubuto Libraries have received more than 1.4 million visits from 150,000 young people. The Lubuto Model Library at Ngwerere is the most visited public library in Zambia, averaging more than 2,200 visits per week. More than 24,000 children have participated in at least one library program. In beneficiary interviews conducted in 2012 with around 130 children and youth, 100% of respondents spoke of at least one positive change they have experienced since they began visiting Lubuto Libraries, while 87% gave very positive and lengthy explanations about the immense impact of the Lubuto Libraries on their lives. LLP is in the process of constructing its next library in Choma and plans to expand the training and support we offer to library staff, volunteers, and teachers, while raising overall awareness within communities and among leaders in Zambia.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Lubuto Library Partners
Board of directorsas of 02/28/2024
Jane Meyers
Lubuto Library Partners
Term: 2005 -
Sally K Sinn
Retired
Jane K Meyers
Lubuto Library Partners
Shelley Campbell
Retired
William Fisher
San Jose State Univ iSchool
Stephanie Sams
International Monetary Fund
Jennifer Lester
International Monetary Fund Retired
Elena Michaels
International Monetary Fund
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: