Worldreader’s Inspire Us project in West Africa, supported by Helen Gurley Brown’s Pussycat Foundation, is advancing West African authors and changing the conversation about gender norms through the power of stories, delivered via mobile phones.
By addressing critical issues (like violence against women, family planning, and women’s autonomy) and providing positive literary role models – the Inspire Us collection of stories offers mixed-gender bookclubs a chance to interrogate these issues within the safe space of fiction. Inspire Us has the power to shape attitudes, which can then translate to a groundswell of positive actions, lifting women up to take their rightful place in society.
Worldreader, the global nonprofit organization that helps the world read in partnership with Library Aid Africa, has launched the collection of 30 digital stories that empower women and show women as protagonists and change agents of the future.
The event, which took place at the IBI Center in Abuja on 17th September 2019, was also used to launch book club engagement activities in Nigeria. The book clubs are a vital aspect of the project, providing participants the opportunity to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and elevate the status of women and girls.
The event celebrated these 10 finalists of the Inspire Us writing contest:
● Akua Serwaa Amankwah
● Udechukwu Promise
● Chukwudumebi Onoh
● Onis Sampson
● Ruby Goka (Multiple Burt
Award winner)
● Sandy Om’Iniabohs Iguede
● Ifeoluwa Watson
● George Shaw
● Chijindu James-Ibe
● Adaeze Ibechukwu
The Keynote speaker for the day, Haj. Samira Jibir, Chief Executive Officer of Glisten International Academy, encouraged young girls across Nigeria to look beyond the basic uses of digital literacy tools and use them to create a better and more fulfilling life for themselves.
About the Inspire Us Project
Raising the status of women and girls requires changing the conversation to inspire action. In partnership with Helen Gurley Brown’s Pussycat Foundation,
Worldreader is changing the conversation in West Africa through the power of local stories delivered on mobile phones.
“We are grateful to Helen Gurley Brown’s Pussycat Foundation for supporting the Inspire Us project,” says Ethel Sakitey, regional director, West Africa for Worldreader.
“Through this partnership, we are able to support West African authors and bring empowering digital stories about women to readers.”
In December 2018, Worldreader began the Inspire Us project to create a digital collection of 30 stories featuring West African women role models. The Inspire Us collection focuses on engaging young women between the ages of 15 and 24 and encouraging conversations around gender norms and gender stereotypes, with the goal of reaching 30,000 women readers across West Africa.
Inspire Us has the power to encourage reading among young women at a critical age. The Inspire Us collection explores women’s challenges, provides empowered female characters as role models, and inspires conversations about gender norms and how to change them.
The Inspire Us collection will be available on Worldreader’s mobile app in September 2019. Worldreader has partnered with a Library Aid Africa in Nigeria with the goal of facilitating conversations and engaging readers with the new collection.
About Worldreader
Worldreader is a global nonprofit whose mission is to help the world read through increased accessibility to digital books. The organization provides students and their families with a free digital library available on tablets, e-readers, and mobile phones, complemented by a suite of reading support programs. Since 2010, more than 13 million people across 50 countries have read from the Worldreader digital library of thousands of local and international digital books. Worldreader works with device manufacturers, local and international publishers, government agencies, education officials, and local communities to help readers worldwide.
MEDIA CONTACTS
In West Africa
Kezia Agbenyega
Publisher and Author Relations Manager, West Africa
Worldreader
kezia@worldreader.org
Mobile: +233 246 21 36 92
In the United States
Melanie Wise
Director, Global Marketing & Communications
Worldreader
melanie@worldreader.org
Mobile: +1 415-637-599
Below are the step by step guide to download books on Worldreader:
