With over 200 million children worldwide not currently enrolled in school and over 800 million illiterate, the need for educational resources and infrastructure is great. The vast majority of these children are from the developing world, where extreme poverty prevents many children from getting an education. Room to Read is working to solve this problem by partnering with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, publish children’s books, and fund girl’s scholarships. They seek to intervene early in the lives of children, especially girls with their scholarship programs, in the belief that education is a lifelong gift that empowers people to ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations. Through the opportunities that only an education can provide, Room to Read strives to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.

One of the parts the World Bank’s $26 million research budget is understanding the impact of education around the world, specifically the developing world. Here they couldn’t be clearer when they state - “educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment in the developing world.” My role with Room to Read is to encourage donors large and small to make this investment to level the playing field and give kids in 8 countries in Asia and 2 in Africa hope for a better future - for them and their families.

For more information, go to www.roomtoread.org or email me (Craig Herb) at cherb@roomtoread.org.