Procurement In

Educational Publishing Public Disclosure Authorized 4~~~~~~~~~ --- ~g X--4inG [obal .. .. r Perspective CapacityBuilding I g -7 and Trends DeC. sq8 Public Disclosure Authorized

N-~ - Public Disclosure Authorized

5Ihobhaim~5)os,,ilc -0- Editor Public Disclosure Authorized Educational PubLishing in Global Perspective Capacity Building and Trends

Shobhana Sosafe Editor

Cover design by Suzanne L. Luft of Communications Development Inc. The photographs illus- trate three of the many issues in educational publishing that are discussed in the text (from top to bottom): distribution of books in rural areas (a school class in a mountainous region of Bhutan, by Curt Carnemark); equal accessto education (girls reading in Liberia, by YosefHadar); and education in the 21st century (students using computers in Brazil,by Francis Dobbs).

The findings, interpretations, and condusions expressedin this volume are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent.

The material in this publication is copyrighted. Requestsfor permissionto reproduce portions of it should be sent to the Office of the Publisher at the address in the copyright notice above. The World Bank encourages disseminationof its work and will normally give permission promptly and, when the reproduction is for noncommercial purposes, without asking a fee. Permissionto copy portions for classroom use is granted through the Copyright Clearance Center, Suite 910, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, U.S.A.

Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData

Educational publishing in global perspective : capacity building and trends / Shobhana Sosale, editor. p. cm. Papers presented at a meeting held at the World Bank, Washington, D.C., Sept. 9-10, 1997. Includes bibliographicalreferences. ISBN 0-8213-4254-1 1. Educational publishing-Congresses. I. Sosale, Shobhana, 1963- . II. World Bank. Z286.E3E35 1998 070.5-dc2l 98-47265 CIP Contents

FoREwoRD vii PREFACE ix

Introduction 1 Shobbana Sosale

POLICIESFOR THE LONG-TERMPROVISION OF EDUCATIONALMATERIALS 11

National Policies for the Book Sector 13 Diana Newton The Role of ADEA in Sustainable Book Development 19 Carew B. W Treffgarne Toward Literate Societies: Publishing in Local Languages 24 Ingrid Jung Supporting Educational Materials Programs in Developing Countries: SIDA's Experience 34 Maria Stridsman The Texto Unico Policy in Colombia 40 Gaston de Bedout Moving toward Private Sector Publishing in Eastern Europe 45 Frances Pinter Long-Term Book Provision in C6te d'Ivoire 63 Laurent Loric The Transition to Privatization in Publishing: Ghana's Experience 71 Richard A. B. Crabbe A New Textbook Policy in Tanzania 86 Maria Stridsman

.i.i iv EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Textbook Publishing Policy in C6te d'Ivoire 89 Amedee Couassi-Ble

Discussion on Policies for the Long-Term Provision of Educational Materials 97

FINANCE AND BOOK TRADE ISSUES 101

Local and Foreign Partnerships: Attracting Foreign Investment 103 Marc Moingeon Donor Support for Book Imports 106 Laurent Loric Donor Support for Textbooks in Africa 115 Brigid O'Connor Cross-Border Book Trade: The East African Experience 123 James Tumusiime Does Cross-Border Book Trade Work? The Case of Mexico 126 Carlos Noriega

PROCUREMENT, PROTECTION, AND COPRGHT 131

Who's Afraid of Printing Textbooks in Romania? 133 Daniela Papadima Textbook Procurement in Bolivia 136 Luis Henrique Lopez Enhancing the Role of Local African Publishers in Book Procurement Schemes 139 Chief Victor Nwankwo World Bank Procurement Guidelines for Textbooks 144 Sverrir Sigurdsson The Roles of Protective Procurement Policies and Financial Subsidies 146 Marc Moingeon Supporting National Publishers: Macmillan's Experience 149 Ian Johnstone Supporting National Publishers: Macmillan Kenya Publishers 152 David Muita Some Aspects of Copyright Issues 155 Ian Taylor

Discussion on Procurement, Protection, and Copyright 158 CONTENTS V

THE ROLE OF PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIPS 163

Commercial Publishing Partnerships 16S Diana Newton A Publishing Partnership between Canada and the Caribbean 169 Ian Randle A Publishing Partnership between the United Kingdom and Namibia 173 Robert Sulley A Publishing Partnership between France and Francophone Africa 177 Hamidou Konate A Global Partnership Experience: EDICEF in Cameroon 180 Laurent Loric Local Publishing Industries in Foreign-Dominated Markets: From Embryo to Full Growth 186 Brian O'Donnell Fostering a Viable Local Publishing Industry: A Development Agency's View 189 Carew B. W Treffgarne

THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 193

The Role and Place of Electronic Publishing in Developing Countries 195 James Smith What Have We Learned, What Does It Mean, and Where Do We Go from Here? A Summary Discussion 206 James Socknat, David Ballands, Masuka Sauliere, Philip Cohen, and Sverrir Sigurdsson

ANNEX. CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS 213

INDEX 219

Foreword

T he chain of stakeholders associated with educational books is long and impressive. By contrast, our information and knowledge about the educational book publishing industry has been fragmented at best. Huge amounts of funds in the form of aid (loans or grants) are being channeled to support the ultimate objective of putting educational books into the hands of end users. Given our limited information, we should now pause and ask the question: Are current processes effective? Do we know enough about the educational book industry to claim that we have helped to promote literate societies? The experience in this regard has been mixed. With the objective of better understanding the chain of actors associated with educational books, stakeholders from different parts of the world were invited to share their book industry experiences at a seminar, September 9-10, 1997, at World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Invitees included representatives from publishing houses and publishing associations in both industrial and developing countries, as well as donor representativeswith a strong interest in developing publishing capacitlies in developing countries. A small organizing team comprising Sverrir Sigurdsson,Shobhana Sosale,and Philip Cohen worked together over a three-month period to organize the event. The organizing team is grateful to the host of contributors who suggested presenters and potential sources of funding to make this event a success: Ingrid Jung (German Foundation for International Development, Germany); Diana Newton (Newton Smith International Ltd., Canada); Brigid O'Connor (British Council, Lagos, Nigeria); Carol Priestley (ADEAWorking Group on Books and Learning Materials); Maria Stridsman (Swedish International Development Agency-SIDA, Sweden); Ian Taylor (British Publishers' Association, United Kingdom); and Carew Treffgarne (U.K.Department for International Development-DFID, and representative of the Associationfor Development of Education in Africa-ADEA-Working Group on Books and Learning Materials). Funding for many external participants and presenters was provided by SIDA (Sweden), the British Council (United Kingdom), the Dag Hammarskj6ld

vii Vii EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Foundation, the Soros Foundations (Hungary), Macmillan (United Kingdom), the British Publishers' Association (United Kingdom), French Cooperation (France), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). To these organizations, we give you our sincere gratitude for supporting the seminar, which would otherwise have been a vastly scaled-down event with lesser impact. To the many others who are too numerous to list here, we owe you our thanks for participating, encouraging, and funding your counterparts to participate. To the publishing professionals who made presentations at the seminar, we appreciate your generosity in sharing your experience and knowledge. We share your commitment to providing more books, better books, and affordable books to school children in our client countries.

David de Ferranti Vice President Human Development Network World Bank Washington, D.C. Preface

H enry Chakava (managingdirector, East African Educational Publishers, and chairman, African Publishing Institute), described the two-day seminar on educational book publishing in a report to the BellagioPublishing Network Newsletter.

The seminar, appropriately titled "Understanding the Educational Book Industry," was the brainchild of Sverrir Sigurdsson,a long-time senior operations officer,who has criticallylived through the system, and ably chaired by James Socknat,also a senior World Bank officialwith first-hand experienceof working in most of ithedeveloping world. It attracted 63 participants,including a number of World Bank task managers. External guests included publishing practitioners, government officials, other multilateral donors and inter- mediaries,and United Nations and other developmentagencies. Philip Cohen, WorldBank consultanton textbooks, was at hand as facilitator and recorder.

And so, where do we go from here? In the spirit of creating knowledge, the first step toward information dissemination was to make the presentations widely available in published form. As editor, I prepared the manuscript for the proceedings, which has been both challenging and rewarding. In those cases in which presenters had not provided a summary of the papers they had submitted, had provided versions of their presentations in French, or had not provided copies of their presentations at all, I have surnmarized the papers, translated the French versions into English, and transcribed tapes to capture the remaining presentations. In all cases, I have not changed the content or the tone of the original presentations. The discussion sessionsfor two major topics, policy aspects and procurement issues, as well as for the summary discussionare the only tape transcriptions. Other discussionswere less focused and often related back to policy and procurement issues. I would like to thank Don Reisman, Connie Eysenck, Virginia de Haven Hitchcock, and Paola Brezny from the World Bank's Office of the Publisher for their tireless assistance with suggestionsto improve the manuscript, and Wendy Guyette of Communications Development Inc. for text layout and design.

ix Introductiom

Shobhana Sosale

A s ernille Askerud observes (A Guide to SustainableBook Provision, A UNESCO, 1997, p. 16), "textbooks are a rare commodity in most developing countries. One book per student (in any subject) is the exception, not the rule, and the rule in most classrooms is, unfortunately,severe scarcity or the total absence of textbooks. Even middle-income countries such as Brazil, Uruguay,and Venezuela, have failed to maintain a regular supply of textbooks over the past 15 years. For the majority of the world's students, accessto basic tools for learning is so limited as to constitute a major crisis." Over the last three years the World Bank has lent approximately US$550 million in one form or another for textbook components within education projects. Other bilateral and multilateral donors or lenders, foundations, and publishers' associations have been extending aid or technical support to governments in a joint effort to develop, produce, and distribute educational material. To what extent have they succeeded? What are the current views and understanding about the state of publishing, of the educational book industry, and of prevalent book policies in various countries? Clearly the subject matter is complex-not only because of the number of actors involved in the process, but also because of the conflicting processes geared toward the same objective of putting books in the hands of end users. This report reflects the thinking and deliberations that emerged from a seminar on "Understanding the Educational Book Industry," which was organized by the World Bank in Washington, D.C., September 9-10, 1997. Being the first of its kind within the context of Bank lending for education, specificallyfor teaching and learning materials, the seminar was designed to touch on all aspects of the book industry (book development, educational publishing, general publishing) irrespective of the level of education-primary, secondary, or tertiary. The objective of the seminar was to offer World Bank Group staff from education, finance, and private sector development networks, as well as International Finance Corporation (IFC) staff with interest in the educational or the enterprise

Shobhana Sosaleis professional developmentand training coordinator for staff in the education sector of the World Bank. 2 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITy BUILDING AND TRENDS side of publishing, a comprehensiveand global picture of educational publishing and of the agents involved in it. At the end of the two-day event participants were expected to have gained a better understanding of the nature of the educational book industry, including the importance of linkages between government textbook policies and the publishing industry in some of the Bank's client countries; the working of the book industry and how Bank-financed textbook operations can help or hinder the building of local publishing capacity; and issues relating to differences between Bank-mandated procedures and generally accepted publishing industry norms. The expected outcomes of the seminar were achieved, along with an action plan for further work in the area. The seminar focused on four themes: policies for the provision of educational materials; the publishing industry growth in developing countries; thorny issues such as procurement, protection, and copyright; and longer-term solutions. Participants included bilateral and multilateral donors and lenders; representatives from publishing houses, publishers' associations, and funding foundations; and a few representatives from ministries of education, project implementers, and project developers, who shared their experiences and views on the topics. Participants were especially critical of the World Bank's textbook procurement procedures, which, they emphasized, inherently deter the emergence of local, private publishing capacities and the smooth distribution of books. The forum offered a substantial overview of prevailing textbook publishing practices, be it through predominantly state-owned enterprises, private publishing houses, or a mix of the two. Although the intent was to encompass all regions of the world, discussions centered predominantly on publishing in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. These regions have the beginnings of policy-driven state support for private publishing. Despite a reasonable degree of disagreement, the various players agreed that no central authority can claim to know all dimensions of the "truth"; central government monopolies that have prescribed, published, and distributed educational materials have been largely inefficient and ineffective in attaining the objective of supporting education for all. Considering the short duration of the seminar and the complexity of educational publishing issues, some topics, although important, received less attention than others-such as bookselling, taxation and import duties as they relate to protection versus competition and to financial support.

Focus on the Publishing Industry What is publishing? Publishing is the process of managing the development and production of books from conception to distribution. Publishing is a risky business, requiring few investors but benefiting a large number of people. The publishing industry can be viewed as a book chain-from authors, translators, and editors through publishers, printers, distributors, and booksellers to the end user, whether an individual reader or an institution such as a school or a library. If any one of the links in the chain is dysfunctional, the other links cannot work effectively. Any lend- INTRODUCTION 3 ing strategy should take this entire nexus into account and focus on those points where intervention would be most effective.

Policies for the Provision of Educational Materials Diana Newton seeks to convince all those involved in designing,supporting, financing, or implementingbook sector projects and programs in developing countries of the need for and usefulness of national book sector policies. The formulation of a national book policy, which recognizes publishing as a strategic industry, is an important first step toward developing viable and diversified publishing industries throughout the world. Such a step needs the support of international financial institutions and international donors. Within the policy theme, case studies of successfulpolicy adaptation and implementation of long-term, sustainable provision of educational materials are presented. Gaston de Bedout discusses at length the texto unico program that has prevailed in Colombia and explains how it represents only one vision, the official vision, as determined by a selection committee that follows the ideological criteria of the state. His experience reveals that single-textbook programs, by not allowing pluralism, lead to totalitarianism. A single-textbookprogram, he stresses, leaves no room for the knowledge of other worlds, for the discovery of other cultures, for other manifestationsof language use, or for students and teachers to have accessto a variety of methodologies and procedures. The Associationfor Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)Working Group on Books and Learning Materials, described by Carew Treffgarne, is a working example of how policies can be adapted and implemented in the context of laying foundations for long-term, sustainable provision of educational materials. Treffgarne explains how the Working Group embraces analytical, advocacy, and capacity-buildingstrategies in order to ensure that books reach the end user, after having successfullygone through all stages of the book chain: conception, development, production, and distribution. Publishingeducational material in local languages is discussedin depth by Ingrid Jung, using country case studies of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal to sub- stantiate arguments. Jung critically reviews a series of topics relating to education, linguistics,history and sociology,and economicsin multilingual settings. She is convinced that it is necessary to contribute to the development of national and regional publishing houses and to building the capacity of all resources of the book chain. She concludes that the present situation in Africa is characterized by a broad gap between what is necessary in order to contribute to social change and education and what is offered by local industries in the field of local language publications for educational and other purposes. Maria Stridsman highlights some of the most important aspects of the Swedish International Development Agency's (SIDA) strategy, ranging from international purchase of textbooks and other special materialssuch as atlases and dictionaries,to support of local publishing and printing. SIDA support has not been confined to the 4 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

purchase or production and distribution of textbooks, but has also included the development of materials for literacy campaigns, the establishment of braille presses, support of environmental magazines for schools, curriculum development for both formal and nonformal education, and the establishment of reading rooms and rural libraries. Excerpts from a full-fledged SIDA strategy paper have been summarized in the proceedings. Laurent Loric discusses the case of Cote d'Ivoire's experience with the long-term supply of books at the primary school level. From a publisher's perspective, he argues that the more a local publishing industry can intervene in textbook production, the more it contributes to long-term supply. He further stresses that the presence of organized publishing activity is without a doubt a major factor facilitating long-term provision. Moreover, the more developed the distribution network, the greater the impact of the local publishing industry. Some of the issues involved in the transition from state-controlled to private sector publishing are the focus of the next three papers. Richard Crabbe provides an overview of the issues of policy formulation, publishing capacity, printing facilities, distribution, reading habits, and the possible effects these issues would have on the quality of education, the development of the private book publishing industry, and the general economy of Ghana. Crabbe points outs that probably the most important aspect to consider would be the policy of privatizing the industry (if any exists) and the attitudes of implementing officials toward practitioners in the Ghana book industry. He recommends that the focus be on the issues of enabling environment, policy, context, representation, flexibility, textbooks, and finance. Given publishing's integrated nature, and the fact that it affects several sectors of the economy and national life, Crabbe stresses that publishing deserves serious attention and assistance. He specifically notes the World Bank's role in financing the development of book sectors, and that its policies should benefit local publishers. He urges the Bank to apply its human capital development program toward developing the publishing industry. Frances Pinter offers a view of the publishing situation in Eastern Europe through the eyes of the Soros Foundation in Hungary. The Soros Foundations operate on the basis that a strong, diverse, and independent publishing sector means a functioning book chain, with at least a minimal number of publishers, printers, distributors, and booksellers, all of whom can exist as commercial operations not heavily dependent on subsidies. Pinter points out that certain types of needed publishing will always require subsidies, whether in the form of direct grants or other indirect forms of support. She describes some of the steps that could be taken to ensure that such publishing can continue if and when Soros support is reduced. The implementation of a new textbook policy in Tanzania is presented by Maria Stridsman as a case study. The objective of the policy is to transform the current textbook system into a complete commercial system, whereby commercial publishers will marshal the entire book provision. Stridsman highlights some of the lessons learned from the Tanzanian case. For an example of governmental support to the textbook industry, Amed6e Couassi-Ble describes his experience in C6te d'Ivoire. He explains how the govern- INTRODUCTION 5 ment has greatly contributed to a sound book and publishing industry by setting up two major publishing houses on the eve of independence. This action, he states, was in line with the government's educational policy and its role as "protector" of the school textbook sector. He also points out that the leading position assumed by the two publishing houses is justified because of their long experience and expertise acquired through a solid partnership with foreign publishing houses.

Finance and Book Trade Issues Aspects of a local and foreign partnership, which has provided benefits to both partners, are summarized by Marc Moingeon, who provides a snapshot of Hachette Livre's experience in building a market niche in C6te d'Ivoire. What are the causes and consequences of donor support for textbooks? Laurent Loric addresses the issue of whether international aid could be a lever for the development of local textbook publishing. He focuses on the aid given to the French-speaking countries of Sub-Saharan Africa for the 35 years since independence, aid that, nevertheless, has not improved the situation of the school textbook. Loric's assessment poses some essential questions: Is it not the case that the various aid policies to school textbooks have been short-term and superficial, treating problems as matters of urgency instead of pursuing long-term solutions? Has not this real, but continuous "state of emergency" led to the perpetuation of a system of charity, to the detriment of the social and economic development of a vital sector of activity? Must one continue "donating fish" (charity) rather than "teaching how to fish" (development)? Brigid O'Connor focuses on donor support for textbook purchase primarily at the school level and the impact such interventions have on both the education system and the domestic publishing industry. Much of her analysis is drawn from her experience in West, Central, and East Africa. She identifies a number of positive impacts of textbook donation programs, and suggestsways of improving the delivery of such donor provision in the future by taking the process down to communities and away from central government. She analyzes the collapse of state educational provision in Africa and its effect on textbook production, quality, and availability;the harsh market realities confronting the publishing industry in Africa; and the root of the current crisis of textbook availability.O'Connor attempts to identify signs of revival in the African book market and suggests ways forward through the introduction of higher standards of product and market development aimed at a new type of educational consumer. Cross-border book trade is also a financial aspect of the publishing industry. James Tumusiime observes that cross-border book trade is quite common in the world and in Africa in particular. He focuses on various aspects of cross-border trade: language, shared curriculum, communication, trade barriers, and foreign exchange regulations. In the East Africanregion, however, this trade has been diminishing, largely because of the divergent development of the school curriculum in each country and of country policies for the procurement of schoolbooks. 6 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Cross-border book trade in Mexico is evaluated by Carlos Noriega. Presently, government production accounts for 70 percent of the market for published books in Mexico. He observes that private Mexican publishers are not against the social or political strategy of free textbooks but that they are against its incompatibility with the market structure and its harmful effect on publishing industry performance. In his view the Mexican government is reluctant to abandon the idea of a single textbook, written and produced by an official body, because this kind of book thus far has served to convey the desired message to the population and to document and teach national history. Noriega argues that if books are produced according to a new pedagogical approach-that is, if they present not only a set of facts and data but also teach how to learn, how to make judgments, and how to solve problems-the origin of the books or the authors is not crucial.

Procurement, Protection, and Copyright Case studies for procurement of textbooks in Romania and Bolivia open the discussion of this theme. Daniela Papadima highlights the education reform and a new textbook scheme currently under way in Romania. After a brief history of the gen- esis of the reform, she provides some details about the alternative textbook scheme, a component under the umbrella of a broader World Bank project; the bidding process; and some related pricing aspects. The major criticism leveled against the component is that the bidding procedure allows less professional publishers to bid, which leads to unrealistic dumping prices. Luis Henrique L6pez recapitulates procurement issues pertaining to the acquisition of books for school libraries and pedagogical resource centers as part of an educational reform program in Bolivia. Two strategies were adopted, one to encourage local authors and publishers to compete, and a parallel one to promote international competitive bidding. This two-pronged approach to the procurement of books for libraries has resulted in a very dynamic period for the Bolivian book market. The role of local publishers in book procurement schemes should be enhanced, according to Chief Victor Nwankwo. Based on experience in Nigeria Nwankwo points out that as a result of the World Bank's book procurement program in Africa, little attention has been paid to the participation of local publishing; as a result, there has been no discernible growth in local publishing capacity and no impact on real sustainability. He observes that competition among bidders in the same economic environment is one thing, but that international competitive bidding promotes competition formulated for another context-not for the procurement of books. Sverrir Sigurdsson tries to answer the question of how to blend Bank-mandated focus on economy and efficiency in book procurement with issues of culture, the development of local publishing capacity, and long-term self-sufficiency. He points out that procurement as carried out under Bank projects has led to varying conclusions about what one can do and where it leads. Sigurdsson observes that over the years many suggestions have been made about how and why the World Bank's pro- INTRODUCTION 7

curement rules, regulations, and processes should be changed and he touches on some of these suggestions during the two-day seminar. In the area of protection of the local market Marc Moingeon shares his views about the advantages and disadvantages of national protection versus free trade, touching on aspects of choice using country examples from Burkina Faso, C6te d'Ivoire, and Romania. Although he regrets the absence of sufficient encouragement for joint ventures, he also cautions againsta joint venture between a government and a foreign publisher that is not favorable to both parties, because such a venture will lead to asymmetric benefits and long-term problems. A venture example is given by the multinational Macmillan and its Kenyanpart- ner. Ian Johnstone provides an overview of Macmillan's role in educational book publishing. Macmillan plays a significantrole in sharing experiences across borders, helps develop regional materials, and complements the work of groups such as the African Publishers' Network. Macmillan does indeed represent a broad network of local publishers operating in numerous countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Johnstone defines Macmillan as a company in the true sense of a collection of partnerships. A more centralized approach would threaten Macmillan's local capacity to produce relevant, accurate materials. Macmillan's success lies in its capacity to respond to three requisites in the publishing arena: a strong and committed local presence; the development of local authorship; and the provision of educational materials to fulfill the needs of students and teachers in terms of both quantity and quality. David Muita provides the perspective of a local (sister) publisher in partnership with Macmillan. It is often believed that multinational companies operate against the emergence of a local publishing industry, but Muita's experience speaks of a multinational company that is managed, staffed, and financed by Kenyan nationals (even though it adopts a multinational stance) and collaborates fully with local publishers. Ian Taylor discussessome of the general aspects of copyright. Copyright issuesare especiallyimportant for small, indigenous publishing houses; whereas international companieshave other rnarkets to supply,for indigenous companiesthe home country is their main and perhaps only market. Copyright is a crucial incentive for the existence of publishersand authors alike; in a copyright environment monopolizedby the government,publishers and authors have little incentive for thriving. With regard to higher education, aspects of copyright are crucial because of the threat of mass photocopying, which could effectivelylead to the demise of publishingendeavors.

The Role of Publishing Partnerships Diana Newton offers a general introduction to long-term commercial partnerships between local and nonlocal publishers. She clarifies key terminology, defines genuine and sustainable partnerships in the educational book publishing business,identifies criteria for the success of such partnerships, outlines the benefits to be derived, presents the rationale for their promotion, and proposes avenues and policy mea- 8 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS sures to encourage the emergence and growth of partnerships. These partnerships provide a sound mechanism for the development of viable and diversified publishing industries around the world. Three case studies of partnerships are analyzed. Ian Randle describes how the publishing partnership between Irwin Publishing (Canada) and Ian Randle Publishers (Jamaica) has been working for the past 12 months to develop a publishing partnership based in the Caribbean. In the initial stages the Irwin-IRP partnership was facilitated by the International Publishing Partnership (IPP), based in Canada. IPP's long-term goal was to contribute to the development of sustainable publishing capacities in developing countries by fostering appropriate commercial partnerships between developing country and Canadian publishers. Robert Sulley describes the partnership between Heinemann Educational Publishers and New Namibia Books, which follows along the lines of Macmillan and Macmillan Kenya Publishers-that is, a partnership with companies that are not part of a large group. Hamidou Konate provides a brief overview of the publishing partnership between Jamana publishing house (Mali) and Fraternite Matin (France). He observes that organizations such as the World Bank, which stress the production of educational books, should be urged to support and encourage such partnerships. Support of joint venture enterprises would not only lead to an increase in demand for educational books, but would also encourage other channels, such as the African Publishers' Network, to finance joint ventures. Laurent Loric examines in detail the partnership between EDICEF (the Hachette Group) and a publisher in Cameroon. He defines a partnership as an association between companies or institutions with a common goal. Notions of participation, sharing, solidarity, communication, information, and trust underlie this definition. While using the EDICEF-Cameroon experience as a case study, he draws general conclusions about workable and difficult aspects of publishing partnerships. The identification of strategies for the development of viable book publishing industries in countries where foreign publishers dominate the market and local publishers are only in an embryonic, emerging state is the topic of the next two papers. Brian O'Donnell contends that creating and providing learning resources for the nation's young is the foundation of a cultural industry and as such it should be afforded all the protection that it needs to survive and prosper. Procurement documents employed by international financial institutions need to place priority on local authorship rather than simply on price, and development that is contracted out to local firms should be given preference; moreover, the importance of copyright should be addressed. The role of publishers' associations and related organizations and their lobbying power cannot be understated when it comes to achieving goals. In summarizing the presentations, Carew Treffgarne makes three important points. It is up to agencies such as the Association for Development of Education in Africa and the World Bank to request the private sector's early involvement in book development and distribution, which has not been the case in the past. More writing in national languages should be encouraged in order to help the creation of a lit- INTRODUCTION 9

erate environment, which is an essential component of a flourishing publishing industry. Workshops to familiarize people with all the options and to work out what they consider relevant criteria for evaluating and selectingbooks must be developed. Finally,James Smith addresses the place and role in developing countries of educational content on CD-ROM and the Internet. Electronic publishing refers exclusively to the publication of any kind of content on any form of electronic media. Authors submit material to the publisher, who works directly on the electronic files, which are then prepared through a successionof computer-aidedsteps for final dissemination via electronic media. These new media have added to the complexity of the already complex tasks facing educational planners, specialists, and publishers. Additional factors come into play, which were of no relevance in a print-only environment: access to a reliable source of electricity, telecommunications,and investment in computer equipment, which are often viewed as major obstacles and overwhelmingchallenges, especially in developing countries.

Some Lessons of Experience for World Bank Support for Textbook Components * Appropriate expertise in teaching and learning materials is a prerequisite for component design. X Donor coordination is necessary, since the number of actors in the area of teaching and learning are many, to avoid duplication of effort and other wasteful practices. • The role of international publishinghouses is crucial in building local capacity. * Problems need to be sorted at the right level-for example, centralized versus decentralized, and private versus public, book provision. * No central authority has monopoly of the truth. Decisions about textbooks need to be made at the local level. Economies of scale, local publishing capacity, and financing at reasonable cost are fundamental to promoting decentralized textbook production and distribution. Government assistance is best provided to ensure that basic and enabling legislation is available that allows private publishers to thrive alongside publicly provided educational materials. * Teachers at the local level are the qualified authorities to decide the most appropriate books for children. * Making books available to all, with a focus on local language books at lower levels of education, should be emphasized. * Better allocation of scarce resources and better planning by governments are needed. In the short and long terms, national book policies are absolutely central. However, the contradictory issue of national book policiesversus the need for regional variations should be addressed. * A conducive environment for private sector publishing to thrive and to complement the public sector must be provided-for example, supply-sideincen- tives, such as tax incentives to private publishers, as well as demand-side 10 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

incentives,such as subsidiesdirected to specificgroups of people who cannot afford books. - Procurement is perhaps the most important determining factor that either promotes or hinders competition and the growth of a local publishing capacity. Where textbook components are concerned, international procurement norms have often hindered rather than promoted the growth of local publishing capacity. Policiesfor the Long-Term Provisionof Ecucationa Materials

National Policies for the Book Sector

Diana Newton

Individualsand organizationsinvolved in designing,supporting, financing, or imple- mentingpublishing projects and programsin developingcountries need to understand the importanceand usefulnessof nationalbook sectorpolicies. Solutions to a more fundamentalquestion must alsobe found:How canwe developviable and diversified publishingindustries throughout the world?We need industrial development policies. The formulationof a nationalbook policy,which recognizesthe entirepublishing industryas a strategicindustry, is an importantfirst step that all countriesshould take with the supportof the internationalfinancial institutions and internationaldonors.

Thispaper seeksto convinceindividuals and organizationswho are involvedin designing,supporting, financing, or implementingprojects and programsin the book sector in developingcountries of the need for and usefulnessof nationalbook sectorpolicies. 1 What isa nationalbook policyand what does it seekto achieve?Why should such a policybe formulatedand implemented?What are its prerequisites?What shouldit address?Who shouldbe involvedin formulatingand implementingsuch a policy? How can nationalbook policiesbe encouraged?

Definition and Objectives of a National Book Policy For the present purpose a national book policy is defined as a legal instrument adopted by the nationalgovernment, and bindingupon all parties concerned,that recognizesthe strategicimportance of the publishingindustry and providesa com- prehensiveframework-with stated objectivesand specificpolitical, economic, fiscal, and legalmeasures-to governall activitiesin the book sector and to guidethe actionsof all playersinvolved. Whereasone authorsees the goal of a nationalbook policyas "promotingthe culture of reading" (Askerud1997), and anotherbelieves that "the main objectiveof a nationalbook policyis to ensurethat accessto booksis made easierfor all" (Garz6n Diana Newton is codirector of Newton Smith International Ltd., a private sector company based in Ottawa, Canada. 13 14 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

1997), 1 argue here that a national book policy should seek to create, over a reasonable time period, the conditions necessary for the emergence or establishment of a viable national publishing industry, to ensure a sustainable supply of appropriate printed educational and reading materials. Well-establishedreading habits, that is, a reading culture, is only one necessary condition for the viability of a publishing industry. Other conditions include coher- ent and consistent policies, albeit set by different institutions, as well as purposeful investment of donor and local funds to avoid duplication of effort and other wasteful practices.

The importance of national policies cannot be underestimated with regard to making good use of externally funded programs. Where national governments have taken the initiative to prepare and adopt sector policy state- ments, external donors find it easier to support these policies. If a national book policy determines project designs and the type of funding mechanisms to be used for external assistance, and outlines the longer term strategy for the book sector, projects are more likely to contribute to lasting development (Askerud 1997).

Rationale Why should a national book policy be formulated and implemented? Because publishing is a complex economic and cultural process, determined, to a large extent, by a vast number of players from a country's public and private sectors, as well as by participants from the foreign private sector and the international donor community. In addition, the viability and competitiveness of the business of publishing is affected by factors that are beyond the control of publishers and form part of the surrounding social, cultural, economic, political, regulatory, physical, and technological environments. The number of players involved in the book sector is large in any country, because of the nature of publishing itself. The number of players is even larger in developing countries, because of the frequently stronger role of the public sector and the considerable number of donor agencies involved in supporting book-related projects or programs, which makes the need for coordination even more crucial. "Recent estimates suggest that at least 150 agencies of one type or another take a regular and persistent interest in book and information support (Read 1995). In addition, individual government departments, donors, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) tend to focus on one aspect of the book chain (for example, workshops for authors or school libraries for remote rural areas), without examining the impact of their interventions on the whole book sector. The potential damage can be significant because all the links in the book chain must be viable for the entire system to work. It is widely accepted that a well-established and well-functioning book selling network is essential to the overall viability of the industry, yet many programs and projects continue to bypass the retail network and distribute books directly to schools. NATIONALPOLICIES FOR THE BOOKSECTOR 15

A national book policy also allows publishing to be recognized as an industry. It is generally obvious that industrial development requires industrial policies; but while this is accepted in fields such as mining or petrochemicals, it is not so well understood in the book publishing industry. "Governments in developing countries generally fail to recognisethe status of publishing as an industry.... This restricts the industry in planning publishing and human resources development programmes, and limits the number of titles available on the market" (MacPherson and Pearce 1990). Finally, publishing should be regarded as a strategic industry for the following reasons. * Publishingis not just another businessbut one of the fundamental pillars of a country's education system. * A viable publishing industry contributes significantly to the democratization process, the emergence of civil society, and the promotion of good governance. A country's ability to govern democratically is significantly diminished when the country lacks the ability to disseminate information. Publishing means to make public. The state of the publishing industry, it has often been saidl, is a good measure of a country's development. While the importance of a free press is well understood, the equally significantrole of the publishing industry is frequently underestimated. * Publishing is a high-risk entrepreneurial activity that requires private sector investment by a few but yields benefits to society as a whole.

Prerequisites and Components of a National Book Policy The most important prerequisite for a national book policy is considered to be political will, which should be accompanied by the allocation of sufficient resources for the implementation of the individual measures that form part of a National Book Policy.Other prerequisites include: functioning professional bodies (book publishers' associations, booksellers' associations, writers' guilds, and so on) with a clear understanding of what their own needs are; widely established support for democratic and participatory policymaking; and the capacity to undertake a detailed analysis of the political, social, cultural, economic, regulatory, and physical as well as technological factors that affect the viability and competitiveness of the book sector. To be effective,the policy must tackle the whole publishing industry, not just educational publishing. Although of particular importance to the formal schooling system and to the economic viability of book publishing, educational publishing represents only one segment of the industry. Adult literacy material, children's literature, and scholarly publishing, to name just a few other segments, are equally important to a country's socioeconomic development. In particular, a national book policy should address the following elements: * The overall objectives,including quantifiable targets, sought by the government in terms of availability of books, access, equity, cost sharing and cost recovery,and overall sustainability. 16 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

• The partial objectives identified for specific links in the book chain or phases in the publishing process. The seven objectives identified for a country with an open market economy are to encourage literary creation, to establish an appropriate legal framework for the protection of authors' rights, to provide fiscal, credit, and administrative incentives for the publishing industry, to facilitate nationwide distribution and free international circulation of books, to establish nationwide library networks, to introduce new methods for the teaching of reading, and to train human resources in the different skills involved in the book sector (Garz6n 1997). * A clear definition of the roles of the different players and, in particular, a clear determination of the relationship between public and private sectors. * Specific measures pertaining to the sociocultural environment, including language policies for education-formal and nonformal education as well as adult literacy-and policies regarding minority languages. * Measures pertaining to the economic environment, including fiscal incentives, loan guarantee programs, financing responsibility, cost sharing and cost recovery, subsidies (for example, postal, consumer, and producer), and details of cost sharing and cost recovery. * Measures pertaining to the technological environment, such as communications infrastructure and policies and objectives regarding new media (educational content on CD-ROM and on the Internet). * Measures pertaining to the regulatory environment, such as legislation on censorship, tariff regulation (books and inputs for production process), copyright legislation, and legal deposit requirements.

Responsibilities for Policy Formulation and Implementation Representatives of all categories of key players should be involved in formulating the initial policy and in continuing to shape it over time: national or local players, foreign or nonlocal private sector, and the international donor community.

Players The category of national or local players would include politicians and public sector representatives from key ministries-including Education, Finance, Commerce, Industrial Development, Transportation, and Communication-as well as curriculum development officers and National Bank bankers. Public and local private sector book professionals, such as authors, publishers, printers, and distributors (wholesalers and retail booksellers); private sector bankers and investors; users (teachers, parents, and schoolchildren); and other local representatives, such as professional associations and local NGOs. Foreign publishers and foreign distributors are in the category of foreign or nonlocal players, and bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, NGOs, and international financial institutions form the last category. NATIONALPOLICIES FOR THE BOOK SECTOR 17

Responsibilities

Although many suggestions have been made, particularly by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),for the creation of new institutions such as National Book Development Councils, it is argued that the book sector is generally overcrowded by institutions, and that the creation of new bodies, along with the resulting additional bureaucracy, may be undesirable. Evidently the responsibility for implementingspecific parts of the policy and for its overall coordination, as well as for its regular review and updating, should be clearly attributed to individuals or groups who are invested with real power. Bodies that merely act in an advisory role and have no authority to intervene run the risk of using up significant resources without achieving any real progress. Those responsible must be able to act autonomously,without being hampered by any conflicts of interest. A public sector Curriculum Development Unit that also acts as the publisher of state-sanctioned textbooks cannot be expected to implement a policy calling for the publishing process to gradually become the responsibility of the private sector. Solutions must be found for each individualcountry, taking into account the existing capacities,skills, and current responsibilitiesof individuals and organizations. The following four avenues are suggested for the promotion of national book policies: * Making donor aid contingent on the formulation and implementation of a national book policy. * Fostering the emergence of and strengthening professional associations within the book sector. * Supporting democratic and participatory exchanges of information, among book professionals and others, with events such as roundtables and national discussion days on the book sector. * Disseminatinginformation on existing national book policies (such as those in effect in Nigeria and Tanzania and under formulation in Mali) and their impact on the book sector.

Conclusion I have attempted to define what a national book policy is, identify objectives, outline the rationale for such a policy, suggest prerequisites, address the question of content, enumerate the players, touch on implementation issues, and propose avenues for donor support, and it is my hope that in the future we will see a growing number of countries, both developing and industrial, formulate and implement national book policies. The inclusion of the word "industry" in the title of the seminar heralds significant progress in a field where the focus has been on "book procurement," "book provision," and "textbook projects."2 Investments in books used to be addressed in terms of getting books into children's hands; over time this approach shifted to the 18 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACiTY BUILDING AND TRENDS development of a country's capacity to supply appropriate and affordable books to schoolchildren in a sustainable manner. A further shift needs to occur, by finding solutions to a more fundamental question: How can we develop viable and diversified publishing industries throughout the world? It is frequently said that publishing is a cultural industry. The point is that it is an industry. In terms of policy formulation, the need is for industrial development policies. The formulation of a national book policy, which recognizes the entire publishing industry as strategic, is an important first step that all countries should take, with the support of the international financial institutions and international donors.

Notes 1. The paper draws on previous work undertaken by the Agence de cooperation culturelle et technique (ACCT), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Education for All Forum Initiative on Basic Learning Materials for Developing Countries, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the Regional Centre for Book Promotion in Latin America (CERLALC), and the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF). 2. I would like to applaud Sverrir Sigurdsson for taking the initiative of organizing the seminar and particularly for including the word "industry" in the title.

References Askerud, Pernille. 1997. A Guide to Sustainable Book Provision. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. Garz6n, Alvaro. 1997. National Book Policy: A Guide for Users in the Field. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. MacPherson, John, and Douglas Pearce. 1990. Publishing Educational Materials in Developing Countries, A Guide to Policy and Practice. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE). Read, Anthony. 1995. "International Donor Agencies and Book Development." In Philip Altbach and Edith Hoshino, eds., International Book Publishing: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Press. The Role of ADEA in Sustainable Book Development

Carew B. W Treffgarne

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on Books and Learning Materials has been playing a role in adapting and implementing policies as foundations for long-term, sustainable provision of educational materials. The working group embraces analytical, advocacy, and capacity-building strategies to ensure that books reach the end user after having successfully gone through all stages of the book chain: conception, development, production, and distribution. ADEA was originally a donors' club, set up to promote collaboration irn education projects and programs in Africa, thereby avoiding competition and dupl'ication. Over the past two years, ADEA has concentrated on commissioning survey work on different aspects of book development, publishing, and distribution in Africa to provide ministries and funding agencies with sufficient information for making decisions about book policy. The working group seeks to bring about synergy in the work of other agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and ministries (education, culture, finance, local government, and others) to tackle the persistent problem of illiteracy and alleviate the book shortage in Africa.

T he Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)Working Group on Books and Learning Materials was set up in response to the persistent shortage of appropriate, low-cost educational materials both in and outside school in Africa. In light of this objective our Working Group embraces analytical, advocacy, and capacity-building strategies to ensure that books go successfully through all stages of the book chain-book conception, development, production, and distribution-and reach the end user. We have learned that freestanding book projects are less likely to be sustainable unless they are fully integrated into education projects. Likewise, book policy reflects language policy and has to be seen in relation to education policy in the languages it uses for educational purposes. Carew B. W Treffgarne is a senior education adviser in the Department for International Development (DFID) and convenor of the Associationfor the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)Working Group on Booksand Learning Materials, for which DFID is the lead agency. 19 20 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

ADEA, being a network of agencies and organizations, is concerned with promoting effective educational policies in Africa. It is therefore not only interested in the book chain, but also in the educational purposes for which books are being used (that is, for reading in particular and learning in general). The ultimate interest of our Working Group is that books should be used effectively. The objective is to ensure that literacy skills have a firm foundation and learning takes place.

ADEA and the Working Group on Books and Learning Materials ADEAwas originallya donors' club set up to promote collaborationin education projects and programs in Africa, thereby avoiding competition and duplication. Through the Working Group we work together on capacity-building projects to foster policy implementation. Over the last two years we have concentrated on commissioning survey work on different aspects of book development, publishing, and distribution in Africa to provide ministries and funding agencies with sufficient information for making decisions about book policy. The Working Group seeks to bring about synergy in the work of other agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and ministries (education, culture, finance, local government, and others) in order to tackle the persistent problem of illiteracy and alleviate the book shortage in Africa. ADEAs advocacy role plays out through our Working Group by bringing together ministries and agencies involved in book development and procurement. By com- paring different approaches, funding agencies can refine their procedures and adopt new strategies for making relevant books available on a more equitable basis. NGOs, such as the Associates in Research and Education for Development in Senegal, have made an innovative contribution by publishing materials in national languages from which other organizations can learn. ADEA also brings together ministries involved in book development and the publishing industry. The July 1996 Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Indaba, represented a breakthrough in terms of opening up the dialogue between Ministries of Education and Culture of various countries and educational publishers, so that the need to plan viable and sustainable book policies could be emphasized. The ADEA Working Group on Books and Learning Materials facilitates national forums to discuss book policy formulation and development. (The former Ministry of Education in Sierra Leone was in the process of setting up a national meeting of those interested in book policy when the recent coup d'etat occurred.) We are also assisting Botswana and Ghana in similar initiatives, which will bring together the public and private sectors-where possible through the sharing of experience of similar problems with book experts from other parts of Africa. We have given feedback to the Department of Education in South Africa on their Guidelines for the Development of Learning Support Materials for Outcomes Based Education; and we are supporting the Book Development Council in the dissemination of its Research Report on Book Development in South Africa to foster public debate on the substantive issues raised. ADEA's capacity-building role embraces new partnerships between Ministries of Education and national publishing companies within the more liberal framework THEROLE OF ADEA INSUSTAINABLE BOOK DEVELOPMENT 21 that now prevails in many countries in Africa. The state monopolies in educational publishing are being replaced by greater freedom in choosing textbooks, which, in many cases, is resulting in the decentralization of decisionmakingfrom the ministry to the district or school level.The 1996 Zimbabwe International Book Fair assisted in this process of liberalization of book selection, as do book fairs elsewhere in Africa, Book Development Councils or Trusts, book foundations, and others. Capacity building can also be fostered through joint ventures between publishers in Africa and publishers in industrial countries, such as those facilitated by International Publishing Partnerships in Canada. ADEA welcomes such initiatives. We also encourage regional collaboration in publishing in national languages, and will be organizing a workshop for representatives from the public and private sectors in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal before the ADEA Biennalein Dakar next month (October 1997). At the request of one of the Ministers of Education on the ADEA Steering Committee, we have recently launched a study of the Intra- African Book Trade in the Southern Africa region to identify the legal, fiscal, and bureaucratic barriers that currently hamper the flow of books between countries on the African continent. Both policy advocacy and capacity building are contingent on networking. Regrettably, no African government has the resources to resolve alone the book shortage that characterizes formal and nonformal education. Therefore, to combat the persistent book famine, synergy is needed between all interested parties in con- certed action for improved book provision. It is in the spirit of ADEAto foster collaboration with both the public and the private sectors to address this problem. The Working Group on Books and Learning Materials therefore works closely with other networks having similar objectives,among others: • The African Publishers' Network (APNET),which responds to the need for good-quality, relevant, low-cost materials through its commitment to encouraging African publishing capacity building under national publishers' associations. * The Special Interest Group on Literacy, based in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Division for Literacy and Adult Education,which draws attention to the need to fight illiteracy through nonformal as well as formal educational channels. * The Bellagio PublishingNetwork, which coordinates and facilitates the flow of information concerning African publishing and book development (including liaison with APNET) among funding agencies and NGOs working to support African publishing. * The 1996 and 1997 Zimbabwe International Book Fairs (Indabas) on "National Book Policies for Africa: The Key to Long-Term Development" and on "Accessto Information," respectively. * The UNESCO/DanidaInitiative on BasicLearning Materials, which has made an impressive impact this year in financing book sector surveys and national debates on book policy in Malawi and Ugandaand has carried out initial survey work in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania. 22 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

None of these activities can work without certain basic components. We need to know what is happening in the book sector in each country. We need a mechanism not only for collecting but also for keeping information on the book sector up to date and accessible (to the publishing industry as well as the ministries concerned). We need to encourage national book meetings as forums for bringing together the key players in book development and book provision at the national level.

Our Mission A network like the ADEA Working Group on Books and Learning Materials can play a key role in encouraging such collaboration. * We encourage the sharing of ideas and experiences between funding agencies. For example, the DFID hosted a meeting in June 1997 at which representatives from the Swedish International Development Association (SIDA), the French Ministere de la Cooperation, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the DFID discussed book procurement within the context of relations with the publishing industry. * We compare notes on common problems in programs with a major component, such as textbook distribution channels, gender balance in materials development, and so on. - We work together in financing research into key areas of book policy. For example, the survey work for our recent publication on The Economics of Publishing Materials in Africa was cofinanced by SIDA, the French Ministere de la Cooperation, the DFID, and the World Bank. The case studies for the second publication in the ADEA series on Perspectives on African Book Development-The Cost-Effectiveness of Publishing Educational Materials in African Languages-were cofinanced by Danida, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the DFID. The comparative studies on Distribution and Dissemination Systems for Educational Materials in West Africa are funded by the DFID and the French Ministere de la Cooperation. Our new study on Barriers Affecting the Intra-African Book Trade (which was launched with APNET at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair last month) is being cofinanced by APNET, the Organization of African Union, and the Norwegian Agency for Development. * We are building on the UNESCO/Danida Initiative on Basic Learning Materials by encouraging collaboration among developing countries in specialized areas of national book policy development. For example, in 1997 we shall be hosting a workshop by the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) on "Book Policy in National Languages (prior to the ADEA Biennale in Dakar) which will include representatives from Burkina Faso and Mali who have been involved in the initial book sector surveys undertaken by Djibril Faye. * We also work with other ADEA Working Groups to promote education policy advocacy. For example, we are collaborating with the UNESCO/SIDA THE ROLE OF ADEA IN SUSTAINABLEBOOK DEVELOPMENT 23

National Educational Statistical Information Systems (NESIS) program in Zambia to ensure that the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Booksellers' and Publishers' Association of Zambia, can develop a module on the book sector. It is anticipated that this module, cross-referenced with the NESIS modules on school management already developed, will serve as a pilot project for other countries who have had difficulties in collecting information on the book situation. We have other projects in the pipeline with the ADEA Working Group on Education Finance on cost-sharing and cost recovery mechanisms, and with the ADEA Working Group on Female Participation on gender issues in book selection and development. We want to ensure that access to relevant, good-quality, low-cost books is achieved on a more equitable, nationwide basis, so that scattered, marginalized communities are no longer penalized by their distance from provincial or capital cities. The solution to the continuing book shortage has to be found within each country concerned because of the need to set up book councils, trusts, or networks to make books more available. The kinds of partnerships between ministries, the private sector, and NGOs that our Working Group advocates are a significant step in ensuring that the most appropriate books can be developed or procured on an equitable basis. Our program of activities is thus characterized by collaboration and synergy through constructive partnership. Toward Literate Societies: Publishing in Local Languages

Ingrid Jung

Publishingin local languagesis an importantaspect of providingeducational materials,as shown by casestudies of BurkinaFaso, Mali, Niger,and Senegal.In the examples,topics relate to education,linguistics, history and sociology,and economicsin multilingualsettings are reviewed. The conclusionis that the presentsituation in Africais characterizedby a broadgap betweenwhat is necessaryto contributeto socialchange and educationand what is offeredby localindustries in locallanguage publicationsfor educationaland other purposes.To satisfy the demand for books and learningmaterials in Africanlanguages in the longrun, it is necessaryto contribute to the developmentof nationaland regionalpublishing houses and to the capacitybuilding of all resourcesof the book chain. The educationsector programs led by the WorldBank or by any otherdonor agencycan accomplishthis task, but they needa differentunderstanding of how cultureand economyare intertwinedand of the roleof cultureas part of the developmentprocess.

Speaking about publishingin local languagesin the context of a publishing industry seminar means tackling a whole series of topics relating to education, linguistics,history and sociology,and economiesin multilingualsettings.Of course,in this brief presentationit is not possibleto treat all these issues in depth, nor to refer to all the needed geographicand culturalsituations. So I concentrate on the Sahel countriesof BurkinaFaso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal,where the DSE,in co-ordinationwith other cooperationagencies, is developingtraining programs. I analyzethe followingaspects relating to publishingin locallanguages: why education in local languagesis important and why it has not yet been generalizedin countrieswhere only a verysmall minority of the populationis proficientin the official language;in what way the developmentof societiesdepends crucially on the accessto, and the processingof information,and what thismeans for locallanguage publishing;the status of local languagepublishing in the Saheliancountries in the fieldsof textbook, literacyand postliteracy,and other publications;and how local Ingrid Jung is program officer at Deutsche Stiftung ffir internationale Entwicklung (DSE) (German Foundation for International Development). 24 TOWARDLITERATE SOCIETIES: PUBLISHING IN LOCAL LANGUAGES 25 capacities can be built-referring to the DSE training program and other possible measures to help local publishing industry to emerge.

Linguistic, Educational, and Sociological Foundations of Policy Decisions For most people in industrial countries the mere idea of being taught in school in a language different from their local language is striking. They count on receiving education in the language they speak at home or in their community or city because their local language is at the same time the official language used for education, despite social and regional variations. The difference between local forms and standard language in most cases does not impede comprehension or make learning impossible. Of course, textbooks are written in the language children and their parents speak at home, and even if the language level is different, the language is the same.

Language and Learning In several Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries abundant research has been done about children's achievement at school in bilingual environments. The general conclusion that might be drawn from studies in Canada and the United States (see overview in Baker 1993) and Finland and Sweden (Skutnabb-Kangas 1991) is that children from a middle-class background whose language of instruction from the very beginning is a foreign language-different from their home language-don't suffer from any learning drawbacks when compared with children who are native speakers. When it comes to children from migrant families or linguistic minorities from lower social strata, where generally the kind of linguistic and cognitive competence required in school is not practiced and valued, learning in a language they don't speak becomes very difficult, because they cannot establish a link between their home language and linguistic competence and their school language. The cognitive challenges this type of situation imposes on these children can be overcome by offering them bilingual education programs where instruction starts in the language spoken by the children and the foreign, second, or official language is taught as a subject before it becomes the language of instruction. This same conclusion can be drawn for developing countries, and the method has been put in practice in Latin America. Programs that teach indigenous people in their local language have proved to be more successful than the conventional system using Spanish as the language of instruction, regardless of the linguistic competence and social practice of the learners (Hornberger 1985; Jung, Urban, and Serrano 1989). In several African countries the evaluation of experimental programs has shown that the same conclusion holds true in these types of multilingual settings (for Niger, see Alidou 1997). Why is the quality of education so interdependent with the language of instruction? Thought is materialized through language. Children recognize their mother tongues when they are only six months old. Language competence develops in interaction with "significant others" (Berger and Luckmann 1966) and depends on the 26 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

cultural practices the significant others are involved in. These practices become part of the meaning of language, and the meaning does not exist without language. Schooling-even when the language of instruction is the children's mother tongue- implies new forms of communication such as written language. The new knowledge, competencies, and skills schoolchildren are supposed to acquire need to be related to former experience, including linguistic experience. In children whose home language and language of instruction are different, new cognitive competencies cannot develop easily.The worst-casescenario is characterized by elementary schoolswhere the language of instruction is spoken neither by the children nor by their parents, and where, at the same time, the type of knowledge being imparted and the modes of interaction are very distant from what is taught and practiced in the home. That is the case for almost all rural communities in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, where this situation leads to a resistance to school, which is seen as an intruder. It leads to high dropout and repetition rates and low literacy rates, which contribute to raising the costs of elementary education. From an economic point of view it is important to make primary education more cost-efficient by improving the quality of learning, and since learning is related to the language of instruction, to use the language of instruction closest to the linguistic and cultural experience of students. Consequently, in almost every country in West Africa the ministers of education have proposed introducing the use of the local language at least during the first years of schooling. This decision, logical and well-intentioned indeed, is not easy to put into practice because of serious problems involved in implementing such a decisive shift in the education system.

Relationship between Language, Culture, and Knowledge Beyond the role language plays in an individual's learning process, it also plays a role in the introduction of new knowledge and cultural change at a societal level. In industrial societies new knowledge is introduced through education and mass media-where the latter use a more popular language level to guarantee wider diffusion of new concepts and research findings. This process happens to be far more complicated in societies where the everyday language is not the same as the language of instruction and of the mass media. In the case of the African societies it is extremely difficult to establish a link between what is or should be taught at school and its integration in daily practice, because the language of instruction is French and the language, or languages, used in the family and community is any African language. Scientific concepts are not developed in African languages because they are not used for formal schooling and science, which means that they do not modernize and develop. Only a very small minority of the population learns these scientific concepts superficially and badly in French in school; consequently, these concepts do not penetrate people's everyday life. This means that if these societies want to modernize, they need to modernize the languages used in daily life to permit the penetration of new concepts. TOWARDLITERATE SOCIETIES: PUBLISHING IN LOCAL LANGUAGES 27

Because local knowledge-which is relevant for production and culture-is excluded from formal education, the necessary dialogue between locally produced knowledge and knowledge from other contexts, introduced through formal education, has no chance to take place. Relevantlocal knowledge is de facto devalued by schools, and its development in the written form and its exchange with other concepts are made quite difficult. For social development to happen, the interpenetra- tion of both types of knowledge in formal and nonformal educational settings is necessary. An educational policy that excludes the languages spoken by 90 percent of the population excludes the people who speak these languages and their knowledge,and in fact denies them the competenciesand knowledge that education might offer. The impact of education on social and economic development could therefore be enhanced by introducing African languages in formal education. The impact on literacy rates would be significant because people would easily become aware of how critical written information is for their activities in the fields of production, public administration, and politics. Such an awareness should increasethe demand for publications in African languages and create better conditions for the national and regional publishing industry. A civil society needs communication, both oral and written, on a whole range of social, economic, and political issues; self-confidencebased on reflection on historical identity; and participation in decisionmakingand administration. All this is possible only when the population is integrated into the society's business, not marginalized by lack of education or excluded because of its language or experience and knowledge is rejected in the public realm. Language and literacy are two crucial elements for fostering the societal integration of the population.

The Publishing Industry in Sahelian Countries An overview of publications in national languages available in Burkina Faso and Benin (Sehoueto 1995), Niger (Heiss 1995), and Senegal (Sagna and others 1996) shows that a so-called publishing industry does not yet exist. The titles produced in African languages can be roughly divided into textbooks for elementary education, teaching materials for literacy classes, and reading materials for different levels of reading skills and about different topics.

Textbooks Textbooks for elementary education exist only on a very small scale and for very few languages; they do not cover the whole range of school subjects nor all the grades of primary education. Becausein the countries mentioned the national languages are only taught at experimental schools, there has not been any systematicproduction of learning materials. Following is a review of the situation. In Burkina Faso the national language was the sole language of instruction used until 1985, when the political regime changed. Some of the teaching 28 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

materials and textbooks written during that period still exist today. In 1995 the satellite school program was introduced. This is funding new schools for small children and girls and is reintroducing the local language as the language of instruction during the first three years of schooling. Learning materials for the satellite school program have to be developed according to the new program, and there is a scarcity of trained staff. • In Mali national languages were introduced in elementary school within several experimental programs. Learning materials produced years ago are now being reprinted to overcome the lack of reading materials in the experimental schools. For the same reason reading materials are produced in the context of the P&Jagogie convergente, a pedagogical approach aimed at integrating different subjects and methods in a more holistic way. With the introduction of local languages in the curriculum, learning materials are being produced in five languages as part of the training program for textbook authors organized by DSE. * In Niger all five local languages are recognized as national languages and are taught in experimental schools (almost 38 at the moment), which began in 1978. Until 1995 no printed learning materials existed, only photocopies or cyclostyle copies for some subjects (such as mother tongue, math, and practical activities). Since 1994 specialists of the department for national languages have participated in a training program for textbook authors and have produced five textbooks and five manuscripts for teaching the national language. The books were printed locally by a private institution, and the typing, illustrations, and layout were also done locally. Although DSE financed the book production, the authors did their job as part of their normal assignment in the curriculum institute. Distribution was organized with Niger-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). But so far there have not been any attempts to produce textbooks in the national languages for all subjects. * In Benin and Senegal national languages are not taught at school. The factors that contributed to this rather negative situation in Sahelian countries were numerous, and their impact is still felt despite some indications that the situation is improving. Frequent changes in linguistic and educational policy have hindered the ability to seek possible investors. Numerous weak links in the book chain make it very difficult to introduce changes, as does the lack of commitment of a national or region- ally based private sector. The state distributes free textbooks in French, which are purchased on a large scale through international competitive bidding. At best there is some sort of participation of national textbook authors and a joint copyright with state institutions, but no private distribution system has been developed. The investment in the purchase of French textbooks has not been used to strengthen national capacities in any type of competence: conception and writing, layout, editing, printing, or distribution. Even if some members of curriculum institutes have participated in training in one of these fields, the training has not been systemati- cally used to create a national book industry. Purchasing procedures in the frame- TOWARDLITERATE SOCIETIES: PUBLISHING INLOCAL LANGUAGES 29 work of national education reform projects have favored the big publishing houses in OECD countries.

Learning Materials for Literacy Classes Learning materials in African languages for literacy classes exist in all the countries mentioned so far. They have been produced by the ministries of education and their constituents and by local NGOs financed by international NGOs or multilateral organizations. In some countries such as Niger, the state is almost the only provider of learning materials for new readers. In these cases the whole book chain is state-owned, with official institutes providing services-also for outside customers-and controlling authors, illustrators, layout artists, as well as printers and distributors. Funding for the products generally comes from foreign agencies whereas the payroll is paid by the state. In Senegal, NGOs hold a very important place within what might be called the literacy sector. A study commissioned by the DSE (Sagna and others 1996) shows that in Senegal learning materials generally are developed by each NGO for its own clientele, and materials are seldom distributed on the market. The production of learning materials-even for materials not distributed free of charge-is highlysubsidized. The material and pedagogicalquality very often are poor because of the lack of professional capacity in this field. Nonetheless, there is much more experience in conceiving and producing learning materials for literacy classes than for elementary schools because of a longer tradition of teaching literacy in local languages.

Other Publications in Local Languages The production of reading materials beyond the primary level is still very limited, even if some demand exists. To understand the dynamics of the field, following is an overview of types of publications. • Several governmental or parastatal organizations produce what is generally labeled as postliteracy materials, that is, booklets written in very plain language about topics related to agriculture, health, or crafts. The topics, and the way they are dealt with, are not very appealing to readers, who generally don't want to pay for these booklets. These publications are completely subsidized by development agencies or multilateral organizations (such as the UNESCO program for reading materials in national languages in Niger). * Rural newspapers are often produced with the participation of new literates who distribute them in their communities. The scope of these papers is generally broader than that of the postliteracy materials, introducing new types of texts and including political issues, local news, and important information. Rural newspapers are quite important in Burkina Faso and are potentially influential in a political context of decentralization. They are not 30 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

self-supported, but customers generally pay a price corresponding to the print bill. Demand exists for books beyond postliteracy or functional literacy materials-namely, for fiction, history, law, and religion. These types of publications are produced in Hausa in Nigeria and are sold in the marketplace in Niger (Heiss 1995). The same has been experienced in Senegal, where a local NGO produces books in Pulaar and sells between 2,000 and 3,000 copies a month, even without a proper distribution system (Fagerberg-Diallo 1997). This shows that people are interested in reading in their own language about a whole range of topics, creating their own market for books. Because this type of publishing does not cover production costs yet, it must be subsidized. But subsidies by this type of institution are relatively small in comparison with government programs, especially when books are produced and distributed by private agents, often by the authors themselves, as in the case of some Hausa publications in Nigeria (Heiss 1993). Because of governmental institutions' policy of producing literacy and other types of materials without taking into account cost-effectiveness, customers have become used to receiving written materials free of charge or by paying only a nominal price. Of course, such a policy was meant to give access to reading materials for people with very low purchasing power, in order to reduce illiteracy. But the consequences are far-reaching, on both sides: customers have learned that books and other written materials are cheap, even in relation to other products they consume regularly; and people in government and in some NGOs have not learned how to reduce production costs and enhance quality. Products are often not attractive; but as long as they are distributed free of charge or sold at a price well below the production cost, consumers really have no choice.

DSE Training Program for Textbook Authors The results of an education sector study-commissioned by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and executed by the Ministry of Education of Niger and the German Technical Cooperation-pointed out the need to strengthen the experimental schools where local languages are taught. On the basis of these results the DSE developed a training program for textbook authors to create local capacities in the writing of textbooks for local language teaching. Participants included 15 authors writing in five different local languages of Niger from 1994 until 1997; 3 authors from Mali in 1995, 7 in 1996, and 11 in 1997 working in five local languages of Mali; and 4 authors from Burkina Faso working in two languages. The pedagogical approach of the training integrates theory and practice in such a way that authors learn how to conceive, write, test, and lay out textbooks for the teaching of the mother tongue by executing all these tasks and producing manuscripts ready to be illustrated and laid out by professionals. The training program consists of four training courses of two weeks each to produce manuscripts for the second grade TOWARDLITERATE SOCIETIES: PUBLISHING IN LOCAL LANGUAGES 31 student book (in 1995), the third grade student book (in 1997), and the third grade teacher's manual (1997). In 1998 the participants will probably design the first grade student book. Course participants plan the outline of the book, reflect on teaching methods and learninglanguage competencein the different grades, and plan the concrete tasks that must be achievedbefore the following course. In between courses the textbook writing takes place in groups of two or three authors, with some organized feedback from teachers, linguists,and other specialists, if possible. The final manuscript generally includes descriptions of the illustrations and a draft layout, to the extent that the layout is educationallyrelevant. During the first complete workshop series in 1995, DSE supported the process in Niger by commissioninga consultant to help authors organize their work properly and to manage the production process-including illustrations, layout, printing, distribution, and teacher training. The second grade books in five Nigerian languages were produced entirely in Niger, sponsored by DSE, because we wanted to find out the feasibilityand identify potential difficulties of such a project. Becauseof the success of the project, we are analyzing the possibility of cooperating with other agencies to find other sponsors for textbook production, as long as this is not part of the broader education project led by the World Bank. In Mali the production costs (illustration, layout, and printing) as well as distribution of textbooks in four languages are taken care of by the German TechnicalCo- operation, which also organizesthe bidding process and coordinates all the stages of editing with the private publishers. In Burkina Faso the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)will assume the production costs for the books in two languages as part of its contribution to the Ecoles Satellites.

Main Lessons Learned The main lessons learned during the execution of the program and its coordination with other agencies are the following: * To become specialistsin textbook production all the actors involved need to increase their understanding of how the activities of each group of professionals are interwoven and the necessity for training professionals involved in all links of the book chain. • Professionals from different scientific and practical backgrounds need to be brought in to provide feedback and exchange ideas. * Training works only if it provides an opportunity to turn theory into a final product. Everyone involved in designing and producing a textbook must understand in general terms how all the parts of the book chain are linked together and must contribute to the final, completed textbook. Such an experience enhancespeople's self-confidenceand motivatesthem to further action. * Strong coordination of all the political and financial actors is equally important. The political will to change the status quo must be strong enough to overcome difficultiesat all levels of decisionmaking. 32 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Other Lessons Learned

In 1995, DSE also started a training program for publishers of other types of publications in local languages. That experience taught us some important lessons. NGO publishers do not always have a clear idea of what they should produce because of a certain lack of cost-consciousness-possibly because of excessive sponsoring-that leads them to disregard readers' demands. Selection of publication, sponsoring, and cost-effectiveness are intertwined; but this realization only comes out of a deeper understanding of how literate societies grow and of the roles different actors play in this process. Literacy then is not only an education policy issue but also an important issue in the context of decentralization, civil society, and good governance.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The present situation is characterized by a broad gap between what is necessary to contribute to social change and education and what local industries offer in the field of local language publications for educational and other purposes. To satisfy the demand for books and learning materials in African languages in the long run, it is necessary to contribute to the development of national and regional publishing houses and to the capacity building of all links of the book chain. Education sector programs led by the World Bank as well as by any other donor agency can accom- plish this, but a different understanding of how culture and economy are intertwined and of the role of culture as part of the development process is needed. When societies depend almost completely on imports for their book resources, they obtain not only material goods but also a different language, and all the cultural, historical, and ideological burden that is embodied in books and language (Askerud 1997). Such an almost complete dependency on foreign cultural goods cannot contribute to development. A policy aimed at creating a national and regional publishing industry requires the involvement of a series of actors, from the ministries of education to civil society in the countries themselves, as well as international and bilateral agencies. Areas for future action include book policy, human resources development, and financial aspects: * Book policy. In several countries no national book policy has been developed, which means that at least in the field of textbooks the roles of the state and of private publishers are yet to be defined. Another important point relates to taxes on book sector imports: tax regulation should not favor foreign publishers at the expense of national publishers. Regional cooperation should be enhanced because many so-called local languages are not confined to one state but are spoken in several countries. * Human resources development. All specialists involved in the book chain must be properly trained in order to help them produce materials that meet the demands of the population, in a cost-effective manner, and to technically, pedagogically, and linguistically acceptable standards. In the case of text- TOWARDLITERATE SOCIETIES: PUBLISHING IN LOCAL LANGUAGES 33

books specialists in ministries of education, they should gain a deeper understanding of how the quality of textbooks in local languages might be guaranteed (for example, by having a good grasp on details pertaining to bidding documents and evaluation). It is important to link training with design and production, as well as to create efficient distribution systems. Training is not expensive when linked to production, especially production of textbooks purchased in the context of education projects executed with World Bank loans. Financial aspects. Part of the procurement policy should be the systematic involvement of national and regional publishing houses, including the training of their staff. The role of bilateral cooperation agencies might be to train national and regional publishers in management of textbook bids and production. Bidding procedures should be designed according to the situation in the countries where local languages recently have been introduced as languages of instru;ction and where a national book industry does not yet exist.

References Alidou, Hassana. 1997. "Eclucation Language Policy and Bilingual Education: The Impact of French Language Policy in Primary Education in Niger." Ph.D. Diss., University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. Askerud, Pernille. 1997. A Guide to Sustainable Book Provision. Paris: UNESCO. Baker, Colin. 1993. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Clevedon: Philadelphia Multilingual Matters Series. Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckmann. 1966. The Social Construlction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Fagerberg-Diallo, Sonja. 1997. "Constructive Interdependence: The Process of Literacy in Pulaar (Senegal)." Paper prepared by author from Associates for Research and Development (ARED)/Dakar for the DSE Conference on Literacy, Education, and Social Development, July 8-11, Berlin. Heiss, John Peter. 1993. "Dokumentation, Sammiung und Bewertung der thematischen Schwerpunkte der Hausa-Markt-Literatur." Unpublished. Paper written during author's studies at Freie Universitat, Berlin. ---. 1995. "Hausa- und Zarma-Publikationen in Niger, ihre Produktion und Distribution." Unpublished. Paper written during author's studies at Freie Universitat, Berlin. Hornberger, Nancy. 1985. "Bilingual Education and Quechua Language Maintenance in Highland Puno, Peru." Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin. Jung, Ingrid, Christaine Urban, and J. Serrano, eds. 1989. Aprendiendo a mirar. Una investigaci6n de linguistica aplicada y educaci6n. Lima, Peru: Universidad Nacional del Altiplano-Puno, Programa de Educaci6n Bilingiie de Puno. Sagna, Michel, Pascal Ndiaye, Mamadou Mbaye, and Carien Roselaers. 1996. "Les publications en langues nationales au Senegal: Etude du march6." Unpublished study. Written as background material for DSE programs for the promotion of national languages. Dakar. Sehoueto, Lazare Maurice. 1995. "Les publications en langues nationales au Benin et au Burkina Faso." Unpublished study. Written as background material for DSE programs for the promotion of national languages. Dakar. Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 1991. Bilingualism or Not: The Education of Minorities. Clevedon, Avon, England: U.K. Multilingual Matters Series. Supporting Educational Materials Programs in Developing Countries: SIDA's Experience

Maria Stridsman

Sweden, throughits governmentaldevelopment cooperation agency, the Swedish InternationalDevelopment Agency (SIDA), has supportedbasic education programs in developingcountries since the early1970s. An intrinsicpart of thissupport is assistancefor educationalmaterials, which has taken many formsover the years,from the internationalpurchase of textbooksand other specialmaterials such as atlasesand dictionaries,to supportto localpublishing and printing.Assistance has not beencon- fined to the purchaseor productionand distributionof textbooksalone; it has also included,for example,the developmentof materialsfor literacycampaigns, the establishmentof Braillepresses, support to environmentalmagazines for schools,curriculum developmentfor both formaland nonformaleducation, and the establishmentof readingrooms and rurallibraries.

T he importance of support for educationalmaterials within the Swedish InternationalDevelopment Agency's (SIDA) education cooperation programs has beengrowing steadily over the lastfew years(see table 1). In 1994-95,disburse- mentshad reached 62.5 million krona, which was 42 percentof the disbursementswithin primaryeducation programs and 15 percentof the totalsupport given to educationpro- gramswithin client country agreements. This paper has a numberof interrelatedaims: • It sets out SIDA'spolicy for cooperationin educationalmaterials programs. * It is a record of experienceto date, showinghow SIDAcooperation in educationalmaterials has changedover time. * It givesconcrete examples of the cooperationprograms in the area of educational materials-two case studies and a summary of programscurrently beingfinanced. * It widensthe thinkingon educationalmaterials to a comprehensiveconcern with the literate environment.This endeavortakes the discussioninto the closelyrelated fieldsof cultureand media. * It revealsthe strategiesand methodsfor implementingthe programs. MariaStridsman is program officer at theSocial Development (DESO) Department for Democracy, EducationDivision, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). (This paper is a summaryof a full-fledgedstrategy paper.) 34 SUPPORTINGEDUCATIONAL MATERIALS PROGRAMS IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 35

Table1. Summaryof SIDA'sSupport to CurrentPrograms in Africa,Asia, and Latin Americaas of 1997 Bilateralprograms. Africa Amount(SKr) Allocation(SKr)

Ethiopia 1992-94 82 million 33 million for textbooks Firsttranche: 1994-95 36 million 14.6 million in textbooks Secondtranche: 1995-96 0 n.a. In total, 40 percentof the Swedishgrant is allocatedfor provisionof textbooks.SIDA has supported textbookprovision in Ethiopiasince 1980. Swedish support is mainlyused for the paymentof foreign exchangecomponent for the import of paperand printing consumablesto produceprimary schooltextbooks. Funds have also beenused to purchasemachines and for maintenance.Some funds havebeen allocated for the purchaseof trucksto distributebooks. Technical assistance has beenprovided to the EMPDA,specifically for managementand maintenanceof the printing press.

GuineaBissau 1992-96 60 million 20 million for educationalmaterials SIDAhas supported educational materials in GuineaBissau since 1978. Cooperationbetween Swedenand GuineaBissau in the areaof textbooksbegan before Guinea Bissau's independence, when textbooksdeveloped by PAIGCwere printed in Sweden.The PAIGCtitles continuedfor sev- eralyears but they were pedagogicallyunsatisfactory. In 1988,Swedish support to EditoraEscolar wasextended in orderto coordinateand rationalizelocal productionand improvetextbooks' quality, includingprinting. Thiscomponent is the largestof SIDA'ssupport to the educationsector in GuineaBissau.

Mozambique1996 37 million 7 million for educationalmaterials SIDAhas supported the developmentof educationalmaterials in Mozambiquefor 16years. Sweden hasbeen a major donorin the textbooksubsector in Mozambiquesince the 1980s,and hastherefore hadconsiderable influence on the developmentof the subsector.Swedish support came in the form of technicaland financial assistance to a publishingunit in INDE,and to the state-ownedprinter CEFRAF.In 1987the governmentof Mozambiquemoved to a marketeconomy. Since then, Swedish supporthas been used to financea numberof studiesaimed at adaptingthe productionand distribution of textbooks.These studies have focused on organization,distribution, finance and purchasing power,and havesubstantially contributed to the formulationof the new policyfor the subsector.

Tanzania1995-96 45 million 26 million for educationalmaterials SIDAsupport for educationalmaterials in Tanzaniadates back to 1986.In the initial stagesof the cooperationwith the governmentof Tanzania,SIDA financed printing presses,paper, and other con- sumablesneeded for publishingand printing textbooks.In addition,SIDA also supported a number of studieson printing andpublishing, particularly in mainlandTanzania. SIDA, in conjunctionwith the WorldBank, the OverseasDevelopment Administration (ODA), and Danida,is conductinga dia- loguewith Tanzaniaon futuresupport for PilotProjects for Publishing.The agencies have indicated their interestin supportingactivities in the field of curriculumdevelopment and research. Bilateralprograms, Africa Amount(SKr) Allocation(SKr)

Zambia1994-97 120 million 49.65 million for educationalmaterials Zambiahas received SIDA support for educationalmaterials since 1985. EarlySIDA support came in the form of supplyof printing paperand other printing materials.Purchase and transportationwere organizedby SIDA,Stockholm. SIDA's support was intended to assistin the productionof 600,000 primaryschool books covering six titles. From 1985-89, SIDAsupported the supplyof printing paper,printing materials,spare parts, funds for exercisebooks, and school desks production. There 36 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Table 1. (continued) Zambia 1994-97 (continued) were some problems due to lack of an organizational framework within which to coordinate activities. To overcome the structural weaknesses,bilateral financing from SIDA is now being extended through collaborations with FINNIDA (Finnish International Development Agency) and the World Bank (Integrated Education Sector Investment Program-ESIP). Cofinanced Amount programs Total SlDA'sshare Allocation

Asia Bangladesh US$310 million US$14 million The GEPwas the largest primary program in General (4.5 percent) Bangladesh and has a number of innovative Education components, including the trial testing of the Project (GEP) reuse of textbooks. GEPwas cofinanced by a 1990/91-96 consortium of donors lead by the World Bank. Textbook development for primary school level (US$65 million) was the third largest component of the project; SIDA'scontribution was US$2.3 million (16.4 percent of the total Swedish contribution), and the Bangladesh government's contribution was US$5.2 million. Cambodia SKr90 million (SKr1.5 million SIDA support to textbook production started as 1996-98 for SIDA early as 1979. On July 1, 1995, Sweden entered follow-up into a long-term development cooperation activities) program with Cambodia, and since 1996 funds are being channeled through UNICEF.SIDA's contribution to the current project is for follow- up activities. Since the beginning of the project, Sweden has been the main financial contributor. SIDA will play a more active role in planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs. LatinAmerica Bolivia Primary US$196.2 US$13.9 million A World Bank-supported project with SIDA co- Education million (7.1 percent) financing. Of the total amount, allocation to Reform Project school equipment, materials, and goods is 1995-99 US$50.7 million; US$31.0 million is provided by World Bank and a consortium of donors, and US$19.6 million is the Bolivian government's contribution. Other donors are the Inter- American Development Bank, Holland, Germany, and UNICEF.Sweden has participated in the preparation of the Primary Education Reform since 1992 together with the Secretaria Nacional de Educacion and other donors. SIDA will assist the World Bank and the government of Bolivia by supporting efforts to design an education map of the entire sector, followed by assistancein a "bridging operation" as a preparatory measure to support the institutions that will execute and implement proposed reforms.

Source:'SIDA Support to EducationalMaterials Programs: A Reviewof Experienceand CurrentStrategies," Departmentof Democracyand SocialDevelopment (DESO), Education Division. SUPPORTING EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS PROGRAMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 37

SIDA's Main Cooperation Objectives

Objectives for basic education are to support broad reform processes; to raise the quality of education at the primary level; and to support the provision of primary education servicesfor previously neglectedgroups and for people living in neglected geographic areas. SIDAsupports educational materials programs in a number of countries, mainlyin Africa, in the context of bilateraleducation agreements.Support to educational materials programs is also given in the context of cofinancededucation sector support, for example, in Bangladesh,Bolivia, and Cambodia. The main objective of SIDA'ssupport for educational rnaterials programs is to help create the necessaryconditions for the supply of relevant, affordable educationalmaterials for primary education, in particular, textbooks. Support is also extended to a wide range of other materials,including materials for nonformal education and for specialneeds education. Although the support is mainly coricentrated on the production and distribution of educational materials, in particular, textbooks, SIDA is increasingly working with curriculum developers and educational publishersto improve the quality of the materials. In addition to its support in the context of education agreements, SIDA also supports culture and media programs, with the intention of widening the literate environment for literacy.

State versus Commercial Publishing The context in which educational materials programs are operating has been changing radically over the last five years. Two trends, especiallyin Africa, are leading to changes in the way programs are designed and managed: the decreasing role of state and parastatal organizations in production processesand the devolution of responsibility for basic education from central to regional and local levels. These changes will facilitate a shift from state to commercial publishing and from single-textbook to multiple-textbook systems. In Africa, commercial publishing-the focus of SIDAs textbook support programs-needs to be rebuilt after suffering from decades of neglect during the period of state monopoly of textbook production and distribution. There are serious problems on the financial and technical sides but there are also positive developments, such as the establishmentof publishers' associations,intraregional cooperation, and a growing number of publishing houses. In some countries book policies have been established and they support the development of local commercial publishing. Two case studies of Mozambique and Tanzaniashow that similar problems can be tackled in different, nationally appropriate, ways. Mozambiquestill has a monopoly publisher whose operations have been commercialized. In Tanzania a Pilot PublishingProject is helping many local publishers to redevelop their skills. In both countries SIDA's funding is being changed from direct support for production processes to support for competence development and the local purchase of materials. In addition, both countries are paying attention to distribution issues. 38 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Lessons Learned

SIDA has acquired a great deal of experience in supporting educational materials programs over the last decade and has learned a number of lessons. * Government monopoly publishing does not often ensure that demand is met. * Functioning systems of commercial publishing in Africa (for example, in Zimbabwe), can be of relevance to countries embarking on a process of commercialization. * Questions of financing are largely unresolved-in particular, the question of risk capital for publishers. * In many countries the quality and relevance of educational materials is prob- lematic, for example, the representation of gender roles. Content problems need to be tackled at many levels, starting with the curriculum and syllabi. * At the classroom level, teachers do not always use the available materials. Teachers do not always have copies of teaching guides that should be used together with the textbooks. * Supplementary reading materials are necessary if children and adults are to become literate and maintain their literacy. However, with the general under- financingof education systems, nontextbook materials have become very vul- nerable to budget cuts.

SIDA Strategies SIDA has a number of strategies for supporting educational materials programs that take into account the above problems: * Designingthe support on a country-by-countrybasis, favoring processesthat are most likelyto raise the quality of education in the classroom.In effect this guideline means givingsupport to programs that demonopolize the supply of educational materials and enable schools and local governments to choose good-quality, relevant materials. * Building up domestic commercial publishing because at the primary education level local publishers are more likely to be able to produce locally relevant textbooks than are international publishers. * Supporting regional and international working groups and networks and financing regional training programs. * Supporting curriculum development to contribute to improved quality of education. Regarding curriculum content, SIDA has given priority to environmental education and HIV/AIDSeducation; but more recently it has been supporting key subject areas such as mathematics, science and language education, as well as curriculum review from a gender perspective. * Analyzing educational materials programs from the classroom perspective to improve the quality of education. Such an analysisshows that it is not sufficient to ensure the supply of educational materials. Teacher training should be supported as well. SUPPORTINGEDUCATIONAL MATERIALS PROGRAMS IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 39

- Payingattention to the wider literate environment. Cultural and media activities-ranging from library development, radio programs, children's books, and support to writers' unions and publishers' associations-can be directly supported. Assistancefor the supply of educational materials will help promote a sustainable literary environment. * Drawing on other experiences of bilateral programs for educationalmaterials. The Texto Unico Policy in Colombia

Gaston de Bedout

The texto unico program in Colombia represents only one vision, the official vision- the government's vision as defined by a selection committee, which reflects the ideological criteria of the state. Although the state represents the people, the adopted texto unico program leads to totalitarianism because it stimulates only one point of view. It does not allow for the plurality of knowledge. This has been seen in many cases of current bidding processes, where the selection depends on some committees characterized by a closed vision of their own cultural frontiers. This vision leaves no room for glimpses of other worlds, for the discovery of other cultures, for other manifesta- tions of language use, and for access to a variety of methodologies and procedures.

M-ost Latin American countries' development plans in education have established investment and endowment programs for school textbooks, didactic materials, and educational infrastructure. The endowment projects for free textbooks for public schools are financed to a great extent with loans from the World Bank. The overall goal is laudable inasmuch as the school textbook is a fundamental guide for the educational process. Often the textbook constitutes the only didactic resource to which low-income students have access; as such, it must contain information from other sources, such as television, computers, and libraries, which are not available to many students. In Colombia the cost of textbooks is generally higher than in countries that have access to other learning materials and resources.

Acquiring School Textbooks: International Bidding Countries use various established mechanisms for the acquisition of school textbooks. The international bidding system is perhaps the most dynamic and representative process created for this purpose. On the one hand, international bidding offers publishing houses of different countries the possibility for greater participation. On the

Gaston de Bedout is general manager of Voluntad (in Bogota, Colombia)-a publishing house dedicated to the production of teaching and learning materials, with offices and publishing houses throughout Latin America-and the Colombian Publishers' Association. 40 THE TExro UNICO POLICY IN COLOMBIA 41 other hand, it establishescriteria and regulations that contradict the democratic spirit of international bids and in turn lead down a dangerous path to the adoption of the so-calledtexto unico, that is, a free and compulsory official textbook. Such a situation occurs when the government is the sole publisher and printer of textbooks, and textbooks are given free to students; when the government is the publisher (and the owner of the textbook rights), and it calls for printing bids from private industry, arguing that the private sector is participating in the endowment; or when the governrnent buys a textbook in huge quantities from a publisher who represents the private sector, on the basis of looking for "scale economies," and practically gives the private publisher (generally a friend of the government) the exclusive right to the market. This last point represents the most common case of international bids. The purchasing decision depends on the criteria established by an official committee that ultimately determines the state acquisition of a great quantity of a free and compulsory textbook-the texto unico. The situation just described has serious consequences, not only from a political point of view but also from pedagogical, social, and economic points of view. Publishers, printers, booksellers, and teachers all agree with the argument. Tenders for international bids are generally dense and extremely precisein their requirements, making them difficult to interpret and manage, and the time allowed to present the offers is very short. These circumstancesmake it harder for foreignpublishers to offer their textbooks, which are generally of very good quality,and limit the choice of textbooks of the buyer countries.The disclosure of the requirements to a publisher friend of the government, which allows such publisher enough time to prepare a suitable bid, has been witnessed on more than one occasion in Colombia.

Political Aspects Toward the middle of this century the discussion in Colombia about the inappro- priateness of a texto unico chosen by the government had gone beyond political and ideological points of view. Followingare some of the drawbacks of such a policy. As described earlier, the texto unico represents only the official vision, the government's vision, as defined by the criteria of the selection committee,which reflect the ideological criteria of the state. This leaves no room for exposure to other worlds, for the discovery of other cultures, for the use of other languages, and for students and teachers to have access to a variety of methodologies and procedures. In fact, with a procedure such as the one described, bidding loses its international character. The tendency to select a texto unico is unusual in democratic countries. The economic benefits of the so-called texto unico are not enough to counteract the disadvantages and complications that it may bring-above all, the danger for the democratic system in the future. In the final analysis,education through a texto unico will result in a mass of people desolatelyuniform, indoctrinated by the officialhistory, philosophy, science, grammar, chemistry,biology, and even the official calligraphy. Uniformitylimits free thought and hinders analysis.The very fundamental essenceof 42 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITy BUILDING ANTD TRENDS human beings is denied when the same norms of expression and of reasoning and thinking are instilled and diversity and creativity are not promoted. Education demands ample criteria, freedom of expression, and diversity of opinion supported by profound vision. When these conditions are met, the integral improvement of the individual, as well as that of the community and nation, are guaranteed. Uniformity and a monopoly of culture are opposed to a creative cultural environment. History shows that totalitarian states have devised and implemented the texto unico policy in order to impose their ideologies and doctrines with the aim of controlling people's minds. This fact contradicts democratic pedagogical development, and in this regard, the practices of textbook provision carried out by certain countries are anticonstitutional since such practices reduce access to multiple visions of reality and restrict freedom of teaching, learning, and investigating. For example, Article 27 of the Constitution of Colombia states that "the State guarantees the freedom to teach, learn, investigate," and Article 67 specifies that "Education is the right of a person and a public service that has a social function: with education one looks for an access to knowledge, science, technical know-how and other benefits and values of cultures." In summary, for all these reasons it seems anachronistic to consider textbook uniformity in today's world and, even worse, to present it as a natural stage of con- temporary education. This is equivalent to a policy of a protected and closed economy, which, as we all know, ends in underdevelopment.

Pedagogical Aspects The decision to submit to closed and regional criteria not only limits the freedom to teach subjects that depend on the confrontation of ideas, but also puts an end to any intellectual initiative and scientific research. The result is the suppression of effort, emulation, and competition among readers, authors, publishers, artists, illustrators, and even printers. An official science, monopolized and directed, is the antithesis of scientific truth based on freedom of method and expression. A texto unico hinders the attainment of a world vision, the confrontation of thoughts, and the formation of citizens tolerant of different ideas. It can be concluded that monotony and death of free initiative and intellectual activity would result from the approach of a texto unico. From a pedagogical point of view, students and teachers from both rural and urban areas should have access to cultural diversity, implicit in textbooks that correspond to their particular interests and objectives expressed in their Pedagogical Education Projects. The benefit derived from free competition often passes unnoticed. Textbook publishers fulfill a very important social function by cooperating with the state on teacher training. A considerable portion of publishers' sales proceeds is spent on seminars, training courses, and free complementary didactic materials to support the textbooks. With these new methodologies and procedures, knowledge and educational innova- tions are shared with educators, and pedagogical competence is increased. Therefore, the texto unico policy is highly detrimental to the development of education. THE TExTo UNICO PCOLICYIN COLOMBIA 43

Economic Aspects

Giving away free textbooks to schools is an admirable initiative, but it does not mean that textbooks must be selected by the criterion of low price rather than by that of relevance.The low-price criterion will deteriorate the overall quality of the product. As a consequence,poor-quality textbooks will hinder the quality and equality of education in those areas where textbooks are the only didactic resource available. Schools and classrooms in Latin America have insufficient didactic materials and libraries, so the textbook must replace them. Good textbooks must be rich in activities and content. The "something is better than nothing" paternalistic statement must be set aside when it comes to education. The best textbooks should be given to the most disadvantaged. Low-priced books, which are most often synonymous with low quality, are definitely not the solution. Another argument against the texto unico policy is that teachers and the educational community of each school are the ones who must evaluate and select textbooks that comply with their requirements and expectations. With the texto unico policy, costs turn out to be higher because hidden costs, such as the cost of distribution, are generally not included in international bids. Today in Latin America no publishinghouse has a distribution network capable of deliveringtextbooks to every school in every corner of the country. In many instances purchased textbooks simply remain in government warehouses. The ideal distribution would be through an established chain of bookstores, supermarkets, and the like, spread widely around the country, and an educational gift certificate system, whereby students can directly purchase textbooks in any store of the established chain of distribution. At the same time, this system would allow for the survival of bookstores that might be on their way to extinction. When the government distributes textbooks, political interest come into play and education interest becomes secondary. For example, during political campaigns, the administration gives away books to candidates in return for votes. This practice spreads administrative corruption, which so much plagues our countries today.

Free Enterprise Aspects The texto unico also generatesa great social problem: it creates monopoliesthat affect the development of free enterprise. Acquiringtextbooks from only one source, in the quantities stipulated in the bids, generates a monopoly that excludes all others from participating in the market. This is how the bidding system breaches the majority of constitutional laws that establish free economic activity and private initiative. Free competition, which entails responsibilities,is a fundamental right. Free enterprise is a basis for development and plays a social function, which impliesthat there are obligations to be met. The state can assist in strengthening and stimulatingbusiness development. By legal mandate, and because of its dominant position in the market, the state can put in place buffersagainst the obstruction and restriction of economic freedom and can penalizeor control any abuseby an individual or business. 44 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Within established cultural criteria, the publishing industry is fundamental to a country's economy.Publishers play a major role as an industry and as disseminators of culture. It is therefore crucial to provide this industry with the right stimuli and opportunities to strengthen its development.

Conclusion and Recommendations The World Bank's intention to further education and supply free textbooks to students is commendable. However, the urgency of reexamining the policies, conditions, and decisionmakingmechanisms of the international bidding systemshould be recognized. In Colombia, as in most Latin American countries, schools and other educational centers develop their own Institutional Education Projects, that is, their own curriculum based on general objectives established by the Ministry of Education. The projects are directly related to the students' needs. This enables schools to comply with their transforming role and links them directly to social development processes. At the same time these educational projects become part of municipal projects. They detect the community's needs, which in turn become part of the regional and national educational projects. By law, therefore, each school enjoys autonomy in formulating, adopting, and putting into practice the institutional education project, and all segments of the educational community-parents, teachers, and students-must participate in the process. Students' and teachers' perception of reality makes them the most qualified to choose a textbook from the many offered. In Colombia teachers in every school select textbooks according to their needs, thus providing an opportunity for a variety of titles to be published. The creation of library-banks with a wide spectrum of books opens students' minds to new thoughts and permits the confrontation of methods. According to Law 115, the General Law of Education of Colombia, textbooks must be selected and acquired by the schools in accordance with the Institutional Education Project to offer the student pedagogicalsupport and relevant information about the subject matter. In addition, the law supports complementing pedagogicalwork, guiding the students in promoting observation and experimenta- tion skills, and removing learning by rote memorization or repetition. Only if, and when, the World Bank understands and accepts these issues, will its responses to educate our children and youth be more effective, active, and participatory. Only then will the Bank be able to help our people in the needed social transformation. Sensitivityto these issueswill promote the efforts of the World Bank and our countries, make them more sensible,and assist in attaining expected results. Moving toward Private Sector Publishing in Eastern Europe

Frances Pinter

The Soros Foundations were created to provide massive assistance during a period of great need in Eastern Europe. Because values and institutions in the region are undergoing deep and rapid change, the right kind of assistance provided now can have a profound impact. In many countries in Eastern Europe, the Soros Foundations are now by far the largest independent source of support for books. Translations of Western titles in the social sciences and humanities, along with textbook publishing, are perhaps the most important types of publishing in the context of the Soros Foundations' overall mission. The Soros Foundations operate on the basis that a strong, diverse, and independent publishing sector means a functioning book chain, with at least a minimal number of publishers, printers, distributors, and booksellers, all of whom can exist as commercial operations without depending heavily on subsidies. Certain types of necessary publishing will always require subsidies, whether in the form of direct grants or other indirect forms of support, but such support can continue if and when Soros support is reduced, if appropriate steps are taken.

Publishing is not merely a separate program area of the Soros Foundations and Open Society Institutes network because books are centrally important to many of the other fields in which we are active. Publishing is thus supported in a variety of ways: through national foundation publishing programs, as a component of other programs (both national and regional), and through the projects of the Regional Publishing Center at Open Society Institutes, Budapest. Outlined here are the principles that should guide all forms of support, for both national foundations and regional programs, whether they use publishing as a tool for other purposes or focus on books and publishing for their own sake. Also examined are the strategic implications of different types of support, but not the mechan- ics or narrower objectives of specific programs.' Traditional print publishing is the primary focus here. However, electronic publishing may soon prove to be a cost-effective means of disseminating some types of material, even in undercomputerized Eastern Europe.

Frances Pinter is executivedirector of the Open Society Institute PublishingCenter of the Soros Foundations, based in Budapest, Hungary. 45 46 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Publishing Support Strategy

The wide-ranging activities of the Soros Foundations in the area of book publishing have two overarching goals. The first is to support the publication and wide availability of books that promote critical thinking, intercultural understanding, high educational standards, and the values of open society and provide the theoretical and practical knowledge needed by societies in transition. The second is to promote the development of a strong, diverse, and independent publishing industry as a vital institution of civil society in its own right.

General Principles The two goals defined can either conflict with or complement each other. Our most important general strategic principle is, therefore, to seek congruence between these two basic goals. The publishing industry can be viewed as a book chain that links authors, translators, and editors, through publishers, printers, distributors, and booksellers, to the end user, whether an individual reader or an institution such as a school or a library. If anyone of the links in the chain is dysfunctional, the other links cannot work effectively.Our strategy takes this entire nexus into account and focuses on those points where intervention will be most effective. Inevitably, most of our work is focused on publishers as the most important link in the chain. The users to whom we offer book publishing, as well as the countries in which we are active, are very diverse. Some principles, however, apply to all. • Wherever possible, the commercial potential of a book should be used to keep subsidiesto a minimum and to provide an incentive for efficiency,even in cases where this potential is limited. Publishers should be encouraged to invest as much of their own resources in a book as possible, so that it is in their own interest to publish the book quickly and at minimal cost and to market it effectively.On the other hand, publishers must be permitted to make a modest profit on books supported by the foundation, because this is the only way for them to become self-sufficient.This profit, however, must arise from successfulpublishing, not from excessivesubsidization. * As much initiative as possible should be left to publishers themselves, including the process of selecting titles, finding authors, translators, and editors, and managing production, marketing, and distribution. The foundation's role should be to catalyze and support initiatives rather than function as an actual publisher; provide know-how, information, and access to resources and international networks; and exercise quality control over projects it supports, ensuring high professionalstandards. The degree of activeinvolvement on the part of the foundation depends on the maturity of the publishing industry in a given country. * Monopoly situations should be avoided. This means that foundations use open competition to distribute support to a group of competent, reliable, and MOVING TOWARD PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLISHING IN EASTERN EUROPE 47

promising publishers. This practice encourages efficiency and ensures that "all our eggs are not placed in one basket." If one publisher fails to perform, we can shift our support to others. Such a policy also lessensmarket distor- tion and unfair competition. Pressure should be applied, as appropriate, to end whatever is left of old state monopolies, for example, in textbook publishing. Foundations should also be aware of the danger of new monopolies being created by Western multinational companies who are buying profitable sectors of the book industry in more advanced countries. * All forms of support should be part of an educational process that aims at reducing dependence on the provider of support. For example, if publishers need help in acquiring a translation license from a foreign publisher, they should be guided through the process, rather than having the foundation do this for them. Grant-giving programs are designed in a way that transfers skills and knowledge (for example, in financial planning or marketing) to grant recipients. * A corollary of the above: "the more you know, the less you need." Efficient management, informed planning and financing, and effective marketing can significantly lower costs. Carefully focused training and business planning precede and accompany large-scale financial support. In fact, such support should be used as an incentive to make training more effective. i We mostly work only those publishers who stand a good chance of surviving the transition period and operating as independent, commerciallyviable entities in the future. This practice tends to exclude publishers who rely heavily on outside funding (for example, from the state), or who are owned by an entity that does not permit managers to set their own editorial policies and to run the company on a commercial basis. * Electronic publishing media are coming of age, and they are beginning to transform the cultural and economic roles of books and publishers. Although our primary focus is print publication, we should begin to think of print as only one among several possibleoutlets for the intellectual content produced by publishers. This means that we need to raise awareness among publishers of the opportunities created by new technologies; reexamine existing foundation publishing projects with a view to incorporating new digital media, perhaps alongside print publication; and launch new projects designed to provide high-quality local language content for the computer network infrastructure that is growing rapidly in Eastern and Central Europe.

Forms of Support Grants. Grants to publishers are a highly effectivemeans of ensuring the publication of specificbooks. A grant can serve two purposes. First, it can increasethe quantity of books made available: it either makes possiblethe publication of a book that could not be published at all without support or makes a book accessibleto a larger number of people by lowering the selling price, increasing the print run, or both. 48 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Second, it can enable a publisher to increase the quality of a book by spending more on translators, editors, or designers, adding text (an introduction, explanatory notes, or an index) or illustrations or color, or using higher-quality paper or binding. In the present period of economic austerity, high inflation, and collapsed purchasing power, many books cannot be published at all without a subsidy of some kind. This is especially true of books used in higher education-which usually require a greater investment of time and effort than general trade books, are published in relatively small print runs, and have a customer base that has been especially hard-hit by economic transition. Even in English language academic publishing, with the largest market in the world, direct and indirect subsidies are a permanent part of the landscape. In smaller Western European countries, grants covering 25 to 50 percent of the costs of academic titles are more or less the norm. A deliberate effort, however, should be made to discourage the formation of a "subsidy mentality" both on the part of producers (who can become too dependent on grants and not enough on whatever potential the market may have) and of consumers (who become accustomed to artificially low prices). Loans are one way of avoiding these scenarios. Another is to encourage publishers to internally cross-subsidize their own operations (by funding needed but unprofitable books through publishing other, more commercially oriented titles). Both these alternatives, however, have clear limitations, and are discussed below. For other links of the book chain, such as printers, distributors, and booksellers, grants are not usually the most appropriate form of support: loans and training are generally more effective.

Loans. Commercial banks are often unwilling to give loans to publishers and book distributors because of low profit margins, the slow return of investment, and the fact that assets are tied up in stock (that is, books), which makes for poor col- lateral. Thus foundations can provide useful support in the form of low-interest loans for development of publishing ventures. The Regional Publishing Center has established a Publishers and Distributors Loan Fund that was piloted in 1996 and was offered to a number of countries in 1997. Different kinds of loans should be designed for different purposes: development loans for fledgling ventures, loans for experienced publishers who want to expand or diversify their activities, or loans for supporting a specific series or even an individual title. Loans may also be appropriate in assisting the development of new distribution operations designed to handle the output of scholarly and textbook publishers. Low-interest loans rather than grants can be considered in cases where there is potential for profit. But an important caveat should be kept in mind: loans should be made only in cases where a profit is fairly certain. For example, they are not an appropriate way to support titles with low print runs, such as certain types of books for higher education. In such cases loans should not be considered as a replacement for direct grants. Loans have two advantages over grants: first, loans impose financial discipline on the recipient, and second, funds can be recycled once loans are repaid, multiplying MOVING TOWARDPRIVATE SECTOR PUBLISHINGIN EASTERNEUROPE 49 their impact. High inflation and an unstable economic environment, however, can make them risky. Legal restrictions in some countries make it difficult for charitable organizations to lend. Support in the form of loans should be used as an opportunity to transfer business and financial skillsto publishers, and it should be given only on the basis of rig- orous business planning, and where necessary,be accompanied by training.

Consumer support. State patronage for cultural activities under the former communist regimes strongly favored supply-based over demand-based forms of support for practical reasons, and perhaps partly because of the familiarity of this approach. Soros Foundation support for publishing has generally followed the same pattern. It is possible that forms of assistancethat support consumersrather than producers (that is, those that are demand-drivenand are said to "pull" books through the book chain rather than those that are supply-drivenand "push" books through) may, in some cases, encourage efficiency.Examples are schemes that support the publication of a book by purchasingpart of the print run for donation to libraries, or that provide vouchers for students to purchase books at designatedbookstores. Such schemescan be designedto stimulatethe operation of a real market, while subsidiestend to distort market conditions. Publishingrequires heavy initial investment in every book. Such schemes,therefore, can work well only when publishershave sufficientworking capital. The SorosFoundation (Hungary)is embarkingon an experimentwith a purchasing scheme for libraries.The results will be of great interest to other countries.

Training.Despite the good deal of training carried out, especiallyin the more developed parts of the region, many countries still greatly need specializedtraining. Much more use should be made of trainers from the region-successful publishers from the more advanced former communist countries whose experienceis highlyrel- evant for struggling publishersin the less-developedcountries. These trainers can be useful for immediate needs and as a long-term permanent resource for publishers in the region. The Regional PublishingCenter is developing a database of such trainers, and is prepared to help foundations design training seminarsfor a variety of purposes. There is also potential for synergy between training programs and projects based on direct financial support. Making grants or loans contingent on the results of training can provide a powerful incentive to improve the effectivenessof training. Handbooks are a cost-effectiveand underused means of disseminatingknow-how. While seminars tend to focus for a brief time on a handful of top managers who may not share what they learn from others-or who may even be resisting change- printed materials are much less expensive to develop and deliver, make information permanently available to a large number of people, and circumvent conservative managers, providing technical knowledge directly to those who can benefit most. The Regional Publishing Center is developing a series of concise handbooks on copyright, marketing, financial planning, and management for publishers that are tailor-made for Eastern European publishers and focus on practical advice rather 50 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS than on theory. These handbooks are being translated into local languages and can be used as the basis for intensive training workshops. The potential of new electronic distance learning tools should also be examined. Training for translators and textual editors is perhaps best done through an appren- ticeship scheme, in which new translators and editors are paired with a veteran who works through all or part of a text with them. As far as training areas are concerned, the greatest need is generally in management (where the need is often not clearly perceived even by publishers themselves) and marketing skills, rather than in editorial or production know-how. Book design is sometimes also a weak point (particularly inte- rior layout of text-only books, rather than of art books and photo albums).

Institutional development. Support must also be provided for the creation and development of institutions that will outlast the foundations, such as permanent training centers, distribution mechanisms, and associations or cooperative ventures between authors, translators, publishers, or booksellers. In particular, independent national publishers' associations are a very important institution for defending the interest of publishers, maintaining industry standards, and in some cases delivering training. Smaller cooperative ventures between academic publishers can help solve distribution and marketing problems (the Index association in Slovenia is a good example).2 Ideally, a permanent, self-sustaining training institution should exist to provide both preservice and in-service training for publishers. Such a center could house a resource library of books on publishing, catalogues, technical handbooks, and international trade journals and magazines. It is important for the future of national publishing industries that publishers be acquainted with the international publishing community, and that they have the means to attend conferences and major international venues such as the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Legal and fiscal aspects. Copyright laws and tax policies can have a subtle but profound long-term impact on the shape of the entire publishing industry in a given country. Although foundations cannot engage in direct lobbying, they can provide advice and information to publishers' associations, which in turn can influence new legislation and can assist publishers more effectively in defending their own interests. The Soros network can also facilitate contacts between the publishing industry and bodies such as the Council of Europe, which can influence copyright legislation, taxes on books, and problems with registration systems like the ISBN (the International Standard Book Number)-the identification number for individual titles used for ordering and cataloging, the use of which authorities in a few countries have abused as a way to extract bribes from publishers.

Country-Specific Strategies Despite the common experience of state tutelage and command economies, there are striking differences in publishing traditions from country to country throughout Eastern and Central Europe, and any publishing strategy must take these differences MOVINGTOWARD PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLISHING IN EASTERNEUROPE 51 into account. For our purposes, the most significant differences are the general state of the economy and the size of the market available to publishers in a given country. Somewhat different strategies should be applied depending on these two parameters.

Macroeconomic Conditions A majority of countries in which Soros Foundations are active are experiencing low to moderate economic growth. In some of these countries, purchasing power has begun to rise as well, although such increases tend to lag behind overall growth, especially among the book-buying sector of the population. In addition, increased purchasing power is partly offset by rising labor costs, and publishing is an especially labor-intensive industry. However, the prospect of rising purchasing power entails a gradual shift in support strategy. * Loans can be used to help existing publishers expand or diversify their activities. * Grants should be used only to support those books that are both demonstra- bly needed and inherently unprofitable (although the caveat made earlier is worth repeating: for certain types of books, subsidies of some kind will be necessary for an indefinite period of time). In cases where grants continue to be made, greater financial discipline in the form of business planning should be imposed on recipients. * Publishers should be encouraged to practice internal cross-subsidization, covering unprofitable titles with others that are potentially profitable; the unprofitable titles should serve a commercial purpose as well by helping to establish a publisher's position in the market. There are clear limits to the usefulness of this tactic: as publishing becomes more profitable, it becomes more competitive, and publishers who practice cross-subsidization will find it to be a disadvantage when competing with publishers who focus only on profit. The use of profitable titles to subsidize unprofitable books means that income is not being reinvested in a company's growth. * More attention should be paid to developing permanent, self-sustaining institutions such as publishers' associations and publishers' training centers. * Potential for other forms of assistance such as consumer support schemes may also be possible. Some of the countries in which Soros Foundations are active are still in a state of macroeconomic decline or stagnation. Such periods of extreme crisis can also open new opportunities: the all-but-total collapse of old giant state publishers in some countries has permitted the formation of new, lean, and highly efficient independent houses, accustomed to austerity and shrunken markets. Under these conditions, support for publishing should be regarded as temporary emergency aid that is meant to ensure that some needed books continue to be published, that long-term projects such as translations and the writing of new textbooks do not break off completely, and that survivors prepare to operate under market conditions in the near future. In general, Soros Foundations' strategy is to ensure that 52 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS some remnants of each link in the book chain remain at least minimally functioning, so that the whole system can begin to run once better economic times arrive. Some specific suggestions follow. * Support will have to be based largely on grants, which may cover more than 50 percent of costs. * Profit margins permitted to publishers can be larger since turnover is very low. * Very "soft" loans with long repayment periods can be made to provide development capital for promising operations (but not for major expansion of their activities). * Support should be strictly limited to only those publishers, distributors, and booksellers who have restructured and stand a good chance of survival. * Support should also not be spread too thinly among a large group: during the period of greatest economic hardship, grants may temporarily be the largest source of income for these publishers. (Such a group, although restricted, should always remain open to new partners.)

Market Size Countries with one main-language-speaking population of over 7 million are considered large markets: there are about 10 such countries among the 22 in the former communist countries in which we are active (these happen to include most of those with the gravest economic problems). Distribution, and perhaps marketing, are the key to the long-term prosperity of publishers in these countries. If there were an efficient way of reaching most potential buyers of a given book, many other problems would sooner or later solve themselves. Our support should, therefore, emphasize these segments of the book chain in such countries. In particular, Books in Print catalogues (which list all books available for sale, together with how-to-order information) should be supported as an essential tool for book distribution and retailing; and financial support (preferably in the form of loans) and training can be provided to establish efficient wholesale distribution networks. Countries with main-language-speaking populations under 7 million are small markets. These are the majority of the countries in which we are active. Books have lower print runs (thus unit costs are higher), and the potential profit on any one title is narrow. Moreover, the pool of competent authors, translators, designers, and editors is likely to be small. This means that needs are different. * Marketing, more than distribution, is a priority for training. Publishers must learn to make use of the small markets available to them as effectively as possible. * Training for translators, designers, and editors should be promoted to expand the available pool. * Foundation support should not be spread too thinly among a large group of publishers, making it difficult for individual publishers to build up resources for future independence. This pool, however, should not be so small or restricted as to exclude otherwise worthy publishers or newcomers. * Subsidies will have to be permanent for some categories of publishing in these countries, if this kind of publishing is to happen at all. A long-term plan MOVING TOWARDPRIVATE SECTOR PUBLISHINGIN EASTERNEUROPE 53

should be developed to shift this burden to other funding agencies or individuals in the future.

What Kinds of Books Does Soros Support? Soros Foundations take into account three factors when deciding whether to support a book: content and quality,audience, and economics. The book should contribute to the Foundations' primary goal of "promoting critical thinking, intercultural understanding, high educational standards, and the values of open society and providing the theoretical and practical knowledge needed by societies in transition." This means that priority should be given to subject areas that were most neglected or ideologically distorted in the past, such as history and political thought. Because an open society implies a pluralistic understanding of a broad range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences, the books the Foundations support should also represent a variety of viewpoints and traditions. Books which "go against the grain," that is, which present controversial opinions on issues such as nationalism, human rights, or gender, are more difficult to market and may need greater support than mainstream books. Books should be accessible to as wide an audience as possible. They should be aimed at students and the general public alike, striking a balance between scholarly and general interest works. In addition, all other things being equal, short books- which are easier and cheaper to publish, less expensive to buy,and thus more likely to be read-should be preferred to long ones. Does the book in question really need the Foundations' support to be published, and will it reach significantlymore people if we do support it? Does this book bring enough benefit to justify its cost to the foundation? Books that are easy to sell (for example, novels and children's books) can usually be published without support; some books (such as heavily illustrated art books or very large books) may cost too much to be worth supporting.

Translation Projects and Local-Author Publishing Translations are central to our foundation publishing activities because they are so closelyrelated to the fundamental mission of the Soros Foundations:to facilitatethe "translation" (in its most general sense)of pluralistvalues and institutionsinto contexts where they often do not have deep roots. Translationsare also the preeminent medium of intercultural understanding. Soros Foundations' consider the three directions of translation in this region and support for originalbooks by local authors separately.

"West-East" Translations Most social science books published in former communist countries are translations from the major Western languages. The impulse behind the great demand for such translations is obvious-a strong desire to (re)integrate formerly isolated societies 54 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS into the mainstream of world, or at least Western culture. Translations are a crucial part of this process of integration for two reasons. First, fluency in foreign languages, including English, is still relatively low. Foreign-language books would be not only less effective but also more expensive (a copy of a book published in the West generally costs far more than a locally produced translation). Second, a translated text becomes a permanent part of the local culture and a "window on the world" in a way that a foreign-language text cannot. The publication of translations focuses attention on works that would otherwise remain marginal or be known only to an elite. By supporting these translations, the Foundations are not merely providing access to a basic body of foreign texts. They are contributing to the development of local culture as well. Many languages in the region have no satisfactory terms for seminal concepts like "rule of law," "fiscal policy," or even "efficiency." Translations can provide a powerful impetus for the development of the conceptual vocabulary that people use to discuss social, political, and economic issues. Moreover, translations do not merely "import" ideas. They also have a creative impact and can transform the context in which local scholars and social thinkers write their own books. Translations of basic international scholarship make better local scholarship possible. This category of publishing is also one of the most difficult and complicated. It requires heavy early investment in license payments and translators' fees (fees for translation in Eastern Europe are often higher than those paid for original manuscripts because of a dearth of competent translators). A good translation of a complex text in the humanities or social sciences may take a great deal of time. In some countries there is no strong tradition of translating such texts, and translators must take on the additional burden of being linguistic and intellectual pioneers in their languages. Most of Soros Foundations' support for West-East translations is for social science texts, because fiction by well-known Western authors can usually be published without additional funding. The largest initiative in this area is the CEU Press Translation Project, which is designed to support the translation of a body of basic texts in fields such as history, political science, philosophy, economics, sociology, and law. Translations, however, should not be the exclusive responsibility of regional programs. The regional Translation Project concentrates on classic and contempo- rary texts of interest to readers in many countries. Other texts that may primarily be of interest to readers in one country should be supported by publishing programs of the national foundation in that country.

"East-East" Translations When political censorship was lifted, publishers and readers in Eastern and Central Europe turned first of all to translations from Western languages. While such demand is still very strong and will continue to be so for some time, interest in translations from neighboring countries in the region is also growing. However, except for works of fiction by a few well-known Czech, Hungarian, and Polish writers, books translated from other Eastern and Central European languages generally cannot be published without grants. MOVING TOWARDPRIVATE SECTOR PUBLISHINGIN EASTERNEUROPE 55

Most national Soros Foundations have been supporting such translations, usually on an ad hoc basis, in response to grant requests from publishers. However, in this case the requirement goes beyond grants. There is also lack of information about texts that would be suitable for translation, especially in languages of the smaller countries in the region. The Regional Publishing Center is examining the possibility of establishing an East-West translation project that would include a flexible grant-making mechanism (similar to the New York-based East-East Program, which supports collaborative projects but not book publishing), and a list or database of recommended texts, compiled using the resources of the national foundations. It has yet to be determined whether such a project would include works of fiction.

"East-West" Translations Although the main goal of the Soros Foundations is to facilitate change within the former communist countries, promoting knowledge about the region in the wider world is a significant secondary goal. This flow of information should, however, be demand-driven rather than supply-driven, and should be supported only in cases where there is a clear audience or market. Moreover, national ministries of culture are often active supporters of such translations, and direct promotion of national cultures in the international arena is perhaps not the priority of the Soros Foundation network. In general, and partly for reasons of geographical proximity, German, French, Italian, and Scandinavian markets seem considerably more recep- tive to translations frorn the region than are English-language markets. The CEU Press is the only English-language academic press based in the region and dedicated to broadening the range of available literature on topics concerning Eastern and Central Europe. Nearly half of the books it publishes are translations. Having established its reputation as a main league press, it will be expanding its field of activities in the near future.

Local-Author Publishing Support for publishing of books by local authors should primarily be the responsibility of national foundations although such support should be provided on the same basis as for other types of books. The experience and knowledge of foundations in this area will be very useful in developing a framework for supporting East-East translations.

Textbook Publishing Textbook publishing for primary and secondary schools is different from all other types of publishing in three respects: textbooks require a different approach to writing and design and a different distribution, and are used in a very different context. (Textbooks for higher education are published in much the same way as other books.) Serious problems in the support strategy can result from disregarding the differences. 56 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Textbook Creation

A good textbook is a sophisticated combination of content and form. Unlike other books, the textbook is best created by a team of a writer with pedagogic experience and a designer, overseen by a specialized textbook editor. Such a scenario means that the publisher's role as a manager is especially important, and that the management should be left to the publishers themselves as much as possible. In addition, textbooks are expensive to develop. They are often a long-term investment that brings in profit only after several reprints have been published. Publishers must therefore develop long-term relationships with their designers and authors. The short-term objective of the "Transformation of Education" (that is, education reform) programs of the Soros Foundations has been to quickly generate as many good textbooks as possible and to integrate them into reformed curricula. But in the long term, the private sector will have to take over this function to promote the growth of a strong textbook industry. In a few cases, the Foundations supported projects may stunt or distort such growth by centralizing the initiation and development of textbooks. In some countries this may be an unavoidable temporary measure, but as textbook publishers mature, they must be permitted to initiate textbooks, to solicit manuscripts from authors, and to manage the process of writing and design. Some training should also be provided for publishers to help them take on this role in the future.

Textbook Distribution Distribution and funding for textbooks also vary from that of other books. This distribution mechanism determines the entire shape of the textbook industry. Under the old model in the former Soviet Union and parts of Eastern and Central Europe, subsidies were paid directly to producers (that is, publishers), and textbooks were then centrally distributed to students or school libraries. In the economically advanced postcommunist countries, however, a new model has been introduced. Subsidies have been shifted to consumers (that is, schools and students). Schools or local boards now have their own budgets and choose their own textbooks so that textbook publishers are forced to compete in the open market and must usually rely on competing private distributors. Until then, it is difficult to provide students and teachers with a choice of alternative textbooks, and textbook provision is simply less efficient. Once such an open competitive market for textbooks is created, supply problems tend to solve themselves because textbook publishing is potentially profitable. Print runs are very large, and good textbooks tend to be reprinted year after year. Publishers have a powerful motive to invest in new high-quality textbooks. Moreover, subsidies can be much more efficient because end users share part of the costs, and because commercial competition forces publishers to lower prices. In countries where this shift has not yet taken place, Soros Foundations' support should prepare publishers for work in an open market. Once the shift has taken place, Foundation support should be used to provide seed money for developing MOVINGTOWARD PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLISHING IN EASTERN EUROPE 57 innovative projects, rather than for covering production costs. Loans can often sup- plant grants.

Textbooks in the Education System In the rush to produce a large quantity of new textbooks, some of the Soros Foundations' "Transformation"projects overlooked some important aspects of textbook use and ended up with many unusable manuscripts. Textbooks are part of a system, the most important elements of which are the curriculum and the teachers. If textbooks do not fit the curriculum, or if teachers are unprepared to use the new texts, the books will have little impact. Some simple lessons can be drawn from this experience. * A textbook can be useful only if it fits into the curriculum and is approved by educational authorities for use in schools. This means that coordination with the ministry of education at an early stage is crucial, that authors and publishers must be aware of curriculum requirements, and (in countries where old curricula are still in place) that stimulating curriculum reform may be as important as the production of new textbooks itself. * Textbook publishing programs should focus on core textbooks and course- related materials for teachers to have the most direct impact on education. General or supplementary texts can be useful but have a less direct effect. * Radicallynew textbooks will have little impact unless teachers know how to use them. New textbooks should be accompanied by teachers' handbooks, and may require teacher training. * The natural conservatismof many authors also reduces the transformational impact of new textbooks. Most authors of new textbooks are teachers with limited exposure to new pedagogic methods. Despite good intentions, many authors tend to recycle old ideas and approaches, making only cosmetic changes to the content and form of textbooks. As in other areas, however, the Soros Foundations should not try to take the place of publishers or other institutions. In general, we should initiate, catalyze,and support new projects through seed money rather than provide 100 percent funding. Soros Foundations' role in textbook publishing should be limited to three areas: stimulatingthe creation of innovative new textbooks and teachers' guides, especially by providing technical assistance and expertise; ensuring that teachers have the necessary training to make use of the new materials by coordinating the Foundations' efforts in publishing and teacher training; and providing support for the testing and adoption of the new textbooks into national curricula, and possibly for promotion and distribution to ensure that they reach schools.

Electronic Publishing At the moment electronic publishing means two things: distribution of data through portable format:s such as CD-ROM or through computer networks (for 58 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

example, books or journals placed on the Internet). Hybrid products that are based on a CD-ROM but incorporate links to the Internet are also possible. The advantages of CD-ROMs include enormous storage capacity in a small space and the capability of quick searches for any data item. The primary advantage of network or on-line publishing is the potential for instant worldwide distribution. Both media can be interactive (responsive to commands and feedback from the user) and can carry multimedia products (combinations of text, image, and sound). The CD-ROM has become a promising medium for reference works such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, educational computer games, interactive textbooks, archival storage, and technical uses such as catalogues, telephone directo- ries, and scientific databases. In fact, the powerful search capacity of CD-ROMs makes it likely that in the near future it will replace expensive multivolume printed reference works altogether. Publishing over networks like the World Wide Web is more promising for peri- odical publications-which consist of relatively short texts and are time sensitive (for example, news stories that lose their usefulness in a matter of hours or days), for databases that are too large to publish in a portable format, and for any materials that are updated continuously. However, for large, linear texts, that is, texts that are read continuously from beginning to end, such as novels, monographs, and most books in the social sciences and humanities, electronic publishing is only beginning to come of age for several reasons. First, convenience: computers are still expensive and unwieldy compared with books and depend on infrastructure. Second, the printed page still provides far better image quality than the best computer screen. Third, copyright problems for digital text are as yet unsolved. Once a text is available in electronic form, copying, distribution, and alteration become difficult to control.

Electronic Publishing in Eastern Europe In postcommunist countries electronic publishing faces additional obstacles. Although computers are no longer rare, access to them is still limited to a very small portion of the population, and most computers are older models unable to read CD- ROMs or even Windows. In much of the region, network connections are slow, and poor telephone lines and unreliable supply pose further problems. It can be argued, however, that in some cases electronic publishing may be more suitable for poor countries than for wealthy ones. In poor countries, printed books are expensive in relation to personal income. Paper and production account for about 60 percent of the cost of a book, and these costs will not go down in the future. For electronic texts, however, the costliest component is hardware and infrastructure-computers, CD-ROM drives, modems, and networks. Once the infrastructure is in place, the unit cost of digitized data can be very low. The cost of physically producing a CD that can store hundreds of printed volumes of text is about two or three dollars. 3 Moreover, the cost of equipment and infrastructure is still falling rapidly. New technologies, such as MOVING TOWARDPRIVArE SECTOR PUBLISHINGIN EASTERNEUROPE 59

cheap "palmtop" computers and low-cost direct satellite communications, may soon be available, which will make such products and services accessible even in developing parts of the world.

New Directions for the Soros Foundations Most Soros Foundations support for information technology development has so far been focused on providing e-mail and Internet connection, primarily to schools, universities, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The time has come to expand its activities to include content development as well, especiallyin local languages.Traditional print publisherscan become a major resource for providing such content. The Open Society Institute's Regional Publishing Center launched an "Electronic PublishingInitiative" in the second half of 1996 to examine demand and explore the options and priorities in the area of content development. Over 30 concrete projects were launched in 1997. Areas of concentration are interactive textbooks, on-line journal publishing, collections of digitized public domain and out-of-print texts and archival materials, translated editions of existing multimedia products and development of original ones using the resources of the CEU Press, specialized products such as Books in Print catalogues, and mass-marketreference works.

A Disengagement Strategy for the Long Term The Soros Foundations were created to provide massiveassistance during a period of great need during which values and institutions are undergoing deep and rapid change. The right kind of assistance can have a much more profound impact if provided now rather than during a period of stability. The present level of support, however, cannot continue indefinitely, and the Foundations should begin to think of ways in which heavy involvement in publishing will be scaled down in the future (even if that point is seven or eight years away), without dealing a serious blow to the local publishing industries and without undo- ing our present work. The aims defined at the beginning of this paper are abstract goals. It is possible, however, to break them down into a set of concrete or even quantifiable objectives, which could serve as a guideline for and a limit on the Foundations' involvement. What follows is an attempt to define such long-term objectives and to suggest what could be done once they are achieved. Independent publishing industry. A strong, diverse, and independent publishing sector means a functioning book chain, with at least a minimal number of publishers, printers, distributors, and booksellers, all of whom can exist as commercial operations without heavily depending on subsidies.Most important, it means that a diverse group of publishers (perhaps four or five in small countries, at least a dozen in larger ones) are engaged in the publishing of scholarly/nonfiction books that provide a variety of points of views on the 60 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACiTY BUILDING AND TRENDS

world and sustain the needs of education and of the public sphere. These publishers must possess sufficient working capital, editorial and marketing know-how, and business skills to avoid dependence on state and/or Foundation support. They also need to be acquainted with the international publishing community, have the means to attend major book fairs, and be conversant with international copyright standards and practice. * Training and institutions. Soros Foundations may take over responsibility for training, especially for running a permanent training center for publishers (as discussed earlier). This task will be easier once a pool of local trainers is developed. Other resources, such as a series of practical handbooks in the native language, are available as a permanent source of know-how. * Grants for "West-East" translations. "West-East" translations in the social sciences and humanities, along with textbook publishing, are perhaps the most important types of publishing in the context of the Foundations' overall mission. But what is a sufficient minimum number of such translations? It is, of course, impossible to come up with a precise number. But for each area (such as history, political theory, or international relations), at least a dozen or so basic works should be available to provide access to a sufficient variety of traditions, viewpoints, and discourses and to cover the basic sub- fields within each subject area. Anything less than that will inevitably provide only a very distorted representation of these subjects. This means that between 100 and 200 translations of such basic works should be the minimum long-term objective of any comprehensive translation project (although starting points vary from country to country). Of course, this does not mean that the Soros Foundations should be the only or even the main source of support in pursuit of this objective. The Soros Foundations are also helping to develop a tradition of translation (and in some countries, reviving or even creating one if it did not exist before) by creating a pool of experienced translators, revitalizing and expanding conceptual terminology and discourse, and building up a new context in which original works can be written in the future.

Subsidies after the Soros Foundations As repeatedly argued, certain types of necessary publishing will always require subsidies, whether in the form of direct grants or other indirect forms of support. In many Eastern European countries, the Soros Foundations are now by far the largest independent source of such support. The following steps can be taken to ensure that such publishing can continue if and when Soros support is reduced. * To encourage serious publishers to become as self-sufficient as possible. Aside from maximizing the potential of efficient management and thorough marketing, the most important tactic here is to encourage such publishers to practice internal cross-subsidization, funding unprofitable titles by publishing MOVING TOWARDPRIVAkTE SECTOR PUBLISHINGIN EASTERNEUROPE 61

other, more commercial books. This tactic, however, has clear limitations, and is not in itself a satisfactory solution (see earlier discussion). * To encourage publishers to find private sponsors in their own countries and provide information about potential sponsors. One tactic may be for foundations to offer a cofunding deal for titles that need grants. However, traditions of corporate sponsorship for "cultural" activities such as publishing are weak in most of these countries. Moreover, tax laws in many countries provide no incentive for corporate giving to charitable activities, let alone for ostensibly commercial ventures like publishing. • To encourage large multilateral bodies to take a more active role in this area, in particular the World Bank and the European Union. In textbook publishing the transformation and other large-scale education reform projects of the national foundations can prepare the ground for much larger projects sponsored by the World Bank. This is already happening in a few countries, and may happen in many more, if and when the Bank decides to escalate its activities in this region. The World Bank, however, makes loans, not grants, so this is not a solution for those publishing activities that will continue to need subsidies. Although the European Union is making very large donations to Eastern European countries, it provides almost no support for publishing.4 If the European Union policymakers could be convinced to devote a very small part of their resources to publishing, they could have a significant impact. Three million dollars annually would probably suffice to sponsor 30 translations a year in 20 countries. • To ask the governments in the region itself to share part of this burden. In a minority of countries, ministries of culture and education continue to provide support for publishing. In most, such support has been cut back or abol- ished altogether because of severe fiscal constraints. A further problem is that such support tends to concentrate on narrow national interests, and can easily be used to wield political pressure. Some research has already been carried out on how governments support publishing in Western Europe, particularly in small countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Malta, and Norway), and in small-market languages (Catalan, Basque, and Welsh). The research is being summarized, and models appropriate for postcommunist countries are being elaborated. These models should make political manipulation difficult and encourage efficiency.5 The results of such research could be used by publishers' associations to influence long-term government policy in their own countries and to provide for a smaller-scale program to support translations and perhaps other kinds of needed publishing, whatever form the Soros Foundations take in the long term.

Notes 1. What follows is a section of the strategy paper that has guided the activities of the Soros Foundations' Regional Publishing Programs over the past year (1996-97). It was written by Darius Cuplinskas, Deputy Director of the Regional Publishing Center. 62 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECnVE: CAPACITYBUILDING AND TRENDS

2. The Index association in Slovenia is an informal association of eight independent academic publishers formed in 1994 at the instigation of the Open Society Institute, Slovenia. Index publishes a joint catalogue, maintains a common Internet Website, and organizes joint promotional campaigns as well as kiosks at book fairs. The association is also planning a joint distribution network. 3. A specific example: it is less expensive to provide libraries with a multimedia computer and a 30-volume encyclopedia on one disk than it is to provide them with the paper edition. In addition, once they have computers, libraries can make use of other CD-ROM publications as welil. 4. The European Union does give grants in other areas: its PHARE and TACIS programs provide about a billion dollars in aid every year to Eastern and Central Europe (or about three times as much as the Soros Foundations), although much of this money is recycled back into the economies of donor countries in the form of consultants' fees and purchases of materials and equipment. 5. An example of a simple model is in Norway (population of about 4.3 million). The government provides politically neutral but effective support by buying 1,000 copies of all new books for public libraries. Long-Term Book Provision in Cote d'Ivoire

Laurent Loric

The presenceof organizedpublishing activity is withoutdoubt a maiorfactor facili- tatinglong-term book provision.The more a localpublishing industry can intervene in textbook production, the more it contributes to long-termsupply. The more developed the distribution network, the greater the impact of the local publishing industry. C6te d'Ivoire's experience deals with the long-term supply of books at the primary school level.

a lthough several French-speaking African countries have attempted to put into practice policies for the long-term supply of didactic material, an analysis of the results and of the effectiveness and reliability of these policies shows that only two countries have succeeded: Cameroon and C6te d'Ivoire. Of these two, C6te d'Ivoire has gone the farthest in developing long-term book provision. Before presenting the example of C6te d'Ivoire, I analyze the different parameters necessary for the creation and functioning of supply and distribution systems for textbooks in the French-speaking African markets and the criteria for their success. The attribution of points for each criterion will allow us to make a comparative evaluation of the existing potential for success in this area for 15 French-speaking African countries (see table 1 for a synthesis).

Criteria for Success in Book Supply Policies I do not intend to discuss the political or economic situation, or the state of infrastructure or other macroeconomic factors, which have an effect on book supply policy. Rather, I deal exclusively with criteria directly related to textbooks. First, long-term supply depends on how textbooks are provided. Three scenarios are possible: * The state distributes free textbooks in the framework of a bidding process. * Students' families purchase the textbooks. Laurent Loric is general manager of EDICEF,the French-languagebranch of Hachette PublishingGroup (Paris)that specializesin textbooks and learning materials for primary and secondary education levels. 63 64 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Table 1. SuccessPotential of French-SpeakingAfrican Countries in the Long-Term Supply of Primary Textbooks, by Select Criteria Schoolbookstatus Restocking Country Free Familypurchase Mixed State Private Mixed

Benin 1 1 BurkinaFaso 0 0 Cameroon 2 2 CentralAfrican Republic 0 0 Chad 0 0 Congo 0 0 Coted'lvoire 2 2 Gabon 2 2 Guinea 1 0 Madagascar 0 0 Mali 0 0 Mauritania D 0 Niger 0 0 Senegal 1 1 Togo 1 1

Source:Author's calculations.

Textbooks are provided by a mixed system, in which the initial supply is given in the context of a bid, and replacements of out-of-stock or old books are bought through a distributor. Second, it is necessary to define the procedure for restocking. In a system in which textbooks are distributed free of charge, the state decides about replacing them. In the case in which the initial bid requires that any reprinting must take place in the context of a new bidding process, again it is the state that decides, depending on its finding new financing. When the initial titles can be sold for a token price, it is possible for the state to create and manage a fund from these sales, which can then finance reprints (for example, in Guinea and Senegal). Restocking can be decided in consultation with distributors, encouraging shared responsibility. When families buy the textbooks, distributors and booksellers decide about restocking by assessing market demand and their commercial and financial obligations. A mixed system is possible when the initial financing concerns titles belonging to private publishers. In this case, since the books can be freely commercialized, the decision to reprint depends on market demand, and distributors decide when to replace missing titles. Third, deciding who is responsible for the management of distribution is an essential criterion. In a system of donated books the state (or its divisions) is always responsible for distribution in schools, whether it takes on the responsibility itself or subcontracts it to private companies. In a system of purchase by families the responsibility is that of professionals, that is, distributors and booksellers. In a mixed regime this responsibility is undertaken either by the state for the initial supply or by distributors and booksellers for restocking. LONG-TERMBOOK PROVISION IN COTED'IVOIRE 65

Distribution National publishing Total State Private Mixed structure points

1 0 3 o o 0 2 0 6

o 0 0 o 0 0 O 0 0 2 2 8 2 1 7 1 0 2 o 0 0 o 0 0 O o 0 o 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3

The last and extremely important criterion is the presence of strong and well- structured local editorial activity,which is largely conditioned by the choice of how textbooks are supplied in the country and is viable only if it can exploit the school market in the long run, especially the primary school market. As the backbone of the publishing chain, editorial activity plays an essential and dynamic role in relation to the other links, in particular, in relation to distribution of textbooks. Effectivedistribution, in turn, ensures the continuity of supplies.

Criteria Evaluation The local environment permits an evaluation of the choices made and how the choices influence effectivienessof long-term provision. We can attribute points to each parameter according to its positive or negative impact on the creation and long-term functioning of supply. Generally speaking, supply is a response to consumer demand. For a system of supplies to be put into place and renewed (long-term supply), several factors must converge: the availabilityof the product at the time of demand, which requires, in particular, stock maintenance and permanent financing to pay for successivemanu- facturing; free and ongoing exploitation of the product; and an organization or distribution network that can guarantee the availabilityof the product throughout the territory concerned. To be completely effective, a distribution network should be managed by professionals;have sufficient resources to ensure the necessary logistics (stocking, transportation, salaries, and so on); and have the financial backing to guarantee its obligations to suppliers. 66 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

These criteria are necessary and complementary to the long-term provision of any product, including textbooks. To evaluate the existing potential for long-term provision in French-speaking African countries, I have attributed points indicating the degree to which each country facilitates the convergence of the parameters described earlier: 2 points if the country fully facilitates the convergence; 1 point if the country facilitates it partially; and 0 points if the country hinders it. These points are used to partially describe the status of long-term provision in the selected French-speaking countries (see table 1).

System of supply. The system of free books creates an obstacle for several reasons: bids do not have permanent financial backing; the copyright belongs to the state-which prevents the free and ongoing exploitation of the books; reprints are undertaken only in the framework of a new bid-which means that usable stock is not available between two endowments; and distribution is ensured by the state. This scenario does not fulfill the basic characteristics necessary for the effectiveness of the activity. The system of purchase by families fully facilitates the convergence of criteria. A mixed system partially favors convergence, that is, when books initially donated belong to private publishers (as is partly the case in Benin, Guinea, and Togo), or when a fund is constituted by the sale at a reduced price of the initial endowment (as is the case in Senegal and partly in Guinea and Togo).

Responsibility for restocking. In a free-textbooks system the state is responsible for restocking, which constitutes an obstacle because new supplies can only be obtained in the context of a bid and are dependent on new financing. The system of purchase by families fully facilitates restocking because private distribution networks are responsible for new supplies and are free to resupply the titles. In a mixed system the application of criteria is partially facilitated for those books that can be freely commercialized.

Responsibility for distribution. Again, the system of free books constitutes an obstacle here for the same reasons cited earlier. The system of purchase by families again facilitates distribution to a full extent. A mixed regime partially facilitates distribution, particularly for those books that can be freely commercialized and resupplied.

Organized local publishing. The presence of organized publishing activity is without a doubt a major factor facilitating long-term provision. The more a local publishing industry can intervene in textbook production, the more it contributes to long-term supply. The more developed the distribution network, the greater the impact of the local publishing industry. In this sense, the publishing sector in C6te d'Ivoire is a fully facilitating parameter, whereas the more modest publishing sector in Gabon, which intervenes only in part of local production and depends on a mediocre distribution network (a result of Gabon's infrastructure), is only a partially facilitating parameter. LONG-TERMBOOK PROVISION IN CUTE D'IVOIRE 67

Country Results

Although the following results could certainly benefit from some corrections, given the numerous local parameters that have not been taken into consideration, they represent major tendencies and stand up well to field experience. Three groups of countries stand out. Cameroon, C6te d'Ivoire, and Gabon are the only countries to have generalized the system of textbook purchase by families. The state does not intervene in the process of textbook supply, except for specific actions geared toward disadvantaged areas of populations or concerning the supply of materials to teachers and schools. A second group of four countries-those using a mixed regime-presents some potential; what differentiates Benin and Togo from Guinea and Senegal is the degree of state intervention. The third group, with eight countries, does not appear to possess the necessary potential to ensure long-term textbook provision. These are the countries that have opted for the system of free books, necessitating constant intervention of the state and the search for financing from donors because state budgets do not allow for national autonomy as they do in industrial countries.

The Example of C6te d'Ivoire C6te d'Ivoire has opted for a system of textbook purchase by families at the primary and secondary education levels. Primary education titles were written (and are presently being rewritten) by the pedagogy department of the Ministry of Education. They comprise a complete series, "School and Development," covering all subjects being taught at six levels. For each level and subject matter a student workbook and a teacher's source book are provided, as well as classroom material. The copyright of this series belongs to the government of Cote d'Ivoire, which grants exclusive concession for its commercialization to two national publishers (NEI and CEDA), both privately managed companies. The books used at the secondary level are either those of the two national publishers or titles (often Pan- African) of French publishers.

The Various Agents State. In the domain of textbooks, state intervention is minimal and concerns only those areas that the state considers to be exclusively within its competence. At the secondary level the Ministry of Education participates in developing school programs and curricula as well as in establishing a list of approved books. As for the primary level the state, indicating its priorities, intervenes as author as well and regulates the sales price for the student books (in consultation with the two publishers). In addition, the state regularly finances endowments to teachers and schools, thus ensuring the long-term provision of didactic material.

Publishers. In return for the exclusive concession they are granted, the two publishers must respect and honor the sales prices fixed by the state for the pri- 68 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS mary education series. They are also responsible for good management of textbooks. The criteria for good management include maintenance of necessary stock, financing of reprints (which are carried out entirely locally), commercial and school promotion, availability in all sales outlets, and rewriting. Publishers have the same obligations for the first-cycle titles of the secondary level for which they own copyright. The current rewriting of middle school programs and ensuing reorganization will transform this level of education into a system resembling that of the primary level. The excellent results achieved over the long term in primary education encouraged the government of C6te d'Ivoire to unify its approach to all levels of basic education (primary and secondary school levels).

Distributors. The system of purchase by families has allowed over the years the establishment of a highly developed and functional distribution network, made up of wholesale distributors, bookstores (often sizable), and a multitude of sales outlets, allowing for full coverage of the country and an excellent maintenance of supplies.

Printers. The textbooks supply system chosen by Cote d'lvoire has allowed the development of an effective publishing industry, especially in the area of printing. A functional and diversified printing industry allows, thanks to proximity, the short reaction time required in case of unforeseen stock shortages, as well as the development of an improved supply.

Policy Effectiveness The textbook policy developed by C6te d'Ivoire is especially effective where primary school supplies are concerned. With a similar policy being set up for middle schools, this effectiveness will soon cover all levels of basic education. Although the parameters governing effectiveness are numerous, the main ones are the following: * The exclusive use of a single series permits the stability of supplies. It also allows for significant economies of scale with regard to manufacturing cost, and therefore a lower sales price. * Price regulation with social objectives can be applied without the risk of destabilizing the management of private companies who must apply this policy (publishers, printers, and distributors). Price regulation allows C6te d'Ivoire to apply the lowest sales prices of all French-speaking Africa, except, naturally, those countries whose token prices can be artificially maintained by external financing. But these countries (Senegal, Togo, and to a lesser degree Guinea) are far from achieving the excellent results of C6te d'lvoire. * The price policy encourages the widespread distribution of books, as well as the continued development of the distribution network, all of which improves the supply system. * The policy permits the regular purchase not only of titles covering basic subjects (75 to 95 percent of students, depending on level and geographic zone, LONG-TERMBOOK PROVISIONIN COTE D'IVOIRE 69

own a French and a mathematics book) but also, although to a lesser degree, books in other disciplines. Thus, the effectiveness of the school system and school performance are both enhanced. In parallel with the network of bookstores selling new books, a significant network for the sale and exchange of secondhand books has developed. The network permits families of modest income to acquire textbooks at a reasonable cost. This type of network, which largely contributes to the maintenance of supplies, can only exist in a country where the schoolbook is purchased by families. The two publishers sell more than 4 million primary schoolbooks each year for a school population of about 1.5 million students. Taking into account the secondhand book market, the student-book ratio is over 3.5. C6te d'lvoire's policy has allowed for the development of a proximate book industry that responds effectively to needs with a rapidity unknown to foreign publishers or public organizations. The private status of the companies involved guarantees the efficiency of the system. In effect, as the private company is a profit center it must constantly strive to increase its activity and improve its methods. Finally, because the system of purchase by families can be considered a system of "national self-financing" for current supplies of schoolbooks, the Cote d'Ivoire government is able to use budgetary resources to finance improvements in the education system (organization, training, and so on) and to support the special supply of other books and materials through: * Donations of teachers' books and pedagogy titles for teachers and school libraries. * Donations of collective school material. * Donations of books for students from disadvantaged areas and for the encouragement of education for girls. In conclusion, the monopoly granted by the government to two publishers was contrary to open competition, which can ensure low prices. However, the government itself has corrected the situation. Government regulates the price of primary schoolbooks-the price is much less than that in other African countries. Monopoly allows the two publishers, as well as the distributors and printers, to compensate for their relatively low margins through an assured volume of sales. It is inappropriate to state that C6te d'lvoire's system goes against the principle of equality and fairness in education-the data offer evidence to the contrary. The student-book ratio is the highest and most stable in French-speaking Africa, largely superior to that in countries that have chosen the free-book system. What about the argument that Cote d'Ivoire's system tends to hold back growth in school attendance-that the system of donated books is more effective in this area? Here again, the numbers demonstrate the contrary. With a rate of around 70 percent attendance, C6te d'Ivoire is one of 10 Sub-Saharan African countries where school attendance is high. Numerous countries that opted for the system of free books have very low attendance rates (58 percent in Senegal, 51 percent in Mauritania, 37 percent in Burkina Faso and Guinea, 29 percent in Niger, and 24 percent in Mali). In addition, the analysis of the potential of French-speaking 70 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

African countries to ensure the constant supply of textbooks has shown that Cote d'lvoire has the highest potential.

Conclusion It is clear that efforts to improve school attendance rates must address contributing factors other than book policies alone (such as cultural, religious, and economic factors, education level of parents, and the like). An increase in school attendance, however, will require an increasingly greater supply of books, and consequently a greater need for book policies that allow for their long-term supply. The Transition to Privatization in Publishing: Ghana's Experience

Richard A. B. Crabbe

Educationalpublishing in Ghana,which has formed the bulk of the industrysince independencefrom colonialrule, has been firmly monopolizedby the government. The issuesof policyformulation and publishingcapacity affect the qualityof education, the developmentof a privatebook publishing industry, and the generaleconomy of Ghana.Given the integratednature of publishingand its impacton severalsectors of the economyand nationallife, publishing deserves serious attention and assistance. The WorldBank's role is closelytied to the financingof the book sector,and so it needsto ensurethat its policiesdo indeedbenefit local publishers.

An effective analysis of the processof privatizationof the publishingindustry in Ghanamust begin with the genesisof publishingin the country.Publishing beganwith the early Christianmissionary work. As early as 1870 the Basel Mission opened a book depot in the then Gold Coast (Bonsu1994). From then until the secondhalf of the twentiethcentury, publishing was in privatehands. Since the Churchled the way in educationand literacy work, it controlledmuch of the publishingfunctions in the country.Local publishingstarted with production of Bibles,hymn books, and liturgicalmaterials. In 1900 only a few Ghanaianscould read; by 1945 the number of literate people had increased considerably (Hildebrandt 1990).

The Role of Government The earliest governmentintervention came in 1951, when the state set up the VernacularLiterature Bureau, now the Bureauof GhanaLanguages, to publishprimers and postliteracymaterials in selected Ghanaian languagesto support the Mass Educationprogram. The governmentalso set up the GhanaUniversities Press in 1962 "to undertakescholarly publishing of the findingsof the universities"(Bonsu 1994). Followingindependence in 1957, the government'sintervention increased gradually.The AcceleratedDevelopment Plan of 1961, the Free TextbooksScheme of Richard A. B. Crabbe is president of the Ghana Book Publishers' Association and is currently chairman of the African Publishers' Network (APNET). 71 72 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITf BUILDINGAND TRENDS

1963, and the Investment Decree of 1976 firmly established the state as the leading publisher in Ghana (Nimako 1991). Between 1961 and 1974, textbooks for primary schools were written by Ghanaians and published by British multinational publishing houses. Since 1974 the Ministry of Education decided to be its own publisher (Djoleto 1989). In Nimako's words:

The Ministry of Education has organized writing workshops and has commissioned panels of subject experts to write textbooks for Primary, Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools. It has bought print for the production of the books in the country and outside it. (Nimako 1991)

From the conception stage through writing, production, distribution, and usage, the government came to control practically all aspects of educational publishing in the country.

The Free Textbooks Scheme This scheme greatly weakened the indigenous publishing industry. In his draft proposal for the Formulation of a New Book Policy for the Ghana Education Sector, Djoleto (1989) points out that

... the most destructive, though unwritten, rule in practice, that goes with the Free Textbooks Scheme is this: If the state provides no books, pupils shall buy no book to use in school and should use no books whatever at school. No matter whether suitable alternative or even MOE (Ministry of Education) approved private Ghana book industry sector books are available for pupils to buy and use in class even as a stop-gap, pupils must use no books so long as FTS (Free Textbooks Scheme) itself has not supplied schools any.

It is even more depressing to read from Djoleto that the result has been that schooled children have no reading habit or they cannot read at all and they have not learned the importance of buying books. These are strong words coming from the Textbooks Consultant for Ghana's Ministry of Education at the time.

Policy Effects on Book Publishers "By capturing educational publishing at its most profitable level, the state (has) left very little for private indigenous houses to hang on to" (Nimako 1991). Ghanaian publishers could hardly penetrate the market at the preuniversity level with the few textbooks and supplementary readers they published. Ironically, the government was contracting foreign (multinational) companies to publish for the educational market, virtually shutting out local publishers and further deepening the difficulties for indigenous publishing houses. THE TRANSITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANAs EXPERIENCE 73

In 1984 the government entered into an agreement with five local publishers to jointly publish certain textbooks for primary schools. The Co-publishing Project, as the agreement was called, was to team up the "state, parastatal and private sector of the Ghana national book industry, pooling their resources together to publish core textbooks for the formal education practice of Ghana" (Djoleto 1989). This agreement also permitted the publishers to produce extra print runs of the textbooks for sale to the public. At its introduction, Djoleto (1991) notes, the Co-publishing Project was a "unique, first-of-its-kind effort in all Africa," designed to encourage private participation in the textbook market. Although the parties signed the agreement in 1984, implementation only began in 1990, six years later! In retrospect, this move by the government had little positive effect on the Ghanaian publishing industry as a whole. The agreement covered only select textbooks-30 titles-for primary schools. Thus, most textbooks covering the junior secondary levels remained inaccessible to users via the open market. By 1991 no more than 14 registered publishers were active. A new aspect of publishing, appropriately called self-publishing, had emerged and had begun to compete with the already weakened publishing companies. Many writers, often teachers and well-known examiners for various subject areas began to cyclostyle their scripts (sometimes in barely legible print) on duplicating machines. Students happily purchased these texts because they found the material vital to their chances of being successful in examinations, more so since it was their teachers who wrote them. The proliferation of self-published duplicated material also highlighted the abundance of untapped writers for the educational market. The availability of competent writers has not been a problem. From British colonial rule until the present, local writers have held their own in Africa and in the rest of the world. Ghanaian writers like Ama Atta Aidoo, Austin Amissah, Ayikwei Armah, Meshack Asare, Amu Djoleto, Asare Konadu, Atukwei Okai, and Efua T. Sutherland have won the Noma Award for Publishing, Africa's most prestigious publishing prize.

Financial Effects Given the history and state of affairs of publishing in Ghana, it has been virtually impossible for publishers to obtain loans from their bankers. As a result, undercap- italization has dogged the industry, resulting in low print runs. On average, publishers produce in quantities not exceeding 3,000 copies. Even then, an unsuccessful book could push its publisher dangerously close to bankruptcy. In 1995 one bank decided to offer loans to publishers, the first bank to make book publishing part of its lending portfolio. To date, however, the offer has not been taken up because of the prevailing high interest rate, 45 percent minimum. However, the high interest rate is a reflection of the economic climate in the country and not directed specifically at the publishing sector. So how have publishers survived? They have shown creativity and resilience- generating capital by selling paper, publishing for the growing children's market, and making credit deals with printers. Sometimes the terms of such deals mean that 74 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

publishers receive only relatively small quantities of printed materials, based on their payment. Obviously this has affected marketing and sales plans, as well as the number of print runs.

Publishing Profitability Three major factors influence profitability, as identified by Gilmore (1996). • Size of market. As already stated, educational publishing constitutes the largest percentage and the most profitable portion of publishing in Ghana, and the government continues to hold a virtual monopoly over it. * Purchasing powere Given that the majority of people live in rural areas, the conventional thinking was that they could not afford books. Firsthand information gathered by the Ghana Book Publishers' Association from its district book fairs-held from 1992 to 1995 with financial support from the Canadian Organization for Development through Education-shows that this may only be true for certain books and for certain areas. Many people, especially children, have willingly bought books ranging from textbooks to general readers. Children have even used their lunch money to buy books for themselves. Over a three-day period, total sales during the book fairs have ranged from a low of 1.5 million cedis to 22 million cedis (2,100 cedis = I US$, 1995 dollars). On average, 15 publishers take part in each fair. UUnrealistic expectation. Publishers have erroneously expected that people will buy anything. Times have changed and we now have a discriminating public looking for quality (Nimako and Boye 1996). Does profitability matter? Gilmore argues that "if profitability is such a problem to achieve, why worry about it? Why not just accept that donor aid will be necessary until sometime in the distant future, when the general economy of less-developed countries would reach a point where self-sufficiency could become a practical possibility?" (1996). Probably the strongest point Gilmore makes is that "Self- respect requires that indigenous publishing attains independence from the policies and funds of Western donors. It is important that they escape from this feeling of dependency and inferiority" (1996).

Trends since 1992 Since 1992 the climate has begun to change. But the winds of change have been blowing slowly, and painfully. This period also signifies the democratic era ushered in by the Fourth Republic. In reviewing this period, one needs to consider the issues of policy formulation and publishing capacity: personnel, printing facilities, distribution, reading habits, and the effects these issues may have on the quality of education, the development of the private book publishing industry, and the general economy of the country. Probably the most important aspect to consider is the policy of privatizing the industry (if any exists) and the attitudes of implementing officials toward practitioners in the book industry in Ghana. THE TRANSITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANA'S EXPERIENCE 75

Policy on Privatization of the Book Industry

No official policy exists. In a very real sense, the government has never officially controlled the book publishing industry. But, as described earlier, educational publishing, which has formed the bulk of the market since independence from colonial rule, has been firmly monopolized by the government. Thus, in the general climate of openness that has prevailed in the country since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, publishers have been lobbying officialsof the Ministry of Education for more access to the textbook market and better recognition, accep- tance, and promotion of their books.

Publisbers' Association Comes Alive The first step toward effective lobbying was to have a strong, respected voice. Toward this goal the Ghana Book Publishers' Association was revived in 1992 by members and now includes 52 bona fide publishers, up from 14 at the end of 1991. The financial support of the Canadian Organization for Development through Education has enabled the association to open and operate a secretariat. The next step was to organize seminars and workshops to improve the quality of personnel in the book industry. Members of the association met with the Minister of Education, his two deputies, and top officialsin September 1993. It was the first time in the history of publishing in Ghana that the sector minister had held such a meeting with publishersto discuss matters affectingthe book industry. At the meeting, publishers asked for access to the syllabi used throughout the school system, from primary to senior secondary level; a more open system of recommending supplementary readers to schools; provision of funding to enable the Ghana Library Board to purchase books on a regular basis; a review of the prevailing practice of using only one textbook per subject in schools; the setting aside of a percentage of all book projects under the World Bank's international competitive bidding scheme for local publishers, to build capacity in the Ghanaian book industry. Although a follow-up meeting promised by the minister has not materialized, publishers, through their association, now have more accessto top officials(even to get information) at the ministry.The syllabiused in the educational system were virtually top secret before this meeting but are now available to publishers. At a seminar before the Septembermeeting, entrepreneurs in the book industry had asked the Ministry of Education to demonopolize its hold on the publishing of textbooks needed by the country's educational system (Tamakloe 1993). Participants at the seminar, which was attended by officials of publishing houses in both private and public sectors, pointed out that the practice by which local publisherswere sidelined when it came to contracting for the publication of textbooks in the country was dis- heartening. They contended that "unless publishing was accorded its proper role and the Ministry ceased to compete with the private publishing sector ... the local [publishing] sector would not grow." Furthermore, participants called on the min- 76 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

istry to involve them in formulating its publishing policies and curriculum development to enable private publishers to keep abreast of its demands.

Policy Formulation In a privatized economy to which the government has pledged itself, book production ought to be in the hands of private entrepreneurs.Even more serious is the absence of any National Book Policy. Djoleto presented his proposals in 1989, but the document, which includes an excellent analysis of book procurement procedures used by the Ministry of Education since the early 1960s, is yet to receive the attention it deserves in official circles. If such a policy exists, it does so only on paper or is known only to certain officials of the Ministry of Education. Nothing has been made public. This point needs to be addressed if the book industry is to become truly privatized. Before a national book policy comes into force, all the aspects it covers should be clearly articulated and openly discussed, taking into account the views of all sides of the book industry. In his proposals Djoleto targeted 1995 as the year by which this cooperation for mutual benefit would be firmly established. It is now 1997, but the winds of change have yet to reach the area of policy formulation. The Ghana Book Publishers' Association has begun consultations with the Book Development Council for holding a national forum to debate proposals for a national book policy. When publishers call for involvement in formulating policy, it is because they want to know about the policies that will ultimately influence the bulk of their industry: what books will be required and in what quantities, when, and where; how are such books to be produced and why; and who will be the end users of the books (libraries or schools). Decisionmakers in government circles also seem to have a basic misconception of what a publisher is. Officials often refer to publishers as printers. As a result, publishers are regarded as those whose services will only be required when the ministry has produced texts for publication. That mindset has to change as a basic step toward fully privatizing the industry. As of 1997 a draft for the government's proposed Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education program had been prepared. In the process, publishers were again sidelined. The existence of such a document only came to the attention of the publishers' association council by accident. Ghana cannot achieve the goal of a sustainable literary environment if the government continues to ignore publishers who are largely responsible for making books available on the market and coordinating the activities of writers, editors, designers, printers, and booksellers to ensure that books get into the hands of readers. Obviously, an information gap exists between the ministry on the one side and practitioners in the book industry (especially publishers) on the other. It is critical to the development and growth of a viable book publishing industry in Ghana that the role of private indigenous publishers receive full recognition "as indispensable to sound education in Ghana and not just encouraged but actively patronized by the government to that end" (Djoleto 1989). THE TRANSITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANA~s EXPERIENCE 77

It is understandable if the Ministry of Education retains overall responsibility for textbooks curriculum. But it would definitelyhelp both the ministry and book publishers if the latter were involved in various aspects of policy formulation. Publishers are concerned that up until now the ministry has prescribed only one textbook per school subject. Why not have a list of recommended textbooks for each subject? This would create more competition among publishers and improve the quality of production and marketing of what is available.This used to be the case in the early 1960s, when parents could buy whichever book(s) the teacher had selected for a particular subject. No problems ensued: children were not confused about what to buy and the quality of education did not decline.

Publishing Capacity Government officials have often cited publishing capacity to discount the ability of local publishers to satisfy the demands of the educational market. It is important, therefore, to examine carefully some key elements of publishing capacity and to determine whether Ghanaian publishers can effectively measure up to the task.

Publishing Houses As already stated, the number of active publishers in Ghana had grown from 14 in 1991 to 52 as of 1997. These range from small publishers publishing a minimum of 2 titles a year to large ones producing at least 20 titles a year. Together, these publishers produce up to 300 titles a year. Several of these titles have already been assessed and approved by the Ministry of Education as suitable for classroom use. Publishers assert that if 5 publishers have been able to handle the Co-publishing Agreement involving 30 books for primary schools, which usually need larger print runs than do secondary schools, then the 52 members of the publishers association (though not all of the same size) should certainly be able to produce the roughly 104 titles listed as required school textbooks for the open market.

Personnel Since 1988 the Ghana Book Publishers' Association has been convening seminars and workshops aimed at developing and improving publishing staff's skills to raise the quality both of the staff and of the books produced in Ghana. This has benefited more than 200 staff members at all levels of operation, from front office staff to senior management and chief executives.Any person checking the quality of books produced by Ghanaian publishers since 1988 will definitely see marked improvement in editorial and production quality. Graduates of the Book Industry Degree Program of the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, have further upgraded the talent available to publishers today. In 1995 the program achieved full departmental status. 78 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Printers

Before 1990 only one printer could handle the large print runs needed by schools. Today, there are at least five printing presses with such capacity,all well equipped with the latest technology.Although these are still inadequate to meet the country's needs, there is no reason why a publisher cannot outsource printing to Asia or other economicallyattractive places. After all, publishers argue, multinationals that have published for Ghana's educational system have not necessarilyprinted the books in their own countries. As part of its program of privatizing Ghana's economy, the government has decided to divest its ownership of part of the Ghana Publishing Corporation. Two divisions are up for sale: the Tamale Press, in the Northern Region of Ghana, and the Takoradi Press, in the Western Region. Essentially,these are printing outfits. Rumors have been circulating that the PublishingDivision and the Tema Press, near Accra, may also be sold. In time Ghana's printing industry will grow. As of now the bulk of its work is not book production, and if the government does not provide opportunity for growth, local printers will continue to cater mainly to areas other than the book industry. Given the opportunity, Ghanaian publishers could develop the capacity to compete effectivelywith international counterparts in international competitive bidding for book publishing projects in Ghana financed by World Bank loans. Taken to its logical conclusion, successivegenerations of Ghanaians, including publishers, would end up repaying loans that did not build up the local publishing industry but in fact had helped publishing industries in countries already well established in the field.

Distribution and Sales The weaknessinherent in the existing distribution system through private means has already been mentioned. This by no means suggeststhat the sector cannot grow. In fact, if private publishing gains more access to the large educational market, bookshops and other distribution outlets will grow. Healthy competition has a way of generating quality service, to the benefit of the customer. While the ministry may continue to purchase and distribute quantities that it may need, marketing and distribution of the books throughout the country really should be in the hands of publishers and booksellers. Before 1963, for example, book procurement was a private affair (Djoleto 1989). The school culture itself during that time encouraged book buying and a reading habit for life. Djoleto further states that as the "private sector or open market organized distribution or sales to schools, the book depots or bookshops became the bedrock of the entire book trade of the country, including religious and general books" (1989). The main setback for the bookshops was that they did not cover the entire country; most were based in the major cities in the southern part of Ghana. On the parastatal side the Ghana Publishing Corporation in its best years had 5 branches in Accra (the capital) alone and 19 scattered throughout the rest of the country. On the private side the bookseller with the THE TRANSITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANA'S EXPERIENCE 79 widest network was the Methodist Book Depot, which used to have 12 to 15 bookshops and distribution points throughout the country. As of 1997 no more than five of the Depot's bookshops remained actively involved in stocking all kinds of books. Only one bookseller, Challenge Enterprises, which specializes in Christian books, and the Bible Society, which offers Bibles and "New Reader" booklets,were making an effort to cover the whole country. Even so, they relied heavily on colporteurs to keep suppliesgoing regularly to remote areas. Many more bookshops are needed: there is real potential for at least 80 or 90 of them, located in district capitals (Ghana has 110 districts) around the country. This is a challenge for booksellers and a fertile avenue for investment. However, book- sellerssay that before opening outlets in various parts of the country they would first have to be sure they would get the books to sell. The economic viability of such an enterprise is closely linked with book demand and availability.It needs to be recognized that booksellers are in business to make money and will grasp any good opportunity that comes their way. To some extent, then, the ministry is right in purchasing quantities of textbooks for distribution to schools outside the major cities. Despite building a nationwide distribution network, the Ministry of Education is itself unable to provide textbooks for every student. In fact, economic realities show that it cannot and will never be able to provide books to meet all the needs of every student, even in the primary schools.

Publishing for the Open Market As already stated, the Co-publishing Agreement permitted the publishers involved to reprint quantities of those titles for sale to the public. This experiment in "privatizing" textbook publishing has proved largely successful.In the wake of this success, however, other problems have surfaced.

Problems First, it has been establishedthat copiesproduced for the government, which are not for sale, have found their way into the market. Some of these have actually been stolen from government supplies. The publishers have provided suggestions for redesigning the front covers to show more clearly what is for public sale. Second, some clear cases of piracy by printers or individuals exploiting the high demand for the books have been uncovered. In one case a salesperson actually offered a publisher some of the publisher's own title at a price much lower than the market price. Even worse, police called in to investigate the matter found that the printer responsible had large stocks of titles licensed to other publishers as well! The Ghana Book Publishers' Association is working with the Copyright Administrator and the Copyright Society of Ghana to educate the public and top government officials about the effects of book piracy on the industry and on Ghana's international image. To commemorate IJNESCO's first World Book and Copyright Day (April 23, 1996), they teamed up to highlight the growing incidence 80 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

of piracy and the need to expose and to stamp out the practice in order to protect practitioners in the printing industry. It is clear from monitoring the market that the theft of government stocks and piracy will not go away if demand continues to outstrip supply. The publishers' association, late in 1994, began negotiating with the Ministry of Education to license Ghanaian publishers to reprint all government-required textbooks up to senior secondary level. As of 1997 final approval has not come. Demand remains high. But the sign, "Government Property, Not for Sale," continues to appear on the market. This is an opportunity for publishers to prove themselves capable of meeting the demands of the textbook market. Alas, the wheels of officialdom turn ever so slowly.

Pricing In contracting the reprinting of textbooks, the government would not have to provide subsidy. Some officials have voiced concern about keeping costs low. In fact, Djoleto (1989) suggested that "the Ministry of Education should have a determining vote in the fixing of prices of core textbooks sold on the open market to fore- stall irresponsible speculation." He stated that there should be an agreed sales procedure, similar to the Net Book Agreement in the United Kingdom, which would guarantee the same price throughout the country for a particular title. Such a position, despite its advantages, goes against the very ethos of privatization, that is, allowing market forces to determine prices. The Net Book Agreement ceased to operate in the United Kingdom in October 1995. Publishers have concentrated efforts on the key item that affects the pricing of books: the high cost of producing books locally. This, in turn, is influenced by the tariffs on inputs for production. All inputs, including equipment, paper, inks, films, and plates, attract some tariff. Finished books coming into the country enter free of all tariffs. In November 1995 a 144-page book printed in Hong Kong and shipped to Ghana was found to cost at least 50 percent less than it would have cost to produce in Ghana, without any shipping charges for the same print run. In February 1996 the Ghana Book Publishers' Association's lobbying efforts succeeded in getting the government to waive the prevailing 15 percent sales tax for all materials imported by its members for their publishing work. An application for exemption from customs duties is currently receiving attention. As of 1997 the association saw the waivers as positive incentives for book production and a means of bringing down the prices on books.

Libraries Libraries play a vital role in inculcating and sustaining the habit of reading, and they also create a sales outlet for book publishers. Since the early 1980s the government- run Ghana Library Board, a network of libraries, has suffered from lack of funding for new purchases. Staff has pointed out that local publishers do not produce "library copies," that is, hardcover versions of their titles. Publishers have countered THE TRANSITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANA'S ExPERIENCE 81

that they would do so if the Library Board would guarantee purchases in apprecia- ble quantities as titles are released. The Library Board, however, cannot do that because it does not have the cash. Since 1993, for example, the Library Board has not purchased books from publishers in any significant quantities although it has regularly received samples from publishers. One organization that has filled the gap is the Ghana Book Trust, established with financial support from the Canadian Organization for Development through Education. For the past three years (1995-97) the trust has purchased an average of about 20 million cedis (US$15,000) worth of merchandise from members of the Ghana Book Publishers' Association. The program has covered 50 to 70 titles written by Ghanaians and published by Ghanaian publishers. The trust has distributed these books to community libraries-libraries set up by towns throughout the country. To make up for the lack of textbooks in schools, especially in rural areas, the trust has sometimes purchased some textbooks for distribution in addition to general reading books. Some school libraries have also benefited in this way. To develop the reading habit from a very early age, Djoleto (1989) calls for the establishment of libraries in all primary schools, with funds from parent-teacher Associations, individuals, neighborhoods, and communities. He stresses "that a library period (not just classroom reading) should not only be built into the timetable of every basic education institution in Ghana but also indeed utilized as such in the school library itself." Some schools have established libraries, but no figures are available on the number in operation, their stock levels, and their distribution throughout the country. It is also difficult to estimate how successful these libraries have been in improving reading habits.

General Publisbing A significant portion of the discussion here has covered the publishing of textbooks, simply because it takes up the greater share of the market, with large print runs and profits. However, because textbook publishing is dominated by the government, publishers have focused on publishing supplementary readers, fiction, and, increasingly, books for preschoolers and children up to 15 years old. Most publishers offer some children's books as part of their list and see the children's market as an area of potential growth. With bookshops moving more into stationery over the years, these books have been sold directly through schools, often by the publishers themselves. Some publishers have opened bookshops--three opened between 1993 and 1997. A number of publishers are resorting to moving their books around, employing a kind of "books on wheels" sales force. The Ghana Book Publishers' Association's district book fairs, three each year since 1993, have promoted the books in 7 of Ghana's 10 regions. Organized with financial assistance from the Canadian Organization for Development through Education, the fairs have targeted children, in recognition that today's young are tomorrow's buyers, for their own children. In conjunction with the Children's Literature 82 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Foundation and with the support of the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Book Development Council, association members have organized outreach book sales to villages and towns in rural settings away from district capitals. In some cases books sent to these areas are sold out, outstripping quantities sold even in the more affluent district capitals. The eagerness and excitement with which children and their teachers have bought books, sometimes stampeding to get to the book tables, clearly indicates people's interest in and hunger for reading material. The fairs have also highlighted the fact that if privatization is to succeed, publishers will have to promote their books much better than they have in the past. In one district capital the paramount chief (traditional head), a well-educated man, remarked: "Are all these books really produced in Ghana? I did not even know we had so many publishers." After touring the stands as part of the official opening cer- emony, he returned to his palace and sent his daughter to purchase a large quantity of books to form the nucleus of a library for his people.

Publishing in Ghanaian Languages During the missionary era of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the bulk of publishing focused on the local languages. The Basel Mission that spawned the Presbyterian Church of Ghana pioneered writing in the local language, with hymn- books and the Bible translated into the Akuapem and Ga languages. The Wesleyan Mission, which gave birth to the Methodist Church, produced similar material in Mfantse, as did the Bremen Mission in the Ewe language. And while building schools, the Basel missionaries produced textbooks for such subjects as agriculture and arithmetic in the Akuapem language. The colonial period saw the gradual erosion of local languages into second class status. It became a mark of distinction to speak the King's English (after King George of Britain). Speaking one's own language was a sign of backwardness. That was to change after the first self-government took office in 1951 and established the Vernacular Literature Bureau, which later became the Bureau of Ghana Languages after independence from colonial rule in 1957. Apart from the Bureau of Ghana Languages only three book publishers produced books in Ghanaian languages before 1992. Even then these publishers did not have more than a combined total of 10 titles. Exceptions were the Bible Society and the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation, which have produced several "New Reader" booklets and portions of the Bible. For more than 20 years the Ghana Institute of Linguistics promoted literacy for the lesser-known Ghanaian languages, creating a growing number of people who can now read and write in their own language. Today, it is official government policy that children in school have to study a local language during nine years of basic education. The Ministry of Education has a Non-Formal Education Division aimed at promoting literacy primarily among adults in rural areas. The division has identified 15 languages, distributed around the country, for its literacy work. THE TRANsITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANAs EXPERIENCE 83

Naturally, the work of these institutions has resulted in increased readership among people literate in the local languages. To meet the needs of the newly literate, the Non-Formal Education Division and the Ghana Book Publishers' Association in 1992 agreed to produce various reading materials including books. Currently, 12 publishers are working on 154 book manuscripts covering the 15 languages in a project worth 640 million cedis (approximately US$460,000). The small size of print runs, sometimes as few as 2,000 copies, has meant that the government has had to provide subsidies that have run high as 90 percent of production costs. Publishers have full responsibility for developing book content, marketing, promotion, and sales. The project has been designed so that subsidy levels fall considerably in successive years. Participant publishers have sometimes com- plained that since the government controls the funds, officialstend to dictate terms. A joint committee comprising representatives from the Non-Formal Education Division and the publishers' association now meets as required to iron out problems and to discussguidelines. Although the project is a positive development, it is at best a partnership in which the government acts as funding agency. Ultimately,publishers will have to provide their own capital.

Summary and Reconamendations Across the developing world, structural adjustment programs put in place by governments, acting on the advice of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have begun to create access to areas that used to be under state control. Ghana's economy is no exception. As Ghana's publishers have struggled to regain what was once their preserve, some issues have surfaced that could form the basis of a checklist for privatizing the book industry. * Enabling environment. The right political climate must exist, guaranteeing freedom of expression and freedom to publish. Furthermore, the government must have the political will to turn publishing-where it is under its control-over to private enterprise. • Policy. There should be a clear-cut,well-articulated, open policy for the publishing process, with meaningful input from the industry. In the absence of this, all the players involved-publishers, government officials, writers, booksellers, printers, and readers-will suffer much frustration. * Context. All sides must have and show mutual respect for each other. Government officials must consider publishers as partners, key contributors to the whole process of sustainable book provision, not simply as people out to make money. Without this positive attitude, negotiations and discussions easily break down, and suspicion can adversely affect relationships. * Representation. It is in the interest of publishers to have a strong, united voice. Wherever possible, they should form alliances and empower their leaders to speak on their behalf, marketing the industry. The Ghana Book Publishers' Association has been successfulin its lobbying efforts because its leaders have had the full backing of the membership. It has raised its profile 84 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

by publicizing both its programs and its problems in the media and by meeting face-to-face with officials in government and the World Bank as issues have arisen. * Flexibility. Publishers need to be creative in the way they tackle the issue of privatization. If the government is unwilling to release its grip on textbook publishing, for example, members must explore ways of producing textbooks in partnership. * Textbooks. The size of the textbook market means that if local publishers are excluded, they have little room for profitability. It is not enough to privatize parastatals; government needs to work out with private publishers a way to access the market. * Finance. Lack of financing is undoubtedly one of the most frustrating problems publishers face. They should receive assistance, just as other industries do, through special credit schemes. * The World Bank. The Bank's role is closely tied to the financing of the book sector. The Bank needs to ensure that its policies do indeed benefit local publishers. Thus far, only one Bank official has met with local publishers to discuss any aspect of programs or policies that affect the publishing industry. This is absurd, considering that it has been shown clearly that development of the book sector "is the only way of establishing sustainable book provision programs in developing countries" (Askerud 1997). * Capacity building. The World Bank should apply its human capital development program to the publishing industry. Given the integrated nature of publishing, and its impact on several sectors of the economy and national life, publishing deserves serious attention and assistance. As World Bank (1995) states, "countries, like individuals, cannot realize their full potential without knowledge and skills ... such investment, and its links to other factors in development, act as an engine of change." * Quantity. In any country, quantity of output signifies publishers' ability to handle a privatized industry. * Transition to privatization. In economies where state control has been the norm for several years, particularly in countries like Ghana where government has controlled book publishing since independence, transition may take longer, because the local private industry may be starting from scratch or may have to deal with issues like inflation. * Book publishing as an industry. In the drive for export trade, officials in charge of privatizing economies must realize the potential that books have to generate income for their countries. Governments should recognize book publishing as an industry worthy of support-financial and otherwise-and encouragement. "Investments in people, by themselves, will not be fully effective unless the total economic policy framework for these investments is conducive and supportive. This implies macroeconomic stability, an open market, access to world markets, the right structure of incentives, and the proper functioning of capital and labor markets" THE TRANSITIONTO PRIVATIZATIONIN PUBLISHING:GHANAS EXPERIENCE 85

(World Bank 1995). Given these criteria for success, the process of privatizing Ghana's publishing industry needs some retuning and proper direction. As the largest source of external financing for education, under which books fall, the World Bank has an important role to play in supporting the efforts of local publishers in developing an efficient and effectiveprivate publishing sector. It is imperative that the Bank shift its focus from book provision schemestoward book development. Our children and our working people, who will repay the loans contracted for the purpose, would at least have the satisfactionof knowing that they are not paying to service and further develop the already well established publishing industries outside our country. Ghana's book industry is once again on the rise. Given the right nurture from within the industry and by the government, it has much potential to thrive, expand, and achieve excellence.

References Askerud, Pernille. 1997. A Guide to Sustainable Book Provision. Paris: UNESCO. Bonsu, Osei. 1994. "Improving the Book Industry." Daily Graphic, February 22. Djoleto, S. A. Amu. 1989. "Proposals for the Formulation of New Policy for the Ghana Education Sector." Paper presented to the Ministry of Education, Accra. Gilmore, Arthur. 1996. "Publish for Profit." Interlit (March): 4-6. Hildebrandt, Jonathan. 1990. History of the Church in Africa. Achimota, Ghana: Africa Christian Press. McCartney, Murray, ed. 1996. National Book Policies for Africa-The Key to Long-Term Development. Harrare, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe International Book Fair Trust. Nimako, Annor. 1991. "The State of the Book Industry in Ghana: An Overview." Ghana Book World 5: 1-8. Nimako, Annor, and M. Boye. 1996. "A Critique of Children's Books Published in Ghana." Paper presented at the Seminar on Quality in Children's Literature, February, Accra, Ghana. Tamakloe Albert. 1993. "Ministry Urged to De-monopolize Textbooks." Ghanaian Times, July 28. World Bank. 1995. Investing in People. Directions in Development Series. Washington, D.C. A New Textbook Policy in Tanzania

Maria Stridsman

Tanzaniaintroduced a new policyon the productionand distributionof schooland collegetextbooks in 1991. The main aim of the policyis to transformthe currenttext- booksystem into a completelycommercial system, whereby the entirebook provision will be marshaledby commercialpublishers. The purchasingof textbooksfor primary educationwith governmentfunding is to be decentralized,first to districtsand eventually to the schoollevel. The ultimategoal is to introducea multi-textbooksystem in whichschools will selectand purchasetextbooks.

he TanzanianPolicy on Productionand Distributionof School/CollegeBooks Iwas publishedby the Ministryof Educationand Culture at the end of 1991. The new policywas a reaction againstthe serious shortageof textbooksin Tanzania,where 10 studentsoften shareda book. It was the result of a number of studiesand was facilitatedby the generaltrend of liberalizationtaking placein the country. The situationbefore this policytook effectsaw the supplyof textbooksin main- land Tanzaniadivided between two ministries,the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Prime Minister's Office. The TanzaniaInstitute of Education- whichcomes directly under the Ministryof Education-was responsiblefor analysis, review,and revisionof curriculaand syllabi.Its employeeswere also responsible for writing manuscriptsand, to a smallextent, for publishingbooks. Under normal circumstances,however, the manuscriptsfrom the institute were passedon to the BookManagement Unit of the Ministryof Education,which was the unit responsible for the technicalproduction of books.The publishedbooks were then delivered to the EducationCoordinating Unit. The PrimeMinister's Office was responsible for distributionof educationalmaterials to the District EducationOffices. (The Prime Minister'sOffice, however, continues to retain responsibilityfor distributingmate- rials,other than textbooks.) The main aim of the new policyis to transformthe current textbooksystem into a completelycommercial system, whereby the entire book provisionwill be mar- Maria Stridsman is program officer at the Social Development (DESO) Department for Democracy, Education Division, Swedish International Development Agency. 86 A NEW TEXTBOOKPOLICY IN TANZANIA 87 shaled by commercial publishers. The purchasing of textbooks for primary education with government funding is to be decentralized, first to districts and eventually to the school level. The ultimate goal is to introduce a multi-textbook system in which schools will select and purchase textbooks. The policy stipulates a transition period of unspecifiecl length; its actual length will depend on how quickly the various actors can develop the needed competencies.

Implementation of the Policy The most important and concrete steps taken in the process of translating the policy into an operational strategy was the formulation of a Pilot Project for Publishing, commonly known as the PPP. The objective of the PPP is to transfer, step-by-step, the responsibility for textbook publishing and distribution to local commercial publishers and booksellers. The PPP offers consultancy support to commercial publishers, as well as to the concerned ministries. During the initial three-year phase, consultancy support was divided into two separate contracts. Although the Tanzania Institute of Education has been involved in parts of the training, it is generally not included in the PPP. Since the inception of the PPP, 49 titles (4,936,500 books) have been successfully tendered to commercial publishers. Of these, 21 titles (1,744,500 books) were successfully produced by commercial publishers (based on manuscripts prepared by the Tanzania Institute of Education). As of 1997 the remaining 28 titles were still being produced. Due to poor production capacity within the country, some production is done outside Tanzania. In June 1996 the Ministry of Education and Culture decided that the Tanzania Institute of Education should not continue to prepare manuscripts but should restrict itself to curriculum-related activities. Tax and duty on imported printing paper were eliminated in 1996. Cooperation between the ministry and publishers, as well as with donors, improved, and confidence gradually built up. During implementation of the new book provision policy, the following problems surfaced: • Failure to make strategic decisions regarding, for example, opportunities for parallel titles, establishment of an approval system, and devolution of funds and authority for textbooks. * Financing of textbook provision, including financing of purchases and financial arrangements for publishers. * Lack of an official and clear interpretation of policy. * Difficulties in adopting new rules. * Limited publishers' and printers' experience in international procurement. * Tremendous distrust among different actors. * Difficulties with donor coordination. * Evidence of donor dependency. * Underplaying of the importance of classroom environment. 88 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Lessons Learned and Future Issues

Since the analysis of textbook production and distribution is complex, the criteria, process, and various stages need to be better documented. A better documentation would assist in clearly defining the problems and in suggesting a more precise action plan to facilitate the understanding and monitoring of all actors involved in textbook production and distribution. The mechanisms for communication between directly concerned actors (ministries, publishers, districts, booksellers, and others), between ministries and donors, and within the donor community need to be better defined. Within the framework of the PPP, incentives could have been provided to encourage the ministry to make necessary strategic decisions, actors to adopt new roles, and administrators to effect a smoother implementation of the project. Opportunities need to be offered for parallel titles by providing publishers with possibilities to commission their own writers and distribute and market their books. Financing for publishers in a weak financial position should be improved; the publishers' organization, which is financially weak, should be strengthened; and local contribution to the purchase of textbooks should be encouraged. Finally, the classroom environment should be considered more carefully when deciding which books to publish. On the basis of these lessons, the following actions should be taken to improve the new policy: • Devolve funds at the local level (create demand at school or district levels). * Put in place an approval system. * Focus on complex aspects of the policy and on communication. * Boost actors' confidence. * Build up competence at the district level to manage textbook supply-for example, procurement, accounting of funds, and storage of books. • Consider specific classroom situations when selecting books. * Improve administration at the central level. * Delineate responsibilities of indigenous publishers and international publishing houses. Textbook Publishing Policy in Cote d'Ivoire

Am6d6e Couassi-Ble

The government of C6te d'Ivoire greatly contributed to a sound book and publishing industry by setting up two major publishing houses on the eve of independence. This action was in line with the government's educational policy and its role as "protector" of the school textbook sector. Two major local publishing houses, CEDA and NEI, largely dominate the Ivorian textbook market. Their leading position, justified by long experience and expertise acquired through a solid partnership with foreign publishing houses (Hatier and Hachette, among others), has been strengthened in primary education by the signing of an agreement with the government that gives them the sole right to supply books in the "Ecole et Developpement" series for primary education.

Bsooks and textbooks, in particular, pose a real problem in education in most Sub-Saharan francophone African countries. Research and the experience of recent decades clearly show that textbooks can be rightly considered as the most determining factor for improving the quality of education in this part of Africa. However, most of these countries encounter problems in developing textbooks. Among these problems are the high price of textbooks-relative to the purchasing power of the population-which greatly limits the number of users who have access to them, and the lack of national structure that ensures the production and distribution of quality teaching materials at affordable prices. This last problem is particularly important because a market for textbooks constitutes the basis for the production of books for the general public, an essential instrument of cultural policy. Aware of these problems, most African governments have been reflect- ing on formulating strategies aimed at supplying quality textbooks in an environment characterized by dwindling national, local, and household budgets caused by the economic crisis. But what has been the experience of C6te d'Ivoire in this regard?

Am6dee Couassi-Bleis director of Centre d'Edition et de DiffusionAfricain (CEDA)Editions and represents the Office of the Prime Minister of C6te d'lvoire. 89 90 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

C6te d'Ivoire'sPolicy: An Overview

The government of C6te d'Ivoire is concerned about education, culture, and equity. That is why, in addition to its educational policy, it has always adopted for each stage of learning (primary, secondary, technical and professional, and higher) a national publishing policy that requires textbook writers to conform to a single government- approved program. Thus, for all levels of education in C6te d'Ivoire, textbook publishers operate according to a three-phase procedure-design and drafting, certification and approval, and publishing: • Phase 1: design and drafting. As a general rule, the Bouake publishing house, a department of the Ministry of Education, produces teaching manuals for primary schools. Under an agreement between the government and the two publishers, the Centre d'Edition et de Diffusion Africain (CEDA) and the Bureau Ivoirien des Nouvelles Editions Africaines (BINEA, later NEI after privatization), the publishers offer the government some assistance before the actual publishing of books. The Bouake center does not produce books for higher education. This initiative is left to any publisher who wishes to put a textbook of his choice on the market. • Phase 2: certification and approval. Textbooks are assessed to ensure that they are in line with government education program requirements. The Commission Nationale d'Agrement des Manuels Scolaires (national school manual approval board) of the Ministry of Education and Basic Training is responsible for carrying out this assessment. * Phase 3: publishing. Actors in this phase are CEDA and NEI publishers, under the "Ecole et Developpement" series, pursuant to the 1982 agreement that was renegotiated and signed with the government in May 1991 (CEDA) and April 1992 (NEI), and all local and foreign publishers (including CEDA and NEI) for all books other than those of the "Ecole et Developpement" series. The issue of school textbooks has always prompted Ivorian authorities to ensure that textbooks are made available to a greater number of pupils and students by making the books more attractive and affordable, that local production is increased, and that a true cultural industry is developed and consolidated. In this regard, the government has constantly maintained a policy of compromise between the principles of economic liberalism, to which it remains committed, and its role of school "protector," by keeping a watchful eye over the textbook sector through the shares it holds in the two main Ivorian publishing houses.

The Textbook Industry The government of C6te d'lvoire greatly contributed to a sound book and publishing industry by setting up two major publishing houses on the eve of independence. This action was in line with the government's educational policy and its role as "protector" of the school textbook sector. TEXTBOOKPUBLISHING POLICY IN COTE D'IVOIRE 91

Table1. TextbookPrinting Trends before and after Privatization (percent) Before After Textbooklevel In C6ted'lvoire OutsideCdte d'lvoire In Coted'lvoire OutsideCote d'lvoire

Primary 20 80 100 - Secondary - 100 30 75 Technicaland professional 5 95 5 95 Tertiary - 100 - 100

Source:Official data.

Before the privatization of CEDA and BINEA and the devaluation of the CFA franc, almost all schoolbooks were printed outside Cote d'Ivoire, mostly in France. Today the situation has changed in favor of more significant local production (see table 1). The two major local publishing houses, CEDA and NEI (formerly BINEA), largely dominate the Ivorian textbook market. They acquired their long experience and expertise through a solid partnership with foreign publishing houses (Hatier and Hachette, among others). The signing of an agreement with the government according them the sole right to supply books in the "Ecole et Developpement" series has truly strengthened their lead in primary education. As a result, CEDA and NEI have produced large quantities of books for the country's 1,553,440 primary school students in both public and private schools (see table 2). CEDA and NEI today have a large market with book sales estimated at CFAF 3.6 billion to CFAF 4 billion, accounting for 55 to 60 percent of their total turnover. Table 1 indicates that local production for higher education still remains very low. This market, unlike that for primary education, is totally open to competition, and it is supplied with imports, mostly from France. Local operators in the higher education market are very few because of the relatively low printing returns, due to the falling number of primary school students and especially the very high production cost of science textbooks, which call for heavy investment in iconography research. To make up for the shortage of science textbooks at the primary level, CEDA and NEI have placed about 20 workbooks on certain subjects on the market, which are not replacing textbooks but are considered good work tools for students.

The Privatization of Cote d'Ivoire's Publishing Houses Following the example of several African countries south of the Sahara, C6te d'Ivoire, in line with its plan of stabilization and economic recovery, decided to put Table2. CEDAand NEI TextbookProduction, 1995-97 Academicyear CEDA NEI Total

1995-96 1,296,000 1,403,400 2,699,400 1996-97 1,444,000 1,870,000 3,314,000 Total 2,740,000 3,273,400 6,012,900

Source:Ofricial data. 92 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS in place a program aimed at rehabilitating and privatizing public enterprises. To this end, in December 1990 the government set up a privatization committee to restructure the semipublic sector with a portfolio of 80 enterprises selected out of the existing 140. The objectives of this privatization policy were to increase enterprise productivity and competitiveness; reduce production costs and the cost of living; increase private sector participation in the financing and management of economic activities by injecting fresh capital into the private sector production system; mobilize local savings through the creation of a national shareholding that would help develop C6te d'lvoire's capital market; and increase labor market opportunities.

Background Historically, 90 percent of CEDA's and BINEAs activities have been in textbook publishing for Ivorian schools. The two publishing houses suffered a great deal as a result of the economic crisis C6te d'Ivoire went through in 1989-91. The situation worsened because of social disturbances in 1990, leading to a break in the academic calendar during the 1990-91 school year, which in turn gave rise to major democratic reforms in the political life of C6te d'Ivoire. When the decision to privatize CEDA and BINEA was made in March 1991, these two companies were, technically speaking, bankrupt, with deficit balances of CFAF 380 million and CFAF 350 million, respectively. The decision to privatize these two companies, however, was motivated by their urgent need to recapitalize and be able to continue supplying quality textbooks as they had been doing for the government since 1982. With this privatization the Ivorian government wanted to ensure the production of quality textbooks, in sufficient quantities, and at affordable prices; sustain textbook publishing in Cote d'Ivoire to obtain the transfer of all the publishing activities in C6te d'Ivoire; develop publishing of general literature books in C6te d'lvoire; and encourage Ivorian share ownership.

Privatization Procedure The privatization of CEDA and BINEA was carried out in three main phases: a valuation study, renegotiation, and public offer of shares.

Valuation Study. Pursuant to the closing and auditing of CEDA's and BINEA's accounts, the privatization committee entrusted their valuation to consultants. This study brought out the net accounting statement of each company as well as the conditions to be met for recapitalization.

Renegotiation. After the withdrawal of tele-education in 1982, the Ministry of Primary Education decided to revise all syllabi and redesign and rewrite all textbooks. The book production center was responsible for this task. It led to the creation of the "Ecole et Developpement" series, which today accounts for about 40 TEXTBOOKPUBLISHINC POLICY IN C6TEDIVOIRE 93 titles. The terms of the agreement which resulted in the 1982 Memorandum of Understanding between the government and publishers, were the following: * An equal share of textbook publishing contracts for CEDA and BINEA. * Set standards for textbook manufacturing, with particular emphasis on the need to use Ivorian printing houses. * A determined amount of royalties to be paid by the publisher. * Determined sales and printing costs. * Three-year validity, with renewal by tacit agreement unless a nine-month notice is given. The agreement was renegotiated and signed during the privatization of these two publishing companies: in May 1991, between the government and Hatier Publishers, shareholders of Hatier since its establishment in 1961, and HMH, a Canadian operator who coopted to build the new CEDA Company; in April 1992, between the governmnentand a consortium selected following an international invi- tation for bids. The consortium was made up of EDICEF, Centre Educatif et Culturel Inc. (CEC),-Edipresse, and Librairie de France. The objective of the Memorandum of Understanding is essentiallyto determine means of balancing the net negative statement of finances and the capitalization of the company; the reciprocal obligation of shareholder publishers and the government; and commitment of shareholder publishers, that is, CEDAand NEI, to provide the books by the start of the 1991-92 and 1992-93 academic years, respectively.The following terms were thus agreed upon: * Balancingthe net negative statement of finances and recapitalization.With regard to BINEA,the establishmentbetween the government and the consortium called "Nouvelles Editions Ivoirienne" (NEI), with capital of CFAF 50 million shared by individual Ivorians(35 percent), EDICEF-CEC(29 percent), the government (20 percent), Edipresse (15 percent), and Librairie de France (1 percent). CEDA'scapital was increased to CFAF 461 million shared by Hatier (40 percent), the government (27.46 percent), individual Ivorians (23.54 percent), and HMH (9 percent). The recapitalization of the two companies called for new capital utilization, setting aside a part solely for individual Ivorian shareholders and Ivorian corporate bodies, itn line with the objectives of the privatization policy, which aimed at the promotion and development of national shareholding. In this regard, it was decided that the government and its partners would hold the

Table3. Distributionof CEDAand NEI ShareholderHoldings (percent) Shareholder CEDA NEI

State 5.85 25 EDICEF - 10 Hatier 17.69 Total 23.54 35

Source:Official data. 94 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

part reserved for individual Ivorians for five years (see table 3), thus encouraging the general public to save. The Abidjan Stock Exchange was responsible for the transfer of shares. Following the stock exchange operation, which marked the end of the privatization process of these two publishing houses, the shares in Ivorian hands (both the government's and the private sector's) were scheduled to increase to 51 percent of CEDA and 56 percent of NEI (or even 63.5 percent if taking into account Edipresse's 50 percent capital held by the government through the Fraternitt-Matin group. Reciprocal obligations of shareholder publishing houses and the government. Shareholder publishers were committed to publishing quality books in C6te d'lvoire, equal to those printed in France and Canada; to ensuring that all publishing work that can be done locally is done in C6te d'Ivoire; to guaranteeing a sufficient supply of compulsory textbooks on time in the Ivorian market, as well as maintaining a minimal stock as reserve during the course of the academic year; to encouraging the publishing and worldwide distribution of Ivorian books; and to prefinancing production (publishing and printing) of books in the "Ecole et Developpement" series for the start of the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years. The government is committed to giving priority to CEDA or NEI over any non-lvorian bidder (for bids up to 15 percent of the total amount for any contract) during international bidding for textbook publishing to be financed by an international institution, in accordance with World Bank regulations.

Public Offer of Shares. The five-year shareholding period by the government and its publishing partners (Hatier and EDICEF) ended in 1996 for CEDA and in 1997 for NEI. CEDA and NEI securities were sold to individual Ivorians on the Abidjan Stock Exchange. From February 9 to May 20, 1996, the Abidjan Stock Exchange put 28,582 securities on the financial market, accounting for 31 percent of CEDA capital. These securities, floated at the cost of CFAF 8.250 with a 65 percent value added (nominal, CFAF 5.000), were entirely subscribed for a total value of CFAF 235,801,500 (see table 4). CEDAs shares were very popular with the public. In the textbook sector especially, individuals and corporate bodies (including 1.29 percent of CEDA personnel) acquired a total of 40 percent of the portfolio put up for sale, that is, 12.5 percent of the company capital. Following the offer for sale, the new capital distribution is as

Table 4. Distribution of CEDA Shares, 1996 Subscriber Number of sharessubscribed Value (CFA) Percentageof capitaf

Individuals 18,211 150,240,750 19.75 Corporatebodies 10,371 85,560,750 11.25 Total 28,582 235,801,500 31.0

Source:Official data. TEXTBOOKPUBLISHING POLICY IN COTED'IVOIRE 95

Table5. EstimatedDistribution of NEI Shares,1997 (percent)

Shareholder Total Ivorian share Foreign share

State 27.5 20.0 7.5 EDICEF-CEC 29.0 - 29.0 Edipresse 7.5 7.5 Librairie de France 1.0 1.0 Other private Ivorians 35.0 35.0 Total 100.0 63.5 36.5

Source:Official data. follows: 40 percent to Hatier, 31 percent to individual Ivorians, 20 percent to the government, and 9 percent to HMH. In the new capital layout, Ivorians-both government and private sector-hold majority shares (51 percent). This is in line with the objectives of the privatization. The transfer of NEI was expected to have occurred in December 1997 and capital distribution was estimated as shown in table 5.

Impact of Privatization on the Book Industry As a follow-up to the privatization of CEDA and NEI, in 1994 and 1996, respectively, the Privatization Committee and the Bureau National d'Etudes et Travaux de Developpement critically examined the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding. The two parties are satisfied with the implementation of the major objectives of the agreement: a reduction in textbook prices and the transfer of publishing activities to C6te d'Ivoire. In spite of the privatization of its publishing houses, the Ivorian government has kept a watchful eye on the price of textbooks, which is the determining factor in its publishing policy. It has also negotiated and obtained a significant reduction in textbooks prices: 25 percent in 1991-92 and 10 percent in 1992-93; that is, a total decrease of 35 percent since the privatization policy. Following the devaluation of the CFA franc in 1994 and its effect on price increases in inputs such as paper and ink, publishers proposed to the government to increase the price of textbooks by 12 percent to balance budgets. The government decided to leave retail prices unchanged for academic years 1994-95 and 1995-96 but granted publishers a compensatory subsidy; for academic year 1996-97 it stopped the subsidy but increased textbook retail prices by 5 percent (official data). On the whole, following the privatization of CEDA and NEI, textbook prices decreased by 30 percent. The production of textbooks remains low at most levels of education. However, following the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, book production for primary schools is entirely done in C6te d'lvoire, thanks to the combined effects of privatization and devaluation. With over CFAF 2 billion in value added, CEDA and NEI were able to contract out work such as composition, illustration, and photoengraving piloted by local small and medium-size industries. 96 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Furthermore, the manufacturing of these books in C6te d'Ivoire required substantial investment in state-of-the-art equipment and training by major local printing houses.

Conclusion The supply of quality textbooks in sufficient quantities, at very low prices, and for a greater number of students, seems to have been given the highest priority in the Ivorian government's educational policy. The pursuit of this objective has led the government and its major partners in the educational publishing field to make huge financial and human efforts, which have favored the creation of a true textbook industry in C6te d'Ivoire. Until 1991, 80 percent of educational materials were printed in Europe and in North Africa (Tunisia), and only 20 percent in C6te d'lvoire. To encourage publishers in Cote d'Ivoire, the government has made sustainability of the book industry one of the fundamental goals of its publishing privatization policy. In 1991 and 1992 this spurred renegotiation of the agreement on the "Ecole et Developpement" series in primary education. Within this market, CEDA and NEI are today able to reach sales levels of about CFAF 4 billion, nearly 60 percent of their turnover for the 1995/96 financial year. With regard to higher education, where the market is largely open to competition, imports complement local production, which is still low. But given the privatization objectives mentioned earlier, aimed first and foremost at reducing textbook prices and encouraging publishing activities in C6te d'Ivoire, the present state of the market for textbooks for higher eduction calls for efforts to reorganize and finance the sector, since the cost of producing and marketing tertiary education books varies from that at lower levels of education. Since the future of schools depends on textbook prices, it appears indispensable that the government, together with its major partners in the book industry (publishers, printers, and bookshops), give considerable thought to adopting policies and strategies to improve the privatization experience. Indeed, the Memorandum of Understanding will expire in the near future, which is a serious concern for the government and the major sector players. The future of textbook publishing in C6te d'lvoire depends on resolving some major underlying issues, such as whether to operate within an "organized" market-by maintaining the publishing agreement in force on the "Ecole et Developpement" series in primary education-or within a "free" market-by opening the whole market to free competition so that textbooks are supplied through tenders. Discussion on Policies for the Long-Term Provision of Educational Materials

Ian Taylor: Gaston de Bedout expressed his objections to governments' approaches to textbook policies. Could he perhaps express what system he would like to see prevailing?

Gaston de Bedout: I will attempt to respond to that question by focusing on five points. Governments have bids that are so closely competitive that friends of the government with inside information end up getting the contract. As part of the overall picture, even in countries that do not have a mature publishing industry, the creation of the publishing sector should be promoted by enacting a law whereby publishers and writers do not have to pay any taxes (that is, providing publishers with incentives such as tax breaks), and everything that has to do with the publishing industry is tax free; such a policy will motivate the creation of publishing houses. This would be the first step to creating an appropriate local environment for publishing. We have had this in Colombia since 1973, and we have developed a few other laws that will span the years 1973 to 2013. So we have about 40 years to develop a publishing industry. I think that all countries that are recipients of loans have institutional curricula developed, which means that local needs have priority and are reflected in local curricula, not national or government-specified central curricula. Governments are not good at making national curricula in any country because they do not know the needs of all their people. Local aspects are very important. It is pitiful to have a central government determine curricula, to assume that the government knows the truth, the whole truth. This is impossible. Institutional projects go to the very heart of the problem. So we need institutional projects at the local levels. Teachers should be the ones to select textbooks, not a national committee. If books are determined at the central level, they will end up in the warehouses of ministries of education. We have had experiences of that. The state should pass a law that guarantees books after the loans run out. Governments must allocate seed money over a period of time. Loans from the World Bank-for which governments contribute-are very important and are good beginnings. However, governments must commit to sustaining the provision of educa-

97 98 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS tional materials by earmarking a certain amount of money from the national budget. This is a prerequisite to ensure sustainable book provision. How the private sector distributes books is also important. The ideal distribution system is through a chain of bookstores, established ones, and through supermarkets, which are widely spread around the country. A demand-side incentive is to establish gift certificate systems through which students can purchase their own textbooks in any store in the established chain of distribution.

Colin Bower [publisher from South Africa]: The need for national policies is a pre- cursor to development of some educational publishing industries. The messiness of the industry is a virtue. Taking the example of my own country, policymaking has led to the imposition of monolithic ideologies, and has led to obstacles of a political and educational nature, much to the detriment of learners. It has hindered the appearance of regional variation, which is so crucial, and above all it stops the development of competing systems, which very often prove to stakeholders what systems can achieve. Issues like language ... I question whether a policy can facilitate resolution of these problems or hinder it. In the context of South Africa, we are seeing that provincial policies are being developed; they are one step forward, somewhat better than national policies, but perhaps somewhat worse than school-level policies, which would be even better-the best situation of all.

Carew Treffgarne: The ratio of books per student still operates against effective learning because of the problem of language, resource allocation, and planning where external inputs fit in vis-a-vis what the government is committing to the book sector. Each of these issues requires national policies at the moment. The Ministry of Education, the Book Development Council, and the Ministry of Arts and Culture are working precisely to ensure that scarce resources are better used and that there is better government planning to ensure when external funding agencies are likely to be most effective in relation to the system as a whole, and when external funding agencies' financing ends. DFID [the U.K. Department for International Development] wants governments to plan how much they can put in and what external agencies can contribute. In the short term national book policies are absolutely essential to overcome some of the problems that persist and have per- sisted since independence.

Ingrid Jung: Tax policy can either be a subtle or a blunt instrument. By all means give tax incentives to authors; by all means argue for the lowest value added tax rate possible for books. But I have actually heard Hungarian publishers argue against giving Hungarian publishers corporate tax breaks on the grounds that by doing so you start to attract the wrong kinds of people and the wrong kinds of money into the publishing industry.

Gaston de Bedout: Supply-side incentives help develop a publishing industry and help develop a private sector.... The best way to do this is by giving tax incentives- DISCUSSIONON POLICIESFOR THE LONG-TERM PROVISIONOF EDUCATIONALMATERIALS 99 make it attractive to be a publisher. Small markets and complicated government curricula persist.... Supply-side incentives are really necessary.

Ingrid Jung: But there are other ways of doing so... -for example, through consumer support, directing subsidies to ensure that consumers have the money to buy the product (demand- side financing options/incentives). It is absolutely true that giving support to one text such as the texto unico is detrimental to the development of the publishing industry. Of course, the use of either supply-side incentives or demand-side incentives should be country-specific.

Amedee Couassi-Ble: I would like to say a few words about the tax issue in C6te d'Ivoire. My country signed the Florence Convention at Nairobi; but regrettably, in my country the convention is not observed. In other words, all the components in manufacturing, editorial content, and so on were supposed to be exempt from taxes, but this is not the case. When I was director general of the newspaper Fraternite- Matin, one of my struggles with the government was precisely related to the application of the Florence Convention. I was on the other side of the fence. And the answer I always got was that in the framework of structural adjustment, the World Bank requires that the government widen the tax base. So there is a dilemma for the government: If the state had to do without taxes from publishers, what is the short- fall for government? If the convention is to be implemented, obviously the book partners, particularly the printers, would have to lower the prices so that parents could have quality books at low cost. It is a paradox.... The books are deluxe products with colorful covers and images on the inside-clearly not low-priced. Another aspect is the cost of factors of production, which is important. The World Bank should consider this in its framework for development assistance.

Financeand Boo Tracde Issues

Local and Foreign Partnerships: Attracting Foreign Investment

Marc Moingeon

Hachette Livre has built a market niche in C6te d'Ivoire by entering into partnership with a local publisher. The partnership has provided benefits to both C6te d'Ivoire and the local company. The local partner has benefitted from authors' rights, taxes, and dividends. Hachette has benefitted from a "m-anagement fee" granted by approval of the local partner's board for Hachette's management assistance to the local company.

T his paper explains how Hachette France came to invest in the publishing industry of Cote d'lvoire, evaluates the five-year experience, and outlines its pros and cons for those publishers and countries who might be tempted by a similar experience.

Hachette's Strategy Hachette has long-standing experience as a textbook exporter of books published for the French market and conforming to the French curriculum and of books adapted to local curricula by mixed teams of French and local authors. In fact, Hachette has created a publishing subsidiary, called EDICEF, whose specific purpose is to publish for local schoolbook markets outside France. EDICEF sometimes acts as an "external unifier" when it publishes a book aimed at several countries in a subregion of Africa (for example, CIAM, a mathematics course for secondary schools in Francophone Africa). As the subsidiary developed, Hachette has felt a growing need to take part in the development of the local publishing industry, in particular when the country in question has expressed such a need. Through our experience we have come to know what factors will lead a country to develop its own publishing industry: the desire to be self-reliant for part or all of its editorial needs-to end dependence on foreign suppliers, to have authors and artists close to their editors, to develop a strong cultural identity, to create employment opportunities, and to use local printing facilities. Marc Moingeon is in charge of internationa] operations for francophone areas, Hachette Livre, France, Education Division. 103 104 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

It is preferable to follow the movement toward the development of a local publishing industry rather than adopt a short-term policy based on traditional book exports. Editorial joint ventures appear to have a future in a sector in which economies of scale are sought, in particular when the partners share the same language. With regard to the question of French-speakingareas, a publisher from an industrial country is driven to the following conclusions: growth potential is greater in developing countries than in industrial ones because of the demographic curve and a trend toward higher expenditures in education; and the distribution of the French-speakingpopulation is currently 60 percent in the North and 40 percent in the South, with a tendency toward a 50-50 percentage split. The publishing industry in the French-speaking regions is heavily unbalanced, around 95 percent of the publishing activity is in industrial countries and 5 percent in developing ones. This imbalance is unhealthy for the French-speakingworld in general. A shortage of adequately written material can be most harmful to the future widespread usage of the French language. To be a publisher means to be able to respond to demand. In the publishing industry, as in others, close cooperation between the producer and the customer is most beneficial, especiallyin the cultural field. It is also important that developing countries have access to a variety of cultural models in the development of new industries.

The Terms of Privatization By the Protocoled'accord of April 24, 1992, a new company,les Nouvelles Editions Ivoiriennes (NEI), was created out of the Bureau Ivoirien des Nouvelles Editions Africaines, in which the C6te d'Ivoire government maintained 45 percent of the shares with the intent to sell a further 25 percent to the public. Hachette (through EDICEF) and the Canadian company,CEC, took 29 percent of the shares and became the operators of the company.The remaining 26 percent is held by private C6te d'Ivoire companies or private individuals who form a "pool" with Hachette through which they jointly run the NEI. C6te d'Ivoire's contributions and commitments consisted in part of the assets and liabilities of the former state company,which were transferred as grants to NEI, and the right to publish for a limited, but renewable period of time a part of the official primary textbooks for which the state still owned the author's rights. The buyers' contributions and commitments were the purchase of 55 percent of the company for a value of CFAF590 million (at that time about US$2.5 million). In the case of primary school textbooks for which the state owned author's rights and the copyright, Hachette agreed to reintegrate printing operations in C6te d'Ivoire with the understanding that national preference for local C6te d'Ivoire printers could not exceed a 15 percent cost surplus compared with European prices. Hachette also committed itself to providing technical assistance and training to the company staff, to developing local nontextbook publishing (trade, juvenile), and to help create and promote a book fair in Abidjan. LOCALAND FOREIGN PARTNERSHIPS:ATTRACTING FOREIGN INVESTMENT 105

Hachette's Assessment of the Investment

Hachette's five-year involvement in running NEI has definitely been a positive experience. The major event in company history during that time was the devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994. NEI was directly hit because the government considered primary textbooks as priority items and their prices were consequently frozen. Since the raw materials necessary for these books were imported, the NEI working account would have been endangered if the C6te d'Ivoire government had not decided to subsidize NEI for its loss of margin during the two-year price freeze. The devaluation has also prolonged by two years the payback period, (eight years instead of six) for Hachette's and its partners' investment. Despite the problems caused by the devaluation, NEI is profitable and has been able to pay its shareholders. The C6te d'lvoire government has benefited from author's rights, taxes., and dividends. Hachette has benefited from a "management fee" granted by approval of the NEI board for the assistance extended to company management. The C6te d'Ivoire government has consistently been a loyal and efficient partner. We also believe that NEI has benefited from the general improvement of the C6te d'Ivoire economy since 1995. Our conclusions are that the right to publish a portion of the official textbooks was a necessary condition in our decision to invest in CGte d'Ivoire. The Cote d'lvoire publishing industry is still in the early stages of development. Its total revenue was just over US$10 million in 1997, compared with US$50 million in Kenya. Following are what Hachette considers as midterm (5 to 10 years) objectives for the C6te d'Ivoire publishing industry: * To allow primary school teachers to choose among several textbooks. * To take part in international bids to provide textbooks to low-income sectors of the population. * To reach 20 to 25 percent of total local book publishing in trade, reference, or juvenile books and help develop the nontextbook sector. * To be a useful example for those countries with small or average-size populations (around 10 million) who wish to set up a publishing industry. Donor Support for Book Imports

Laurent Loric

French-speakingSub-Saharan African countries have receivedaid for 35 yearssince independence,but such aid has not improvedthe situationof schooltextbooks, nor addressedrelated issues in educationand educationalpublishing. The variousaid policiesfor schooltextbooks have been short-termand superficial,treating problems as mattersof urgencyinstead of pursuinglong-term solutions. This realand perpet- ual "stateof emergency"has led to the perpetuationof a system of charityto the detriment of the social and economicdevelopment of a vital sector of activity. Internationalaid agenciesshould not continueto "donatefish" (charity).They must instead"teach how to fish" (development).

H_~ow can internationalaid be a lever for the developmentof local textbook publishing?This is a fundamentaltheme of this seminarbecause it seeksto treat the problemof the long-termsupply of schooltextbooks in developing countries. Internationalaid for school textbooksat present is mainlyin two forms:subsidies and book supplies.Both types of aid have the samegoal: to compensate for the lack of textbooksin client countries,with the knowledgethat a sufficient quantity of textbooks in classroomsis an essential factor in improving teachingand schoolperformance.

Formsof Aid Subsidiesare mentionedhere not becausethey serve to improve the situationof schooltextbooks in developingcountries but becausethey can have a directimpact on the price of a bid submissionby givingpriority to the lowestoffer and distorting the play of normalcompetition. Subsidiesare differenttypes of aid used by the authoritiesof certaincountries to artificiallybolster the competitivenessof their nationalcompanies on the interna- tionalmarket. These subsidies,of a commercialnature, benefitexporting publishers

Laurent Loric is general manager of EDICEF,the French-languagebranch of Hachette PublishingGroup that specializesin textbooks and learning materials for primary and secondaryeducation levels. 106 DONORSUPPORT FOR BOOK IMPORTS 107

and printers (Canadian, Portuguese, Tunisian, and others) without bringing any particular support to school textbooks. Textbook subsidies are used by national authorities or by international organizations not to help exports but to help imports. It is not commercial assistance but rather a social aid, whose goal is to lower the price of schoolbooks, making them accessible to populations with low purchasing power, in the cases in which families buy the textbooks. Short-term subsidies were conceived to artificially lower the sale price of textbooks for a limited period through compensation to publishers and distributors for their loss of margin. This type of subsidy, used by the French Ministry of Cooperation between 1991 and 1993, permitted prices of French and mathematics textbooks for the primary level in Cameroon and Gabon to be lowered by more than half. In almost every case short-term subsidies have now become structural. They encourage an enduring drop in the sale price by taking on the fixed costs of editorial investment, which are usually absorbed by the sale price. Some examples of these subsidies are the measures taken by the French Ministry of Cooperation at the time of the devaluation of the CFA franc; the aid the same ministry gave toward the conception and publication of an inter-African mathematics series for the secondary level (CIAM); the fund for assistance to publishing of the Agence de la Francophonie; and the aid given by the "Francophone" authorities for the conception and publication of a low-priced world dictionary for African countries. The award of these subsidies was progressively tied to certain conditions. The publishers who benefit from this type of subsidy are expected to compensate for this assistance by respecting sale prices that, while in accord with production and distribution costs, correspond to local purchasing power, and by supporting the development of local publishing facilities (editorial partnership, local printing, and so on). This obligation to engage in compensating activities reflects the political will of the donor organizations to ensure that this social assistance will have a leverage effect on local economic development. Does it not follow that this idea of "leverage effect" should be at the heart of the reflection on a future coordinated policy of international aid for school textbooks? Book supplies are based on a strategy radically different from that of subsidies. No longer is the price of textbooks adapted to family purchasing power; rather a system of gratuity for textbooks is developed (although it may sometimes be the case that the books are sold or loaned to the students for a nominal price). Aside from certain structural adjustment funds to local authorities, book supplies can be financed in two main ways, differing according to the financial terms: free- of-charge financing (donations) provided by aid and development organizations and financing with refundable credits granted by the large development banks (World Bank, African Development Bank, and others). Without going into the myriad exceptions, financing with refundable credits generally concerns large operations organized within the framework of long-term national programs (for example, programs supplying textbooks in several disciplines covering the entire primary school cycle in Guinea, Senegal, and others). Given the 108 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS importance of necessary funding and the procedures of the funding organizations, these programs are usually subject to the complex procedures of the international bidding process.These bids are either publishing bids (the creation of books specifically for the countries concerned: for example, Guinea and Senegal, for primary education), or bids for supplying existing textbooks (Benin, for the primary level; Guinea, Madagascar, and Togo, for the first level of secondary school); or bids for reprinting specifictitles financed earlier in a publishing bid (Madagascar,Niger, and Togo, for primary school). Free-of-charge financing is characterized by more flexible procedures (limited bids, orders by mutual agreement) for lighter, short-term operations designed to fulfill a certain defined need. For the most part it concerns titles already in the catalogues of industrial country publishers (for example, the Agence de la Francophonie's supply of a primary French language textbook to the Republic of Congo, Guinea, and Mali; the purchase by Belgian aid of a French language series for the Democratic Republic of Congo; and the purchase of pedagogy titles for school and teacher libraries-by Agence de la Francophonie for Madagascar and Senegal and by the European Union for Cameroon). While the amounts involved in these types of financing for book supplies are in no way comparable to the sums used for subsidies, it is certain that book supplies have no leverage effect on the development of local publishing chains. On the contrary, the procedures followed for this type of financing (especially those coming from development banks) limit development of a publishing chain at all levels. The system of donations puts local distribution chains out of the race and prevents all creation and development. Despite the clauses calling for national preference (when they are applied or are applicable), small local publishers cannot realistically compete, for want of a financial base and lack of experience; 99 percent of the local book market is inaccessible to them. They have no opportunity to build a structure, to develop competitiveness, and indeed, to achieve the autonomy without which development is impossible. Local authors, in the absence of proximate publishers, are rarely called on to participate in the development of a textbook, which explains their lack of experience and their limited knowledge of writing techniques. Local intellectual potential is not adequately trained in writing or publishing, and without this training and experience, autonomy is impossible. Local printers, given their limited equipment and poor negotiating position in the international paper market, cannot compete with the large printers of industrial countries. Without their own funds generated by significant turnover, and without the assurance of winning over part of the market, the small local publishers cannot invest in modern and efficient equipment. The only exception is C6te d'lvoire, which has been able, in a liberal system, to protect the development of its publishing chain. Over five years (from 1992 to 1996) C6te d'Ivoire's printers invested in building their capacity and were able to print more than 8 million books in 1996 compared with 500,000 in 1992. They now ensure their country's virtual autonomy in this area, and are also able to export. DONOR SUPPORTFOR BOOK IMPORTS 109

Case Studies

Although the following examples, one of supply and one of subsidy,do not synthe- size the totality of possiblecases, they are at least characteristicbecause they portray radically different strategies of support for similar projects. The objective of both projects is the creation of unified mathematics programs for French-speaking African countries: one for primary education, led by CONFEMEN; the other, known by the acronym HPM (Harmonisation des Programmes de Mathematiques), for secondary education. Each project led to the publication of a series of schoolbooks: the CONFEMEN series, for the primary level; the CIAM series, for the secondary level. Each organization is financed by French aid organizations. These two projects, however, differ on one fundamental point. CONFEMEN plays the role of publisher and owns the copyright for the textbooks, whereas the Coordination Committee of HPM chose a private publisher (EDICEF)to publish the CIAM series, and EDICEF holds the copyright.

An Example of Supply: The CONFEMEN Series CONFEMEN statutes provide that the availabilityof the primary level mathematics serieswill be regulated by the bidding process. Concretely,this means that a country wishing to add this series to its school program must use it exclusivelyand must sign a five-yearagreement with CONFEMEN, who will then provide the films.The country must then find financing (a loan or donation) and launch a bidding procedure. For the time being, only 3 countries (out of about 20 potential users)have opted for the CONFEMENseries: Benin,the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, and Mali. Certain textbook seriesby private publishershave had a much larger Pan-Africanimpact.

Benin. Benin chose to use the first two levels of the CONFEMEN series in 1992. Becauseno other title could be chosen and the government was unable to find adequate financing before 1995, students were without books for three years. Preferring to develop the local industry, in the 1995 bidding Benin awarded the contract to the CNPMS (the state printer). CNPMS, however, finding itself technically unable to produce the books, decided to subcontract to a foreign printer. As a result, the textbooks cost Fr 10 apiece (about US$1.65 at the 1997 exchange rate), where they could have been produced for US$0.65. Since 1995 no financing has been forthcoming to assist in the resupply of these books, and because nothing can be done outside of the bidding procedure, they are unavailable in the bookstores and, therefore, unavailable in classrooms. For the next two levels Benin opted (in 1997, within the framework of World Bank financing)for another series, this time from the catalogue of a French publisher.

Mali. The contracted printer for the Mali bid deliveredthe textbooks (the first two levels)in April/May 1993 although they were supposed to be availablefor the beginning of the 1992 school year. Their use was thus delayeda full year. 110 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Because the financing did not cover the cost of the textbooks and the ministry did not have a budget for book distribution, only a part of the stock was supplied to schools, mainly in the capital city and in neighboring towns (that is, in the least disadvantaged areas). Another part was unusable because of poor stocking conditions, and the rest found its way into the parallel market. Not being able to find another source of financing, Mali was unable to supply its students at the other levels and to resupply the first two levels (which was essential, given that books are consumable materials).

Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1995 the Democratic Republic of Congo received financing from the Agence de la Francophonie for the first two levels and was supposed to receive the same for the next two levels in 1997, from the same source. With regard to distribution and resupply, the Democratic Republic of Congo was confronted with the same problems as the first two countries in this case study. The financing for textbooks had no effect on the development of a local industry. While both Benin and Mali had awarded contracts to the same Tunisian printer. (Tunisia subsidizes its export printing industry), the two bids in the Democratic Republic of Congo were won by European printers, even though EDICEF made sub- missions in partnership with African printers, one from C6te d'Ivoire, the other from Senegal (EDICEF supplied the paper to the African printers who could thereby profit from the same commercial conditions as EDICEF, that is, obtain paper at half the cost). In addition, because no other series could be introduced into the school program and the CONFEMEN series could not be commercialized, local distributors and bookstores were deprived of part of their activity. Local publishers have no possibility of promoting another series and are, therefore, excluded from copublishing projects or any other type of partnership concerning the CONFEMEN series. CONFEMEN's approach is based on a macroeconomic conception of development, close to that of the large aid donors: education is a major factor in development, and textbooks are one of the most important vectors. It is possible to accelerate the process of education, and hence development, through the massive supply of textbooks at the best price, no matter what method of supply is used. This doctrine has led CONFEMEN to forget one of its principal objectives: to "promote the development of the book industry in the Southern countries and reduce economic and technological dependence."

An Example of Subsidy: The CLAM Series Each signatory country to the unified mathematics programs for secondary education participates in the writing of the CIAM series textbooks, which is the outcome of the new programs. Coordination of the programs and manuscripts is managed by a committee based at Institut de Recherche Mathematique (IRMA) in Abidjan. DONOR SUPPORTFOR BOOK IMPORTs 111

The project is actively supported by French aid. This aid is made up of three complementary parts that ensure the successful application of the unified mathematics program and the use of the textbooks. The first part consists of financial and personnel assistance covering the needs of coordination (assistants, equipment, workshops, and so on). The second concerns the training needs of the teaching corps in various countries. The third is aid to textbook publishing. This subsidy to publishing is a structural aid to the sale price; it covers the publisher's investment and thus permits a lower price for the final product. The subsidy is linked to an agreement on technical specifications (number of col- ors, number of pages, and so on) and to a fixed sale price based on a chart. At the present time the four textbooks of the first level are sold in the bookstores at the equivalent price of US$5.00. By comparison, a title of the same level in Ghana, financed by the World Bank, but also available in the open market, is sold at US$8.00 to US$10.00. The publisher, chosen by the Coordination Committee of the HPM, retains the copyright and the responsibility for adhering to the sale price put out by the distribution circuit; the publisher also handles distribution and commercialization, promotion in schools and bookstores, reprinting and maintenance of necessary stock, rewriting and corrections, and payment of authors' royalties. The first level of the series was published in 1993, and the plan is to publish one level annually. The series for levels 2 to 6 are now available. Each level consists of a student book, a workbook (optional in most countries), and a teacher's guide. The series is entirely produced in a copublishing agreement between EDICEF and the Nouvelles Editions Ivoiriennes (NEI). NEI is responsible for relations with the Coordination Committee, the editing and printing of the workbook, as well as the commercialization of the textbooks in countries outside C6te d'Ivoire. In 1997, 12 French-speaking countries of Africa and the Indian Ocean had already opted for the HPM program and the use of the CIAM series. More than 1.5 million copies of the books were bought, either by families or within the framework of a bid. Since supplies through the bidding process are not recurrent, the titles of the CIAM series can be bought in bookstores in the following year because they are in the catalogue of a publisher who owns the copyright and can therefore commer- cialize the title. This feature represents a real advantage and offers an effectiveness that is not possible for a title whose copyright does not belong to the publisher and can only be supplied through the bidding process. The subsidy offered by French aid and the assistance given to the coordination of the project and to teacher training are in line with the elements of a true development project adapted to the specifics of the schoolbook. These elements are as follows. * Support for coordination and the annual organization of Pan-African workshops helps the training of writers in editing techniques and gives a sense of responsibility to national players for working toward the resolution of their educational issues. It also encourages dialogue and regional integration. 112 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

* Assistancein teacher training is the indispensable complement to schoolbook aid and to the improvement of school performance. * The subsidy allows the textbook to remain at a price accessibleto the parents of secondary school students, and encourages the creation of real partnerships between industrial and developing countries in both directions. This factor alone will be able to ensure the enduring economic development of local publishing.

TowardImproved Aid Effectiveness When one debates the advisabilityof using international aid for school textbooks, on effectivenessand efficiencygrounds, one may legitimatelywonder about the role school textbook publishing plays in the local development of the economic sector. This issue corresponds, in fact, to an essential objective of aid donors: reducing poverty and ensuring long-term development. If widespread education is essential to reduce poverty, it must also include effective transmission of knowledge, in particular through suitable textbooks of good quality.Long-term development, if it necessitates macroeconomic policies intended to produce enduring effects, cannot ignore the parameters of short-term strategies that can have an effect on its own evolution. In this context, two complementary questions can be posed: What status should be given to the schoolbook? Must aid be limited to the massive supply of textbooks or can it be part of development projects? In other words, are current bid processes suited to a strategy for developing local publishing industry? To fulfill its role, a textbook must be suited to the socioeducational, political, and economic realities of the countries for which it is intended, and must correspond to accepted standards of pedagogical, scientific, and technical quality.These specifici- ties, which differentiate it from other economic goods, require that certain approaches to its conception, production, and fabrication be respected, and that essential and complementary contributors be recognized in the editorial process. This is the framework of a juridical and professional status. In keeping with juridical and professional requirements, it is essential to ascribe a general economic status to school textbooks if the objectiveis to encouragethe development of a local autonomous publishing industry. Without going more deeply into issuesthat are, in certain cases, the subjectof other papers, certain important points should be taken into considerationwhen seeking to define and choose a status: * At the juridical and professional level, the notion of copyright; the various skills of the publishing chain (authors, editors, printers, and distributors); and the various phases of textbook production. If these issues are not considered seriously, textbooks will continue to be treated as any industrially produced good with damaging consequences for teaching quality-drastically reducing the cost-efficiencyof aid; for creating partnerships between industrial and developing countries (intended to ensure the transfer of technology,which would not be viable without a dependable and enduring juridi- DONORSUPPORT FOR BOOK IMPORTS 113

cal basis); and for providing a sense of responsibility to local operators (that is, toward their training and autonomy). At the economic level, the choice of how to acquire textbooks. Should textbooks be bought by families or should they remain the property of the state, which will lend textbooks or rent them to students? Is it possible to institute a mixed system in which most families buy the schoolbooks but the poorest are supplied textbooks free of charge? The choice of an economic status will have direct consequenceson the economic development of an entire sector of economic activity and on the maintenance of supplies and distribution, which cannot be ensured efficientlywithout a distribution system (the last link in the publishing chain). If the status of the schoolbook is recognized as a matter of course in industrial countries or in certain developing countries-such as C6te d'Ivoire-that have succeeded in developing a private publishing industry, the situation would be entirely different in those African countries that receive international aid through the bidding system. Although each country constitutes a different reality, almost all are obliged to set up complicated, expensive, and inefficient structures to compensate for the absence of properly managed publishing chains.

Aid and Development The current objective of aid providers or donors, which can be found in their bidding procedures (in particular those of the World Bank), is to increase the ratio of textbooks to students and work toward the objective of a textbook per student at the basic education level in the main subject areas, whatever process is necessary to achieve their goal. Although this objective is comprehensible in a macroeconomic model of development through education, it prevents the development of a local publishing industry and, at the same time, encouragesscarcity and mediocrity in African educational systems. There are multiple reasons for this, principally: • The sense of responsibility is taken away from national players. * Local publishersare penalized and marginalized. X The economic circuit of distribution is condemned because of the system of nonpayable books. * The concept of copyright is absent, which prevents a normal exploitation of textbooks (updating, rewriting, adaptations, and restocking); takes the sense of responsibility away from publishers; and blocks necessary investments in the development of publishing companies. * Basicneeds may not be covered because of the sporadic nature of the bidding process. * Textbooks cannot be efficiently distributed, which creates disparity among students and a significant lowering of aid effectiveness. If international aid cannot limit massive supplies of textbooks and if current procedures are not geared toward the development of a local publishingindustry, should 114 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS aid not be directed to the global financing of projects that take into account the two approaches to development?Although I will not attempt to draw up a framework for these projects, it seems that they should take into account a certain number of parameters that I have highlighted.This may be mentioned in other papers presented during this seminar. Donor Support for Textbooks in Africa

Brigid O'Connor

Donor support for textbook purchase primarily at the school level affects both the local education system and the domestic publishing industry. An analysis of experiences in West, Central, and Eastern Africa identifies a number of positive impacts of textbook donation prog-rams. It suggests ways of improving the delivery of donor provision by taking the process down to communities and away from central government. The analysis also focuses on the collapse of state educational provision in Africa and its effect on textbook production, quality, and availability. The African book market may be showing signs of revival, and further progress can be achieved by introducing higher standards of product and market development aimed at a new type of educational consumer.

D-wonorshave historically intervened in textbook provision either to increase the capacity of domestic publishing or to provide finished textbooks from a foreign source. The cause for each kind of intervention is the same: the partial or complete failure of existing textbook supply systems-often, but not invari- ably, state publishing monopolies-to produce textbooks in a particular subject, or at the right level, or to a minimum standard, either physically or pedagogically, or in sufficient quantity. This failure has contributed to declines in both the quality of education and equitable access to it. Interventions in either the provision of foreign textbooks or the upgrading of local publishing operations are mechanisms aimed at improving quality, access, and equity in the overall education system to increase learning attainment. Generally speaking, the time frame in which a donor project or program operates will determine which of the two interventions is chosen. If the project's aim is to improve mathematics examination results at senior secondary level within three years, then the provision of a suitable textbook from the outset is imperative. If no such textbook exists locally, the only option in such a time frame is to import a ready-made one. In some donor-supported projects the two interventions have been run in parallel, or different donors have coordinated interventions on projects BrigidO'Connor is regionalinformation coordinator, WestAfrica, for the British Council based in Lagos. The views expressed here are the author's and do not necessarilyreflect those of the British Council. 115 116 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS involvingboth textbook purchase and investment in local publishing. This scenario has not worked very successfully.Projects that attempt to fulfilltwo aims rather than one conclude by failing to achieve either. One can serve the interests of the product consumer or its producer but not both together. Donor interventions in both the provision of textbooks and the support for textbook publishing have been roundly criticized. This is a species of post hoc wisdom to which the current generation of development orthodoxies may be subjected in years to come. It is necessary to put donor textbook provision into its historical framework. Initially, donor interventions constituted marginal additional inputs to a largely functional and relatively self-sufficientstate educational system. Over time the balance of donor inputs and domestic state support has shifted. Recently donor inputs have become the only funding in a system that has wholly failed. This rever- sal of balance has utterly altered the impact and effectivenessof those donor interventions. Donor interventions have been looked to as remedies for more than two decades, and then held culpable for large-scale systemic failure. These are unreasonable expectations and assessments.Further, it is neither rational nor just to assess textbook support programs by standards of achievement more appropriate to the education system in its totality.

System Failure Textbook supply systems at the school level have failed for a number of reasons. In Africa the widespread nationalization of all educational publishing after independence destroyed or severely curtailed the development of indigenous local publishing. In many countries publishers are still struggling to overcome more than 30 years of underinvestment, loss of skills, and the stifling of the retail book industry, all of which followed in the wake of state monopoly of educational publishing. Zambia provides a good case study of this phenomenon. The entire super- and sub- structure of the state educational system had more or less ceased to operate by the early 1980s. In that context the nonavailability of textbooks was one small part of a much greater malaise in the educational system. Donor-provided textbooks, injected as remedies to cure a broader systemic failure, were therefore destined to be unsuccessful. Nigeria provides a different and more depressing model. Here no form of donor intervention, either textbook development or textbook donation, could make any positive impact because the system was set up to frustrate both. In Nigeria the state did not take over as the monopoly textbook producer but became in effect the monopoly consumer. This atrophied the distributive and retail book trade systems because publishers sold books directly to the ministry or to schools, and parents did not buy at all. It also caused a dramatic and still evident decline in quality of product, in both content and physical production. Since every producer can count on only one customer, the system is inevitably corrupted. The most effective influence on the purchase decision of a sole customer is not quality of product or value for money but the size of a more or less overt "commission' to persons of influence. DONOR SUPPORTFOR TEXTBOOKSIN AFRICA 117

Nigeria has an unenviable reputation for this rent-seeking behavior. This may be attributable in large measure to Nigeria's lack of hypocrisy about economic realities. It is as pervasive, though less acknowledged, in other countries-for example, in Uganda, which is less notorious for official corruption. All textbook publishers, both indigenous and international, in countries where centralized textbook approval and purchasing systems operate are compelled to adopt these practices. Given the selection and purchase system, they cannot do otherwise; it is a matter of marketplace survival, not business ethics. Any donor who assisted (or still does) with textbooks within such a centralized framework colluded, however unwittingly and unwillingly, in the corruption and erosion of quality in the state system of education delivery.

Quality and Appropriateness of Support The most positive effects of donor-provided textbooks seem to occur when the process of selection and the power to choose are both taken down to the lowest possible rung of the education system. The truth of this was illustrated by the British Council management experience of Department for International Development projects in Zambia. Because of the system collapse, the staff of the Ministry of Education never left their offices and so had lost touch with school realities. Increasingly, in Africa, school reality and the textbook materials decreed for use in schools have diverged. A Department for International Development project to improve primary school reading attainment revealed that the reading age of primary students was at least two years lower than ministry experts had thought. This came to light in a series of "road tests" of sample primary readers the students took as part of a book selection process organized by the British Council for the project. In this instance donor provision had the positive side effect of bringing to light deficiencies in the reading material recommended for these grades and providing the ministry with the opportunity to correct its mistaken assumptions about the reading attainment of the country's students. Furthermore, students in some of the country's poorest schools and their teachers were allowed to select the books they wanted to read. The project also injected high-quality learning material into a system where quality has not featured as a policy concern for a long time. Another Department for International Development project in Zambia to increase mathematics attainment at the senior secondary school level found that textbook donations are often asked to solve systemic problems well beyond their scope. The project and the whole notion of textbook donation then acquire an undeserved reputation for failure as a donor instrument in educational improvement. As part of the general collapse of Zambian education, the Zambian mathematics syllabus had become so outmoded that it proved impossible to find a textbook anywhere to match it. No locally available textbook existed, and the state monopoly publisher had no plan to publish one for another five years; the students' need was therefore immediate and acute. The ministry could choose between several good foreign textbooks popular with teachers and inspectors, none of which 118 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACiTY BUILDING AND TRENDS matched the existing syllabus, and a bad textbook that more or less did. The inevitable unsatisfactory compromise selection of a 1970s British A-level revision text proved acceptable to none of the stakeholders (school inspectors, teachers, pupils, or donors). Again, a textbook provision project had brought out system failure within the state education sector but was no answer to this failure. In Nigeria the British Council currently manages, on behalf of the Department for International Development, a Community Education Program in three different regions of the country. The program aims to involve local people in the provision of basic education in their local communities, given that the federal and state structures have failed to provide it. The communities are poor and remote even by Nigerian standards and were chosen to participate in the program for those reasons. Textbook selection (from materials published in Nigeria and mostly in local languages, where these are available) is undertaken wholly by the cornmunity and in the community. The selection panel for each community is composed of local education officers, teachers, and members of the community education steering committee representing parents and children. This is about as far down the hierarchy of education management as the selection process can be pushed. The materials selected are relevant, and the communities develop ownership over both the process and the product. It also removes in one stroke the possibility of improper influence on the selection decision. Managing this kind of program is challenging and time-consuming. It requires considerable local knowledge and long-term linkages with communities as well as capacity building in educational management with community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It can be accomplished, but, as a model, it operates within a longer time frame and in a more locally intensive context than most donors have been accustomed to in education interventions.

Donations for Higher Education Donor interventions to provide textbooks at the tertiary level have fallen out of fashion despite their obvious need. Tertiary level support recently has focused on support for library programs, which in this author's experience and from the reports of students and academics is inefficientlyallocated and largely unused. Library materials are of value in education only as supplements to basic textbooks. In the complete absence of textbooks, expenditure of scarce funding on such programs constitutes a breathtaking misdirection of resources. Academic librarians object to spending their modest budgets on the provision of textbooks in multiple copy to students, asserting that libraries are not meant to be textbook banks. Large injections of funds for library materials into tertiary institutions in a short time frame of three to four years compels institutions to buy everything in a subject, whether appropriate or not, merely to spend up the project allocation. African academic researchers condemn journal supply donations as tantalizing and pointless. They would prefer limited access to good indexing and document supply services on demand rather than a few years of journal subscriptions. DONOR SUPPORTFOR TEXTBOOKSIN AFRICA 119

Academics freely admit that after years of restricted access to information in their specializations,their ability to do proper book selection is undermined, and much of the material selected proves to be less than appropriate. It is difficult to overstate the feelings of anxiety, disempowerment, and sense of wasted opportunities engen- dered among the beneficiariesof such programs in Africa.

The Textbook Publishing Industry in Africa The conceptual and implementation weaknesses of many projects have their roots in a lack of real understanding of the publishing industry. This is a matter of perception and awareness more than knowledge. Textbook publishing is one of the more challenging areas of the book industry.

What Is a Textbook? Education experts who develop textbook projects perceive textbooks as adjuncts of the educational system, like blackboards or desks. One blackboard or desk is much like another and is endlessly replicable. Textbooks are complex, costly,consumer goods of infinite variety produced by a highly evolved and complex interlocking system of authors, designers,readers, parents, teachers, syllabuswriters, copyright holders, ministries of education, printers, shareholders, wholesalers, investment bankers, booksellers, paper wholesalers, and freight agents, as well as capital, profit, failure, and risk (this list is not exhaustive). Education is concerned with attainment of and access to knowledge. Publishing is concerned with risk, investment, and markets. Publishers, or those with a publishing background, often do not understand education. Syllabiand curricula often get confused. The curriculum includes not only what is taught, but the manner in which it is taught. An entire range of textbooks can be developed for a syllabussubject where each textbook reflects different teaching approaches. Any attempt to reform the teaching and learning in an education system needs textbooks that will support this distinction. Developing textbooks first, as so often happens, can nullify the whole reform effort. The publishing industry across Africa faces long-term and systemic difficulties that cannot be alleviated by short-term or partial interventions, focused on only one part of the industry, for example, distribution or printing. What are sustainableways for textbook publishers to survive and grow in the next century, independent of either aid funding or the capriciousnessof government education budgets?

Costs and Revenues Textbook publishing seems attractive because of the potentially large sales volume and long shelf life of a successfulproduct. Yet both the lead-in time and financial investment for textbook development in Africa, as elsewhere, are great. If a textbook fails to find a market or if a syllabus changes,the losses, the waste, and oppor- 120 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS tunity costs are commensurately large. (The volumes, lead-in time, and revenues constitute an even less attractive opportunity at the tertiary level.) Many countries still levy import taxes and other duties on imported paper but not on finished books. For example, the estimated investment capital costs of developing a four-color school textbook series in Nigeria is about US$30,000 over about three years. Money will not begin to be earned until probably the fourth year after the initial investment. To put these figures in context, consider that the four largest textbook publishers in Nigeria, a country of an estimated 120 million people, in 1996 recorded turnover (not profit) ranging from US$500,000 to US$2million. Therefore, to develop a new title a company has to tie up between 1.5 and 6 percent of its annual turnover. This is simply not feasible,so new textbooks are not being developed, and existing ones are increasingly out of date and inadequate. African publishers do not have the resources to initiate or put into production high-standard products that could enhance educational attainment. The point here is that, given the high costs and risks involved and the specialized skillsneeded in textbook development,very few publisherscan muster the human and financial resources to become effectiveplayers. Further, even those publisherswhose core businessover many years has been textbooks, now struggleto keep their toehold in the market as the above financialresults vividlyillustrate. If publishingis to survive in Africa,then external sources of technology,skill, and capital are urgently needed.

Capital and Debt Nigerian textbook publishersoperate in a situation in which between 40 and 60 percent of their market is taken by pirate operators about which they can do nothing. Legalremedies exist, but there are no effectivemeans of enforcing the law to obtain compensation for loss of earnings.All the main textbooks publishers are former sub- sidiaries of U.K. parent companies-Evans, Oxford, Heinemann, and others-that now are either wholly or majority-owned by Nigerians. In the case of Evans Nigeria there is a further ironic twist because the parent house, Evans U.K., is a Nigerian- owned company.If nothing else, this underlines the increasing globalization of the publishing industry in Africa and how untenable are any distinctions between "indigenous" and foreign publishers. The state and federal governments owe all Nigerian publishers very considerable sums on contracts supplied, in some instances, decades ago. These debts will now almost certainly never be honored. The publishers' market, the state, is an ever- shrinking one. Their suppliers of paper and printing services demand at least 50 percent payment, and frequently more, in advance. Wholesalers and distributors will purchase only on a sale-or-return basis. The publishers are therefore gripped in a capital and cash squeeze from which it is very difficult to escape. Publishers in Africa who do not have access to external sources of skills, technology, new titles, authors, and most important, investment capital are cut out of any market opportunities other than those offered by the impoverished and decay- ing state sector. This is a very serious handicap. DONOR SUPPORTFOR TEXTBOOKSIN AFRICA 121

Distribution and Retail

The distribution and retailing of books has by and large collapsed over large swaths of Africa. The many religious bookshops and small family-owned chains, such as Kingstons in Central and Southern Africa, which were the mainstay of book selling, have melted away or adapted to other business. There are, however, indications that this small-scale book trade is reviving, particularly in parts of Eastern and Central Africa. (There were even indications of this in Sierra Leone before the recent mili- tary coup.) Because education sales tend to be the backbone of the retail book trade in Africa, the collapse of textbook sales has eroded the base on which other elements of the book trade, especially reference, professional, children's books, and the consumer market in general, rested. Booksellers in rich countries prosper on high turnover. The turnover in most of Africa tends to be low or very seasonal. This depresses the market and pushes prices up, depressing the market even further. Retail book selling is reviving in countries and locations where parents with access to disposable income are prepared to invest in their children's education. Few African publishers are currently equipped to take advantage of the revenue opportunities offered by this market trend because of skill, technology, and capital shortages.

The Changing Consumer of Educational Products In Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, to name but three countries, we are seeing a very large and rapidly increasing market in private education. There has been little or no survey research into this phenomenon, either for its educational significance or a more broadly political and socioeconomic one. As the state education system in Africa implodes, there is a parallel mushrooming of private educational provision at all levels, from nursery school to university. There are estimated to be 5,000 private schools in the Lagos area alone, a very considerable market for any publisher. At the bottom end of this sector many private institutions provide a quality of teaching no better than that of the state- funded sector, but at least they offer it consistently. (Teachers turn up for class regularly because their salaries are guaranteed as long as they do so.) Parents who can afford to pay for private teaching will also buy textbooks. Their purchase decisions will have an effect in the marketplace. Such parents will not accept the often inadequate standard of the textbooks produced for the corrupted state system. If local industry cannot lift its standards to meet the demand for quality products of this more sophisticated buyer, such consumers will purchase a foreign product. This is occurring now, and it is a trend that will increase, thereby reversing at least 30 years of received wisdom that what Africa needs and wants is a locally relevant and locally produced textbook. Given the choice, which they will be increasingly, African countries, like any other countries, will want the best quality they can afford for their children. Publishing is a global industry par excellence. Since the first handwritten manuscripts, it has always been a trade that bought and sold knowledge and intellectual 122 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS property without regard to borders or languages. Without access to foreign inputs of expertise, technology, authors, publishing, and marketing skills and capital, domestic publishers in Africa risk losing out again on an evolving market opportunity. The declining market represented by the state inevitably will dwindle further. Donor interventions are sporadic and have often done more to erode quality in the system than to enhance it. Donors must identify mechanismsfor linking their interventions to the opportunity offered by this burgeoning private market-to lift textbook standards, enhance domestic publishers' positioning in the new markets, and assist in the revival of retail book selling in Africa. The reality is that the survivalof publishing and book sellingin Africa-of its generating both income and working capital for expansion, and of its achieving sustainability outside periodic infusions of donor funding-depends on sales to the private customer, not the state. Cross-Border Book Trade: The East African Experience

James Tumusiime

Cross-borderbook trade is quitecommon in the worldand in Africain particular.The intensityof this trade,however, varies from regionto region.Unlike trade in many otherconsumer items, special conditions are neededfor cross-bordertrade in booksto take place,such as a sharedlanguage and a sharedcurriculum. In the East African region,however, this tradehas beendiminishing, largely because of divergenttenden- ciesin both the developmentof the schoolcurriculum and schoolbookprocurement policiesin eachcountry.

ross-borderbook trade is quite commonin the world and in Africain particular. The intensity of this trade, however,varies from region to region. Unliketrade in manyother consumeritems, special conditions are neededfor cross-borderbook trade to take place. * A common languageshared across borders encouragesbook trade, because bookspublished in that sharedlanguage will be understoodby peopleon both sides of the border.In EastAfrica, Swahili is such a language,and in spite of minor variances,Swahili books from Kenya are read in Tanzania,and to some extentin Uganda.The importanceof languagein cross-borderbook trade is even greaterin the caseof the officiallanguage blocs, mainly English, French, Portuguese,Spanish, Arabic, and others. Extensivetrade in books exists betweendifferent countries that sharea commonofficial language, especially if the languageis the languageof instructionin schoolsor is used in religious or culturalceremonies. The legacyof the coloniallanguage blocs has, in the case of books, outlivedthe postindependencepolicies of most countriesthat are attemptingto create trading books. It is still not possibleto sell books from Kenyaor Ugandato the DemocraticRepublic of Congo. * Countries that share a common educationalcurriculum offer extensive opportunitiesfor cross-bordertrade in books.The countriesof EastAfrica- Kenya, Tanzania,and Uganda-enjoyed extensivebook trade during the 1950s, 1960s,and early 1970s,when they shareda curriculumand an exam-

James Tumusiime is vice chairman of the African Publishers' Network (APNET). He represents Fountain Publishers, Uganda. 123 124 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

ination authority. This trade was drastically reduced when Tanzania emphasized Swahili as the language of instruction in its schools and when Kenya opted for the 8:4:4 type of education (that is, eight years of primary and lower-secondary, four years of secondary, and four years of tertiary). * Good communication infrastructure enhances book trade even where there is a shared language and similarity in curriculum. A good road or rail transport system between countries is crucial for moving bulky stocks of books from one country to another. This is particularly evident in East Africa, where the existing cross-border trade is largely between Kenya and Uganda, which have a good road system, while trade with Tanzania suffers because of the distance from Dar-es-Salaam to Nairobi or Kampala. Some trade does exist, however, between Nairobi and the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha. (Although air transport is quite often used, freight charges are on the high side, and this cost makes books rather expensive and inaccessible to ordinary readers.) Besides the road and rail infrastructure, trade moves smoothly only if it is backed by other communication channels like an efficient postat network, faxes and telephones, e-mail, and the Internet. These are essential channels to allow buyers and sellers of books to keep in touch. Unfortunately these facilities are still in short supply in Africa. * Trade barriers in many countries hamper book trade. Although most countries are signatories to the Florence Agreement, some of them still impose tariffs on books and have elaborate importation procedures in place. These procedures discourage would-be book traders. Many of these procedures are politically motivated and are put in place to protect local publishing and printing industries, although the trend now is to liberalize. * Foreign exchange regulations exist in a number of countries where Central Bank permission is still required to remit foreign currency to a supplier in another country. Where restrictions of this nature exist, trade is hampered by the failure to remit funds in time. This delay often leads to losses for either the supplier or the importer, when the currencies are unstable. This situation is quite common in Africa and has tended to discourage cross-border trade. * Trading practices of individual countries affect a good portion of the trade in books that is carried out between borders. Existence of a bookshop network is a key factor in facilitating book trade. Whereas in Kenya there are a reasonable number of bookshops, in Tanzania and Uganda the number is low. Curriculum- specific methods of book procurement, especially for school books, discour- ages book imports. Publishers tend to promote their books only in their primary markets, that is, their countries, rarely moving outside to seek new markets. Many publishers also tend to insist on cash purchases, which most bookshops cannot afford. Too high interest rates on borrowed funds do not allow heavy investment in book trade-whether in local or imported books. To some extent the conditions enumerated may be favorable enough in some regions to allow sizable trade in books across borders. In the East African region, however, this trade has been diminishing largely because of divergent tendencies in CROSS-BORDERBOOK TRADE: THE EASTAFRICAN ExPERIENCE 125 developing the school curriculum of each country, and as a result the schoolbook procurement policies in the individual countries have almost ruled out cross-border trade. Coupled with the dismantling of the East African Examination Council, the policy differences have over the past two decades seen a diminished flow of books across borders, especially from Kenya to Tanzania and Uganda. Most books selected by government are curriculum-specific, and the titles are favored by bookshops. The result is that book stockers and importers leave out noncommercial books. Such conditions will have to be addressed before cross-border trade in books can increase. Does Cross-Border Book Trade Work? The Case of Mexico

Carlos Noriega

In Mexico, apart from the government, 478 institutions publish books. Presently, government production accounts for 70 percent of the total, while in Spain only 17 percent of book production is carried out by state entities. Private Mexican publishers are not against the social or political strategy of free textbooks, but against its incompatibility with the market structure and its harmful effect on the publishing industry's performance. It is well known that the huge bureaucratic apparatus pushes upward the production cost per copy of free textbooks, which makes the product much more expensive than what it would be if produced by private publishers. However, the Mexican government is reluctant to abandon the idea of a single, free textbook, written and produced by an official body, because it has long been the means to convey the government's desired message to the population, as well as to record national history. If books are produced according to a new pedagogical approach, which presents not only facts and data but also the means to teach how to learn, how to make judgments, and how to solve problems, the origin of the books or their authors is no longer crucial.

Mexico was founded by the Aztecs in 1325. Even in those early days, there were great differences in education. The Aztecs had two kinds of schools: the Calmecac for the upper classes, and the Tepuchcalli for the lower classes; and they knew very well the implication of this distinction. On the eve of the year 2000, things have not changed very much. Only 10 percent of the student population attends private schools, which in general offer better quality education than that offered by public schools. As of 1997 Mexico had a population of 94 million. Students in all categories total 27 million, and illiterate people account for 6 to 7 percent of the entire population. On average, a student attends school for a period of 6.2 years. The teachers union is the biggest union in the country, with 1.2 million members. Only 2.5 percent of these professionals have graduate degrees. Public education is a national priority that the government will not be able to fulfill by itself. It is a responsibility that demands Carlos Noriega represents LIMUSAPublishing Company, Mexico City, Mexico. 126 Does CROSS-BORDERBOOK TRADEWORK? THE CASE OF MEXICO 127 the commitment of civil society as well as government. Mexican publishers are eager to help in this task. When a country removes trade barriers, it faces competition with other countries in education, technology, and training. The challenge for developing countries is not only to eliminate illiteracy but also to create generations with higher educational standards and a better-trained work force. Mexico is experiencing the most important political change since the Revolution (1910-20). One of the crucial issues under consideration is decentralization of education (it was expected to have been completed by December 1997). The relevance of this policy is that each of the 32 federal states will be in control of its schools, teachers, and budget. The educational programs will still be centralized, but each state will be able to propose regional subjects. In 1959 President L6pez Mateos founded the Comisi6n de Libros de Texto Gratuito-CONALITEG (Free Textbook Commission)-to give free books to all children studying at the primary education level (grades 1 to 6) in Mexican schools. The commission's first director was Martin Luis Guzman, at the time partner in a publishing firm engaged in textbook production for primary education. President L6pez Mateos soon discovered that this measure was popular and it would bring him and his party (PR.I) much popular approval. In Mexico, 478 institutions, other than the government, publish books. At present, government production accounts for 70 percent of the total, while in Spain only 17 percent of book production is carried out by state entities. Private Mexican publishers are not against the social or political strategy of free textbooks, but they are against its incompatibility with the market structure and its harmful effect on the publishing industry's performance. It is well known that the huge bureaucratic apparatus pushes upward the production cost per copy of free textbooks, making the product much more expensive than it would be if produced by private publishers. However, the Mexican government is reluctant to abandon the idea of a single textbook, written and procluced by an official body, because it has long been the means of conveying the government's desired message to the population and it has been the record of national history. Many government entities are involved in book production. Even the PRD, a fairly new political party, is publishing textbooks. As a matter of fact, it would be easier to mention the instances in which government does not publish something. A1l local governments, ministries, houses of representatives, public universities, and so on have their publishing division. None of these "publishers" is subject to market forces or tax regulations, nor do they have to be mindful of the bottom line, which is why they can give away or sell their production under cost. The Mexican government is involved not only in textbook production but also in its distribution; in some instances, it even employs the arm for this. As a result, there are just a handful of distributors in the country, and in turn the whole country has only 480 bookstores for its 90 million people. In comparison, a city like Barcelona has 450. Paradoxically, textbooks are the product that drives the entire publishing industry in Mexico, because at least once a year people go to a bookstore. 128 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPAC[TY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Bookstores fall short of being a good business. A very important consequence of the free-textbook policy is that to the consumer's eye, the book is a commodity that should have no cost. Government-published products, which are produced with obsolete equipment and are of poor quality when compared with those of foreign publishers, have caused a 20-year lag in the publishing and printing industry. In 1997 the Free Textbook Commission gave 173 million books to primary and secondary education. This year they have begun to give free textbooks for the first level of the secondary school cycle to 360,000 students of the 1,016 poorest counties of the Mexican Republic. The book trade industry has lost a market of $500,000 a year to government publishers. If we agree that the free-textbook policy is a need in a developing country like Mexico, it would be more reasonableto consider that instead of producing textbooks at a cost above that of the market-through official entities-the government could provide publishers the official curricula and the opportunity to compete among themselves to offer the best product at the lowest cost. The government, in turn, would buy this product from private publishers to distribute it free of charge to schools. Apart from the free-textbook competition, Mexican publishers face strong competition from imports and an unfair fiscal policy. In fact, imported books are tariff- free, whereas raw materials-cellulose, for example-are subject to high import duties. This policy encourages book imports much to the detriment of national production. No wonder there are no bookstores. No wonder people don't read. No wonder there are no authors. In spite of everything, the dark outlook of this weak industry could be very different with adequate support, making the publishing industry the most important in Latin America. That is why we suggest that the World Bank implement a program to promote joint editions produced by government and private Mexican publishers, emphasizingtheir role as editors rather than printers.

Cross-BorderTrade Latin America is undergoing a process of change and modernization that affects the main aspects of people's lives. Economic activities and work processes are evolving toward higher production levels and more flexible forms of organization, which are essential to participate in an integrated and highly competitive world economy. The process of modernization must be consolidated in the immediate future, because it is a prerequisite for our countries to achieve stable prosperity, a fair distribution of wealth, more advanced democratic systems, social security, and community integration and tolerance. In order to reach these goals, we need a better-educated population. Toward this end, the efforts made by ministriesof education in Latin America, with the help of international institutions, to offer younger generations a better basic education and, consequently, better opportunities and equal rights have grown in the past few years. CARLOSNORIEGA 129

Regarding education, our countries have conducted extensive research to identify educational problems, determine priorities, and define strategies for their solution. Experts agree that the top priority is the renewal of the curricular content and teaching method to assure a continued effort toward a relevant, updated, and meaningful education. In general terms, the problem of education in Latin American countries is its backwardness with regard to social structure. Institutional and curricular traditions that were adequate in the past are no longer functional. The present challenge is to overcome this problem and achieve equal development. These aspects have been jointly analyzed by Latin American states. The consensus is that the primary objective in basic and secondary education is the development of general basic skills and of the knowledge necessary to enable students to integrate themselves into social and family lives, into the workforce, or into future opportunities for higher education. This perspective coincides with the new teaching trend in the whole world. In response, action has been taken to improve the educational process. The different strategies implemented combine regulatory measures, information, direct investment, and others. One of the main strategies is to incorporate educational resources such as didactic materials, libraries, educational software, and textbooks in the efforts to improve the education system. Why have Mexican companies been able to produce printed material for other Latin American countries' ministries of education? Because these countries, apart from having a national curriculum, have a clear and precise view of what they want in a textbook. For them, a textbook is not expected to be a faithful reflection of the study program, but a set of thematic subjects and materials that stimulate students to get involved in the area of interest, provide them with the tools necessary to develop basic skills in that area, reinforce the teaching efforts, and at the same time refer the student to diverse and complementary sources of information, suggesting new activities and providing different opportunities to strengthen the teaching process.

LIMUSA Publishing Company's Experience LIMUSA's editorial experience in the Latin American market has been rewarding and fulfilling. We have been able to share technological and pedagogical developments, knowledge, and opinions on how to focus on crucial school subjects and young people's instruction. Our company's concern is that our books reinforce crucial basic knowledge and skills including, for example, linguistic skills in the command of the Spanish language as demonstrated by reading and listening comprehension and proficiency in oral and written expression; skills for integrating the knowledge and techniques peculiar to a variety of subjects with their own problem-solving capabilities; and skills for searching out new information. We emphasize the practice and application of mathematics to approach and solve ordinary problems. In addition, we focus on scientific knowledge that fosters awareness of the need to protect our health, the environment, and natural resources. This 130 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Table 1. Book Production in Selected Latin American Countries, 1994 (percentageof totaJ, unlessotherwise indicated) Salesreturns from children Country Titlespublished Copiesprinted andjuvenile titlesa

Brazil 53 54 54 Mexico 17 20 20 Argentina 13 10 11 Colombia 10 9 8 Chile 7 7 7 All countries (total number) 72,348 459,000,000 2,127b

Note: The main categories of book production in the countries analyzed (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico) are didactic (textbooks), general, religious, scientific, technical, and professional books. In Mexico didactic material accounts for 55 percent of production. The private publishing industry generated 43,612 full-time positions in 1994, 15 percent of which were in Mexico. a. Children and juvenile titles do not include didactic material. b. Millions of U.S. dollars. Source:Author's data. approach has enabled national authors to produce books jointly with educational authorities of other countries. So far, we have published secondary school language books for Chile; basic education mathematics books for El Salvador; a variety of school subjects for bilingual education in Guatemala; social science textbooks for Nicaragua; and mathematics and Spanish language books for Venezuela. Additionally,many titles from our catalog have been selected to complement school libraries of other countries. Table 1 provides some numbers as an illustration. Experience has shown us that if books are produced according to this new pedagogical approach-that is, if they not only present a set of facts and data but also the foundations of how to learn, how to make judgments, and how to solve problems-it does not matter where the books or the authors come from. Procurement, Protectiion, and Copyright

Who's Afraid of Printing Textbooks in Romania?

Daniela Papadimna

Educational reform and a new textbook scheme are currently under way in Romania. The alternative textbook scheme is a component of a broaderWorld Bank project in which textbook publishing follows a bidding process. The bidding procedurein this case allows publishersto bid-a practice that leadsto completely unrealisticamature prices.

n a Romanian comedy written sometime ago, a politician addressed his audience in the following way: Romanian industry is remarkable, it is marvelous, but it is utterly missing. I hope one wouldn't have to say the same about the education system reform unfolding in Romania today.

Education Reform in Romania It is difficult to specify the precise moment when education reform started; perhaps, like any other important, long-term process, it began on December 22, 1989. For a couple of years there were attempts to change the outdated, communist teaching system. The main thrust of these attempts was to eliminate the distortions caused to Romanian education by the former totalitarian ideology. Nevertheless, the transfor- mations achieved in this period were not tailored to the long term, lacking structural depth and coordination. The main hindrance to such initiatives, taken at all levels, from primary schools up to universities and the Ministry of Education, was the absence of appropriate teaching legislation. The new education law, issued in 1995, has marked a starting point for the actual reform: it addresses management decentralization, financing, curricula, assessmentand examination, teaching staff training, and alternative textbooks intended to open a free pedagogical market. Most Romanianpoliticians agree that education should be treated as a national priority. Like health, education is one of the first items to receive less funding whenever the budget is reduced. Due to general conditions of poverty,foreign financial support was a crucial means for initiating education reform in Romania. The most significant

Daniela Papadima is program director, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, Romania. 133 134 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACrrY BUILDING AND TRENDS aid was the loan granted by the World Bank. Although the World Bank has financed an extensiveprogram, including most of the important points of the reform, only two of these, curricula and alternative textbooks, have been properly carried out. The other components of the World Bankprogram have been delayed or even blocked by the inefficientcooperation of the RomanianMinistry of Education.

The Alternative Textbooks Scheme The development of alternative textbooks, the process in which I am involved, has been the most successfuluntil now, despite all difficulties. Participants in this program are the Romanian Ministry of Education, the World Bank, and Romanian as well as foreign publishers. The program, started in 1994 and to be completed by 2000, aims at replacing old textbooks (one single textbook per subject) with new, alternative ones for all subjectsat all levels.The program consists of several phases: development and authorization of new curricula, development of textbooks according to new curricula, a bidding process according to the procedure established by the World Bank and the Romanian Ministry of Education, selection of authorized textbooks by a special commission,presentation and promotion of the authorized textbooks, and ordering of textbooks by teachers. The bidding schedule is supposed to make it possible for students of the next generation to receive alternative textbooks for the duration of their studies. The implementation of alternative textbooks commenced in 1995 when the first bidding took place. For each teaching subject three textbooks were authorized, four in some exceptional cases. To date, alternative textbooks for grades 1 to 5 have been published. The ones for sixth grade will be printed in 1998. One would expect the refusal of single textbooks to be an obvious reaction for a societystriving for a pluralist order, especiallyconsidering that alternative textbooks were the rule from the end of the nineteenth century until World War 11. Nevertheless, teachers were unexpectedly resistant to the very idea of changing teaching habits acquired during the past decades. I do not want to incriminate the teachers' attitude, though it did prove to be rather conservativein this respect. As a matter of fact, Romanian officialsthemselves did not seem convinced of the necessityof this project. The implementation of alternative textbooks was insufficiently prepared and caused a lot of confusion. The catchword "alternative" was interpreted by a large number of misinformed teachers and parents as a counterpart or as an auxiliary to the "official" textbook. There are still people who believe that alternative textbooks would engender chaos among teachers and students. Unfortunately, the implementation process had to cope not only with lack of interest but with excessiveinterest as well. Regional and central inspectors quickly discovered that the alternative textbooks might represent an unexpected source of additional income. One of the most controversial aspects of the bidding procedure is that officialsin the education system are free to become authors of new, competing textbooks. Accordingto Ministry of Education regulations inspectors should not WHO'S AFRAIDOF PRINTINGTEXTBOOKS IN ROMANIA? 135

influence teachers' options regarding textbook selection. However, it is difficult to avoid the pressure inspectors can bring to bear on their subordinates. Given our history, Romanian publishers involved in textbook production today have two options: either they employ the experiences gained in the field during communism, which may include bad business practices, or they start from scratch, that is, with no experience whatsoever. Humanitas Publishing House, which I represent, had no alternative but to take the second road. Special training sessions- organized by the Soros Foundation in collaboration with the U.K. International Book Development or the German Frankfurter Buchmesse-were remarkably useful in reducing this handicap. Still, editing good textbooks looks very much to private publishers in Romania like conquering the North Pole. It is fundamental for the ongoing reform to improve the quality of textbooks. Some elements might compromise this undertaking. The bidding procedure allows amature publishers to bid, which leads to completely unrealistic dumping prices and opens the possibility that these publishers might win contracts despite the poor quality of their products. A close examination of the price offers would certainly lead to the rejection of many competitors. Another embarrassing factor is the payment procedure. Payments calculated when the publisher signs the contract with the Ministry of Education do not correspond to the value of the amount paid out later in national currency, because of the instability in the exchange rate. For a textbook in civics education, for example, Humanitas lost 60 percent of the amount it was supposed to receive as per the contract. The worst news was a decision by the Ministry of Finance to compel competing publishers to calculate the bidding price in Romanian currency. For this to be feasible, one would have to be able to foresee the evolution of the inflation rate for more than one year, which neither a wizard nor a government expert can do. Unfortunately, the World Bank has accepted this decision. However, to borrow another famous saying, the show must go on. Textbook Procurementin Bolivia

Luis Henrique L6pez

Acquisition of books for school libraries and pedagogical resource centers is part of an educational reform program in Bolivia. The strategies adopted to encourage local authors and publishers to compete and to promote international competitive bidding in Bolivia offer useful lessons of experience. As a result of the two-strategy approach to procurement of books for libraries, the Bolivian book market is experiencing a very dynamic period. One international publisher of the Spanish-speaking world has opened a publishing house in Bolivia and is producing books for private schools in the local market. Two Argentinean publishing houses have opened representation agencies in Bolivia. Two international book fairs have taken place, and the number of bookstores in the country has increased.

In1995, Bolivia started implementing a general reform of both the institutional and the pedagogical aspects of the education system. Two key elements of this reform are decentralization and social participation in school management and the introduction of intercultural bilingual education. Bolivia has approximately 6.5 million people. It is a multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual country with 32 different languages. Of these, three are major ones - Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara; 60 percent of the population speaks a language other than Spanish, whether as monolingual or as bilingual speakers. The first endeavor within the overall reform plan was a national plan to promote the development of reading, including the organization of classroom and school libraries for 11,000 urban and rural schools and for 1,800 pedagogical resource centers aimed at training teachers and providing a place where teachers could go and exchange information with each other. Each classroom library within the Bolivian scheme contains 45 different titles of diverse genre of children's literature. Of the total number of books in each classroom, two-thirds are imported, and one-third is locally produced. Additionally, each school library contains 10 different titles of reference books, and each pedagogical resource center contains about 150 different titles to be used mainly by teachers, although parents and the community at large also have access to these pedagogical centers. Luis Henrique L6pez is principal adviser for an Andean Regional Training Program in Intercultural Education (PROEIB Andes, Cochabamba, Bolivia) of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation. 136 TEXTBOOKPROCUREMENT IN BOLIVIA 137

Procurement

To implementsuch libraryand resourcecenters, two differentbut parallelprocesses were set up: the procurementof booksavailable in the market,both nationallyand internationally,and that of bookswritten by Bolivianauthors. The firstprocess involved the acquisitionof nearly6.5 millionbooks through the followingprocedure. A year before the international competitivebidding was announcedin mid-1994,and while the reform program was in preparation,the Ministryof Educationteam establishedcontact with more than 100 publishing houses in the Spanish-speakingworld and offered ample informationabout the Bolivianeducation reform. My Boliviancolleagues and I consideredit necessaryto promote the reform to publishersof the Spanish-speakingworld for obviousrea- sons;moreover, we thoughtit wasgood for people to get to know aboutthe reform longbefore the internationalcompetitive bidding was announced.Many publishers visitedBolivia and got acquaintedwith the reformprocess, meeting with authorities and with reform specialistsworking on developmentof the nationalplan to promote readingin Bolivia.Members of the reformteam alsotraveled to international book fairs and promoted the educational reform. The program was finally approved by the World Bank, and the international bid- dingprocess was announced.As a result of the promotionalefforts of the education reformprogram, 120 publishinghouses from 16 differentcountries, including publishinghouses from Brazil,New Zealand,and the UnitedStates, submitted proposals. Approximately5,000 book sampleswere receivedand analyzedby a group of 50 readers who were all classroomteachers, had been previouslytrained by the Ministry of Educationteam, and had been given ample informationabout the reform goalsand strategies.They worked with a checklistof pedagogicalcriteria that the ministrytearn had previouslyprepared and validated.After a six-month period,798 of the 5,000 bookswere selected.These books were then submittedfor the next stageof the process-consultationwith schoolchildren,parents, and teachers in three regionsof the country.Book fairs were organizedto exhibitthe selected booksin three differentcities and rural areas of the country,where childrenhad an opportunityto examinethe books;observers had a checklistof criteriain mind as they moniteredthe processand then finallyselected the books. Of the 798 books, 730 were finallychosen by the reformteam. The 51 publishinghouses who owned these books were then invitedto the second stage of the bidding process,the pricingstage. After this stage,48 publishers were selectedwith a total of 370 titles, to be suppliedin amountsranging from 1,800 to 22,000 copiesof each title. About 10 percent of the 370 titleswere translations from Spanishoriginals into one of the three main indigenouslanguages. They were publishedin bilingualeditions, and the translationcosts were covered by the publishersthemselves. The total investmentfor this operationwas approximately US$11 million. Individualpublishers received payments ranging from US$25,000to US$1 million, depending on the number of books bought. The interesting aspect of this particular case was that the number of publishers 138 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS selected, 48, surpassed by far the number selected previously in Chile and Peru together. The procurement of books written by Bolivian authors was a parallel process. When the process was being planned, the Ministry of Education team wanted to ensure that locally produced books and books in indigenous languages would be included in each of the three types of libraries considered in the program. It was understood that unless a specific strategy was devised, few if any Bolivian books would be included in these collections. That motivated the splitting up of the procurement process into two parallel strategies. One was for books available in the market. A second special strategy (following World Bank rules and by-laws) was devised to make sure that Bolivian authors and publishing houses also had a chance to participate. National authors were invited to participate in a national literature contest. In keeping with the first part of the reform program, the national competition invited authors who represented the four major national languages. Works could be submitted in any of the four languages and could be either children's or reference books. Employing criteria similar to those in the earlier example, 750 titles were evaluated, the majority of which were manuscripts, and 123 titles were selected. The Ministry of Education paid for the exploitation of the copyrights of these titles on a one-time-only basis. The ministry was also responsible for editing each of the books, and approximately 2.5 million books written by Bolivian authors were printed through an international competitive bidding process.

Lessons Learned In spite of being a very small market, Bolivia has attracted the largest number of publishers of the past decade, exceeding the numbers in similar processes in countries with larger and more interesting markets, such as Chile and Peru. In Chile, for example, only 16 publishers competed in an international process that took place in 1993, while in Peru, 24 did, and in Bolivia, 48. Such differences were attributable to the novelty of Bolivia as an unexplored market, the promotion of the pedagogical objectives of the educational reform, and/or the special attention paid to each of the publishers, whether small or large. The separation of the strategies proved very useful for guaranteeing the presence of Bolivian authors, and particularly the presence of books in indigenous languages. If we had not split the process in two, or if we had not devised two strategies, we would not have been in a position to cater to small local publishers-who would have been unable to compete with international and transnational publishers because the World Bank's legal requirements were too high. The Bolivian book market is experiencing a very dynamic period. One international publisher of the Spanish-speaking world has opened a publishing house in Bolivia and is producing books for private schools in the local market. Two Argentinean publishing houses have also opened representation agencies in Bolivia. So far, two international book fairs have taken place, and the number of bookstores in the country has increased. Enhancing the Role of Local African Publishers inl Book Procurement Schemes

Chief Victor Nwankwo

The role of local African publishers in book procurement schemes needs to be enhanced. Conventional wisdom appreciates the importance of books in raising the quality of education. In response to this wisdom, the proportion of World Bank educational projects with textbook components relative to the overall educational projects has been on the increase, but the tendency has been to pay no attention to the participation of local publishing in the Bank's book procurement program in Africa. As a result there has been no discernible growth in local publishing capacity and therefore no impact on sustainability. The issues of cheaper and better books and competition need to be analyzed in the appropriate context. What is required is the will on the part of the World Bank to accept that local publishing has a central role to play in the success of its book procurement programs.

T he current world[widestatistics in education are alarming: 130 million of 6 to 11 year olds and 273 million of 12 to 17 year olds are out of school; 565 million ages 15 and up are illiterate, and 1 out of every 5 children drops out of school after four years--the figure for Africa is worse. National governments and multilateral organizations have responded in various ways to the challenge these statistics pose. The World Bank is the single largest external source of finance for education. Since 1963 it has lent US$23.2 billion for 560 projects in 112 countries. At the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, September 1995, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said: "We should aim to see every young child completing primary school, and an equal proportion of boys and girls going on to secondary school. If we could achieve these new goals by 2010, the effects would be nothing short of revolutionary." In response to the challenge the World Bank has increased the proportion of its lending to education from 4 to 10 percent in the past 10 years. It currently has 202 education projects under implementation in 88 countries, and its annual average lending is currently US$2 billion.

Chief Victor Nwankwo is managing director of Fourth Dimension PublishingCo. Ltd., Enugu, Nigeria, and the founding chairman of AfricanPublishers' Network (APNET). 139 140 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

SeveralAfrican countries with financialsupport from the WorldBank have launched educational development programs: the Free CompulsoryUniversal BasicEducation project in Ghana; the project for the revitalizationand developmentof basic education in Mali; the Project for the Developmentof Human Resources(PDRH2) in Senegal; and the Primary Education and Teaching DevelopmentProject (PETDP)in Uganda. The objectiveshave been more or less consistentwith increasingaccess to and quality of basiceducation deliveredin the respectivecountries. In terms of strategy,Ghana aims at making the first nine years of education for all children of school age free and compulsory.Senegal aims at increasingattendance from 58 percent (in 1992) to 65 percent (in 1998). Mali's strategy is more ambitiousstill: to root the school within Malian and African cultural valueswhile remaining open to universalculture. Conventional wisdom appreciates the importance of books in raising the quality of education-a view supported by studies, some sponsored by the World Bank, that have given high ratings to the effectiveness of improving textbook provision (Heyneman, Farrell, and Sepulveda-Stuardo 1978; Heyneman and Jamison 1984; Lockheed and Hanushek 1988). In response to this wisdom, the proportion of education projects with textbook components relative to education projects overall has been on the increase (from 33 percent in 1984 to 67 percent in 1992). Over this period of increased financeto book provision, the tendency has been to pay no attention to the participation of local publishingin the Bank's book procurement program in Africa. As a result there has been no discernible growth in the local publishing capacity and therefore no impact on sustainabilityof book provision schemes.

How Book Provision Works Each of the following key stakeholders plays a role in typical World Bank book provision projects. • The World Bank, as the lending body, has developed policy guidelinesfor its textbook projects that have determined the role (or lack of it) of local publishers in its projects. The Bank has the responsibilityof reviewing policy and procedures that do not achieve expected objectives. * The national governmentis not only the borrower but also the body controlling the national educational environment,which affectsthe successof the project. * The practitioners in the local book industry and the local publishers in particular, have a traditional coordinating role and the ultimate responsibility for the sustained satisfactionof local book needs. * International commercial participants in World Bank book procurement activities, mostly multinational publishers, are naturally purveyors of the doctrine of free trade and want to protect their own markets.

Issues Relating to Book Procurement in Africa Is the World Bank book procurement project in Africa a development issue or a simple book procurement matter? The question is crucial because unless it is answered, ENHANCING THE ROLE OF LOCALAFRICAN PUBLISHERS IN BOOK PROCUREMENTSCHEMES 141 we cannot confront meaningfully the issues that follow. In this regard, it is worth recalling that the International Development Association (IDA) was founded in 1960 to provide loans at preferential rates to poor, newly independent countries that did not meet the Bank's solvency criteria. The key features of these loans were low interest rate (0.5 percent), long-term maturity period (40 years), and generous moratorium (10 years). These features and the overall objective of poverty alleviation all argue for long-term, rather than immediate, development objectives. The Bank should revievv its current book procurement policy to address the long-term interest of building the foundations for a reliable supply of textbooks. Is book procurernent a capital or a recurrent expenditure? And if it is a recurrent expenditure, is the loan from which it is financed also going to be recurrent? If it is capital expenditure, it must be recognized that supplying a book is not the same thing as building a bridge. A bridge has a lifespan of one hundred years, while a book has a lifespan of just three years, or even less. The bridge can stand alone, but the book has to be an integral part of a process to make a meaningful contribution. If the objective of a book procurement lending scheme is to improve learning, implementation must be seen as a process rather than an event, and its success judged on the basis of the continuity of the entire integrated process. Is continuity assured only when local publishers produce books for a project? In other words, is it the exclusive responsibility of local publishers to supply a country's book needs? Continuity of satisfaction of a basic need (and access to books is a basic need) is assured when local production can dependably meet a certain proportion of this need. It is not its exclusive responsibility, but it is its ultimate responsibility, the book indLstry being a strategic one. The value of international competitive bidding is that competition always results not just in cheaper books but in better ones. This generally true statement has been used out of context with the effect of misleading the directors of World Bank policy matters. Before this statement can be applied to international competitive bidding, three elements need to be examined in context: the recipients of cheaper books and the duration of supply; the objectives and the context of better books; and fair competition.

Cheap books. As every financial manager knows, cost-effectiveness depends on several factors. A book purchase made on the basis of a one-off cost import is not a good bargain when we consider: the opportunity cost of jobs lost to the economy, since the book was not produced locally; the cost of discouraged innovative trading, which would have resulted from higher turnover and increased profitability; the cost of capacity not built; and the cost of lost spillover benefits, which in turn would have invigorated the textbook industry. As a result, these books are not "cheap."

Better books. Is there any such thing as the ideal book? There are tradeoffs. Compromises need to be made between physical quality and content and between technical competence and cultural rooting. Mali wants education rooted in the 142 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Malian culture. Which Paris-basedpublisher can, acting alone, ensure this? Reports reaching African Publishers' Network (APNET) indicate that in book procurement programs supported by World Bank lending, the ratio of books from local publishers to those from foreign-based publishers is 1 to 50. The books supplied by the foreign publishers had been developed as a transitional approach for use in all francophone countries. As the value of a democratic election lies in integrity, so does that of a competition. Competition among bidders in the same economic environment is one thing, but the international competitive bidding is a competition formulated for another context-not for the procurement of books. Domestic preference is supposed to level the playing field, but it has changed nothing. The issue here is of the debilitat- ing power of poverty. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway, said:

We know a lot about the effects of poverty, how it is linked to environmental decline, how it squanders human resources, how it undermines the developing potentials of countries. We know a great deal about the causes of poverty. In country after country we see the link between the low rates of school enrollment and poverty, between insufficient basic health services and poverty, between absence of credit opportunities and the presence of poverty, and between gender discrimination and poverty. (Oyen, Miller, and Samad 1996)

If the central idea is the alleviation of poverty, why should we perpetuate this cycle of poverty? In some African countries the poverty of the citizens has nothing to do with their productivity. It is the sense of impotence imposed by poverty that disturbs, worse still when it is artificial poverty. When the CFA franc was devalued by 100 percent, the value of the book stock held by every publisher in francophone Africa was halved instantaneously! Ten years ago the proceeds from the sale of 300 primary textbooks would have paid for my trip to this seminar. Now I need to sell 3,000 books at 5 times the price of 10 years ago to cart the naira, that is, to buy the dollars to come here. Yet the production of a similar book now requires the same expertise, rigor, time, warehousing space, and organization from my company. Poverty also devalues your worth as a professional. Given the time available, we do not have the local capacity to produce 1 million books in the next two weeks. We simply have to use foreign publishers. They have the capacity to meet the deadline. Nevertheless, a country whose industry is producing at 20 percent of installed capacity because of hard times cannot be said to lack capacity. In any case, why do we want to produce 2 million books in 2 weeks and then produce none for the next 200 weeks?

Time for Change The time has come to make a definite and definitive decision to put the local African publisher in the equation of book procurement for at least three reasons. ENHANCINGTHE ROLE OF LOCALAFRICAN PUBLISHERS IN BOOK PROCUREMENTSCHEMES 143

* Local publishers have a central role in setting a strong book production system to support sustainable book availability. * The potentials of the local book industry in the economic development of a developing country have not been recognized. * It is wrong to deflect the whole debate to a choice between equity and efficiency. But if that choice has to be made, I choose what will eventually sustain real (unquestionable) efficiency. The other choice will continue to perpetuate poverty in Africa and confirm the perverted thinking that poverty is inherent in the African society. In conclusion, what is required is the will on the part of the World Bank to make the decision that local publishing has a central role in the success of its book procurement programs.

References Heyneman, Stephen P, and Dean T. Jamison. 1984. "Textbooks in the Philippines: Evaluation of the Pedagogical Impact on a Nationwide Investment." Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 6(2). Heyneman, Stephen P, Manuel Sepulveda-Stuardo, and Joseph P Farrell. 1978. Textbooks and Achievement: What We Know. World Bank Staff Working Paper 298. Washington, D.C. Lockheed, Marlaine E., and Eric Hanushek. 1998. "Improving Educational Efficiency in Developing Countries: What Do We Know?" Compare 18(1): 21-38. Oyen, Else, S. M. Miller, and Syed Abdul Samad. 1996. Poverty: A Global Review: Handbook on International Poverty Research. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press. Wolfensohn, James D. 1995. Speech at the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, September. World Bank Procurement Guidelines for Textbooks

Sverrir Sigurdsson

Procurement as practiced under World Bank projects has led to varied conclusions about what is acceptable and where it leads. There have been different opinions on the subject and many suggestionsabout how the Bank's procurement rules, regulations, and processesshould be changedfor a variety of reasons.Some of the questions raised, the thinking that is in process, and some developments within the Bank are addressedhere.

T he Bank's general procurement rules pertaining to all sectors encompass the following: focus on economy and efficiency;equal opportunity to all members; encouragement to domestic industries; and transparency in the procurement process. Nowhere do the World Bank's rules stipulate that the cheapest price is what the institution is looking for. What is in fact stated is value for money. Over the years the Bank has determined that procurement is best obtained through international competitive bidding, but (I emphasize) there are a variety of other means by which procurement can be done. These have to be spelled out on a case-by-casebasis. International competitive bidding is not cast in stone! If it can be proven that another method is better, that method should govern the specific operation under scrutiny or consideration.

Procurement of Educational Books Turning to education, where procurement often poses special challenges, textbook procurement is probably one of the most complex issuesin the education sector.The Bank carried out a general review of educational books in 1985 (Serle 1985). Among the issuesemphasized were: inadequate financial feasibilityof textbooks; insufficient support for quality and distribution; and lack of institutional arrangements. The Bank's 1985 Operational Review report recommended that the long-term nature of textbook operations be recognized, the focus on institutional issues be

Sverrir Sigurdsson is a consultant with the World Bank as knowledge coordinator for the Project Design and Implementation thematic group in the Human Development Network, Education Sector (HDNED). 144 WORLD BANK PROCUREMENTGUIDELINES FOR TEXTBOOKS 145 increased, attention be given to financial sustainability, and the capacity of Bank staff to deal with textbook components be improved.

Past and Future Trends Implementation of the recommendations of the 1985 report remain uneven. Some of the underlying problems are the shortage of qualified staff-a persistent problem which is likely to continue-and the less-than-perfect implementation of guidelines for textbook procurement. In 1992 Jim Socknat and I spearheaded an attempt to provide some general guidelines of dos and don'ts to staff working on procurement of textbooks. As a result, in 1994 general guidelines for the procurement of textbooks were issued on a trial basis (World Bank 1994a, b). I would argue that the intent was good, but the implementation less so. There are, however, hopeful signs for the future. The attendance at this seminar underscores the recognition of the issue. World Bank Vice President for External Affairs Mark Mallock Brown reiterated that the Bank views the book sector as an important segment of its operations. Referring to the guidelines, the Bank's Board of Directors has approved a set of new lending instruments. I have been a long-term critic of some of the ways in which we at the Bank operate, and over the years I have tried to make my points. I was extraordinarily pleased to see the contents of the new lending instruments, which I hope go a long way to come to grips with some of the issues we have been discussing at this forum, such as the long-term nature of our operations. The new lending instruments encompass client orientation and capacity building, participatory elements (used in a rather broad sense), evaluation and course correction, and replication of successful pilot programs. The idea behind the new lending instruments is that the Bank and governments, hopefully in collaboration with other partners, could look at a long-term horizon of 10 to 15 years. Within this period we could have very short-term, experimental or pilot projects as trials and evaluate them; if they work, replicate them more widely on a countrywide basis.

References Searle, Barbara. 1985. "General Operational Review of Textbooks." Education and Training Series Discussion Paper. World Bank, Washington, D.C. World Bank. 1994a. "Procurement Technical Note (PTN) 4.4.1: The Procurement of Textbooks." Washington, D.C. -. 1994b. Standard Bidding Documents for Procurement of Textbooks. Trial Edition. Washington, D.C. The Roles of Protective Procurement Policies and Financial Subsidies

Marc Moingeon

From a private publisher's perspective, both national protection and free trade have advantages and disadvantages. Burkina Faso, C6te d'Ivoire, and Romania are discussed as country examples. The absence of sufficient encouragement for joint ventures is regrettable. However, if joint ventures between a government and a foreign publisher are not supported by terms favorable to both parties, such joint ventures will lead to asymmetric benefits and long-term problems.

Can the rules of international trade be applied to industries with a cultural purpose? To avoid overgeneralization I focus on the textbook situation, and examine the pros and cons of the two systems-national protection and free trade-when taken to their extreme.

National Protection Where will an all-out protection policy of the publishing industry lead? On the positive side it will create self-reliance and mastery of procurement and will achieve long-term objectives. On the negative side it can cause price increases and low quality of textbooks. Self-reliance translates into getting exactly the products desired, those that correspond to the curriculum (for example, the textbooks for primary schools in C6te d'Ivoire). By mastering procurement I can target my priorities according to my financial possibilities and set up a consistent textbook policy in terms of prices and standards (for example, the devaluation of the CFA franc in C6te d'lvoire and the low subsidized prices in Russia and the former communist countries before 1990). I can create in time and space a protective "bubble" that allows me to offer employment, attract investors, acquire expertise, and eventually become strong enough to export my products. In other words, it allows me to develop a real publishing industry as a long-term objective. However, following an all-out protection policy entails important risks. Lack of competition can encourage suppliers to be lax about prices guided by their own Marc Moingeon is in charge of internationaloperations for francophone areas for Hachette Livre, France, Education Division. 146 THE ROLES OF PROTECTIVEPROCUREMENT POLICIES AND FINANCIALSUBSIDIES 147 printers, designers,and others. Also, if I work in a linguistic area larger than my own country, I risk increasing costs through "balkanization" of curricula and books and thereby miss out on economies of scale from outside suppliers. Lack of competition can also cause laziness and inertia among publishers, their authors, artists, designers, and all along the book chain. This is what occurred in Algeria where, with much courage and energy, self-sufficienttextbook publishing was achieved after independence only to become quite fossilizedtoday.

Free Trade System The advantages and disadvantages of free trade as opposed to national protection are also issues to be debated. A free trade system offers the best prices and quality but hinders the grovvthof a local publishing industry, may overemphasize prices to the detriment of quality, and produces textbooks inadequate to the country's needs. On the one hand, best prices are the most obvious advantage of free trade. If my books are acquired through international bids, I will profit from low prices and will therefore be able to increase the quantity of books I provide and make the most efficient use of my resources. In addition, accessto international image databaseswith competitive rates can also reduce costs. Free trade also gives me accessto the most professional players in the market and to the highest level of expertise. I can choose to shop in my own region or linguistic area or around the world to find the best offer. For example, Kenya, and especially Uganda, have no barriers regarding textbooks. They can produce wherever publishers find the best prices; and the new system set up in Romania allows teachers to choose among better-produced books. On the other hand, free trade hinders the growth of a local publishing industry: in Canada, Quebec has helped its publishing industry grow in large part thanks to protective legislation. Burkina Faso, with 10 million inhabitants, has not been able to develop its own publishing industry largely because of international bids lacking protective clauses. The quality of books can suffer from too much attention to the bottom line. It can be tempting to accept printers' offers without taking into account the editing of books, as has recently been the case in Burkina Faso. Textbooks inappropriate for the country concerned may also be chosen because of the price factor alone.

Recommendations An essential step for every country is to answer the question: Are we committed to developing a publishingindustry? If, for example, Burkina Faso has other priorities, it is its prerogative not to want to develop a local publishing industry. Not every country needs to have a national publishing industry. Publishing and printing should always be considered as separate activities. A country may be prepared to create a publishing industry but not be interested in developing printing facilities. On the contrary, a country committed to developing its printing capacity (such as Cote d'Ivoire) will also wish to create an autonomous 148 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS publishing industry. Transitory protection regulations may be desirable before and during the early phase of the development of a book industry (as in C6te d'lvoire). Sectoral regulation can be targeted to some specific segments of publishing: protection of primary school textbooks can be introduced simultaneously to open competition for secondary school or university textbooks. International publishing projects should be encouraged because they allow a middle-of-the-road solution in which national industry can grow through cooperation and support from experienced international publishers. It is regrettable that joint ventures are not given sufficient encouragement. Take, for example, the Textbook Project in Romania, in which international publishers are invited to bid and are assured payment in hard currency.In the case of a joint venture between a Romanian and a foreign publisher, however, the Romanian government will not reimburse the foreign partner his share in hard currency.Joint ventures between a government and a foreign publisher must be supported by terms of contract favorable to both parties, or these ventures will lead to asymmetricbenefits and long-term problems. Supporting National Publishers: Macmillan's Experience

Ian Johnstone

As a multinational company, Macmillan plays a significantrole in sharingexperiences across bordersand helps develop regionalmaterials, complementing the work of networks such as the African Publishers' Network (APNET). Macmillan represents a broad network of local publishers operatingin numerous countries in Africa,Asia, and Latin America. The only true sense in which Macmillan is a company is as a collection of partnerships. A more central approach would threaten Macmillan's local capacity to produce relevant, accurate materials. Macmillan is able to respond to three requisites of the publishing arena: a strong and committed local presence, the development of local authorship, and the provision of educational materials to fulfill the needs of students and teachersin terms of both quantity and quality.

s special projects manager for Macmillan Education, I am responsible for A bringing together our local companies, in terms of information sharing and A Xcommunication, who because of their autonomy often are not able to share information in the day-to-day running of their companies. So I make sure that we are learning from each other's experiences and sharing our developments in the African market.

Key Prerequisites The issues of support for national publishers or free international trade are not mutually exclusive.If international trade refers to multinational publishing companies such as Macmillan, Hachette, and others, I would like to disagree with this sur- mise and show why there is no reason the two cannot be understood and treated in a similar light with a view to strengthening indigenous publishing. I use as the foundation of my argument the three points Brigid O'Connor has made about the key requirements for effective publishing in the educational field, which are also points brought up by Chief Victor Nwankwo: a strong and committed local presence- which can be interpreted in many ways; the development of local authorship; and

Ian Johnstone is special projects manager for Macmillan Education, United Kingdom. 149 150 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS the provision of educational materials that fulfill the needs of students and teachers in terms of both quantity and quality. This last point is perhaps the most important. All three issues are centered around localization. Educational publishing requires an intimate understanding of and relationship with the nation in which the books are to be used. We all know this, and yet a number of so-called multinationals, one of which being Macmillan, are deemed to be detached from the local scene, an uneasy guest in the circle of national publishers. This view is perhaps understandable when companies like Macmillan are seen as sprawling transnationals applying uniform rules. However, our very success in the field of educational publishing with the three key prerequisites in mind demonstrates how far from this mold and how much closer to the model of a local publisher we are.

Macmillan's Approach Macmillan does indeed represent a broad network of local publishers operating in numerous countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The only true sense in which we are a company is as a collection of partnerships. A more central approach would threaten our local capacity to produce relevant and accurate materials. So, more concretely, why do I see these companies as national publishers? The first issue is our local commitment to the company presence, which is man- ifested in several ways: * The employment of fully local staff: Macmillan's permanent staff in Africa, for instance, are 100 percent local. * A far-reaching training program in all the skills necessary to create a local company-editorial, production, sales and marketing, management, and finance. This condition is dictated by the recruitment of purely local staff and their need for training to enhance their performance and allowing them to operate within an authentic commercial environment Many staff members trained by multinational companies go on to set up their own indigenous publishing firms, some of which are represented in this seminar. * Large financial commitments to the running of the local company, both in terms of the infrastructure and the textbooks themselves. This brings up another key point: financial risk. We are all aware of the tremendous financial risks involved in publishing ventures, in which students' and teachers' books for a primary course cost around US$100,000 to develop and print. Clearly the risk is very high if a wide variety of innovative books are to be produced for ventures that may not even prove to be fruitful. In the case of the publishing partnership that I have described, the risk can be more easily absorbed by the company's international partner. It is normal for any profits resulting from these investments to remain in the country and to be reinvested in the local company. * Commitment toward a lasting presence in the country. Macmillan, Longman, and other multinational publishers represented in this seminar have maintained a consistent presence in most African countries even when there has SUPPORTINGNATIONAI PUBLISHERS:MACMILLAN's EXPERIENCE 151

been little or no activity. This safeguarding of accumulated local experience is vital to the establishment of a sustainable and responsive indigenous publishing industry. Furthermore, it is only by establishing a consistent presence that inroads can be made toward an effective book trade and that a comprehensive list of locally relevant materials can be developed. Macmillan's commitment fulfills the first prerequisite. Developing local authorship is clearly vital if the materials are to be relevant and cul- turally sensitive. This is ensured by the involvement and training of authors in every project. For example, in Sierra Leone, where our operation is at present very small, there are 30 local authors. As it should be for publishing companies like ours, we maintain contracts with local authors to ensure the consistency and relevance of the list. This begins to address the third requirement. The provision of educational materials to fulfill the local needs of students and teachers in terms of both quantity and quality is partially achieved by good local authorship, but equally important is continual contact with the end users themselves-students and teachers. Our companies invest in extensive research before and after textbooks are developed through activities such as teacher seminars, workshops, surveys, and school presentations. Finally, of course, partnerships in buying and production ensure value for money with which more books can be purchased. So in these ways, the so-called multinational companies truly exist as local publishers. The only way they are linked to Macmillan, U.K., is in the sense of a partnership by which finance, central expertise, and production assistance are made available to reduce costs and, ultimately, the price of books. Of course, there is one other way in which they are linked: that is to operate in collaboration with the publishers' networks such as the African Publishers' Network (APNET). Macmillan plays a significant role in sharing experiences across borders and helps develop regional materials; these activities, I would suggest, complement the work of APNET. For these reasons I feel that we should not spend too much time on the issue of what constitutes a national publisher and what does not constitute a national publisher, and that we should focus further on the fundamental goals of supporting local writers and making available to students and teachers the best and most appropriate learning materials. Having taken this time to give an overview of Macmillan's role, I cannot establish these arguments without inviting one of our local companies to speak because we very much operate on that autonomous local level, and David Muita is on the panel to give his thoughts and views on this subject. Supporting National Publishers: Macmillan Kenya Publishers

David Muita

It is often believed that multinational companies operate against the emergence of a local publishing industry. But this is not the casefor Macmillan Kenya Publishers, a multinational company that is managed, staffed, and financed by Kenyan nationals.

M~acmillan does not consider itself as an outsider in Kenya because, since Macmillan commenced publishing for Kenya in the early 1950s, the company has always had a national outlook. We did have expatriates up to the mid-1970s, but for the past 14 years, ever since I became managing director, I can assure you that we have had no expatriates in the Kenya office. We have a fully trained staffing of 20 at this time. Some who have worked with us have left and ven- tured to establish their own enterprises, which are running very efficiently.I am per- sonally thankful that I have the opportunity to work with Macmillan. It has provided me with the knowledge of the business that I now possess. I started off as a school teacher and knew nothing at all about publishing, and today I consider myself an international trader.

Macmillan Kenya Publishers: A Brief Description In Kenya we are free to publish what we feel is appropriate for the country without interference from our London office or our recent owners in Germany. In the 14 years in which I have been at the helm of the Kenya office, never once have we repa- triated dividends to the United Kingdom or anywhere else. Profits earned in Kenya are retained by plowing them into new projects, and part of the profits are actually shared by the staff in the form of a bonus scheme that makes the staff even more productive. We run our own in-house training courses and we also provide in-service training to teachers by using the same funds. We do our own marketing programs, and we carry out our own market research. Where we think the market is too small

David Muita is managing director of Macmillan Kenya Publishers, Nairobi, and chairman of the Kenya Publishers' Association. 152 SUPPORTINGNATIONAL PUBLISHERS: MACMILLAN KENYA PUBLISHERS 153 for the local company to justify publications, we pass on the information to our principals in the United Kingdom,and we hope that they will take up the challenge and possibly publish for the market. Here we are thinking more in terms of the tertiary market. For the primary market, we do most of the publishing ourselves. We have a rich supply of orders in Kenya, and the Kenyan publishers cannot claim that they face a shortage of orders. Indeed, from time to time we have to turn down manuscripts that are brought to us. I consider Macmillan Kenya Publishers an international firm because within the region we have had a chance to trade with Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (despite the fact that there is a Macmillan presence there), and we are hopeful of trading with Tanzania.This has provided us with the exposure to deal with local counterparts, giving them a chance to shine. Macmillan has provided us with this opportunity. Under such conducive circumstances, we are working as a partner, and in many respects as a development agency because we bring the skills to the people. Once skills have been transferred to local people, the issue of sustaining the local market will be addressed more easily.Macmillan Kenya Publishers has done this effectivelyand we have gone a step further by helping our sister companies in the region, because we have been considered as a model for the region in Africa in which we operate. We have trained colleagues in Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia in simple bookkeeping and other publishingnorms, and we are proud to say that we seem to be making headway. The office in Uganda that we helped establish a few years ago is today a very active member of the Macmillan family. We are investing in Tanzania to set up a proper office there since at present we have only an agency in operation. A local presence is best ensured if a full-fledged, fully equipped and trained staff are available. We hope to achieve our objective, particularly with the East African Cooperation taking root, and that Macmillan Kenya will be a major shareholder in the Tanzanian company.

Pricing Issues Two noteworthy issueshave been tackled in Kenya: subsidiesand voucher systems. Looking at subsidies, in Kenya we have at the moment a pilot project funded by the Dutch. The testing phase has come to a close, and we are awaiting the results of the evaluation. The pilot itself was put to test in three regions of the country. The pilot project was a centrally purchased book system with the district education officer. In this system, schools make a choice, and then the district education officer consoli- dates the orders and buys from the publishers. In the voucher system, money is made available to schools, and the schools buy what they feel is appropriate within the envelope of funds. When the process was put in place, we, as publishers, felt that the procedures were abused in one way or another. The process that was thought to be most appropriate was the purchase by a central entity that wins the tender within the region. This system works at the expense of long-establishedbooksellers who probably have a better knowledge of the area within which the books are to be supplied. As suppliers, we felt that the 154 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS company that was awarded the tender was colluding with ministry officials who were administering the scheme. The cash and voucher schemes, inasmuch as they were better options, were also abused because money to be released to schools to pay publishers was acituallywith- held. The bureaucracy in the government promoted such behavior. Besides, Macmillan Kenya supplied books in good faith and it took us close to a year before we were actually paid, at very low prices.

Lessons Learned More important is that books should become more affordable and thalt we do not create an impression to the end user along the way that the books are free products. The pilot project in Kenya brought to bear many lessons, and this was one of them. Henry Chakava will back me up when I say that this year book sales in Kenya brought publishers the lowest turnover ever. The reason behind this was that even politicians began to consider books free commodities. The attitude has become "why bother to buy when you can get it for free." A policy that specifies a cost-sharing strategy-or even a conditionality that stipulates that if a certain percentage is forthcoming from end users, the government will top up the remaining amount through subsidies-might encourage all parties to cooperate, collaborate, and participate. Some Aspects of Copyright Issues

Ian Taylor

Copyright issues are especially important for small, indigenous publishing houses. International companieshave other markets to supply, but for indigenouscompanies their home country is their main, and perhaps their only, market. Copyright is a crucial incentive for the existence of publishers and authors alike; in a copyright environment monopolized by the government, there is little incentive for publishers and authors to thrive. Aspects of copyrightare crucial in higher education becauseof the threat of mass photocopying, which could effectively lead to the demise of publishing endeavors.

Copyright is sometimes seen as a rather complex legal matter. However, excluding the copyright in digital databases-which is complex-much of copyright is very straightforward and, in fact, just common sense. So much so that much of what I have to say may seem to many of you as stating the obvious. The conflicting interests of the creator and user of literary work are evident in the article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that recognizesthe right of a creator of a literary or artistic work to benefit from the exploitation of that work, as well as the right of the user to reasonable access to information and scientific research. For publishers, copyright underpins their entire existence. Publishers can invest in developing new authors and new educational materials only if they are confident that their contract with the author gives them an exclusive right to the exploitation of that work, which will enable them to recover at least the investment, and hopefully more, if and when the author's product is successful.In many cases, of course, the product is not very successful.It is, therefore, all the more reasonable to say that publishers should enjoy the benefits of the few successesfor a number of years. In addition to that, not only is copyright a system of laws to protect rights but it also forms a complete trading system for the publishing industry and other industries that operate in the literary and other intellectual property rights field, for example, when publishers buy and sell translation or reprint rights.

Ian Taylor is director of the British Publishers' Association, London, United Kingdom. 155 156 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

However, there is no such thing as international copyright. There is no international copyright law, although virtually every country in the world recognizes the need to encourage, protect, and reward creativity by means of a national copyright law. The vast majority of countries have accepted the need to recognize foreign copyright, and have works of their indigenous authors protected in foreign countries by means of joining the Bern Convention. Governments, of course, do not do this out of altruism, but because they realize that unless authors and creative artists are provided with some commercial incentive they will not produce any worthwhile work, be it a primary school textbook or a novel.

Some SpecificAspects of Copyright Issues It is, of course, true that copyright works are also an important commodity in international trade. If a major producing country like the United States cannot export its copyright works to another country because there is no copyright law there, the U.S. Government is likely to take retaliatory action to open up a legitimate market. This recently happened in China as some of you may be aware, where a trade war was threatening to start as a result of what the United States reasonably considered the Chinese Government's reluctance to enforce copyright law. Copyright protection, however, is arguably even more crucial to the publishers and authors of a developing country than to their international counterparts. After all, companies that are operating internationally have other markets to supply, whereas for the indigenous companies their home country is their main, and perhaps their only market. Ten years ago, the Director General of Education in Indonesia, who is also a distinguished academic, told me that she had no objection to book piracy since it put textbooks into the hands of students at no cost to the government. Her government was at that time borrowing money from the World Bank to train and develop the country's publishing industry. She obviously saw no con- tradiction in seeking to build up the industry, while at the same time undermining its very means of livelihood. No doubt the government's understanding of copyright has improved immeasurably since then. But throughout the world, unfortunately, one hears enough stories to suggest that improvement has not been quite as fast as one might wish. There are still all too many instances of governments taking a totally unreasonable attitude to the copyright interests of their authors and publishers. Governments are forever trying to cut costs, and ministries of education are no exception to that. Ministries often see publishers as unnecessary middlemen between the author and the printer-that is, if they even recognize the author in the first place. Assuming they do appreciate authors, they do regard publishing as a step that increases the price and gets in the way between author and printer. This has particular bearing on copyright matters. Publishers might well bid for a contract to merely edit and prepare the manuscript for the printer, if they are invited to do so by government and if that is the only thing they are offered; they have no alternative. If, however, the ministry eventually acquires the copyright, it is a powerful disincentive for the publisher, and of SOME ASPECTSOF COPYRIGHTISSUES 157 course, for the author. We have heard a lot about local capacity building, not so much perhaps about the need to build author capability as well. How can publishers be expected to develop a stock of authors when ministries pay authors a fee for writing and retain the copyright for themselves? What develops authors is the prospect of earning royalties. When I am overseas, I am frequently asked whether the British Publishers' Association can provide any training scheme for authors. The answer to this is simple: the most effective training scheme for authors is a healthy prospect of earning royalties, and it is extraordinary how easily publishers can find good authors if the prospect of royalty is available to them. If royalties are not a prospect, and governments think that authoring can be better done by a work-for- hire committee, author potential is killed. In addition, quite frequently governments use another approach for donor- financed publishing projects: they invite publishers to develop their own product and submit it. If it is approved, then the ministry pays a one-off fee or possibly allows the publisher to enjoy royalty for perhaps a year or so before the copyright transfers to the ministry of education. This, for the very same reasons mentioned above, is a disincentive to local publishing. Furthermore, the quality of the product in such circumstanceswould be questionable if publishers are not given any long- term gain. From a commercial point of view, copyright is essential to reward publishers. It would be advisable for donors to be suspicious of any ministry claiming that local publishers are unreliable to provide the right types of materials. With regard to other areas besides copyrights, photocopying is an aspect that undermines publishing potential, especially for publishing projects at the level of higher education (a level that has not been covered much during this seminar). No donor would directly counter this argument. How far can donors and lenders go on protecting publishers? One example: by not supporting the purchase of equipment such as photocopying machines or perhaps through other less direct measures. If capacity building is considered to be important, then although it might be attractive to university administrators to provide anthologies of photocopied materials so that students can obtain the educational materials for a very low price, it is absolutely detrimental to the publishing industry since pricing is at the heart of any publishing program. It is clearly an infringement of the Bern Convention, which allows for a modest amount of photocopying, but specifies that it should not be to the extent that it interferes with the legitimate rights of the copyright holder. Donors could take note of this when they support higher education programs that do not provide enough textbooks to students. If there are a lot more students that textbooks, the students are going to have to get educational materials from somewhere, and when funds are inadequate, photocopying will play a big part. I conclude by saying that although local and international publishers may disagree on some issues,I think they are in absolute agreement where copyright issues are concerned since it is not in the interest of any publisher, no matter how small, to see copyright protection set aside in any way. Discussion on Procurement, Protection, and Copyright

Diana Newton: I would like to make a few points. The short term versus the long term-I find it very rewarding to see the slide that Sverrir Sigurdsson presented regarding the new lending instruments the World Bank is experimenting with. Therein lies the solution in my view. We need to be reminded that it is not just the World Bank and international competitive bidding practices that tend to focus on the short-term provision of textbooks to meet the needs of one school year. It is also the ministers of education in the country who say that they are the answer to curriculum reform, that they will provide textbooks for a school year. Building a local publishing industry, which I strongly believe is the only solution, takes time, and what are needed are creative solutions precisely to try and meet short-term needs while at the same time building long-term capacity. I believe fundamentally in cooperation between local and nonlocal publishers. I would like to remind people here that those countries that have the multinationals are precisely the ones that have long-standing and well-established publishing industries, that feel secure overall and, especially, in their cultural identity. As Moingeon accurately pointed out, those countries have implicit barriers. It is not easy for a French publisher to introduce a textbook into Britain or into the United States. And in the case of the European Union it will be interesting to see over the years if there will be an increase in cross-border trade for publishers producing textbooks. In saying that international competitive bidding will always bring increased quality, what kind of quality are we talking about? If we are talking about relevance to teacher needs and to culture, I beg to differ. One of the problems we must not forget is that teachers who receive these textbooks have, in many instances, not had training for many years and do not know how to use them. Another point: it is one thing for textbooks to look good in terms of quality, quite another for them to be useful. When it comes to local languages, it is obvious that the publisher-now I refer to Jung's presentation-that the locally based publisher has the solution. A last point or-question: How do you judge whether the relationship between the local and the nonlocal publisher is working?

158 DISCUSSIONON PROCUREMENT,PROTECTION, AND COPYRIGHT 159

James Tumusiime: Sustainability and the question of subsidy. We have been talking about market forces, free trade, economies of scale, freedom of choice... We are talking about the supply of books as though it were a business enterprise-which it is. But education is not a business enterprise, unfortunately. Many governments commit themselves to the provision of education because it is necessary to bring about economic development in their country. Therefore, are we not mixing two issues that are related but behave differently? Book production and book publishing is really not a charity proposition. It is a business enterprise, and as such it follows the appropriate rules. When we are talking about sustainability, are we talking about sustaining a social service or sustaining a business enterprise? When we are talking about the issue of subsidy-for example, Uganda has been receiving assistance from the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development-we have accepted it for what it is: a commitment to universal primary education, which will show results in terms of developing manpower 10 years down the road, but will not generate a profit. Whatever assistance we receive should be viewed as a redemption of the society of Uganda, which is not a profit-making venture. The only way Uganda will be able to provide affordable books sustainably is by strengthening its economy. I feel somewhat uncomfortable when we mix the issues of profit-making and sustainability where a service such as the provision of textbooks is concerned. How can we reconcile the two? That is perhaps the reason why there has been talk of monopoly. Providing free universal education is the monopoly of the government. Book production is part of that monopoly because it provides knowledge and skills. So, a country offers free education, and at the same time it offers textbooks, which is a purely commercial undertaking. I think we need to marry the two activities rather than separating them.

James Socknat: Let me respond. From the World Bank's point of view, it is particularly distressing to see how easy it is for governments to articulate a policy as an objective and not fulfill it. The declining rates of school enrollment in Africa from the 1980s onward cries for attention. Our effort is to collaborate with the governments and with all actors on the scene to find ways to sustain the process of education at an acceptable level of quality. We have no dispute with the objective you have articulated. We agree. I think the question is, how can we facilitate the supply of educational materials to education systems, even in difficult circumstances such as those in many countries in Africa, South Asia, and other places where universal primary enrollment may seem extremely difficult to attain?

Juan Prawda [South Asia Department, World Bank]: These are four questions related to the cash or voucher system to acquire books for our colleagues in Kenya. If I understand correctly, every school or every teacher in every school will get a voucher or cash to select books. My questions are: How do you know that teachers are making rational decisions? How do they get information? How do they access the books to examine them and make a rational decision about the best choice? Once the teachers have chosen the book(s), how do you ensure that the supply is 160 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS there? I can see how supply is available in the urban and semiurban areas. But how would teachers in an isolated community purchase the books? How do you relate the scheme to in-service teacher training, because once those books are there, how can you ensure that the variety of books is going to be effectivelyused by students and teachers?

A Representativefrom Kenya:To answer your first question... Once the publishers are informed about the need to show their products to teachers (which is costly, since they have to ensure that all corners of the country are covered),they hold joint exhibitions for teachers as often as possible. Teachers then have firsthand information about the books they are going to select. Teachers can assess the quality of the books, in terms both of aesthetic quality as well as the relevance of the content. At such fairs, occasionally,publishers are also provided with the opportunity of making presentations of the products they are exhibiting. Despite the fact that Kenya has an extremely concentrated population in certain regions, we do (fortunately) have access to isolated areas. We have a network of booksellersin the isolated areas, and our wish as publishers is to see that such networks are developedin greater numbers so that people in isolated areas can actually go to bookstores and buy the books they need. In-service training for teachers, I would say, is probably the business of the Ministry of Education. What we as publishers do is to supplement what the ministry does because we feel that the ministry is not doing enough and that teachers require more training. Therefore, after the ministry has completed initial training, the publishers step in to provide teachers with even more information about their role in improving the educational standards in our country, and teachers are also taught methods about how to choose a book. Donor agencies that come into the country, like the Dutch and the U.K. DFID, also engage in very elaborate programs to educate teachers about book selection. We are, therefore, sure that in the final analysis, teachers will choose the best books. As to whether the books are being correctly used, it is just common sense-if teachers have appropriate information and they are aware of their roles, the books will be utilized accordingly.

Michael Daniel [Oxford University Press, United Kingdom]: Several people have mentioned booksellers. I would like to mention an interesting variation on a recent tender where the interests of the booksellers were protected and the effects of procurement and a big ministry tender did not work against the interest of local trade. The particular example was in Tanzania. It was in 1996 and it was for a secondary- level textbook. The bidders had to bid for the publishing and the supply of the main textbook, but in addition they had to provide a marketing plan for the sale of an additional quantity that they would then sell in the open market. This seemed to be a good way of both supplying the needs of the Ministry of Education as well as fostering the development of the local book trade, which we as publishers know is absolutely central to the sustained development of the book industry in any country. DISCUSSIONON PROCUREMENT,PROTECTION, AND COPYRIGHT 161

Richard Crabbe: If Macmillan makes large financial commitments to its affiliates, since they are not branches, what is in it for Macmillan? Sounds like philanthropy, if there is no transfer back to Macmillan U.K. And if I as a local publisher were in a bidding process with my local Macmillan counterparts, and they could commit US$ 100,000 for a particular manual for which both of us were bidding, would that not constitute an unfair subsidy? In the process, how could the competition be fair if Macmillan U.K. is not the bidder but its counterpart in Ghana is?

Ian Johnstone: The statement that we do not repatriate funds is a surprise to many people. The key poinit to think about is that Macmillan is a large organization with several interests outside of publishing, and the way in which Macmillan would centrally capitalize on the presence of the local counterpart is as a distribution point for other materials (in small amounts, the sales revenue of which is plowed back into the company) that we produce as a central-producing body. This is the key issue. No publishing firm succeeds in African publishing unless it is prepared to make a serious financial commitment, and has the financial strength to face small return for long periods of time in order to establish the company and make sure that experience and authorship are maintained. That is one major reason why we do not repatriate funds from local publishing. The second point is that it is not unfair competition if Macmillan is making a huge financial commitment, because it is a huge commercial risk. It is a risk we all share. Macmillan does not have any objection to local companies receiving conces- sional loan assistance so that they can take part in the risk of publishing. It is not as if Macmillan U.K. is trying to elbow its way into the market with an unfair advantage. The nature of commerce and that of free market economies imply an element of risk, and whoever does have the finance most easily will be able to put the project in motion. But Macmillan U.K. does not want to see local publishers excluded from the market. Perhaps local publishers could take up the issue with the International Finance Corporation.

Daniela Papadima: How do you see the role of the publishing company as contributing to the objective of increasing literacy and learning in a society, beyond the narrow sphere of textbooks alone? With regard to textbook publishing and developing literate societies, the issue is not only about procuring textbooks and related aspects of how to organize the supply of such books. How would strategies for supplying books over the long term really be related to creating literate societies? It is only when you have literate societies that you have a demand for books. Unless there is a demand, there will be no interesting publishing sector. This relates to aspects of local languages and local cultures.... When publishers miss the vital local population speaking local languages, they miss potential customers for books in several regions in Africa. Educational publishing is linked with literate societies. Procurement policies of the World Bank should be linked to broader issues of how to develop literate societies, and how to create internal mechanisms for increasing the demand for the publication of educational materials. 162 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

David Muita: Catering only to the sphere of textbooks and not to the broader aspects of promoting literate societies would be an injustice to the publishing industry as a whole. In Kenya,for example, most publishers also attempt to publish recre- ational reading materials in Swahili and some in the various mother tongues alongside textbooks. Kenya has about 42 different tribes and only 4 are major ones in terms of numbers, while the others are much smaller.It is sometimesuneconom- ical to try and publish in the local languages. But because educational policies in rural areas require using the mother tongue as the language of instruction during the first three years of schooling, publishers have little option but to publish in as many local languages as possible to satisfy local demand. It would be appropriate for donors to target subsidiesto encompass both textbooks and other general reading materials (such as books for general reading in libraries).

Luis HenriqueL6pez: In Bolivia, alongside the textbook program, a school library program was set up to introduce the issue of a literate society, which is the responsibility of schools. This implies going through other means than strictly textbooks.

Marc Moingeon: If one looks at the history of the great European companies, almost all of them started as textbook publishing companies. They later diversified into other fields of publishing. They had a good reason to do so: textbook publishers would function only during a portion of the year and be idle the rest of the school year. So, for a publisher the first stage is to make profits in the textbook market-later the publisher can invest the profit into diversificationinto other fields of publishing. The Role of Pubishing Partnerships

Commercial Publishing Partnerships

Diana Newton

Long-termcommercial partnerships between domestic and foreignpublishers provide a soundmechanism for developing viable and diversifiedpublishing industries around the world.To encouragepolicymakers to designand implementprojects that facilitate the emergenceand growth of suchpartnerships, the characteristicsof sustainablepart- nershipsare identified,as wellas criteriafor theirsuccess and benefitsto be derived.

T~he term "commercialpartnership" is used here to signifygenuine and sus- tainablelong-term commercial relationships between one (or more) localand nonlocalpublishing house(s) for the purpose of undertakingmutually beneficial publishingactivities in response to clear commercialgoals that could not be attainedas effectivelyby only one party. Activitiesare likelyto includerights sales,translation, adaptation, copublishing, coproduction,and codistribution.They mayor may not involvecapital investment by the nonlocalpartner, and mayor maynot lead to a jointventure between the entities. For educationalpublishing, the most feasibleactivities are likely to be adaptations and copublishingin its true sense, that is, the joint conceptionof new material. Althoughthe exports from, for example,Europe to Africaare substantial, book professionalswill often point out that educationalbooks travel poorly. A textbook should strive to be a local response to the local curriculumand educational objectives,reflective of the local socioculturalenvironment, and written by local authors. The terms "localand nonlocalpublishers" are used to designate,respectively, the developingcountry publisher and the foreignpublisher, in preferenceover the terms Southernand Northernpublishers. (The use of the termslocal and nonlocalis advo- cated by Chief VictorNwankwo, Fourth DimensionPublishing Co. Ltd., Nigeria.) Althougha number of recentwritings refer to South-Northpartnerships, reference to cardinalpoints is not alwayshelpful. At a conferencein Tunisia,a Tunisianpub- lisher objectedto being termed a "Southernpublisher" and insisted"we in Tunisia are the North of the South."In additionto the South-Northaxis, the East-Westaxis Diana Newton is codirector of Newton Smith International Ltd., a private sector company based in Ottawa, Canada. 165 166 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS needs to be mentioned, as well as the South-South one. Finally, relationships can also be structured along triangular (South-North-North) or other lines.

Characteristics of Genuine and Sustainable Partnerships It is important to identify the characteristics of genuine and sustainable commercial partnerships, because the international book business with some notable exceptions has generally been marked by exploitative and one-sided relationships between local and nonlocal publishers. At their best, these relations have given some benefits to the local publisher; and at worst, they have prevented local publishers from emerging and thereby have prevented the development of sustainable publishing capacities. The terms "partnership" and "partner" have been greatly misused to describe (valid) commercial arrangements such as licensing, agency, or representation, or merely "token participation," "horse-rider," and "bo^te a lettres" situations. Genuine and sustainable commercial partnerships, or as one African publisher (Paul Brickhill)puts it, "partnerships in substance not just name," are characterized by an understanding of the meaning of partnership. According to Ron Hughes, a Canadian Human Resources Development specialist, "effective partnerships are based on mutual understanding and sharing of values, a high degree of trust, rigor- ous challenge of critical ideas and jointly creative solutions to tasks and problems" (Hughes 1992). Other essential components of such partnerships are: • Shared costs and shared benefits • A clear position on copyright management * A clear contribution from each party, which may differ significantlyin nature and scope but is viewed as equally valuable • A two-way relationship, including a two-way flow of content (that is, contents originally developed by the local as well as by the nonlocal publishers are used) • The transfer of know-how and technology to the local partner * A contribution to building publishing capacity in the country where the local partner is based.

Criteria for the Success of Publishing Partnerships Despite the lack of longstanding partnerships from which to draw experience, the following.criteria have been suggested by book publishers in developing countries and other professionals (see Bgoya 1995; Brickhill 1995; Chakava 1995; Katjavivi 1995; Konate 1995; Montagnes 1990; and Nwankwo 1996). Successfulpartner- ships need to be a step-by-step process; the publishing houses as well as the partners should be a good match; both houses must be willing to make significant human, financial, and technical investments within a long-term framework and allow the relationship to evolve over time as the contributions of each entity change; the selected publishing activities must be commercially sound; profitability should be COMMERCIAL PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIPS 167

expected in the medium or long term; and sufficient financial resources need to be available for the initial phases. As Chief Victor Nwankwo points out: "...a partnership between two commercial organizations must: make business sense for both parties, over a reasonable time frame." He adds that "a relationship that makes no businesssense in the short term, may make a great deal of business sense in the medium or long term" (Nwankwo 1996).

Benefits from GetnuineCommercial Partnerships For the local publisher, genuine partnerships should bring access to new markets (other than the home market), state-of-the-art technology,know-how (for example, how to bid on international calls for tender), and capital; to capacity building (for example,increased output, improved distribution, enhanced understandingof quality control, more effectiveaccounting, and so on); and to reduced risks. For the nonlocal publisher genuine partnerships should bring accessto the fastest growing markets in the world; to knowledge and know-how regarding the local market, sociocultural requirements, dealings with the Ministry of Education, and so on; and to reduced r isks.

Why and How to Encourage Commercial Partnerships What is the rationale for encouraging genuine commercial publishing skills? The development of sustainable publishing skills is one of the main keys to the sustainability of the whole book chain. A viable educational publishing sector can only exist if the entire publishing industry functions sustainably,which requires the development of a publishing capacity.It is argued that printing (or pressing CD-ROMs), that is, manufacturing, can be acquired outside the country (after a thorough cost-benefit analysis)without jeopardizing sustainability. Publishing is best learned hands-on, that is, working on a concrete project. Increasing numbers of full-time, part-time, distance education, and short-term intensive courses in publishing are offered. They can all be useful, especiallyfor specific technical skills, but publishers are likely to emphasize that practical experience in a publishing house remains the most useful option. The concept of private sector publishers working together is a constructivealternative to the kind of publishingprojects that have been implemrientedin the past and were designed, although with the best of intentions, by nonpublishers. Publishingis an entrepreneurial and high-risk activity based on a set of universal principles. When two or more publishers are brought together, they quickly talk the same language,regardless of their current businessloca- tion, in terms of print runs and list prices, unit costs and discounts, marketing to schools, and dealingwith Ministry of Education officialsand curriculumchange. "Viabilityis the determining factor in copublishing and therein lies its advantage, as a form of investment in African publishing,over donor grants. The risk shared by two parties is self-regulating.Entrepreneurial skillsgrow. Successis measured finan- 168 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS cially. Responsibility and innovation are rewarded" (Brickhill 1995). Effective partnerships can have a jump-start effect on the industry. How can we facilitate the emergence of genuine and sustainable publishing partnerships? Following are possible avenues. * Help underwrite part of the risks involved, to limit risks to a level acceptable for the high-risk business that publishing is. * Allow for sufficient time before expecting (quantifiable) results. * Help publishers meet each other. * Organize book fairs, which are the traditional meeting place for the industry. Frankfurt, however, is not necessarily the best venue because not all publishers have the resources to go there. * Use the Internet as a cost-effective forum, once a first face-to-face meeting has taken place. * Promote industry exchanges. * Encourage meetings not just between the CEOs involved but also between the hands-on book professionals. * Fund a pilot project and training. * Assist the partners in accessing financing for larger projects. * Tie donor aid to the existence of a partnership. * Encourage and facilitate joint responses to international calls for tender, which calls for creative thinking regarding the practices for international competitive bidding.

References

Bgoya, Walter. 1995. "Framework for Establishing Equitable and Mutually Beneficial Joint Ventures in Publishing in Africa." Unpublished paper. Appendix to paper prepared for the Bellagio Network Round Table Discussion, November. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Brickhill, Paul. 1995. "Some Ideas Related to South-North Co-publications." Unpublished paper. Prepared for the Bellagio Network Round Table Discussion, November. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Chakava, Henry. 1995. "Publishing Partnerships between Africa and the North: A Dream or a Possibility?" Unpublished paper. Presented at the 47th Frankfurt Book Fair, October 11, Frankfurt, Germany. Hughes, Ron. 1992. Sustainable Human Resources Development: Working Document. Ottawa: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Katiavivi, Jane. 1995. "New Namibia Books and Heinemann: A Case Study of North-South Co-publishing." Unpublished paper prepared for the Bellagio Network Round Table Discussion, November. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Konate, Hamidou. 1995. "La co-edition en Afrique francophone: cas du Mali." Unpublished paper prepared for the Bellagio Network Round Table Discussion, November. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Montagnes, Ian. 1990. "North/South Interdependence: The Part That Book Publishing Plays." Logos 1(4): 6-13. Nwankwo, Victor. 1996. "Publishing Partnership between Africa and the North: A Dream or a Possibility?" Africa Publishing Review (MaylJune): 6. A Publishing Partnership between Canada and the Caribbean

Ian Randle

Irwin Publishing (Canada) and Ian Randle Publishers (IRS, a wholly owned Jamaican publisher) have been working for the past 12 months to develop a publishing partnership based in the Caribbean. In its initial stages the Irwin-IRP partnership was facilitated by the International Publishing Partnership (IPP), based in Canada. IPP's long-term goal was to contribute to the development of sustainable publishing capacities in developing countries by fostering appropriate commercial partnerships between developing countries and Canadian publishers. The context within which this publishing partnership was set up and the progress made to date are examined.

etween the mid-1960s and the end of the 1980s,three British educationalpublishers attempted to establish publishing houses in the English-speaking Caribbean. The first attempt was by William Collins and Sons (when it was still a vibrant British firm), which joined forces with Jamaican bookseller Ferdie Sangster to establish Collins-Sangster. Then came the ubiquitous Macmillan, which forged an alliance with the Jamaica Teachers Association to establish Jamaica Publishing House. Finally, during the mid-1970s, Heinemann established Heinemann Caribbean in Jamaica. In each of these cases, a leading British educational publisher from an industrial country allied itself with local interests ostensibly to publish textbooks locally and, by extension, develop a local publishing capacity. For Collins and Macmillan there were compelling reasons to expect a successful local venture. Collins sought as its local partner the dominant player in the bookselling business in Jamaica at the time, arguably the largest bookseller in the Caribbean. Macmillan on the other hand chose the highly organized and powerful teachers union at a time when calls for more local content in the curricula at all levels were increasing. Heinemann could not claim such powerful and influential business partners. Instead it relied on the liberal/Fabian Socialist sympathies of its top directors to find favor with the Democratic Socialist regime in Jamaica, which was dominant in the 1970s. These attempts all ended in failure, leaving behind a few supplementary texts and no publishing infrastructure or capacity. It is not possible in this paper to provide a Ian Randle is managingdirector of Ian Randle Publishers,Kingston, Jamaica, which publishes academic and generaltrade books. 169 170 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS detailed analysis of the factors that contributed to their failure, but a few obvious ones are worth noting: * The local companies were conceived and operated as branches of the U.K. companies. Multinational publishing decisions were made in the United Kingdom and all editorial and production work was done there. The local partners invested little or no money, had no publishing skills to offer, and were in effect mere pariahs in an unequal relationship. * The U.K. companiesdid little to mask their real intention, which was to legit- imize the continued dominance of their U.K.-published texts and, if absolutely necessary, make cosmetic changes to meet the requirements of local curricula. * While some local authors were recruited, they were always teamed with a U.K. lead author, and were commissioned to produce texts published not under the imprint of the local company but under the U.K. parent company's imprint. In those cases where the local company published any materials, they tended to be very localized, with no potential for use in other markets in the region. At the same time, the parent company continued to publish competing texts for both the local and regional markets. Small wonder that by 1990 all those operations had effectivelydisappeared, leaving a yawning gap in the local publishing scene. This has resulted in two particularly undesirable features of the Caribbean textbook industry: the continued domination of the region's textbook market by British publishers operating exclusivelyfrom the United Kingdom and the increasing tendency of governments, bolstered by the support of the international donor and lending agencies, to become themselves publishers of core educational materials at the elementary and secondary levels.

The Irwin-Ian Randle Publishers' Partnership The context described is the one in which Irwin Publishing(Canada) and Ian Randle Publishers (IRP,a wholly owned Jamaican publisher) have been working for the past 12 months to develop a publishing partnership based in the Caribbean. In its initial stages the Irwin-IRP partnership was facilitated by the International Publishing Partnership (IPP), based in Canada. IPP's long-term goal was to contribute to the development of sustainable publishing capacities in developing countries by fostering appropriate commercial partnerships between developing countries and Canadian publishers. The Canadian and Jamaican partners hold the view that in order to build sustainable development in the publishing industry in the Caribbean, the center of operations for all creative aspects of publishingshould be based in the region. At any given time there are education projects funded by either the World Bank, the Inter- American Development Bank, or other international lending agencies. These projects usually include a textbook component, and a local publishing company with ties to these countries should be the beneficiary of some of these projects. A PUBLISHINGPARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CANADA AND THE CARIBBEAN 171

The emerging partnership between Irwin and IRP displays a number of unique features that makes it different from the previous attempts. * The industrial country partner is Canadian-not British, French, or even American. I am certain this is the first time an industrial country publisher who is not British is attempting a corporate relationship in the Caribbean. * The industrial country publisher is not a multinational and does not have any existing business in the target market. The partnership with IRP must therefore create completely original products (as distinct from adaptations) to justify its existence. * Most important, the local partner is a publisher who brings to the partnership knowledge of the local market, experience in local textbook publishing, and publishing skills within his existing organization. * Both partners equally share the risks and the benefits under an arrangement that requires actual investment of money for both operational purposes and financing agreed publishing projects. They both therefore have an interest in making the partnership work. * The initiative for new projects comes from the local partner and is developed by the local publishing staff. * A requirement of the partnership is that neither partner will on its own develop or invest in any textbook project without first offering it to the partnership. To date the partnership has produced one major textbook based on the sharing of skills and equal financial investment, and three other textbook projects are already in various stages of development. My experiences as a key player in Heinemann Caribbean's operations in the 1970s and 1980s and in an abortive collaborative effort with another U.K. textbook publisher in the 1990s have paid off well in the Irwin-IRP partnership. We take the view that we can bring to any such partnership assets that are equal in value to any that industrial country partners place on the table. Our view is that whatever the sins of these publishers have been in the past (and they are manifold), it is not fair to tar them all with the same brush. Nor is it realistic for local publishers, who are often undercapitalized, short on skills, and unable to meet the requirements for international bidding on projects, to write off the potential benefits of having a partner from an industrial country.

Lessons Learned The issue of eligibility under international bidding competition procedures is a con- tentious one that is closely linked to the potential for these partnerships. Developing country publishers are rightly incensed at the international bidding rules, which make it virtually impossible for them to successfully bid on textbook projects even in their own countries, much less in other developing countries. At the same time, we need to acknowledge the fact that the bulk of the funding for these projects is provided by contributions to the international funding agencies by industrial coun- 172 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS tries of the North. It is only fair, their publishers argue, that they should have a share in the business generated in the developing countries. Both sides obviously have a case, and one answer to the problem is for publishers in industrial countries to enter into alliances with publishers in developing countries, to put in joint bids for specific projects. This is a form of partnership that could bring immediate benefits to both parties without forcing them into a permanent long-term relationship. While the primary aim of the Irwin-IRP partnership must be the development and production of curriculum-related textbooks for the local and regional markets, our vision extends to markets beyond the Caribbean region. There is no golden rule that says the textbook needs of South Africa or a liberated Republic of Congo must be provided by publishers from industrial countries. However, a successful industrial-developing country partnership that has developed a track record for textbook publishing in one developing country market ought to be able to position itself to bid competitively on projects in other developing country markets. A Publishing Partnership between the United Kingdom and Namibia

Robert Sulley

Publishing partnerships can exist between sister companies. Heinemann engages in similar types of partnershipswith companiesthat are not part of a largegroup. Such is the nature of the relationshipbetween Heinemann Educational Publishers(United Kingdom) and New Namibia Books (Namibia).

Bdefinition, partnerships consist of more than one person and I regret that Jane Katjaviviis not here today to give her side of the story. However, she has passed on her thoughts and ideas for me to share with you. Heinemann and New Namibia Books started the partnership in 1990, immediately after Namibia gained its independence. Before then, Heinemann did not do any business in Namibia at all. Jane had just returned to Namibia from the United Kingdom and the United States, and she was looking to set up a publishingcompany in Namibia. That was her objective. She had no capital and no resources,so she was very interested in working with a collaborator to get something started. We decided to put together a copublishing agreement in as simple a form as possible. It is often easy under the circumstancesto get bogged down with detail, and of course details are important. But our guiding principle all along has been to try and keep the partnership simple, and this has served us very well. As all of us are aware, it is difficult to deal with bureaucracies,in moving books across borders, remitting payments, and so on. The Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership has worked well, but this does not imply that a similar type of partnership would work elsewhere. I hope that our experience will offer some lessons of experience to those with similar interest in other countries. Ours, however, is not the only way or necessarily the best way of forging a partnership. I will also be honest about some of the problems we have encountered.

Some Details of the Partnership Since Heinemann and New Namibia Books started the partnership, we have produced two large core textbook courses-one in junior secondary science and one in Robert Sulley is coordinator for publishing policy in the International Division of Heinemann Educational Publishers,United Kingdom. 173 174 EDECATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS primary science. All of the books in the two courses, including the teacher's guides, have been copublications. The easiest way of describing how the partnership has worked is to go back to the checklist Diana Newton provided in her presentation at the start of this session. Her idea of partnerships is one with which I largely agree, and it would be useful to look at our partnership in light of her criteria. * I would interpret the first criterion-an understanding of the meaning of partnership-a little differently, that is, as a matter of trust. Our experience is that no matter how good your partnership looks on paper, if there isn't an absolute trust between the two partners, it will never work. Trust is a prerequisite before anything else happens. * Shared costs and shared benefits is a criterion that has to be discussed by both partners right at the very outset of any project. Our experience is that the input from each partner has changed over the last seven or eight years. New Namibia Books has become more developed and has more capacity. Jane Katjavivi did not have any resources in the beginning. In our first project, therefore, all she could do was to provide time and effort and take care of the logistics, research, and so on. Heinemann put in all of the financial resources and paid for the production process of the books. As time has gone by, the balance has shifted. As New Namibia Books has expanded, Jane has put in more in terms of the production process. All of the editorial work now is being initiated by New Namibia Books. We are increasingly looking at having the local partner do the typesetting. Financially, it works according to a sliding scale that depends on each partner's input. And this is another aspect, of course, on which the partners need to agree right at the outset. For every book or title, therefore, we have worked through the various aspects of sharing responsibilities and benefits, appropriately measured through previously agreed criteria. In keeping with our objective of simplicity in the partnership, Heinemann pays for the printing and physically produces the books, and then sells them back to New Namibia Books at a discount negotiated between us. The discount is very high and fluctuates according to how much input New Namibia Books actually provides for the project. The system enables Heinemann to recoup the cost of production, leaving a profit share governed by the level of discount as appropriate. This has worked extremely well for the Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership. * The third criterion, clear position on copyright management is very important. The Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership has, in my view, not done it necessarily in the best possible way. The authors are contracted to Heinemann, not to New Namibia Books. With regard to the standard author contracts, the authors retain the right to copyright, but Heinemann operates the copyright on behalf of the authors for the duration of the contract. This is fairly standard practice and means that Heinemann is responsible for negotiating subsidiary and other rights. But Heinemann has a clause in its agreement with New Namibia Books whereby we cannot make a decision on subsidiary rights without their agreement. Heinemann is therefore in charge A PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND NAMIBIA 175

of subsidiaryrights, but New Namibia Books can veto Heinemann's decision. Any subsidiaryrights income is shared between the partners. * The criterion of a clear contribution from each party is reflected in our sliding scale of inputs depending upon the availability of resources, and it is one of the contributing factors to the Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership. * With regard to a two-way relationship including a two-way flow of content, the actual commissioning and governance of content is decided by New Namibia Books. It is a similar situation to that Ian Randle mentioned in his partnership. New Namibia Books is the one with knowledge of and accessto local publishers, editors, and authors. Heinemann does not try to do this from elsewhere in the world. * The transfer of know-how and technology to the local partner has worked very well in the Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership. Heinemann has financed training courses in the United Kingdom for New Namibia Books personnel. For the past two years, two days a week, one of the publishers from New Namibia Books has been working in the United Kingdom with her Heinemann counterpart. This will prove to be very useful for New Namibia Books in the future. * Finally, the Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership has achieved the criterion of contribution to building publishing capacity in the country where the local partner is based. As mentioned earlier, Jane Katjavivi started her company without any resources. Today she has eight to nine qualified persons working with her, and she has an extensive publishing program of her own, including several literature titles, which she has been able to develop and publish from the profits out of New Namibia Books' textbook publishing venture. New Namibia Books has successfullydemonstrated the ability to cross-subsidizetitles. The partnership has gone a long way in assisting the local publisher to develop her own publishing program.

Lessons of Experience Diana Newton also mentions a list of benefits that could be derived from true commercial partnerships. The Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership has succeeded in most respects, but has not been able to provide access to new markets because the publishing done within the partnership has been very specific to Namibia-the materials are very much related to the Namibian curriculum. The partners have not made any attempts to transfer this across borders. As for the other benefits Diana lists, assuming that what Heinemann has is state-of-the-art technology-and that is debatable-New Namibia Books has certainly had access to that, as well as to know-how, in terms of the training Heinemann has provided to New Namibia Books staff, and to capital and capacity building. The partnership has certainly provided access for Heinemann to the Namibian market in a way that otherwise would not have been possible, as well as the oppor- 176 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS tunity to gain knowledge about the local market in Namibia. Risks have also been reduced for both partners. Nevertheless, our partnership has not been free of problems. Our problems have been in terms of the timing of repayments and of the clash of corporate cultures. The way the partnership has been set up, the smaller company is buying books from the larger partner. Obviously the smaller company cannot pay for the books until it has received payment from the Ministry of Education. We all know how long that can take. This creates problems, especially in a situation of volatile exchange rates. This is a problem the Heinemann-New Namibia Books partnership has not managed to resolve. Obviously there are solutions such as forward buying and so on. But in many countries (and Namibia is one of them), the minimum amount for forward purchases is prohibitive for small companies. This might be one of the areas that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) might want to consider. If we are genuinely interested in promoting free trade, then the problems that small companies in developing countries have to face, particularly in terms of accessing foreign exchange, would certainly deserve attention. As for the culture clash, Heinemann is part of a very large group, while New Namibia Books is a very small company. This difference can create problems, which gets us back to the trust and communication issues. Trust and good communication are really the main lessons we have learned. A Publishing Partnership between France and Francophone Africa

Hamidou Kona,te

The publishing partnership between Jamana Publishing House, Mali, and Fraternite Matin (FM), France, is another example of a relationship between industrial and developing country publishers. Organizations such as the World Bank, which stress the production of educational books, should support and encourage this kind of meaningful partnership. Support for joint ventures would not only lead to an increase in demand for educational books but would also encourage other channels of cooperative endeavors, such as the African Publishers' Network (APNET), to finance joint ventures.

Nhough predominantly considered a nonpublishing-oriented region, francophone Africa is nevertheless a large-scale consumer of books printed over- eas. In francophone Africa, which is characterized by low literacy levels, the market for books is dominated by outputs of French publishing companies (for example, 90 percent of educational books in Mali are printed by French publishing houses). In contrast to those in anglophone Africa, the publishing houses in francophone Africa are relatively young. Publishing partnerships between editors of industrial and developing countries do exist in francophone Africa-they exist either as partners sharing capital input or as new publishing houses sharing common responsibilities in all spheres of publishing. Publishing houses such as CEDA, NEI, and others in C6te d'Ivoire vary in their type of partnership arrangements between industrial country publishing companies and local publishers.

Publishing Partnerships in Mali The publishing house Jamana in Mali has more French than Canadian partners. The business relationship is particularly oriented toward managing projects on an equal responsibility basis for tasks such as editing, printing, and so on. For example, in a Jamana partnership with a French publishing house to print a novel, Jamana funds Hamidou Konate is director general of Jamana Publishing, Mali, and treasurer of the African Publishers' Network (APNET). 177 178 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS were used for producing the novel's textual content, printsetting, page layout, and graphics; Jamana's partner was responsible for editing and translation, matting, binding, and printing. An example of collaboration with a Canadian publisher is that between Fraternite Matin (FM) and Jamana. Meetings between Jamana and FM were facilitated and financed by the International Publishing Partnership (IPP) of Canada. The final agreement turned out to be in favor of both Jamana and FM: the editorial aspects of the projects were finalized with the understanding that both Jamana and FM would assume equal responsibility in producing the output. It was agreed that the cost and benefits of the publications would be shared on a 50-50 basis. Such a partnership has resulted in the production of two grammar books for classroom use. With regard to the future of this partnership, the outlook is optimistic. FM and Jamana are seeking to develop a formula for a durable partnership in which the two parties commit themselves to the appropriate size of business with related capital needs. The idea of creating a "company" on an equal partnership basis has been discussed. The proposal is to call the enterprise "Centre d'edition et de formation en Afrique" (CEFA)or "Center for Publishingand Trainingin Africa,"and base it in Mali.

Lessons Drawn from Partnerships and Some Recommendations Notwithstanding the advantages of publishingpartnerships, their negative aspects are often glaringly obvious if the formula for partnerships is not clearly laid out. For instance, the actual management of the partnership projects callsfor both the foreign and local publisher's names to be included in identifying the business relationship. The local publisher's name is vital in providing the foreign publisher access to the local market; but if the local publisher's role does not go beyond lending its name, this leads to asymmetric sharing of benefits, with 90 percent of the benefits in favor of the industrial country publisher.A partnership of this nature has little impact and does not help to develop the local publishing industry. It often leads to a short-lived and unsustainablepartnership from the local publisher's perspective.The underlying problem is the dearth of venture capital, which over time leads to excessivedepen- dence on external subsidiesand invitations for foreign direct investment. To better ensure the development of the publishing industry in Africa, more durable partnerships such as joint ventures should be created. Such efforts must be encouraged and sustained. Appropriate expertise of local and foreign publishers should be tapped. For example, local publishers have a good grasp of local market conditions and readers' tastes, whereas foreign publishers may possess more editorial expertise. Organizations such as the World Bank, which stress the production of educational books, should support and encourage meaningful partnerships between publishers from industrial and developing countries. Support of joint venture enterprises not only would lead to an increase in demand for educational books but also would encourage other channels of cooperative endeavors, such as the African Publishers' Network (APNET),to finance joint ventures. A PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN FRANCE AND FRANCOPHONE AFRICA 179

In fact, the creation of a fund within the structure of APNET would ease local dependence on foreign capital and provide support to consolidating local publishing capabilities. In the long term, such a fund could alleviate the capital burden of local publishers through cost recovery. The formation of associations such as APNET supports the important objective of working together to achieve a common goal. One of the principal objectives of APNET is to promote Africa's publishing capacity. APNET strongly encourages partnerships among developing country publishers themselves, as well as between developing and industrial country publishers. Many African countries stress the need to strengthen local publishing capacity and have encouraged local publishing industries in their respective countries to seriously consider publishing partnerships. For a long time publishing in francophone Africa was considered to be the state's prerogative. Today an explosion of private publishing endeavors has changed the traditional structure of book publishing. In addition, publishing in national languages is accorded great importance. From our perspective, partnerships between developing and industrial country publishers must be sustainable in the long run and be based primarily on confidence and mutual self-respect. The image that we have about partnerships between an African publisher and a foreign one is one of "a horse and a rider," in which the African publisher is rnerely there to provide access to the local market. The partnership should be considered a common purpose contract to which both parties contribute equally. Partnerships should provide for a cushion against risks and a platform for benefit sharing. They should also encourage distribution and circulation of African books outside Africa's borders to foreign markets. The experience of industrial country publishers should permit consolidation of local capacity toward the objective of making the African publishing market more profitable. The growing demand for books in local languages is an area where partnerships between industrial and developing country publishers could be strengthened. A Global Partnership Experience: EDICEF in Cameroon

Laurent Loric

The partnership between EDICEF (the Hachette Group) and Editions Cle of Yaounde in Cameroon is used to draw general conclusions about publishing partnerships between industrial and developing countries in terms of which aspects work and which are rendered difficult by the intrinsic nature of the publishing industry. Partnership is defined as an association among companies or institutions with a common goal. Notions of participation, sharing, solidarity, communication, information, and trust underlie this definition.

Apartnership formed between an organization with much experience and one L without cannot be conceived without a transfer of know-how. After a long A- xprocess, this transfer of "savoir-faire" should help the less experienced organization to reach autonomy, without which there can be no development. This is the first condition of a balanced economic partnership. In an educational publishing partnership between an industrial country publisher and a developing country that has not yet built up a cultural, social, or professional tradition in the publishing field, every link of the book chain must be taken into account. This type of partnership cannot be compared to the type of commercial and professional relations that usually exist between industrial country publishers and their developing country interlocutors in the South, or even to a commercial partnership between those same parties. The educational publishing partnership, based on achieving understanding at all levels through dialogue and trust is more effective and better at meeting needs. This type of partnership occurs at different levels: * Ministry of Education (or its divisions). At this level the partnership involves a dialogue about the direction of educational policy; the definition of a publishing policy meant to give support to educational policy; and the search for educational tools most suited to the different parameters of the educational system. * Local authors. At this level the publisher solves editorial problems that authors did not expect to confront when they began writing the book.

Laurent Loric is general manager of EDICEF, the French-language branch of Hachette Publishing Group that specializes in textbooks and learning materials for primary and secondary education levels. 180 A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP EXPERIENCE: EDICEF IN CAMEROON 181

Authors are trained in writing techniques specific to the school textbook and bring their knowledge of the subject and of the socioeducational and cultural environment. * Local publishers. The industrial country partner provides transfer of know- how; the local publisher contributes knowledge of the country and by being close at hand increases the effectiveness of the editorial work; the partners share risk, investment, and profit proportionally to their contribution. * Local printers. This partnership is more difficult because of the strictly economic relationship existing between the publisher and the printer, who is a manufacturer; issues include price, quality, delays, and trust in the accuracy of the announced print runs. It is, however, possible to agree to set print runs over several years, which will ensure a sufficient volume of turnover to allow investment in more competitive equipment. To maintain a low price, the developing country publisher can supply paper (which he can buy for half the price the local printer would have to pay). * Local distributors. Before the publication of a textbook, the distributor can participate in preliminary studies of the market; the publisher can bring know-how concerning techniques of promotion and commercialization, as well as concerning logistics and stock management. The current experience of EDICEF in Cameroon in the context of a primary education project is an example of this type of partnership.

The Situation in Cameroon Cameroon has opted for the system of textbook purchase by families. At the primary education level, the school population accounts for about 1.9 million students. French-speaking students represent 1.55 million, 1.16 million of whom are in public schools. Every year the Ministry of Education distributes a list of recommended titles to be used in public schools. In primary education the recommended books are all texts especially produced (for the French-speaking sections) by French publishers or in the framework of Franco-Cameroon copublishing projects. For several years, and in particular since the devaluation of the CFA franc, the ratio of textbooks to students has decreased significantly. In 1996 hardly 15 percent of French-speaking students in school had a French book (new or secondhand), and only 7 to 8 percent had a mathematics book. In 1995 the National Assembly on Education strongly criticized the weaknesses of the educational system and made recommendations for a new education policy. As a direct outcome of these recommendations, new programs with a more flexible approach and an accent on dynamic teaching methods are currently being applied. The publishing industry in Cameroon is essentially ineffective. Originally financed by aid donors, CEPER-the company that was supposed to manage the publishing, printing, and distribution of school textbooks-has never been able to adequately fulfill its different tasks. Its evolution into a teachers' mutual insurance 182 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPAcflY BUILDINGAND TRENDS

company, at the time of its recent privatization, is not likely to improve the situation. Apart from CEPER, a few small trade publishers exist-for example, Editions Cle of Yaounde, which has tried for several years to penetrate the schoolbook market. The distribution circuit, although still insufficient, is nonetheless quite significant. It includes a large wholesale distributor with 350 sales outlets, 80 percent of which are seasonal.

The EDICEF Project After analyzing the work and the recommendations of the National Assembly on Education of 1995 and reviewing the conclusions drawn from market surveys conducted in partnership with its local distributor, EDICEF began a dialogue with the Ministry of Education to define the broad outline of a publishing policy. It also sought to find a new concept for textbooks which would be adapted to the constraints of the educational system and correspond to the new policy orientations taking shape. The preliminary surveys had revealed that if few students possessed textbooks, most of them had notebooks in which to copy the coursework or do exercises. Depending on the education level or geographic zone, the average annual cost of these notebooks was CFAF 1,500 (US$1.65 to $2.50) for each of the basic subjects (French and mathematics) and CFAF 800 to CFAF 1,200 (US$1.35 to $2.00) for the sciences. The editorial concept for French and mathematics proposed by EDICEF to the Ministry of Education was based on a different distribution of curricular content between a scaled-down basic textbook and a workbook, which would replace most of the notebooks commonly used, with no additional cost to the families. Because the workbook would cover numerous aspects of the program, the basic textbook would contain only elements strictly necessary for the student. As a result, the new textbook would have half the number of pages of the previous texts and cost half as much as well (see table 1). This project had no chance of materializing unless the Ministry of Education would make the use of workbooks-to replace notebooks-compulsory. This is precisely what the Ministry of Education in Cameroon did, because the project corre- sponded to the new policy it wished to introduce, and this emanated directly from the partnership between the ministry and the publisher. The conception and production of the books (basic textbook and workbook) took place within the framework of a partnership with the Editions C1e, the sole local company with the basic capabilities necessary and the willingness to participate in a major schoolbook project. The copublishing contract between C1e and EDICEF defines with precision the tasks and investments that each must fulfill, which are the basis for an equal and responsible distribution of profits. This publishing partnership had positive consequences all around, mainly because it promoted national capabilities-a sense of responsibility and motivation in the participants in Cameroon. The sense of responsibility and motivation gave them confidence and created a competitive spirit that considerably increased the effectiveness of the conception, production, promotion, and distribution of the schoolbooks. A GLOBALPARTNERSHIP EXPERIENCE: EDICEF IN CAMEROON 183

Table1. Comparisonof SalesPrices of FrenchPrimary Schoolbooks, Cameroon (CFAfrancs) Former method New method Level Books Price Books Price Family savings

SIL (1st) Student book 2,850 Student book 1,200 NIotebook 1,200 Workbook 1,000 1,850 Total 4,050 Total 2,200 CP (2nd) Student book 2,850 Student book 1,350 Notebook 1,300 Workbook 1,000 1,800 Total 4,150 Total 2,350 CE1/CE2 (3rd/4th) Student book 3,000 Student book 1,500 Grammar 2,200 Workbook 1,000 3,600 Notebooks 1,400 Notebooks 500 Total 6,600 Total 3,000 CM1/CM2 Student book 3,000 Student book 1,800 (5th/6th) Grammar 3,000 Grammar 1,000 4,000 Notebooks 1,500 Notebooks 700 Total 7,500 Total 3,500

Source:EDICEF, Hachette Livre, France.

A team of 12 authors from Cameroon was created as soon as the technical specifications of the new concept were defined. The contribution of this team during the conception and writing of the manuscripts was invaluable. In fact, since the authors were chosen for their qualities as teachers and for their knowledge of the reality of the classroom, the textbooks are perfectly well adapted to the socioeducational context of Cameroon, and therefore represent a guarantee of effectiveness. The role of EDICEF was in furnishing data bank information and up-to-date pedagogical research as well as training in writing techniques unknown, in principle, to teachers. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to print books in Cameroon because the local printers cannot, at present, guarantee quality, respect deadlines, or provide reliable information concerning print runs. MESSAPRESSE, EDICEF's usual distributor who previously played a purely commercial role, became a full-fledged partner, totally invested in the success of the project. Aside from its involvement in the preliminary studies and surveys, MESSAPRESSE played an essential and dynamic role in the conception and carrying out of the adver- tising promotional campaigns, as well as in the logistic organization of a specific distribution system aimed at bringing the textbooks to families in the most isolated areas.

The Results

The first part of the project was carried out at the beginning of the 1996 school year, with the publication and commercialization of the French and mathematics workbooks. The Ministry of Education remained cautious and decided to focus first on workbooks, followed by basic textbooks in September 1997. Aside from the successful experience of partnership, which unquestionably had a major impact on the 184 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS successfuloutcome of the project, the implementation of the first phase (the workbooks) was extremely positive, given the difficulties linked to the first year of implementation and the initial absence of aid donors and institutional organizations. More than 1.1 million workbooks were bought in the bookstores, in equal pro- portions for French and mathematics. This corresponds to 48 percent usage by the French-speakingstudents of the public education system. We can legitimately suppose that this percentage of coverage increased at the beginning of the 1997 school year. It should have reached 65 to 70 percent of students. The French books, which were introduced in the classrooms in September 1997, should have reached 40 percent of the students. This level of coverage, in comparison with that previously recorded, can only lead to the improvement of teaching conditions and school performance. In addition, this project had an important economic impact. In 1996 the turnover of the distribution network was multi- plied by four, and EDICEF's distributor saw the creation of 50 new sales outlets in the same year. In the beginning this project was an exclusively private sector initiative without any institutional financial support. The results achieved in 1996 have aroused the interest of some aid donors who work together in Cameroon. For the 1997 school year, which began in September, the European Union will provide financing to equip all teaching personnel (teachers, inspectors, and teacher trainers) with the new series (student and teacher's books), as well as students from the most disadvantaged families. EDICEF believes that other forms of support will soon come, from French aid for teacher training or from the World Bank. A World Bank representative based in Yaounde, is following the evolution of this project very closely. In conclusion, an analysis of this experience can be a rich source of information concerning publishing partnerships with developing countries in the school textbooks sector. First, the partnership is an essential tool for development. It brings about economic growth in developing countries by favoring, in particular, the transfer of know-how, which should lead eventually to autonomy and local capacity building; the promotion of a sense of responsibility in local players; and the financial and technical consolidation of local companies directly involved as partners or benefiting from economic effects of the collaboration. The partnership, if it is not reduced to a simple technical and economic partnership between publishers from an industrial and a developing country, also contributes to the general development of education. If the partnership offers the opportunity for communication exchanges and responsible participation at all levels of the publishing chain (from the ministry responsible for the development of educational policy all the way to the distributor responsible for commercialization), it reinforces the effectiveness of that essential tool of development, that is, education. The partnership makes possible a better exploration of needs; permits the design of educational tools that take account of the specific weaknesses of the educational systems of developing countries; benefits from geographical proximity of the different participants and services, which permits rapid reactions and the possibility of making corrections as the project is being put together; and fosters solidarity between the different actors of the publishing A GLOBALPARTNERSHIP EXPERIENCE: EDICEF IN CAMEROON 185

chain and an openness in their relationships arising from a sense of belonging to the same project. Second, this type of partnership-to be a partnership in the true sense of the word and to be effective in the process-can only be constructed on the basis of a global project with the economic participants (publishers, printers, and distributors) coming from the private sector. Their financial, human, and logistical involvement and, generally speaking, their sense of responsibility require that they be guaranteed a long-term exploitation of the project. This guarantee of long-term exploitation is itself a guarantee of long-term provision. It would appear, then, that this type of partnership is not compatible with a form of international aid based on donations and on book supplies financed by the bidding process. Finally, it is clear that certain activities fall outside the framework of this type of partnership because the participants do not have the capacity, the financial possibility, or even the responsibility for executing them. These activities and their financing are the business of development institutions and aid donors. They should be involved in the implementation of such partnership projects, specifically in know- how transfer, which riequires specific training programs that are beyond the competence or financial ability of private companies; in facilitating access to credit for equipment for local companies, which will enable them to become more competitive; and in financing complementary endowments of schoolbooks for disadvantaged families. Local Publishing Industries in Foreign-Dominated Markets: From Embryo to Full Growth

Brian O'Donnell

Creatingand providinglearning resources for a nation'syouth is the foundationof a culturalindustry, and as such it shouldreceive all the protectionit needsto survive and prosper.The procurementdocuments of internationalfinancial institutions shouldbe rewrittento givepreference to localauthorship rather than to price;author- shipand developmentthat iscontracted out to localfirms, with copyrightprovisions. Strategicalliances between publishers (such as the African Publishers'Network- APNET)are crucial to developsound book policies. Influential people in the publishing industry should lobby governments to foster and support such alliances. The role of publishersassociations and relatedorganizations cannot be understatedwhen it comes to achievingthese goals.

I representthe other half of Irwin Partnership,an emergingpublishing company in Canada.The educationalmarketplace in a countrylike Canadais not dissimilar to that in manydeveloping countries, especially when it comesto the domination of foreignpublishers. I knowthat this maysound like a ludicrousstatement-a country like Canada,with a robust economy,a literate population,access to resources, and a good publishinginfrastructure does not have anythingin commonwith countries that face huge barriersin definingtheir educationalsystems, in trainingteach- ers, and in copingwith severelack of resources.But in Canadawe are dominatedby foreignpublishers in the elementaryand secondaryschool market. Less than 5 percent of publishingin the countryis producedby Canadian-ownedfirms. The rest is producedby firmsbased outside the country.What strategieshave we used and continue to use to exist in that kind of a marketplace? I am sure manyof the aspectsI am goingto talk about are self-evident,and many of you are already experiencingthem in your countries. But one of the main strengthswe have as educationalpublishers is that our industryis, and will continue to be, nationalisticand part of a cultural industry.We are currentlydebating in Canada as to what constitutesa culturalindustry as we are facedwith more globalization and more world trade organizations,whose opinion is that book publishing

Brian O'Donnell is director of Irwin Publishing, Canada. 186 LOCAL PUBLISHING INDUSTRIES IN FOREIGN-DOMINATED MARKETS 187

is not necessarily a cultural industry but an entertainment industry. We vigorously disagree. Creating and providing learning resources for the nation's young is the foundation of a cultural industry, and as such it should be afforded all the protection it needs to survive and prosper. And as countries mature and define themselves in their unique ways, so does the educational system to reflect those changed values and mores. Materials used by students in a particular country need to reflect that country's particular realities and experiences. And who can produce those materials better than local publishers? People who have mostly come out of that educational system, have grown up with the system. They can interpret the curriculum, and can develop materials that reflect local realities. But for this to happen, governments must understand the need for local authorship of materials; they need to be convinced that local industry is important and requires supportive policies ruling that the materials to be used in schools are authored by local writers. To achieve these goals, we need to have publishers, seminars like this, and lobbies (for example, in the form of strategic: alliances between publishers, such as the African Publishers' Network-APNET) to convince ministry of education personnel, local politicians, and all other people within the international financial institutions to develop those book policies of which Diana Newton spoke in her presentation. The role of publishers' associations and related organizations cannot be understated when it comes to achieving goals. The international financial institutions' procurement documents, which protect books, need to be rewritten to give preference to local authorship rather than to price; authorship and development that is contracted out to local firms, with provisions for copyright protection. When I say local authorship, I am not talking about printing but about authorship in the development of books, which is a building block of a publishing infrastructure. Without a favorable climate for fostering local authorship, a local publishing industry will not develop, and from what I have seen the climate in most developing countries does not necessarily encourage the development of local indusitry. So how do small and emerging publishers work within the system? In many ways. The small publishers have to work with the large foreign corporations that are in the system. We have heard a few presentations on publishing partnerships between local and foreign firms that do work, whether they are representation arrangements, agency arrangements, or partnerships-the example of New Namibia Books is a good one. None of this is going to happen overnight; it is a long, evolving process.

Irwin Publishing's Experience In Canada we are still in the process of establishing ourselves within that context. The Canadian economy consists basically of Canadian branches of foreign-owned companies. And we too have to continue to convince governments that, as small and independent companies, we need better access to capital. However, the issue of capital and resources and their impact in the Canadian environment is of course very 188 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS different from that in most developing countries. But the single biggest advantage that we as local publishers have is our immediacy; we know our governments, curricula, and the needs of students better than anyone else. In developing partnerships and allianceseither for distribution, adaptation of existing material, or development of new books, emerging publishers can use their knowledge to their advantage. Traditionally,distribution arrangements with foreign firms have helped fund local development. I would urge all local publisherswho have not yet done this to become involved in niche markets. In many cases the foreign-owned firms are only interested in much larger schemes or programs and will not get involved in many small and local projects. These are excellent training grounds for emerging publishers. Another strategy that can be employed is to work with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other similar organizations to help foster the idea of local development. As aid organizations and international financial institutions recognize the advantages of working with private enterprises-and we hear that more and more-and less with governments directly, the value of partnerships will only increase. As most people know, there are fewer and fewer bilateral programs from organizations such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)-I am not sure about SIDA, Sweden-but there are more programs that require governments to work with local firms. This is especially important in our industry, where developing learning materials has to involve the local community. The idea of partnerships and alliances has to be the cornerstone for all developing firms. These alliances can take many forms and need not be only with the larger firms-they can be directly with government agencies, with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), with collectives, and even with groups of smaller firms banding together to compete with bigger firms for larger projects. As today's agenda shows, partnerships between governments and private enterprises and alliances between private companies are just two ways to help develop a publishing infrastructure. These strategies all take time and effort. But seminars like this one will help address the issues that enhance or impede the development of a local publishing community. I hope this meeting will bring a greater understanding among those who are in a position to effect change. Fostering a Viable Local Publishing Industry: A Development Agency's View

Carew B. W. Treffgarne

It is up to agencies such as the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the World Bank to request the involvement of the private sector at an early stage in book development and distribution, which has not been the case in the past. More writing in national languages should be encouraged to help create a literate environment, which is essential to developing a local publishing industry. Workshops should be developed to develop country criteria for evaluating and selecting materials so that people who never had choice over educational materials gain an understanding of their new choices and clarify what is relevant to them.

ost of the proposals that I am about to share with you have emerged from last year's activities of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on Books and Learning Materials that I represent, and their value has been reinforced by some of the excellent presentations we have had over the past two days. When Diana Newton calls for more book sector studies linked to book policies, I heartily agree. Despite the skepticism of some people here about the need for book policies, if we are going to make any headway in the commitment to education for all, we do have to look very seriously at the whole question of planning book policies that take into account the need for materials in all the languages relevant to a particular context. Book policies, as a framework not a straight jacket, can provide a forum for bringing ministries of education, culture, and those involved in book development and procurement together with the private sector and are a very important avenue for reaching the objective of education for all. Linked to this is another point that Diana Newton mentions: the problem of data. It is not a question of undertaking a book sector survey. Several surveys have been conducted in the past in many parts of the world, and our problem-particularly in the survey that we commissioned last year on the economics of publishing educational materials in Africa, was in getting data, as was also mentioned by Ian Taylor. Carew B. W Treffgarneis a senior education adviser in the Department for International Development (DFID) and the convenor for. the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on Booksand Learning Materials,for which DFID is the lead agency. 189 190 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Our problem operating in Africa is that neither ministries nor publishers' associations have the mechanism for not only collectingbut also updating the data on a regular basis, which is an important aspect. We would, therefore, like to see more collaboration between national publishers' associations (the African Publishers' Network-APNET-is already committed to the task of data collection) and ministries of education to ensure that data on the book sector and on the book situation in relation to the education sector are collected on a regular, systematicbasis and are made available to both publishers and ministries who need the information to promote book development. The importance of joint ventures, which are true partnerships, cannot be over- emphasized. Development agencies and governments should be prepared to adapt their procurement procedures so that they can involve local publishers more in the educational book market. How can we do this? One obvious way is to encourage major agencies such as the World Bank or the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), which I also represent, to embark on a major education project if they do have the funding. Then I would urge them at a very early stage in their consideration of the feasibility of such a project to encourage the ministry of education-with whom they normally work in a very monopolistic way-to bring together all the other ministries that are involved in book development and procurement as well as the private sector. Such a meeting would allow the airing and discussion of the major issuesand problems connected to the book chain. I think this is important because we are not just talking about book development, but, as Hamidou Konate said, we are also talking about book distribution, which is painfully weak in many African countries. By being involved early on, the private sector can foresee problems and be in a better position to bid for the book component of an education project. So we would like to see the private sector more involved in education projects at an early stage, and I think it is up to agenciessuch as ADEAand the World Bank to request such an involvement, which has not been the case in the past. I was very interested in Luis Henrique L6pez' presentation on Bolivia.It would be appropriate to have more national contests for developing authors, particularly in languages that may not have been used very much in the education system.Thinking of C6te d'Ivoire, which I know well and where I have lived for two years, I would urge that country to think about having such a contest for the development of more material in Ivorian languages since it is woefully behind most other countries in Africa in this respect. More writing in national languages should be encouraged to help create a literate environment, which is essential, accordingto severalpresenters. Finally,several people have mentioned the importance for book selection to take place at local level. In this context, L6pez mentioned an important point (although he did not emphasizeit) that some have overlooked, which is that objective criteria are actually needed for selectingbooks. As was evident from the example we heard from Romania, when you suddenly give a choice to people who never had a choice, it is very important to also provide them with workshops-as a necessary first step in that process of selection-to work out what criteria are relevant for them for the FOSTERINGA VIABLELOCAL PUBLISHING INDUSTRY: A DEVELOPMENTAGENCY'S VIEW 191 evaluation and selection of materials. Through our working group in ADEA we have started doing this in some countries that have requested it; in countries that are decentralizing their book selection system, the need for such workshops is real.

ThePublishing Industryin the Twenty-First Century

The Role and Place of Electronic Publishing in Developing Countries

James Smith

Electronic publishing refersexclusively to the publication of any kind of content on any form of electronic media and should not be confused with desktop publishing. The emergence of new media has added to the complexity of the already-complex tasks facing educational planners, specialists,and publishers.Additional factors come into play, which are of no relevancein a print-only situation. However, they should not discourageinnovation.

his paper seeks to address the place and role of educational content on CD- TROM and on the Internet in developing countries. The objective is to assist key decisionmakers-including educational policymakers, task managers at international financial institutions, program officers at donor agencies, publishers, and end users-in selecting the appropriate mix of print and electronic media for students to use in the classroom, as well as for the purpose of training teachers. Electronic publishingas discussedin this paper should not be confused with desktop publishing.Too frequently, publishingon electronic media is confused with using computer technology within the print publishing process. Electronic publishing, in the present context, refers exclusivelyto the publication of any kind of content on any form of electronic media. In this situation, authors submit material to the publisher, who works directly on the electronic files, which are then prepared through a successionof computer-aided steps for final disseminationon electronic media. The decision to introduce electronic content in a given educational situation should be based on the following five points: * An educational motivation and not a technological one, even though educators are now arguing that children have a "Right to Technology." * Consideration of logisticalaspects because certain minimum requirements (in terms of equipment, electricity, and communications infrastructure) must exist before the technologies can be effectively introduced. This is likely to require strong political will, and in some countries, may entail considerable investment in capital and training.

James Smith is codirector of Newton Smith International Ltd., a private sector company based in Ottawa, Canada. 195 196 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

* A thorough understanding of the assets and drawbacks of electronic media (CD-ROM titles, Internet resources, and hybrid electronic publications, that is, CD-ROMs with Internet connections) versus print media. In some countries the only appropriate and affordable mix is likely to be 100 percent print. * Development of skills in design considerations for electronic media, which differ significantly from those applicable to print. Publishers new to electronic media will need to develop additional skills, and evaluators will need to develop new criteria in order to select individual titles. * Copyright and intellectual property issues. The nature of electronic documents makes it easier for a user to copy content and incorporate this content into other works.

Introducing Electronic Content as an Educational Choice The decision to introduce electronic content in a country's national education system, province, school, or classroom must be educationally driven and not techno- logically driven. The issue needs to be addressed in terms of finding the best medium for the delivery of a particular content. The use of Information Technology (IT) should be viewed as emphasizing Information (It) and not emphasizing Technology (iT) (Watson 1997). As pointed out by Dotten (1996),

Receiving delivery of information is not learning; access is not learning; these are technical functions that should never replace sound pedagogy. We must distinguish between physical and intellectual access to information and consider how we can help young people acquire the information skills they need.... Managing information technology resources within a solid pedagogical framework of information literacy skills is the most critical need in preparing our young people to adapt to the changing world of work, and to become thoughtful, knowledgeable, and productive members of the global community.

Educational factors that need to be taken into consideration include the educational level (primary, secondary, vocational/technical, or tertiary), the subject matter, and the desired frequency of revisions to content and curriculum. It must be borne in mind that educators are now arguing that all children, not just those from upper- income levels, have a "Right to Technology." Attention has been drawn to the risk of increasing the gap between the haves- and the have-nots, because "the privileged are able, through CD-ROM and Internet, to access tremendous amounts of information. This can only increase the already wide gap between the rich and poor" (Glennie 1997). That being said, however, the pedagogical benefits to be gained from the interactive nature of the new media-which encourage choice and user control, and in the case of the Internet, feedback and networking-should also be considered. Education philosophy is increasingly shifting toward learner-centric learner respon- THE ROLE AND PLACEOF ELECTRONICPUBLISHING [N DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 197

sibility, along with an acknowledgment of the need to respect differing learning styles, which in turn calls for customization of content. Publishers of electronic content are responding to these new philosophies with "smarter" software, which allows for observation, prediction, and adaptation to learner behavior (Mitra 1997).

Minimum Logistical Requirements Certain minimum requirements (in terms of equipment, electricity, and communications infrastructure) must exist within a particular country or region before the technologies can be effectively introduced. CD-ROM technology requires access to electricity and to a computer with a CD-ROM player, but does not need any communications infrastructure. In addition to electricity and a computer, Internet technology requires a reliable communications infrastructure, the presence of an Internet service provider, a modem, and phone line. Meeting these logistical requirements is likely to call for a strong political will, reflected in clear policy and implementation; capital investments, which in some countries could be considerable; and investment in training. Teachers and students need to acquire minimum computer literacy skills (such as keyboarding, mouse manipulation, basic software use, navigation and search skills, troubleshooting, and others) to be able to operate a computer for the purpose of using a CD-ROM or Internet title. Providing this training can constitute a massive logistical challenge on its own.

Understanding the Electronic Media The selection of CD-ROM titles, Internet resources, and hybrid electronics publications (CD-ROM with Internet connections) over print (or in parallel to print) must be based on a thorough understanding of the assets and drawbacks of these electronic media. This kind of information needs to be made available to all key players. A school principal, faced with a limited acquisition budget and the responsibility of selecting titles for a school library equipped with a CD-ROM player and Internet access, needs to understand why, for a given subject matter at a given level, a CD- ROM would be a useful purchase, while for another case, an account giving access to an Internet site would be the most cost-effective option, or why for another subject and grade level, students could make best use of printed materials. A publisher considering for the first time whether to include electronic publications in his overall publishing program should understand the strengths and weaknesses of CD- ROM, Internet, and hybrid electronic publications. A ministry of education official who has decided to deliver a teacher training program on the Internet and is considering whether to add printed material or CD-ROMs needs to be able to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each option. At present, there are only two viable media for electronic publications: CD- ROMs and the Internet. Enough individuals are now using these media that they have become significant ways of reaching large groups of people. Other promising technologies are only in the prototype or design phase. Digital video disc (DVD), 198 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS portable multimedia machines, and television set-top boxes may, over time, prove to be very powerful media. CD-ROM and the Internet are alike in the kinds of information that can be presented to the user but differ, among other aspects, in stability, information access rate, development costs, distribution, and marketing requirements. The CD-ROM's most valuable asset is its ability to hold large volumes of information, whereas the Internet's strength lies in its ability to maintain timely, up-to- date information. A CD-ROM should be viewed as an "electronic title," and the Internet should be seen as an "electronic resource." An electronic title has much more in common with a printed title than does an electronic resource. A title is complete when it is shipped to the user, but an electronic resource is a window on a dynamic body of information. A resource must be continuously kept up to date to be useful. Electronic media entail different delivery systems, which have a significant impact on financing recovery. Publishers must be concerned with marketing and distribution of their publications, because without solid financial returns it is impossible to maintain the publishing enterprise. Although the marketing and distribution of CD- ROMs are similar to those of books, financial models for Internet distribution are more difficult to identify. In most cases, content could be charged out as a flat access fee, as a charge per item downloaded, or even as a time-metered charge, although this would be the least desirable since it limits the user's exploration.

Advantages and Drawbacks of CD-ROMs The advantages are the following: - Large market. In 1997 an estimated 22 million CD-ROM drives existed worldwide, with 80 million estimated to exist by 2000. Seventy-five percent of the hardware resides in the United States. Japan's numbers are expected to approach those of the United States in the near future. Europe is currently several years behind the U.S. growth curve, but it is expected that by the end of 1998, Europe will have some 36 million CD-ROM drives. It is more difficult to estimate the amount of CD-ROM technology in developing countries. A recent estimate places the number of CD-ROM drives in Africa at 200,000, the vast majority of which are in South Africa (Mechin). These numbers are expected to grow at a tremendous rate as hardware prices drop worldwide. * Large storage capacity of disc. A 300-page book (text only) with approximately 300 words per page takes up only about 1/1,000 of the space on a CD-ROM. Even without compression, a CD-ROM can hold approximately 2,000 two- color or 600 full-color, full-screen images. High-resolution PhotoCDs can hold about 100 photographs. A single CD can also hold 74 minutes of high-fidelity or 20 hours of monophonic sound (Cunningham and Rosebush 1996). * Low manufacturing cost. For a small print run (of approximately 1,000 copies) the total manufacturing cost for a CD-ROM in a jewel box in the THE ROLE AND PLACE OF ELECTRONICPUBLISHING IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 199

United States (including mastering, replication, and packaging) can be less than US$2.00 per disc. More elaborate kinds of packaging (for example, printed boxes) can add US$1.50 per disc. There are, however, no real economies of scale in manufacturing CD-ROMs, because of the very low set up costs. The per-disc cost is likely to be the same for small or large print runs. By far the greatest cost in CD-ROM publishing is in creating, integrating, and testing the content. Manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing costs for CD-ROM are, by and large, far less than those for print material. * Durability and stability. A CD-ROM disc suffers no physical wear while being played. The polycarbonate plastic that makes up the disc is undamaged by the laser of the CD drive or by sunlight. During normal use, the disc is only damaged by scratching its surface. * Industry commitment. The vast majority of new computers now on the market in the West come with CD-ROM drives. CD-ROM is the preferred distribution medium for software companies because the cost of one CD-ROM is cheaper than the cost of the numerous floppies needed to hold the same information. CD-ROMs are also safer than floppies as they don't get erased or damaged easily. * Familiar editorial and publishing models. The fundamental processes of developing an electronic title on CD-ROM are familiar to professionals involved with print publishing, because they consist of similar stages: developing (or writing) the content, organizing and budgeting the production process, designing the publication, preparing the contents with an authoring (or editing) system, testing (or proofing), mastering (or finalizing), manufacturing, and marketing and distribution. Nevertheless, CD-ROMs have a few drawbacks as well. * Limited capacity. Unfortunately, CD-ROMs still fall short of the requirement of many electronic publishers, especially when using video. Users increasingly expect electronic documents to be well stocked with images, animation, sound, and digital video sequences. Computer games now frequently require six or eight CDs in order to include all the content required. The new Digital Video Discs (DVD), which basically constitute a new electronic standard for laser discs, are expected to be prevalent in the market by 2000. These new discs will hold between 8 and 30 times more data than conventional CD-ROMs. * Slow access speeds and transfer times. CD-ROMs are, in general, much slower than hard discs. Users frequently have to wait for data, increasing the frustration level of using the technology. DVD discs are reportedly offering much faster access speeds, for example, allowing full-screen video playback. * Obsolescence. Publishers are right to be concerned. Many industry specialists think that CD-ROM technology will go the way of the LP or 8-track tape. But one should not confuse content with the delivery medium. Content can always be transferred to new media, much in the same way in which sound recordings on LP or 8-track tape have been transferred to CD-ROMs. The new DVD technology, however, should extend the life of the molded plastic laser disc. 200 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Advantages and Drawbacks of the Internet

How does the Internet fare in terms of advantages? Here is a list. • Even largermarket (than CD-ROMs). It is hard to provide reliable estimates, but there are probably somewhere between 27 million and 50 million people logged on the Internet at any one time. The figures for the developingworld are even harder to obtain. A recent report has identified that 31 of the 54 African nations have live public Internet access in their capital cities, with another 11 countries planning to add Internet in the near future (ensen 1997). However, 70 to 80 percent of Africa's population lives outside the major cities, and right now they rarely have local dial access facilities. * Low cost of on-line distribution. For Internet publications, the distribution of a single document costs only the price of a single network transaction. As a result, distribution is significantlyless costly than for CD-ROM. Becauseit is only the original document that is placed on the Web server, print runs are not a concern. However, in most casesdistribution will involve the setting up of a Website, which includes equipment costs, network access costs, and the services of a system administrator. * Timeliness of information. Information that is more timely in nature, for example, current events or weather reports, is much more useful on the Internet than on CD-ROM. i Instant access. Content becomes accessibleto the user as soon as it is posted on the Internet. It is possibleto place new content, or to make corrections to existing content, on an hourly or daily basis. * Simultaneous multiple access. The Internet allows an unlimited number of users to simultaneously use the same material and to provide feedback to each other via e-mail and news groups. * Familiareditorial and publishing processes.As with CD-ROMs, the fundamental processes of developing an electronic title on the Internet are familiar to professionals involved with print publishing. However, the familiarity ends with finalizing the content, because the stages of manufacturing, marketing, and distribution are different. Among the drawbacks of the Internet are: * Bandwidth problems. Downloading information from the Internet, especially videos and software, can be very slow on current networks. In many cases, digital movies can take as long to download as to view. The slowness of the current networks is an important issue. The problem is especially critical in developing countries, where "Web surfing" is generally impractical because of the slowness of the communicationsystems involved and the large volume of users at any one time. * High storage costs. Electronic documents on the Internet must reside on a network computer. Costs in the United States are approximately US$100 per gigabyte (Cunningham and Rosebush 1996). In addition, storage media are always subject to crashes and failure. THE ROLE AND PLACE OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 201

Need for ongoing maintenance and updating. Material on-line has to be maintained and continuously updated to be effective, while CD-ROMs are usually updated on a quarterly or yearly basis. As a result, the total cost for content development in many cases will be higher for the Internet than for CD-ROMs.

Hybrids A new type of product is emerging, which combines the best features of both the CD-ROM and the Internet. These "hybrid" products are basically CD-ROMs with connections to the Internet. Titles could vary from containing mostly CD-ROM material to containing mostly Internet. For instance, in the former case, a user could update certain facts and figures from the Internet to a static database that resides on a CD-ROM, as in the case of an electronic encyclopedia. In the latter case, a CD- ROM could contain specialized browsers and filters to take full advantage of an Internet site. For example, a program on CD-ROM could interactively teach children about the Internet using live Internet sites.

The Appropriate Mix Each educational system or subsystem must find its own answers by identifying the appropriate and affordable mix of print, CD-ROM titles, Internet resources, and hybrid products. Choices will range from 100 percent print (for example, material for the development of writing skills at primary level) to 100 percent Internet (for example, for teacher training on environmental education at secondary level), with all possible variations in between. It is evident that in some countries the only appropriate and affordable mix is likely to be 100 percent print, and to remain so in the immediate future. One possible mix for student material is a printed textbook with content that will remain unchanged for several years (for example, a geography book), with a CD-ROM in the back of the text for content with yearly updates (for example, yearly statistics on population and other aspects), and with Internet sites (linked to the CD-ROM) for up-to-the-moment information (for example, current climatic events). A further example combining print and hybrid electronic publications could be a textbook in print form, together with a CD-ROM workbook, incorporating on-line tests and educational games, with links to the Internet. This would allow a group of students to work on the CD-ROM and subsequently share information and ideas resulting from the material at a common Internet location via e- mail or news groups.

Paying Attention to Design Design considerations for electronic media differ significantly from those applicable to print. Publishers new to electronic media will need to develop additional skills and evaluators will need to develop new criteria in order to select individual titles. 202 EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Design is a very important component of electronic publication and is very different from traditional print publication. Electronic publication design involves each of the traditional media, that is, graphic design, video design, sound design, software design, as well as interface design and navigation design. Electronic publications grant publishers the ability to communicate in richer and more diverse ways than with any other single medium. Print, sound, video, as well as interactive content and large-scale databases can all be included. Howvever, publishers designing electronic documents must think creatively about the opportunities offered by the various electronic media and constantly keep abreast of new developments and the output of competitors to determine the best possible method or scenario of presenting their content. Understanding and responding to user expectations with a well-thought-out design is important to the success of any electronic publishing project. Recent history has shown, through harsh marketplace realities, that CD-ROM publication can be a very risky venture. Many publishers in the West have severely cut back on CD- ROM production because of disappointing sales figures, caused, in no small part, by the poor design or inefficient presentation of many of these electronic publications. Proper design is critical. Although each project is unique in its approach, there are a few commonalities with regard to good design. * The user should be able to easily, intuitively, and interactively move around the document and be able to understand what navigation options are available at all times. * The publication should support many kinds of browsing and searching capabilities so that the user can quickly skim documents on the basis of personal interests and learning styles. * The help system should be intuitive to allow the user to execute choices easily. * There should be a full index and table of contents with links to the content. * The user should be able to set individual access locations in the document to mark pages. * The user should be able to extract information and save it separately. This begs the question of the issue of electronic copyright, which I will examine briefly later. Too many publishers stop short of the potentialities of the new medium, and still view electronic publishing as little more than putting an electronic version of print onto a CD-ROM or the Internet. The mere transposition or repackaging of a textbook or a teacher's guide onto a CD-ROM, with navigation limited to moving forward or backward through the screens/pages, amounts to a very poor use of the media's capabilities. Research has shown that reading proceeds in a different manner when users view content on a screen, as opposed to a printed page (Mitra 1997). CD-ROM and Internet users expect to find the headlines first, and then gradually move into greater levels of detail and complexity. Publishers need to make full use of certain features that are unique to these media, including: interactivity and the THE ROLE AND PLACEOF ELECTRONICPUBLISHING IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 203

ability to incorporate kinds of material that cannot be handled in print, such as images and sound and video, alongside and simultaneously with the more traditional text. Developing an electronic title is a complex task that can require a great deal of planning and the talents of a number of skilled people. The development team for a title includes management and production staff. The management team includes a director, editor-in-chief, art director, interface designer, sound designer, and software designer. The production team includes writers, photographers, illustrators, videographers, animators, songwriters, musicians, actors, and programmers. The tools that allow the developers of an electronic title to integrate the various components into the title and to create the interface for the title are referred to as an "authoring system." Some authoring systems also include a delivery system or document reader; some rely on other products to deliver the title (for example, systems that create Web documents). An authoring system bears some resemblance to a programming language used in standard computer design, but it must also be able to handle, fluently, all kinds of media, and must be able to build the title's interface. Most computer languages do not do this well, and although it is possible to create a title with standard languages, it is rarely done. Some authoring tools include scripting languages, and some languages are specifically intended for electronic titles. Electronic publications are built from a number of different kinds of media components, and there are standards for each of these. Maintaining electronic standards is important since authoring systems require standardized components. Widely accepted active standards for interaction and multimedia are needed to make authoring as straightforward as possible.

New Copyright and Intellectual Property Issues The growth of electronic publishing raises new questions about copyright and intellectual property because it makes it easier for a user to copy content and incorporate it into other works. Electronic intellectual property issues are complex, and there are a variety of opinions about ownership, which would need to be treated in a separate paper. In terms of intellectual property, publishing on CD-ROM poses less of a problem than publishing on the Internet because with a CD-ROM there is a physical artifact. Electronic documents downloaded from the Internet do not degrade after many generations of copying and can be changed without detection unless electronic safeguards are used to ensure that the document remains "read- only" (for a more thorough understanding of copyright in electronic media, see Samuelson 1994; Clark 1996; and Dreier 1996).

Conclusion The emergence of new media has added to the complexity of the already complex tasks facing educational planners, specialists, and publishers. Additional factors come 204 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS into play, which were of no relevance in a print-only situation. Accessto a reliable source of electricityand investmentin computer equipment are often viewed as major obstaclesand overwhelmingchallenges, but they should not discourageinnovation. An educational policy in Botswana decided to provide all students with at least a few hours of computer time, to ensure that all children would see a monitor and handle a keyboard. The challenge derived from the reality of Botswana, a large country with a scattered population, not enough computers, and not enough electricity. The country, however, does enjoy an abundance of sunshine, which allowed for a solar energy-based solution. As a result, a truck equipped with solar panels, providing power to computers, toured around the country to allow each student to have access to a computer. A technology breakthrough, which may bring the benefits of computer technology to vast numbers of users in remote and poor rural communities, resulted from a meeting at the Parallel Convention of the Commonwealth Conference of Ministers of Education held in Botswana in July 1997. The prototype of a wind-up computer for use in remote places with no access to power was demonstrated and could soon become a reality. Such a device could vastly increase access to computers, to computer technology, and possibly to the Internet for the many hundreds of thousands in developing countries without links to electric power or ready access to batteries. The resulting benefits in terms of education and development could be considerable. It is not a question of whether to embrace the new media. Although their form is in constant evolution, they are here to stay. Upper-income parents will buy computers with CD-ROM players, and private schools will teach students how to use the Internet for a social studies project. The ensuing equity issues cannot be brushed aside. I hope that the information conveyed in this brief paper is useful in determining whether there is a place for electronic content in a particular education system, and if the answer is yes, what might be the appropriate mix of print, CD-ROM, Internet, and hybrid publications. I have emphasized providing objective and factual criteria to encourage a rational decisionmaking process. For reasons that are not always obvious, electronic publishing appears to elicit very strong responses, either in favor (the "panacea group") or against (the "naysayers"). Neither approach is likely to be constructive. What is needed is a focus on innovative solutions to educational objectives.

References Anderson,Jonathan. 1997. "Information Technology:Options and Challengesfor Schools and Teacher Education." Paper presented at the 13th Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers Parallel Convention: Education and Technologyin the Commonwealth,Making the Transition,July 28-August 1, Gaborone, Botswana. Organized by the BritishCouncil and IDP Education,Australia. Bowers,Richard A. 1996. List of Resourcesfor CD-ROM Publishing.Optical PublishingAssociation. Web site: http ://wwwmeta-media.comi/opa/home.html. Canhos, Vanderlei P, Dora A. L. Canhos, Sidnei de Souza, and Barbara Kirsop. 1996. "Electronic Publishing and Developing Countries: Trends, Potential and Problems." In Electronic Publishingin Science:Proceedings of the Joint ICSUPress / UNESCOExpert Conference,February 1996. Paris: ICSU Press. THE ROLE AND PLACEOF ELECTRONICPUBLISHING IN DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES 205

Clark, Charles. 1996. "The Copyright Environment for the Publisher in the Digital World." In Electronic Publishing in Science: IProceedingsof the Joint ICSU Press I UNESCO Expert Conference, February 1996. Paris: ICSU Press. Cunningham, Steve, and Judson Rosebush. 1996. Electronic Publishing on CD-ROM. Bonn: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Dotten, Rose. 1996. The New (ll)literacy. Quill & Quite. Dreier, Thomas. 1996. "Copyright Issues in a Digital World." In Electronic Publishing in Science: Proceedings of the Joint ICSU Press / UNESCO Expert Conference, February 1996. Paris: ICSU Press. Glennie, Jennifer. 1997. "Education, Technology and Equality: A Curvilinear Relationship?" Paper presented at the 13th Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers Parallel Convention: Education and Technology in the Commonwealth, Making the Transition, July 28-August 1, Gaborone, Botswana. Organized by the British Council and IDP Education, Australia, Jensen, Mike. 1996. Bridging the Gaps in Internet Development in Africa. Ottawa: IDRC Publications. - 1997. "Internet Connectivity for Africa." Paper presented at the Conference of African Ministers of Industry, Accra, Ghana. Mechin, Tony. Personal communication. Media Technology Ltd., Harare, Zimbabwe. Mitra, Sugata. 1997. "Multimedia Design for Internet Based Training." Paper presented at the 13th Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers Parallel Convention: Education and Technology in the Commonwealth, Making the Transition, July 28-August 1, Gaborone, Botswana. Organized by the British Council and IDP Education, Australia. National Research Council, Office of International Affairs. 1996. Bridge Builders: African Experiences with Information and Communication Technologies. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Philips, Richard L. 1991. "MediaView: A General Multimedia Digital Publication System." Communications of the ACM 34(7, July): 74-93. 11992. "Opportunities for Multimedia in Education." In Steve Cunningham and R. J. Hubbold, eds., Interactive Learning tbrougb Visualization. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Samuelson, Pamela. 1994. "Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine and Digital Data." Communications of the ACM 37(1, January): 21-27. Smedlinghoff, Thomas J. 1994. The Software Publishers Association Legal Guide to Multimedia. Boston: Addison-Wesley. Voutssas, Juan, and Ana Maria Cetto. 1996. "Electronic Publishing: Will It Reach the Whole World?" In Electronic Publishing in Science: Proceedings of the Joint ICSU Press / UNESCO Expert Conference, February 1996. Paris: ICSU Press. Watson, Elizabeth. 1997. "From Paper to Paperless: Libraries and Librarians in an Information Age." Paper presented at the 13th Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers Parallel Convention: Education and Technology in the Commonwealth, Making the Transition, July 28-August 1, Gaborone, Botswana. Organized by the British Council and IDP Education, Australia. What Have We Learned, What Does It Mean, and Where Do We Go from Here? A Summary Discussion

James Socknat, David Ballands, Masuka Sauliere, Philip Cohen, and Sverrir Sigurdsson

James Socknat: At the most elementary level, we agree on a set of issues that are crucial to the publishing industry. But this is not surprising. There has not been much debate about the publishing industry as a crucial element of education. The debate is, therefore, perhaps only half a step in the right direction. Procurement sometimes works and sometimes does not. For example, in Bolivia some very interesting and innovative processes were used in providing books to the end users. In accordance with World Bank procurement rules and regulations, Bolivia seems to have achieved impressive results in relation to other countries that are both capable and sophisticated in many respects. The efforts show results that are educationally desirable and appear to be adaptable and replicable. On the contrary, Nigeria and Romania have concerns with some of the Bank procurement regulations and applications, but with entirely different results. The Bank's procurement rules are complicated, and maybe we in the Bank should try to move away from having international competitive bidding as the presumptive approach in textbook projects. Although Bank-wide it may still be necessary to use international competitive bidding, we ought to use it while looking for appropriate national or local competitive bidding or other sorts of specifically supply-side or demand-side financed options. There is no virtue in utilizing scarce resources to train people to learn the extraordinarily complex procurement rules and regulations if we can attain the objectives of educating large numbers in an easier fashion, with less transaction costs. Some of the speakers have certain presumptions about the importance of cross- border trade, which are certainly important. Cross-border trade, however, needs to be applied selectively. In Latin American countries, cross-border trade seems to have provided great opportunities (perhaps because of a monolingual environment). In Africa, however, where the articulation of changes in languages has been rather different-for example, the Swahili used in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda is different James Socknat is education sector leader in the Europe and Central Asia Region, World Bank. David Ballandsis principal engineer,Retailing, International FinanceCorporation. Masuka Sauliereis executive director, Education Sector, UNESCO.Philip Cohen is an independent consultant who helps design and supervise textbook components in education projects of the World Bank and other lenders and donors. Sverrir Sigurdsson is principal operations officer, Human Development Network, Education Sector, World Bank. 206 WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED,WHAT DOES IT MEAN, ANDWHERE Do WE GO FROM HERE? 207 from one country to another-the flow of language materials across borders may be impeded. Perhaps we should pause and revisit our presumptions about developing publishing capacity in languages that would serve broader markets. It is pretty clear that the dialog on producing and distributing educational materials needs to be more systematic.At the country level-in particular, at the level of ministries of education, finance, planning, and others-the case for the relationship between publishing and education is one that still needs to be more clearly articulated and analyzed. If it has taken this long for us to have a dialog of this nature in the Bank-and we have been trying to do so rather systematicallyfor some years- getting across the basics to relevant parties is still a significant challenge ahead of us all. At this seminar several speakers have asked the Bank and other international financial institutions to take on the responsibility of promoting similar dialogs on a regular basis. This is a fair request, given the development objectives of the World Bank. The responsibilitiesto exchange information, and, as a development institution, to work toward intensifying our efforts-and maybe sharpening our skills-in conveying the appropriate messageswith regard to teaching and learning materials are absolutely imperative. It is a little surprising that the publishing industry itself has not articulated the arguments and made the case as to why the industry is important to education, given the financial structure and the remuneration to the industry and its close linkage to education. Those who represent the Bank in this sector are interested in education outcomes per se; absent from the discussions were aspects relating to opportunities for developing additional published materials, such as learning materials, beyond textbooks, which could be a valuable addition, in terms of both business and education. As for the issue of data, it is true both for us in international financial institutions and for those at the country level that the statistics are in dire need of upgrading. Information on financing of textbook production and distribution, with related aspects such as the numbers of textbooks (book supply), is generally not reported. Efforts are under way to try to revitalizeinternational statisticalreporting systemsthat would enable us to get a better look at the impact of such schemes as book provision and to assess educational outcomes and education attainment. It is the job of researchers to ensure that appropriate data on the subject are gathered. It is also important for countries to play an active role in supporting these efforts. Otherwise, the efforts will atrophy, and only the exchangeof favorite views will remain, without sound evidenceto support them. We need to move forward, knowing that the concerned parties do share a common interest. Work needs to be done to identify concrete next steps and a course of action. At least from the Bank's perspective,which is arguablytoo analyticaland too oriented toward facts and figures,there are benefits in trying to do something about this issue. The Bank and other donors and lenders should assist borrowers in identifying sources of capital to enable local publishers to invest in new projects. The Bank's lending mandate does not permit it to lend directly to local publishers to help them get off the ground. The Bank has a duty to identify sources of financing. In July 1985 the general operational guidelines for textbooks were put together. It makes 208 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS for somewhatsad readingbecause most of the recommendationsmade then are still applicabletoday and mostmistakes that Bankprojects helped createare stillvisible. The Bankhas not learnedfrom its experiences.We have a lot of learningto do. We do not know the answers.

David Ballands:For the International Finance Corporation (IFC) the questions pertaining to financing the publishing sector in the area of book retailing would be: What do publishers need the financing for? How much do they need? How much owner equity is in the company or the project? Financing to publishers falls into two main categories: funds for investment in fixed assets, such as production, storage, and distribution facilities, and funds for working capital. The former is the type of project that the IFC routinely finances. If funding is required for capital expenditure, the project could be secured by fixed assets. In the absence of any security, it is probable, and it is traditional for the IFC, to consider an equity investment rather than a loan. In principle, therefore, there would be no difficulty in obtaining IFC financing. If, however, the funds are essentially for working capital, then it would be somewhat more difficult for the IFC to get involved. Traditionally the IFC does not lend for working capital, nor generally for requirements that cannot be secured by fixed assets. But it also true that the IFC is increasingly having to address this issue as it looks at the service industries in general. The IFC is attempting to find ways to overcome the normal limitations on its lending or investment policies. Some issues need to be addressed to determine the kinds of loans the publishing industry would require. In the context of publishing, there may be some side issues that require resolution. For example, the size of the IFC equity input might unusu- ally dilute the owner's current equity base. If-as perceived-publishing ventures actually never generate profits that are paid in dividends, the IFC would of course have no interest in equity investment in the first place. So equity investments for the IFC would go along with an understanding of some dividend policy agreement. In addition, the IFC would also require an exit mechanism for IFC equity. Furthermore, some structural private and public sector issues would affect the IFC's involvement in any publishing, particularly in education publishing sector investments. Such issues as the existence of a copyright law and evidence of its enforcement might be considered a structural concern for the IFC at the outset. The existence of a basic curriculum-regardless of its input or how it is developed-and a transparent text approval process would be considered as fundamental for the IFC's involvement in the book sector. In essence, the IFC is likely to restrict itself to certain minimum requirements that define the publishing industry as being a private sector activity. The IFC likely would not consider financing participants (customer or supplier) in countries in which the market is defined by one customer and one supplier only. Further discussion with the Bank would be useful, particularly with regard to those essential elements that best define a private sector investment possibility for the publishing sector. Possible economics of scale would also be considered as being reasonable from both the perspective of book production and the publishing process itself. As always, WHAT HAVEWE LEA:RNED,WHAT DOEsIT MEAN,AND WHERE Do WE Go FROMHERE? 209

what would be important to the IFC is the project's viability in the absence of protection. Clearly the IFC does not support trade protection since it is supposed to develop private sector projects. In many cases, however, the IFC supports projects where there is some protection, but this usually takes place only after careful determination of what the impact of protection removal would be in terms of cost competitiveness and so on. Finally, various figures have been mentioned for the type of working capital requirements that various publishing companies might need. If this is in the hundreds of thousands rather than in the millions, then it is unlikely that the IFC could efficiently and effectively support these kinds of projects from Washington because the transaction costs would be too high. There are possibilities of obtaining financing from certain offshoot organizations such as the Africa Enterprise Fund, the Pacific Island Investrnent Facility, the IFC's Mekong project facility in Vietnam, and the outreach prograrn, which involves 12 or 15 countries and much smaller projects.

Masuka Sauliere: When you think about it, we are all striving to bring books to children. We cannot therefore conclude that private publishing is the only method. Some countries have no private publishing, and they will never have it because publishers from the outside are called upon to fill the gap in providing educational materials. To generalize and arrive at an overwhelming conclusion that publishing should be carried out only by the private sector would be inappropriate. Japan has only one leading publisher. In the beginning, the publisher operated as part of the Ministry of Education. It took the publisher 50 years to become a private company. It is a long process. Considerable time and effort must be expended to help a country develop its local publishing capacity. We have to be rather patient. But we must strive toward this, otherwise we might end up doing the opposite of what is being preached in this forum-that is, self-sufficiency in the development, production, and distribution of educational books. Authors should have access to finance if they are expected to contribute to educational publishing. It is not sufficient for teachers alone to write textbooks. There is a fundamental need to access reference materials and other documents. In some countries such documents are not available, except in the public sector, such as in curriculum development centers or national centers for pedagogy.

Philip Cohen: The ultimate target of lending for teaching and learning materials is to ensure that there are more, better, affordable, and relevant books and sustainable systems. The Bank and other donors have a major role to play, particularly in creating a climate in which book trade can flourish. These institutions have a duty to increase the level of understanding of educational publishing and of publishing in general, both among themselves and among their aid recipients or borrowers. We have all come up against the barrier of talking to higher-level educational officials who have yet to understand the difference between printing and publishing. Although the Bank lends a great deal of money for educational materials-US$550 million for 210 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS textbooks over the past three years-some within the Bank have, to say the least, a hazy knowledge of publishing and printing. There is a major task of education to be carried out, not only for children, but also for the major players on all sides. There is a need to assemble all the actors in one spot to exchange views, such as in this forum, with the forewarning that the information exchanged should be carefully sifted through. Several countries, for example, have an amazing level of secrecy, and publishers cannot get ahold of curricula. It is a mystery how publishers can publish educational materials when they cannot even get ahold of curricula. In ideal circumstances,projects would be designed with the involvement of all parties who are likely to be affected, that is, all role players: children, teachers, head teachers, local community, education officialsat all levels of the system, local publishers, nonlocal publishers, booksellers, and ministry officials (both in the education ministry and in other ministries who can make or break textbook components). The chances of a textbook project's surviving are heavily reduced unless all key beneficiariesand decisionmakers are included in the design process. This is part of transparency. Corruption in textbook components does exist; for example, when teachers are involved in choosing textbooks, they can be subjected to bribery or intimidation. However, at this level, opportunities for corruption can be divided into tiny and more controllable packages. When all decisions are made centrally, both the risk of corruption and the potential rewards for the corrupt are far greater. Although the Bank is in no position to say that there could be a single model for textbook components or that single title systems are to be preferred, it can offer guidelines and information. A policy document could map out the choices. The Bank can take several steps: * Protect, help, and encourage the local publishing industry. The Bank should rethink procurement policies with the objective of encouraging local publishing and bookselling. The draft "Standard Bidding Documents" for textbooks-which come with an accompanying "works manual" called the technical note-should be rethought. There is an understanding within the Bank that procurement should be given a thorough overhaul. X Give the choice to the consumer. Decisionsshould be made at the lowest levels of the educational hierarchy. People involved in the schools should be trusted to know what is most useful in the classroom. School-levelmanage- ment and teachers should be trained to make appropriate decisions. * Fund appropriate training for all parties who will be part of the system-not only for ministry officials,but also for teacher trainers, inspectors,managers of teacher resource centers, head teachers, deputy heads, and teachersthemselves. * Fund technical assistanceto help build the skills of local publishers and booksellers. Hands-on training for publishingis not easy to design and implement. Nonlocal publishing houses are being managed for the most part by accoun- tants who do not see economic value in training local publishers. But there are still some who do. In-country or regional training for local publishersand booksellers might be the most effectivemethod. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED,WHAT DOES IT MEAN, AND WHERE Do WE Go FROM HERE? 211

* Allow enough time so that educational materials can mesh properly with curriculum, teacher training, and assessment. Adequate time should be allowed for materials to be tested and revised, and teachers should be taught how best to use them. * Make sure that the books get into the hands of the end users. Distribution systems are perhaps one of the weakest links in the entire book chain. This aspect requires some careful scrutiny. Everyone is looking for "the level playing field." Unfortunately, what most people are really seeking is a playing field that slopes toward their opponents' goal. Anything that is considered fair by one will be considered unfair by another. However, there is substantial scope for eliminating the major inequities in the development and provision of educational materials. That job starts here.

Sverrir Sigurdsson: How do we compare our knowledge before and after this seminar? The expectation was that there would be more disagreement than has actually been the case. Somebody referred to the important dialogue between the two tribes that had been brought to the table: the tribe that is interested in the educational side of the book sector and the tribe that is interested in the commercial production, manufacturing side of publishing. These tribes had rarely exchanged views before this event took place. Having made a presentation on the aspects of book procurement, I thought I would be a target for attack. Instead there was significant agreement on the various issues raised. There was considerable mutual understanding in terms of how much more we really need to do-discuss, share, and exchange information and experience and identify ways to come to grips better with the issues that surfaced during the seminar. As for substance, we have learned a lot during the seminar. The question of books and education policies has been somewhat controversial, although most of us are convinced that we need to have a handle on the policy climate that governs the books sector in a client country. This policy climate includes the role of the publishing industry itself, the role of the public sector (schools and everything that relates to the government's involvement in the books sector), and the way a lending or technical assistance agency fits into the policy environment. Unless all the pieces are well understood, in place, and agreed upon, I think we are likely to continue to make mistakes of the sort outlined by Philip Cohen. Various speakers have expressed the view that governments should not be in the business of publishing because of the nature of the industry, efficiency aspects, and educational quality. Contrary to this view, the Bank over the years has supported large state-owned publishing enterprises, and we have learned that it is a major mis- take. Regarding the various facets of publishing-that is, the entire book chain-we have learned that governments should be there essentially to set the right policy climate and the curriculum in consultation with teachers. When it comes to getting the right kind of book produced, and to the schools, and into the hands of students- that is where the private sector comes in. 212 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE:CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Similarly, the question of choice is important. Nobody has or should have a monopoly on the truth. In addition, we have learned that in terms of efficiency,the question of price competition arises when there is choice. Price competition cannot work unless there are choices. Of course, the issue of competition brings with it a whole host of elements that need to be focused on. For instance, we now know that understanding the various facets of partnership is important when it comes to getting things off the ground. It was educational for us to learn about the different ways in which partnerships function. This includes, for example, the fact that Macmillan is not the same company in the United Kingdomas it is in different parts of Africa. Annex. Conference Participants

Pernille Askerud Colin Bower Consultant to UNESCO KagisoPublishing Tel: 66 2 9390718 Cape Town Regional Office E-mail: Cape Town, South Africa 102426,[email protected] Tel: 27 471 368 Fax: 66 2 9390720 E-mail: sentinel@cis.co.za Fax: 021 448 8662 David Ballands International Finance Corporation Michele Calderon Tel: 202 473 0709 World Business Email: [email protected] Washington, D.C., USA Tel: 202 293 0612 Rod Banister E-mail: [email protected] McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. Fax: 202.223.8437 Whitby, Ontario, Canada Tel: 905 430 5009 Anca Cardei E-mail: [email protected] Ministry of Education Fax: 905 430 5191 Bucharest, Romania Tel: 40 1 210 42 55 Daniel Beaudat Fax: 40 1 210 42 70 Les ClassiquesAfricains Versailles,France Henry Chakava Tel: 33 1 3967 16 03 East Africa Educational Publishers Ltd. Fax: 33 1 39 20 02 13 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 254 2 447000 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 254 2 448 753

213 214 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Claude Chotard Michel de la Cheneliere Saint-Paul France SA Cheneliere/McGraw-Hill Ltd. Versailles, France Montreal, Canada Tel: 33 39 67 16 00 Tel: 514 273 1066 Fax: 33 30 21 41 95 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 514 276 0324 Philip Cohen London, England Catherine La Hausse de Lalouviere Tel: 44 181 742 9081 Nathan Publisher E-mail: [email protected] International Department, Editions Fax: 44 181 742-9144 Nathan Paris, France Amedee Couassi-Ble Tel: 33 1 45 87 43 24 Cabinet Premier Ministre Fax: 33 1 45 87 23 21 Abidjan, C6te d'lvoire Tel: 225 07 99 07 Manuel de Polanco Cell Ph: 225 26 03 53 Grupo Santillana Fax: 225 24 24 56 Madrid, Spain Tel: 341 322 4480 Richard A. B. Crabbe Fax: 341 322 4772 African Publishers Network Africa Christian Press Issa Joseph Diallo Achimota, Ghana MEBA Tel: 233 21 220271 Oagadougou, Burkina Faso E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 226 308 494 Fax: 233 21 220271 Abou Diarra Michael Daniell Pedagogique National Oxford University Press Bamako, Mali Oxford, United Kingdom Tel: 223 22 42 62 Tel: 44 1865 267614 E-mail: [email protected] A. 0. Echebiri Fax: 44 1865 267731 Longman Publishers Lagos, Nigeria Gaston de Bedout Fax: 234 1 4922 747 Voluntad and Columbian Publ. Assn. B6gota, Colombia Guy Frenette Fax: 57 1 2860666 Groupe Beachemin Note: To contact Jaime Orozco, Montreal, Canada Editorial Norma, Colombia, please send Fax: 514 688 6269 a message to Gaston de Bedout. ANNEX. CONFERENCEPARTICIPANTS 215

Kenneth Giunta Ingrid Jung Overseas Development Council Deutsche Stiftung fur Internationale Washington, D.C., USA Entwicklung Tel: 202 234 8701 Bonn, Germany Fax: 202 745 0067 Tel: 49 228 4401207 E-mail: [email protected] Karine Haroutunian Fax: 49 228 4001 111 Ministry of Education and Science Yerevan,Armenia George Kalibbala Tel: 3742 151 651 Instructional Materials Unit Fax: 3742 151651 Ministry of Education Kampala, Uganda Georges Hoyos Groupe de Boeck Ritva Kattelus Brussels,Belgium Duodecim Tel: 32 10 482604 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 358 9 61 88 5414 Fax: 32 10 482650 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 358 9 61885400 YvesJacques Groupe de la Cite Internationale Hamidou Konate Ivry sur Seine, France APNET Tel: 33 1 49 59 11 12 Bamako, Mali Fax: 33 1 49 59 10 43 Tel: 223 226289 E-mail: [email protected] John K. Jessup Fax: 223 22 76 39 Human Capacity Development Center U.S. Agency for International Denis Lacasse Development Livrexpert International Washington, D.C., USA Repentigny,Canada Tel: 202 712 0172 Tel: 514 582 4356 Fax: 202 216 3229 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 514 582 6635 Ian Johnstone Macmillan Education Ann LaLonde Hants, United Kingdom CODE Tel: 44 1256 329242 Ottawa, Canada E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 613/232-3569 Fax: 44 1256 814642 Fax: 613/232-7435 216 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Luis Henrique Lopez Diana Newton FTZ at PROEIB Andes Newton Smith International Ltd. Cochabamba, Colombia Ottawa, Canada Tel: 591 42 86020 Tel: 613 761 8057 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 591 42 15179 Fax: 613 761 8690

Laurent Loric Valery P. Nikolaev Hachette Livre Supply Division Paris, France UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fax: 33 1 40 95 10 74 Fund) Tel: 212 326 7032 Fagil Mandy E-mail: [email protected] Deputy Commissioner for Education Fax: 212 326 7477 Ministry of Education Kampala, Uganda Carlos Noriega Tel: 41 256 24 48 26 LIMUSA Publishing Company Mexico City, Mexico Marc Moingeon Tel: 525 510 4436 Hachette Livre Fax: 525 512 2903 Paris, France Fax: 33 1 43 92 35 15 Victor Nwankwo Fourth Dimension Publishing Company David Muita Enugu, Nigeria Macmillan Kenya (Publishers) Ltd. Tel: 234 42 459969 Nairobi, Kenya E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 254 2 220012 Fax: 234 42 453298 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 254 2 212179 Brigid O'Connor British Council Jose Munoz Juan Lagos, Nigeria Grupo Santillana E-mail: Madrid, Spain [email protected] Tel: 341 322 4480 234 1 269 2193 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 34 1 322 4772 Brian O'Donnell Irwin Publishing Ron Munro Concordia, Canada McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. Tel: 905 660 0611 Whistler, Canada Fax: 905 660 0676 Fax: 604 932 4103 ANNEX. CONFERENCEPARTICIPANTS 217

Daniela Papadima James Smith Humanitas Publishers Newton Smith International Ltd. Bucharest, Romania Ottawa, Canada Fax: 40 1 222 8252 Tel: 613 761 8057 E-mail: [email protected] Frances Pinter Fax: 613 761 8690 Open Society Institute PublishingCenter SOROS Foundation James Socknat Budapest, Hungary World Bank Tel: 361 327 3014 Washington, D.C., USA E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 202 458 1232 Fax: 36 1 327 3042 Email: [email protected]

Carol Priestley Shobhana Sosale Working Group on Books and Materials World Bank Association for the Development for Washington, D.C., USA Education in Africa (ADEA) Tel: 202 473 6490 London, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 44 181 997 3274 Fax: 202 522 3233 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 44 181 810 9795 Jean-Francois Soupizet European Commission (EC) Ian Randle Brussels,Belguim Ian Randle Publishers Fax: 32 2 296 8970 Kingston, Jamaica Tel: 876 977 1866 Maria Stridsman E-mail: [email protected] Education Division Fax: 809 977 0243 SwedishInternational Development Authority Masuka Sauliere Stockholm, Sweden ED, Education Sector Tel: 46 8 6985576 UNESCO E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 33 1 45 68 56 26 Fax: 46 8 698 5651

Sverrir Sigurdsson Robert Sulley World Bank Heinemann Educational Washington, D.C., USA Oxford, United Kingdom Tel: 202 473 2884 Tel: 44 1865 314132 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 44 1865 314140 Fax: 202 522 3233 218 EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Ian Taylor Beba Urioste British Publishers Association Reforma Educativa London, United Kingdom La Paz, Bolivia Tel: 44 171 565 7474 Tel: 591 2 43 06 63 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 591 2 43 06 63 Fax: 44 171 836 4543 Thierry Viellard Barthelemy Togo Agence de la Froncophonie (ACCT) Bureau de Ministere de l'Education Paris, France Ministere de l'Education de Base Mali Tel: 33 1 44373376 Bamako, Mali Fax: 33 1 44373376 Tel: 22 27 56 Jacques Yves Carew B. W. Treffgarne Commercial Afrique Groupe de la Cit6 ADEA Working Group Bks/Materials Ivry Sur Seine, France Department for International Tel: 33 1 49 59 11 11 Development Fax: 33 1 49 59 10 43 London, United Kingdom Tel: 44 171 917 0658 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 44 171 917 0287

James Tumusiime APNET Fountain Publishers Kampala, Uganda Tel: 256 41 259163 Fax: 256 41 251160 Index

Abidjan Stock Exchange, privatization process in 20-21; described, 20; establishment of, 19; on C6te d'Ivoire by, 94 fostering a viable local publishing industry, Acquisition. See Procurement 189-91; mission of, 22-23; national forums ADEA (Association for Development of Education facilitated by, 20; objectives of, 21 in Africa). See Association for Development of Aztecs, educational system of, 126; schools oper- Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on ated by, 126 Books and Learning Materials African Publishers' Network (APNET), 7, 21; Ballands, David, summary discussion, 208-9 Irwin and, 187; Macmillan Education and, 151; Barriers affecting the Intra-African book trade, 22 World Bank aid to publishing partnerships and, Basel Mission, publishing in Ghanaian languages 178; World Bank supported book procurement by, 82 programs and, 141-42 Belgium, aid from, 108 Agence de la Francophonie, 107, 108 Bellagio Publishing Network, 21 Aid, development and, 113-14; forms of, 106-8; Benin, CONFEMEN series and, 109; learning improving effectiveness of, 112-13 materials in, 28; long-term textbook provision Algeria, lack of competition in procurement expe- in, 67 rience in, 147 Bern Convention, photocopying and, 157 Alternative textbooks, development of in Bilingual environments, school achievement in, 25 Romania, 134-35 Bolivia, publishers competing in textbook market APNET (African Publishers' Network), 21; Irwin in, 138; textbook procurement in, 136-38 and, 187; Macmillan Education and, 151; Book Development Council, 20; Ghana Book World Bank aid to publishing partnerships and, Publishers' Association consults with, 76 178-79; World Bank supported book procure- Book distribution, in Africa, 121; in C6te ment programs and, 141-42 d'lvoire, 66; criteria for, 63-65; in Ghana, Associates in Research and Education for 78-79; Hamidou Konate on, 190; Soros Development in Senegal, publishing in national Foundations and, 56-57; in the Soviet Union, languages by, 20 56; Tanzanian policy on, 86 Association for the Development of Education in Book fairs, Frankfurt, 50; in Ghana, 81; Africa (ADEA) Working Group on Books and Zimbabwe International, Indaba, 20-21 Learning Materials, 3; capacity building role of, Book Industry Degree Program, in Ghana, 77

219 220 EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Book policy. See National book policy of Cooperation subsidies and, 107; local Book Policy on National Languages, 22 authors used as a review team, 183; success of Book publishers' associations, as prerequisite to a book provision in, 63; textbooks purchased by national book policy, 15 families in, 67, 181 Book selling network, importance of, 14 Canada, similarities of a developing nation in, 186 Book trade, conditions needed for cross-border, Canadian International Development Agency 123; East African cross-border, 123-25; finan- (CIDA), decreasing number of bilateral pro- cial issues and, 5-6 grams from, 188 Books, criteria for supply policies on, 63-65; Canadian Organization for Development, book demand for in Sahel countries, 30; donor sup- fairs in Ghana aided by, 81; Ghana Book Trust port for imports of, 106-14; free-of-charge and the, 81 financing of, 107-8; retailing of, 121; selection Capital, summary discussion on requirements for of, 190; supported by Soros Foundations, 58. working, 209; summary discussion on sources See also Textbooks of, 207; textbook production and, 120 Books in Print, 52 CD-ROMs, 58-59; advantages and disadvantages Booksellers' and Publishers' Association of of, 198-200; logistical requirements for, 197 Zambia, 23 CEC (Centre Educatif et Culturel Inc.), 93; con- Bookstores, in Ghana, 78-79, 81; in Mexico, sortium member, 103; Hachette Livre and, 104 127-28 CEDA publishing house, 91, 177 Botswana, Association for Development of Central Europe, textbook distribution subsidies Education in Africa (ADEA) and, 20 in, 56 Bremen Mission, publishing in Ghanaian lan- Centre Educatif et Culturel Inc. (CEC), 93; con- guages by, 82 sortium member,103; Hachette Livre and, 104 British Council, experience in Nigeria, 118; expe- CEPER, unable to meet Cameroon textbook pub- rience in Zambia, 117 lishing needs, 181-82 Brown, Mark Mallock, 145 CEU Press, 55 Brundtland, Gro Harlem, on effects of poverty, Challenge Enterprises, in Ghana, 79 142 Children's Literature Foundation, book sales in Bureau of Ghana Languages, 82 Ghana and, 81-82 Bureau Ivoirien des Nouvelles Editions Africaines, Chile, publishers competing in textbook market 104 in, 138; textbooks produced in Mexico for, 130 Burkina Faso, educational environment in, 26; CIAM series, an example of subsidy, 110-12 experience with free trade system, 147; impor- CIDA (Canadian International Development tance of rural newspapers in, 29-30; learning Agency), 188 materials in, 27-28; publishing in local lan- CNPMS, CONFEMEN series and, 109 guages in, 24-33; UNICEF assumes textbook Cohen, Philip, summary discussion, 209-11 production costs, 31 Collins-Sangster, attempt to establish, 169 Colombia, texto unico policy in, 40-44 Calmecac schools, 126 Comisi6n de Libros de Texto Gratuito Cameroon, comparison of sales price of French (CONALITEG), 127 primary schoolbooks, 183t; EDICEF partner- Commercial publishing partnerships, 165-68; ship with, 180-85; educational system criticized achieving understanding about, 180-81; bene- by the National Assembly on Education, 181; fits from, 167; between Canada and the European Union aid to, 108; French Ministry Caribbean, 169-72; characteristics of, 166; cri- INDEX 221

teria for successful, 166-67; EDICEF and Experience", 71-85; discussion on procure- Editions C16 of Yaounde, 180-85; encouraging, ment, protection, and copyright, 161 167-68; between France and Francophone Credits, book supplies and refundable, 107-8 Africa, 177-79; importance of, 190; in Mali, Cross-border book trade, conditions needed for, 177-78; between United Kingdom and 123; curriculum and, 123-24; the East Namibia, 173-76 African experience, 123-25; foreign exchange Communication, cross-border book trade and, regulations and, 124; Latin America and, 124 128-30; LIMUSA Publishing Co., and, Community Education Program, in Nigeria, 118 129-30; Mexico and, 126-30; summary dis- Competitive bidding, value and drawbacks of, cussion on, 206 141-42 Culture, relationship between language and CONALITEG (Comisi6n de Libros de Texto knowledge and, 26-27 Gratuito), 127 Curriculum, cross-border book trade and, CONFEMEN series, an example of supply, 123-24; described, 119; summary discussion 109-10 about, 210 Congo, Agence de la Francophonie and, 108 Curriculum Development Unit, 17 Consumer support, Soros Foundations and, 49 Co-publishing Agreement, 79 Daniel, Michael, discussion on procurement, pro- Co-publishing Project, in Ghana, 73, 79 tection, and copyright, 160 Copyright laws, addressed by Ghana Book Data, summary discussion on need for, 207 Publishers' Association, 79-80; electronic pub- de Bedout, Gaston, 3 lishing and, 203; international trade and, 156; Debt, textbook production and, 120 issues concerning, 155-57; lack of interna- Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgian aid to, tional, 156; panel discussion on, 158-62; pho- 108; CONFEMEN series and, 109, 110 tocopying and, 157; Soros Foundations and, Department for International Development, 50; summary discussion about, 208; textbooks Nigerian experience of, 118; procurement pro- and, 7; Universal Declaration of Human Rights cedures and, 190; Zambian experience of, 117 and, 155 Design, importance of in electronic publishing, Copyright Society of Ghana, copyright issues 201-3 addressed by, 79-80 Development, aid and, 113-14 Costs, of textbooks, 119-20 Digital video disc (DVD), 197 C6te d'lvoire, book supply policies criteria, Distributors, textbooks in C6te d'lvoire and, 68 63-65; book supply policles criteria evaluation, Donor support, for book imports, 106-14; forms 65-66; effectiveness of textbook policy in, of, 106-8; for higher education, 118-19; qual- 68-70; impact of privatization on book industry ity and appropriateness of, 117-18; reasons for, in, 95-96; long-term book provision in, 63-70; 115; for textbooks in Africa, 115-22 privatization of publishing houses in, 91-96; Dotten, Rose, 196 textbook industry in, 90-92; textbook policy DSE (German Foundation for International in, 67-70, 89-99; textbook publishing policy Development), 22; training program for text- in, 89-99 book authors, 30-32 Couassi-Ble, Am6dee, 4-5; "Textbook Publishing DVD (Digital video disc), 197 Policy in C6te d'lvoire", 89-99 Crabbe, Richard A. B., 4; "The Transition to East Africa, cross-border book trade experience Privatization in Publishing: Ghana's of, 123-25 222 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

East Africa Cooperation, Macmillan Kenya Foreign exchange regulations, cross-border book Publishers and, 153 trade and, 124 East African Examination Council, dismantling Foreign language books, Soros Foundations' of, 125 translation of, 53-55 Eastern Europe, electronic publishing in, 58-59; France, publishing partnership with Francophone publishing industry in, 45-62; textbook distrib- Africa, 177-79 ution subsidies in the, 56 Francophone Africa, publishing partnership with "Ecole et Developpement", publishing rights to, France, 177-79 91, 92-93 Frankfurt Book Fair, 50 EDICEF, 8; CIAM series and, 111; consortium Fraternite Matin (FM), pubJishing partnership member, 93; establishment of, 103; partnership with Jamana, 178 with Cameroon, 180-85 Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, 140 Edipresse, consortium member, 93 Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education Editions Cle of Yaounde, partnership with program, proposed in Ghana, 76 EDICEF, 180-85 Free Textbook Commission, in Mexico, 127, 128 Education materials, discussion on policies for the Free textbooks, in Ghana, 72; problems associ- long-term provision of, 97-99; introducing ated with, 66 electronic media in, 195-97 Free trade, advantages and disadvantages of, 147 Education system, textbooks in, 57 Free-of-charge financing, book supplies and, Educational materials, changing consumer of, 107-8 121-22; policies for provisions of, 3-5 French Ministry of Cooperation, subsidies from, Educational reform, in Romania, 133-34 107 El Salvador, textbooks produced in Mexico for, 130 Gabon, French Ministry of Cooperation subsidies Electronic content, introduced into the class- and, 107; textbooks purchased by families in, 67 room, 195-97 German Foundation for International Electronic publishing, copyright and intellectual Development (DSE), 22; training program for property issues, 203; defined, 195; definition textbook authors, 30-32 of, 57-58; in Eastern Europe, 58-59; impor- German Frankfurter Buchmesse, Humanitas tance of design in, 201-3; logistical require- Publishing House and, 135 ments of, 197; role of in developing countries, German Technical Cooperation, textbook pro- 195-205; Soros Foundations and, 47, 57-58; duction with Mali and, 31 understanding, 197-98; viable media for, 197 Ghana, Association for Development of "Electronic Publishing Initiative", launched by Education in Africa (ADEA) and, 20; Free Open Society Institute, 59 Compulsory Universal Basic Education program European Union, aid to Cameroon by, 108, 184 in, 140; general publishing in, 81-82; libraries Evans Nigeria, 120 in, 80-81; open market publishing in, 79-83; Evans U.K., 120 printers in, 78; publishing capacity in, 77-79; publishing industry in, 77; publishing in local Ferdie Sangster, attempt to establish Collins- languages of, 82-83; textbook distribution and Sangster, 169 sales in, 78-79; transition to privatization in Finance, book trade issues and, 5-6; summary publishing, 71-84 discussion on sources of, 207 Ghana Book Development Council, book sales in Florence Agreement, 124 Ghana and, 82 INDEX 223

Ghana Book Publishers' Association, agreement Human resource development, in Sahel countries, with the Non-Formal Education Division, 83; 32-33 book fairs held by, 81; copyright issues Humanitas Publishing House, 135 addressed by, 79-80; revival of, 75; seminars and workshops conducted by, 77; successful Ian Randle Publishers, partnership with Irwin lobbying effort of, 80 Publishing, 8, 170-71 Ghana Book Trust, effor:s of, 81 IDA (Internarional Development Association), Ghana Education Service, book sales in Ghana purpose of, 141 and, 82 IFC (International Finance Corporation), sum- Ghana Institute of Linguistics, 82 mary discussion questions, 208 Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Imports, donor support for book, 106-14 Translation, 82 Indaba, Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Ghana Library Board, 75. 80-81 20-21 Ghana Publishing Corporation, government Indonesia, view of copyright protection, 156 divested from, 78 Infrastructure, cross-border book trade and, 124 Ghana's transition to privatization in publishing, Institute de Recherche Mathematique (IRMA), 71-84; book publishers' association founded, CIAM series and, 110 75-76; effect of policy on book publishers, Intellectual property issues, electronic publishing 72-74; free textbooks scheme and, 72; policy and, 203 formation, 76-77; publishing capacity and, Inter-American Development Bank, 170 77-79; publishing for the open market and, International Development Association (IDA), 79-83; publishing profitability and, 74; role of purpose of, 141 government in, 71-72 International Finance Corporation (IFC), sum- Government, textbooks in Cote d'lvoire and, 67 mary discussion questions, 208-9 Grants, Soros Foundations and, 47-48; for International Publishing Partnership (IPP), 8, 21; "West-East" translations, 60 Fraternite Martin (FM) and Jamana partnership Guatemala, textbooks produced in Mexico for, facilitated by, 178. See also Partnerships 130 Internet, advantages and disadvantages of, Guidelines for the Development of Learning 200-201; as media for electronic publishing, Support Materials for Outcomes Based 197-98 Education, 20 Intra-African book trade, 21 Guinea, Agence de la Francophonie and, 108; Investment, attracting foreign, 103-S book supplies to, 107-8 IPP (International Publishing Partnership), 8, 21; Guzman, Martin Luis, 127 Fraternite Martin (FM) and Jamana partnership facilitated by, 178. See also Partnerships Hachette Group. See EDICEF IRMA (Institute de Recherche Mathematique), Hachette Livre, experience in C6te d'lvoire of, CIAM series and, 110 103-S Irwin Publishing, African Publishers' Network Hatier Publishers, privatization in C6te d'lvoire (APNET) and, 187; experience of, 187-88; and, 93 partnership with Ian Randle Publishers, 8, Heinemann, partnership with New Namibia 170-71 Books, 173-76 Irwin-Ian Randle publishing partnership, 8, Heinemann Caribbean, 169, 171 170-71 Higher education, donations for, 118-19 ISBN, Soros Foundations and, 50 224 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

Jamaica Publishing House, established, 169 Local publishers, cut out of Ghana's textbook Jamaica Teachers Association, Macmillan alliance market, 72; defined, 165; enhancing procure- with, 169 ment of textbooks published by African, Jamana in Mali, publishing partnership with 139-43; in foreign-dominated markets, Fraternite Martin (FM), 179; publishing part- 186-88; lack of ability to compete, 108; nerships and, 177-78 Macmillan Education and, 149-51; Macmillan Johnstone, Ian, 7; discussion on procurement, Kenya Publishers supporting, 152-54; organiz- protection, and copyright, 161; "Supporting ing in C6te d'lvoire, 66; reasons for using, National Publishers: Macmillan's Experience", 142-43 149-51 Local publishing, cut out of Ghana's textbook Joint ventures. See Partnerships market, 72; fostering as a viable industry, Journals, reactions to donations of, 118-19 189-91; organizing in Cote d'Ivoire, 66 Jung, Ingrid, 3; "Toward Literate Societies: Local-author publishing, Soros Foundations sup- Publishing in Local Languages", 24-33 port of, 55 Longman, local authors and, 150 Katjavivi, Jane, 173 L6pez, Luis Henrique, 6, 190; discussion on pro- Kenya, cross-border book trade and, 123-25; curement, protection, and copyright, 162; Dutch pilot project in, 153; free trade system "Textbook Procurement in Bolivia", 136-38 and, 147 Loric, Laurent, 4, 5, 8; "A Global Partnership Knowledge, relationship between culture and lan- Experience: EDICEF in Cameroon", 180-85; guage and, 26-27 "Donor Support for Book Imports", 106-14; Konate, Hamidou, 8; "A Publishing Partnership "Long-Term Book Provision in Cote d'lvoire", between France and Francophone Africa", 63-70 177-79; on book distribution, 190 Low interest loans, given by Soros Foundations, 48-49 Language, development of, 25-26; relationship between culture and knowledge and, 26-27 Macmillan, Jamaica Teachers Association alliance Large markets, definition of, 52 with, 169; partnerships with, 7; supporting Learning materials, for literacy classes, 29; in national publishers, 149-51 Sahel countries, 27-29. See also Textbooks Macmillan Education, 149-51 Librairie de France, consortium member, 93 Macmillan Kenya Publishers, overview of, Libraries, in Ghana, 80-81 152-53; pricing issues of, 153-54; supporting LIMUSA, experience of, 129-30 national publishers, 152-54 Literacy classes, learning materials for, 29 Macroeconomic conditions, Soros Foundations Loans, advantages of versus grants, 48-49; by and, 51-52 World Bank, 1; given by Soros Foundations, Madagascar, Agence de la Francophonie aid to, 48-49; summary discussion about, 208 108 Local authors, DSE training program for, 30-32; Malawi, Macmillan Kenya Publishers and, 153 hindrances to, 157; Longman and, 150; Mali, Agence de la Francophonie and, 108; Macmillan Education and, 151; as review team CONFEMEN series and, 109-10; educational in Cameroon, 183 environment in, 26; German Technical Local languages, author training and, 30-32; pub- Cooperation with in textbook production, 31; lishing in, 24-33; scientific concepts and, 26 learning materials in, 28; publishing in local Local markets, protection of, 7 languages in, 24-33; publishing partnerships in, INDEX 225

177-78; revitalization and development of basic National protection, procurement policies and, education in, 140 146-47 Market size, Soros Foundations and, 52-53 National publishers, Macmillan Education and, Mateos, L6pez, Comisi6n de Libros de Texto 149-51; Macmillan Kenya Publishers support- Gratuito (CONALITEG) founded by, 127 ing, 152-54. See also Local publishers Memorandum of Understanding, book produc- NEI (Nouvelles Editions Ivoiriennes), 91, 104; tion in C6te d'lvoire after implementation of, CIAM series and, 111; establishment of, 93; 95-96; in C6te d'Ivoire, 93 publishing partnerships and, 177 MESSAPRESSE, 183 NESIS (National Educational Statistical Methodist Book Depot, in Ghana, 79 Information Systems), 23 Methodist Church, publishing in Ghanaian lan- Net Book Agreement, in the United Kingdom, 80 guages by, 82 New Namibia Books, partnership with Mexico, cross-border book trade and, 126-30; Heinemann, 173-76 textbook production in, 127 Newspapers, rural, 29-30 Moingeon, Marc, 5, 7; "The Roles of Protective Newton, Diana, 3, 7, 187, 189; "Commercial Procurement Policies and Financial Subsidies", Publishing Partnerships", 165-68; discussion on 146-48; Discussion on procurement, protection, procurement, protection, and copyright, 158; and copyright, 162; "Local and Foreign Partner- "National Policies for the Book Sector", 13-18 rships: Attracting Foreign Investment", 103-5 Nicaragua, textbooks produced in Mexico for, Monopoly publishing, avoidance of by Soros 130 Foundations, 46-47; in Mozambique, 37 Niger, DSE training program for textbook Mozambique, monopoly publishing in, 37 authors in, 31; educational environment in, 26; Muita, David, 7; discussion on procurement, pro- learning materials in, 28; literacy class learning tecrion, and copyright, 162; "Supporting materials in, 29; publishing in local languages National Publishers: Macmillan Kenya in, 24-33 Publishers", 152-54 Nigeria, book pirating operations in, 120; British Council's experience in, 118; Department for Namibia, publishing partnership with the United International Development's experience in, Kingdom, 173-76 117; failure of the educational system in, National Assembly on Education, criticism of 116-17; government debt for books in, 120 Cameroon educational system by, 181; EDICEF Noma Award for Publishing; 73 project and, 182-83 Non-Formal Education Division, Ghana Book National Book Development Councils, 17 Publishers' Association agreement with, 83; National book policy, absence of in Ghana, 76; promotion of literacy in Ghana by, 82-83 C6te d'Ivoire, 63-70; defined, 13; elements to Nonlocal publishers, defined, 165 address in, 15-16; formulation and implemen- Noriega, Carlos, 6; "Does Cross-Border Book tation responsibilities, 16-17; importance of, Trade Work? The Case of Mexico", 126-30 14; objectives of, 13-14; prerequisites and Nouvelles Editions Ivoiriennes (NEI), 91, 104; components of, 15-16; promotion of policies CIAM series and, 111; establishment of, 93; of, 17; rationale for, 14-15; in Sahel countries, publishing partnerships and, 177 32 Nwankwo, Chief Victor, 6, 149, 165; "Enhancing National Educational Statistical Information the Role of Local African Publishers in Book Systems (NESIS), 23 Procurement Schemes", 139-43; on publishing National languages, scientific concepts and, 26 partnerships, 167 226 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

O'Connor, Brigid, 5, 149; "Donor Support for Prawda, Juan, discussion on procurement, protec- Textbooks in Africa", 115-22 tion, and copyright, 159-60 O'Donnell, Brian, 8; "Local Publishing Industries Presbyterian Church of Ghana, publishing in in Foreign-Dominated Markets: From Embryo Ghanaian languages by, 82 to Full Growth", 186-88 Primary Education and Training Development Open market, advantages for textbooks, 56; pub- Project (PETDP) project, 140 lishing in Ghana, 79-83 Printers, in Ghana, 78; textbooks in C6te d'Ivoire Open Society Institutes, "Electronic Publishing and, 68 Initiative" launched by, 59; importance of pub- Privatization, of C6te d'Ivoire's publishing lishing in, 45 houses, 91-96; Ghana's experience in, 71-84; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and impact of in C6te d'Ivoire of, 95-96. See also Development (OECD), on school achievement Ghana's transition to privatization in publishing in bilingual environments, 25 Procurement, panel discussion on, 158-62; protective policies, 146-48; summary discussion Papadima, Daniela, 6; Discussion on procurement, on, 206; of textbooks in Bolivia, 136-38; of protection, and copyright, 161; "Who's Afraid textbooks in Columbia, 40-41; of textbooks of Printing Textbooks in Romania?", 133-35 from local African publishers, 139-43; of text- Partnerships, achieving understanding about, books viewed as capital or recurrent expendi- 180-81; benefits from, 167; between Canada tures, 141; World Bank guidelines for, 144-45; and the Caribbean, 169-72; characteristics of, World Bank programs for textbook, 141-42 166; commercial publishing, 165-68; criteria Professional bodies, as prerequisite to a national for successful, 166-67; EDICEF and Editions book policy, 15 C16 of Yaounde, 180-85; encouraging, 167-68; Profitability, in publishing, 74 importance of, 190; local and foreign, 103-5; Project for the Development of Human Resources in Mali, 177-78; role of in publishing, 7-9; (PDRH2), 140 United Kingdom and Namibia, 173-76 Protective procurement policies, roles of, 146-48 PDRH2 (Project for the Development of Human Protocole d'accord, 104 Resources), 140 Publishers, as prerequisite to a national book pol- Peru, publishers competing in textbook market in, icy, 15; textbooks in C6te d'Ivoire and, 67-68 138 Publishers and Distributors Loan Fund, estab- PETDP (Primary Education and Training lished by Soros Foundations, 48 Development Project) project, 140 Publishing, capacity in Ghana, 77-79; commer- Photocopying, copyright and, 157 cia] partnerships. See Partnerships; C6te Pilot Project for Publishing (PPP), in Tanzania, d'Ivoire policy on textbook, 89-99; defined, 2; 37, 87 in Ghanaian languages, 82-83; in local lan- Pilot Publishing Project, in Tanzania, 37 guages, 24-33; role of partnerships in, 7-9; Pinter, Frances, 4; "Moving toward Private Sector summary discussion on public sector versus pri- Publishing in Eastern Europe", 45-62 vate sector, 211 Policy decisions, foundations of, 25-27 Publishing Division, Ghana's government sale of, Political will, as prerequisite to a national book 78 policy, 15 Publishing industry, in Africa, 119-22; aid to Poverty, effects of, 142 Indonesian, 156; conditions necessary for via- PPP (Pilot Project for Publishing), in Tanzania, bility of, 14; in Eastern Europe, 45-62; factors 37, 87 influencing profitability of, 74; focus on the, INDEX 227

2-3; in Ghana, 77; Ghana's experience in pri- lessons learned in, 31-32; publishing in local vatization of, 71-84; local publishers in a for- languages in, 24-33; reading materials in, eign dominated, 186-88; in Mexico, 128; 29-30; textbooks in, 27-29 partnerships in. See Partnerships; privatization Sauliere, Masuka, summary discussion, 209 of in Cote d'lvoire, 91-96; in Romania, 135; in School achievement, in bilingual environments, Sahel countries, 27-30; Soros Foundations' goal 25 of an independent, 59-60; state versus commer- 'School and Development" series, 67 cial, 37; as a strategic industry, 15; subsidies to, Scientific concepts, African languages and, 26 106-7; value of copyright laws to, 155. See also Self-published duplicated materials, 73 Local publishing; Self-publishing Senegal, Agence de la Francophonie aid to, 108; book supplies to, 107-8; educational environ- Quebec, protective legislation in, 147 ment in, 26; learning materials in, 28; literacy class learning materials in, 29; Project for the Randle, Ian, 8; "A Publishing Partnership between Development of Human Resources (PDRH2) Canada and the Caribbean", 169-72 in, 140; publishing in local languages in, Reading materials, in Sahel countries, 29-30 24-33 Refundable credits, book supplies and, 107 SIDA (Swedish International Development Regional Publishing Center, database of trainers Agency), 3, 34-39, 123, 188; cooperation developed by, 49; East-West translation project objectives of, 37; lessons learned by, 38; pro- considered by, 55; handbooks developed by, grams in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, 49-50; of Open Society Institutes, 45; 35t-36t; on state versus commercial publishing, Publishers and Distributors Loan Fund estab- 37; strategies of, 38-39; summary of current lished by, 48. See also Soros Foundations programs, 35t-36t Research Report on Book Development in South Sierra Leone, Macmillan Education and, 151 Africa, 20 Sigurdsson, Sverrir, 6; summary discussion, Restocking, responsibility for, 66; of textbooks, 211-12; "World Bank Procurement Guidelines 64 for Textbooks", 144-45 Retailing, of books, 121 Small markets, definition of, 52 Revenues, from textbooks, 119-20 Smith, James, 9; "The Role and Place of Romania, alternative textbook scheme in, Electronic Publishing in Developing Countries", 134-35; educational reform in, 133-34 195-205 Romanian Ministry of Education, participation of Socknat, James, 145; discussion on procurement, in the alternative textbooks scheme, 134-35; protection, and copyright, 159; summary dis- use of World Bank loan by the, 134 cussion, 206-8 Royalties, importance of to authors, 157 Soros Foundations, 4; book publishing in, 46-47; Rural, newspapers, 29-30 books supported by, 53; consumer support and, 49; copyright laws and, 50; country-specific Sahel countries, demand for books in, 30; financ- strategies and, 50-51; disengagement strategy ing textbooks in, 33; human resource develop- of, 59-60; East-East translation projects, 54-55; ment in, 32-33; importance of rural East-West translation project, 55; electronic newspapers in, 29-30; literacy class learning publishing and, 57-59; forms of support by, materials in, 29; national book policies in, 32; 47-48; Humanitas Publishing House and, 135; publishing industry in, 27-30; publishing importance of publishing in, 45; institutional 228 EDUCATIONALPUBLISHING IN GLOBALPERSPECTIVE: CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRENDS

development by, 50; loans by, 48; macroeco- Tanzania Institute of Education, Pilot Project for nomic conditions and, 51-52; market size and, Publishing and, 87; responsibilities of, 86; 52-53; new directions for, 59; publishing sup- restricted to curriculum-related activities, 87 port strategy of, 46-50; subsidies after, 60-61; Tanzanian Policy on Production and Distribution support for local-author publishing by, 55; tax of SchooVCollege Books, 86 laws and, 50; textbook creation and, 56; text- Tax laws, Soros Foundations and, 50 book distribution and, 56-57; textbook publish- Taylor, Ian, 7, 189; "Some Aspects of Copyright ing supported by, 55; textbooks in education Issues", 155-57 systems and, 57; training and, 49-S0; West-East Teachers, response to Romanian alternative text- translation projects, 53-54. See also Regional book scheme, 134 Publishing Center Tema Press, Ghana's government sale of, 78 Sosale, Shobhana, "Introduction", to proceedings, Tepuchcalli schools, 126 1-10 Textbooks, acquisition of. See Procurement; South Africa, Macmillan Kenya Publishers and, advantages of open marketing of, 56; Bolivian 153; Research Report on Book Development in procurement of, 136-38; capital and debt and, South Africa, 20 120; copyright laws and, 7; costs and revenues Soviet Union, textbook distribution subsidies in of, 119-20; C6te d'lvoire's publishing policy the, 56 on, 89-99; creation of, 56; criteria for distribu- Special Interest Group on Literacy, 21 tion of, 63-65; description of, 119; distribution Stridsman, Maria, 3, 4; "A New Textbook Policy criteria evaluation, 65-66; distribution of in in Tanzania", 86-88; "Supporting Educational Eastern Europe, 56-57; distribution and retail Materials Programs in Developing Countries: of, 121; distribution and sales of in Ghana, SIDA's Experience", 34-39 78-79; donor support for, 115-22; DSE train- Subsidies, as benefits to exporting publishers, ing program for authors of, 30-32; in the edu- 106-7; roles of, 146-48; for textbook distribu- cation system, 57; effectiveness of C6te d'Ivoire tion, 56 policy on, 68-70; enhancing procurement of Sulley, Robert, 8; "A Publishing Partnership bet- local African publishers, 139-43; failure of sup- ween the United Kingdom and Namibia", ply system of, 116-17; family purchase of, 67; 173-76 policy on in Tanzania, 86-88; procurement of, Support, Soros Foundations and, 47 6-7; procurement viewed as capital or recurrent Swahili, cross-border book trade and, 123 expenditure, 141; production of in Mexico, Swedish International Development Agency 127; publishing industry in Cote d'lvoire, (SIDA), 3, 34-39, 123, 188; cooperation objec- 90-92; publishing policy in C6te d'lvoire, tives of, 37; lessons learned by, 38; programs in 89-99; publishing of supported by Soros Africa, Asia, and Latin America, 35t-36t; on Foundations, 55; roles of protective procure- state versus commercial publishing, 37; strategies ment policies and financial subsidies, 146-48; of, 38-39; summary of current programs 35t-36t in Romania, 134-35; in Sahel countries, 27-29; subsidies used for, 107; World Bank procure- Takoradi Press, Ghana's government sale of, 78 ment guidelines for, 144-45. See also Books; Tamale Press, Ghana's government sale of, 78 Learning materials Tanzania, cross-border book trade and, 123-25; Texto unico policy, in Colombia, 40-44 Macmillan Kenya Publishers and, 153; Pilot Togo, long-term textbook provision in, 67 Project for Publishing in, 37, 87; textbook pol- Trade, cross-border book trade and barriers to, icy in, 86-88 124; importance of copyright laws to, 156 INDEX 229

Training, Soros Foundations and, 49-50; Soros Venezuela, textbooks produced in Mexico for, Foundations goal for, 60 130 Transformation of education, Soros Foundations Vernacular Literature Bureau of Ghana, 82 programs of, 56 Voucher system, abuse of, 153-54 Translation projects, by Soros Foundations, 53-55, 60 Wesleyan Mission, publishing in Ghanaian lan- Treffgarne, Carew B. W., 8; "Fostering a Viable guages by, 82 Local Publishing Industry: A Development William Collins and Sons, attempt to establish Agency's View", 189-91; "The Role of ADEA Collins-Sangster, 169 in Sustainable Book Development", 19-23 Wolfensohn, James, on educating children, 139 Tumusiime, James, 5; "Cross-Border Book Trade: Working Group on Books and Learning The East African Experience", 123-25; discus- Materials. See Association for Development of sion on procurement, protection, and copyright, Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on 159 Books and Learning Materials World Bank, 170, 190; African educational pro- U.K. International Book Development, grams launched with aid from, 140; aid to Humanitas Publishing House and, 135 Cameroon for teacher training, 184; aid to Uganda, corruption in, 117; cross-border book Indonesian publishing industry, 156; book pro- trade and, 123-25; free trade system and, 147; vision projects, 140-41; is largest educational Macmillan Kenya Publishers and, 153; Primary funding source, 139; lessons from experience Education and Training Development Project of, 9-10; loan to Romania from the, 134; (PETDP) in, 140 loans for textbook components by, 1; mislead UNESCO, 188; creation of National Book by competitive bidding statement, 141; need Development Councils and, 17; World Book to encourage publishing partnership, 178; par- and Copyright Day, 79 ticipation of in the alternative textbooks UNESCO/Danida Initiative on Basic Learning scheme, 134-35; textbook procurement in Materials, 21, 22 Bolivia and, 137; textbook procurement guide- UNICEF, assumes textbook production costs in lines, 144-45 Burkina Faso, 31 United Kingdom, Net Book Agreement in, 80; Zambia, failure of state educational system, 116; publishing partnership with Namibia, 173-76 Macmillan Kenya Publishers and, 153; success United Nations Educational, Scientific and of the Department for International Cultural Organization. See UNESCO Development projects in, 117 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, copy- Zimbabwe, Macmillan Kenya Publishers and, right and, 155 153 University of Science and Technology, Book Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Indaba, 20, Industry Degree Program in, 77 21 THE WORLD BANK 1818H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C.20433, U.S.A. Telephone:202-477-1234 Facsimile:202-477-6391 Telex: MCI 64145 WORLDBANK MCI 248423WORLDBANK World Wide Web: http://www.worldbank.org/ E-mail: [email protected]

ISBN-0-8213-4254-1