“When I express myself in the language of my heart I’m sure of what is coming out. Their hearts – their culture - is being opened up by reading these stories so they find they are going much deeper in their learning. This is what the African Storybook helps us do.” African Storybook Initiative External ‘accountability’ evaluation: 2013 - 2016 John Gultig 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 5 Summary of the summary ............................................................................................................................... 5 The longer summary ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 20 The Project ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 The Evaluation ............................................................................................................................................... 21 1. Purpose .................................................................................................................................... 21 2. The evaluation questions........................................................................................................... 21 3. Desired Outcomes and indicators .............................................................................................. 22 4. A future-focused lens ................................................................................................................ 22 5. Audience & scope ..................................................................................................................... 23 6. Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 23 Outcome 1: Users find, create, use, translate or adapt African storybooks. .............................................. 25 Evaluation Focus ............................................................................................................................................ 25 Findings snapshot .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 27 1. ASb storybooks have been made available ................................................................................ 27 How many stories and illustrations have been uploaded? ........................................................................... 27 How African is the ASb website? ................................................................................................................... 29 How many openly licensed illustrations have been uploaded? .................................................................... 32 Proving the concept? .................................................................................................................................... 32 2. The ASb website is accessible and engaging ............................................................................... 33 How many people visit the ASb website? ..................................................................................................... 33 Are registered users increasing? ................................................................................................................... 35 How many of these visitors and users are from Africa? ............................................................................... 35 What does the website data tell us about visitor engagement? .................................................................. 38 How many storybooks have been downloaded from the website? ............................................................. 40 A more responsive website? ......................................................................................................................... 41 3. ASb users are productive: they create, translate, or adapt .......................................................... 41 Is independent storybook production increasing?........................................................................................ 42 Are storybook producers using ASb templates and the Website? ................................................................ 44 Outcome 2: Stories are used in a variety of ways for early literacy development ..................................... 46 Evaluation focus ............................................................................................................................................ 46 Findings snapshot .......................................................................................................................................... 47 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 49 1. ASb’s pilot sites achieve the desired outcome ............................................................................ 49 What do the numbers say? ........................................................................................................................... 49 What kinds of pedagogic change is evident? ................................................................................................ 52 How successful have libraries been as pilot sites? ........................................................................................ 61 How important is ASb’s support? .................................................................................................................. 66 2. ASb’s structured partnerships .................................................................................................... 68 What do the numbers say? ........................................................................................................................... 69 2 What is the quality of these partnerships? ................................................................................................... 70 3. Independent engagement is growing, but is largely unknown ..................................................... 72 What is the level of independent use?.......................................................................................................... 72 What impact are these independent partners having? ................................................................................ 75 Outcome 3: Recognition that openly licensed stories can support early literacy ....................................... 78 Evaluation focus ............................................................................................................................................ 78 Findings snapshot .......................................................................................................................................... 79 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 81 1. ASb has influenced the OER debate, in Africa and globally .......................................................... 81 What do the numbers say? ........................................................................................................................... 81 Have influencers been influenced? ............................................................................................................... 82 Have the minds of implementers been changed? ......................................................................................... 83 How significant has ASb’s ‘knowledge production’ been? ............................................................................ 84 2. ASb’s systemic initiatives are taking off ...................................................................................... 86 What do the numbers say? ........................................................................................................................... 86 What is the quality of ASb’s systemic engagement?..................................................................................... 87 3. ASb is expanding into new African countries .............................................................................. 93 What progress has been made? .................................................................................................................... 93 How do ASb decide about expansion? .......................................................................................................... 94 Outcome 4: Are Saide’s change and project management processes more rigorous? ............................... 96 Evaluation focus ............................................................................................................................................ 96 Findings snapshot .......................................................................................................................................... 96 Discussion .....................................................................................................................................................