At Pratham Books’ StoryWeaver, we believe that every child deserves to have joyful reading material in her mother tongue. Join us as we celebrate International Mother Language Day - February 21, 2020!

How to participate:

Help us spread the joy of reading in your mother tongue, by hosting story reading sessions for children in your community! The reading session can be held in any language of your choice. We have books available in 200+ languages that you can read from, or download for free from www.storyweaver.org.in.

Sounds exciting? Register now and help us bring more books, in more languages, to more children! All you have to do is fill up a form, and we'll send you a free reading kit*, help you choose the books for the reading session and give you a shout-out on our social media channels! You can conduct the reading sessions anywhere - at home, in your library, at school - and on any day from February 14 - 23, 2020 (this includes 2 weekends!).

*UPDATED: Registrations to receive a hard copy of the kit end on February 10, but if you miss the deadline, we’ll be happy to mail you an e-copy!

Note:

• For logistical reasons, we will not be able to send the reading kit to locations outside India, but we will share an e-copy instead.

• There are a limited number of printed kits available, so if we run out of kits by the time you register, we will send you an e-copy.

• If you have any queries, please mail [email protected] BEFORE you fill in the form.

Sign up here (for individuals) or here (for organisations).

Join our Facebook group! Keep up with the latest news, and get in touch with others conducting story reading sessions in your community!: https://bit.ly/2UrZnDo

Join our Facebook event! If you are planning to conduct a story reading session, let us know by joining our Facebook event here: https://bit.ly/31tzhBr

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Frequently asked questions:

1. Do I have to find the venue?

Yes. Identify places where you can conduct this event in your city – a government school, an NGO, a library, a bookstore, a park, a train, your building… any place where children visit. Approach the organisation and explain the concept to them. Most of them will be happy to host you.

2. How do I choose a storybook for the reading session?

You can read aloud a storybook in a language of your choice. We have books available in 200+ languages that you can read from, or download for free from www.storyweaver.org.in!

3. Will you help me choose a storybook for the reading session?

We would love to! Just fill up the form, and we shall send you our storybook recommendations.

4. This is the first time I am conducting an event. How should I prepare for it?

Read the book a few times. If you are reading to a younger age group, see how you can tell the story without actually reading from the book (to retain their attention). Think of activities to engage the children after the storytelling. Alternatively, read a few more storybooks around the same theme.

5. Can I conduct multiple reading sessions?

Oh, yes, you can! The aim is to reach as many kids as possible. You could also conduct reading sessions for multiple languages - for example: Hindi for Session 1, Marathi for Session 2 and so on.

6. I really want to conduct a session but I am not free on International Mother Language Day, February 21? What should I do?

No problem! You can still conduct it on a day close to the chosen date, anytime between February 15 to 23, 2020 - this includes 2 weekends!

7. Will the reading kit be sent for free or will I have to pay for it?

The reading kit will be sent to you for free (printed kits will be shared until stocks last, after which we will send you an e-copy).

8. Should I document the event?

We would love for all our participants to send us some documentation about the event conducted by them. You can send us videos, pictures, a write-up – just share with us the “real impact” you’ve helped make. Feel free to tag us on social media as well! You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

This International International Mother Language Day, let us celebrate the joy of reading in your mother tongue. Sign up now! If you are an individual, sign up here. If you are an organisation, please sign up here. Happy reading! 

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UPDATE: This position has been filled

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About Us:

Pratham Books (www.prathambooks.org) is a not-for-profit children's book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish good quality, affordable books in many Indian languages. Our mission is to see ‘a book in every child’s hand’ and we have spread the joy of reading to millions of children in India. As a publisher serving every child in India, Pratham Books has always pushed the boundaries when it comes to exploring innovative ways in which to create access to joyful stories and have been fortunate in finding partners to collaborate with who share this vision.

In 2015, Pratham Books increased its footprint by going digital. StoryWeaver, is a digital platform that hosts stories in languages from India and beyond so that every child can have an endless stream of stories in her mother tongue to read and enjoy. The stories can be read, translated, versioned, or downloaded for free. All stories on the platform are openly licensed.

Illustration by Vibha Surya from Shruthi Floats an Idea, written by Navin Dorairaju, published by Pratham Books

We are looking for a Partnerships Manager - StoryWeaver

In the last few years, we have increased our impact by investing deeply in technology-based initiatives to further our mission. At StoryWeaver, we aim to do this by reaching out to more organisations, more educators, and many more children across the world - through our digital content. 

We are looking for a passionate individual to lead the StoryWeaver Partnerships function to make our impact wider by forging strategic partnerships with organisations that promote reading and learning among children. The Partnerships Manager will be responsible for strategising and executing plans to increase the user base of StoryWeaver and also provide the necessary resources, support, and training to the partner network.

 Key Responsibilities:

 New Partnerships and Key Account Management:

• Build and manage accounts with governmental and non-profit organisations and strategise, design, and execute plans to nurture sustained partnerships with them
• Expand and nurture networks of partners working with children and/or educators in the field of ed-tech 
• Identify and engage in-depth with key high-stake partners to understand their programmes, their impact, and provide content resources/training/support tailored to specific needs of partners 
• Implement strategies and initiatives to ensure large-scale adoption of new offerings through the network of partners
• Represent StoryWeaver at relevant platforms and events while being the SPOC for government and large-scale partnerships
• Analyse and interpret platform and partner data from the platform to devise and develop the strategy for the vertical

 Content Curation and/or Development: 

• Project manage collaboration with partners and external subject matter experts to curate and/or develop curriculum-based offerings for existing and prospective partners 
• Liaison with educational organisations, governmental partners, and teachers on curating content based on curriculum and structured frameworks

Others: 

• Provide information, feedback, and support to the internal product team for the development of new product offerings
• Maintain documentation for the various processes under the Partnerships function and to help with research and documentation for impact assessment
• Lead and manage a team to ensure a wide network of Indian and International partners 

  Required skills and experiences: 

• 7+ years of work experience in Education, Outreach, Partnerships, or related areas
• Direct experience working with teachers and/or in classrooms
• Experience in content design/development and training in the areas of literacy and primary education
• Exceptional communication and project-management/organisational skills 
• Proven ability to build consensus and work effectively within a cross-departmental team     
• Ability to network and make connections

Nice to have but not mandatory: 

1.      Experience working with non-profits     

2.      An interest in children’s literature, languages, and publishing

3.      Experience or interest in researching/documenting education/literacy programmes

Location: 

This is a full-time position is based out of Bangalore

Compensation: 

Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

 Write to us:

Email your resume with Partnerships Manager- StoryWeaver in the subject line to [email protected]. Also, send us a short paragraph on why you think you are suitable for the position.

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At StoryWeaver, we believe that every child deserves to have joyful reading material in her mother tongue. To make this a reality, we have been building all-digital libraries in underserved languages through the 'Freedom to Read' campaign.  

In November 2019, we opened applications for the 4th edition of  Freedom to Read, inviting organisations and individuals to partner with us to achieve our goal: the co-creation of digital libraries in languages with few or no storybooks by February 21, 2020 - International Mother Language Day. Each of these free-to-use digital libraries will contain at least 50 quality-assured books - creating more storybooks, in more languages, that serve more children all over the world.

We are overwhelmed by the response to Freedom to Read 2020. A BIG thank you to the applicants - we are inspired by your work in the field of literacy and language.

Based on our guidelines, relevance of work, and a rigorous evaluation, we have selected 5 organisations and 18 individual Language Champions to collaborate with us to build and share digital libraries in 20 languages.

Here is the list of partners for Freedom to Read 2020:

Partner Organisations

Target Language	Organisation
Amharic	Ras Abebe Aregay Library
Bodo, Nepali and Karbi	Pragyam Foundation
English-Surjapuri	Azad India Foundation
Fijian	Fijian Language Society
Hindi-Magahi	Karunodaya Foundation

 

Language Champions

Target Language	Language Champion
Amharic	Kaleab Getachew
Arabic	Amina Bouiali
Chhattisgarhi	Rohit Sharma, Er. Vivek Rathore, Charan Das Mahant
Farsi	Marzieh Nezakat
Basa Jawa (Javanese)	Theresia Alit, Sigit Apriyanto
Kochila Tharu	Sanjib Chaudhary
Lepcha	Minket Lepcha
Persian	Nazanin Karimimakhsous
Rana Tharu	Kamal Singh Rana
Setswana	Leelo
Sambal	Leo Fordan
Sambalpuri	Dron Sahu
Sindhi	Bhawana Dhameja P, Bharti Menghani
Tu'un savi	Francisco Amado Cruz Ramírez

 

We shall be getting in touch with the selected partners to discuss the next steps.

We are so grateful to everyone who applied - thank you once again for your participation, interest and support! We shall do our best to reach out to you to explore alternate ways to collaborate.

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Do join the conversation by leaving your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach out to us through our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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