Profile for the 9th winner of the Africa Expo 2019

Name: Lamine Sarr

Nationality: Senegal

Title of Innovation: African Digital Libraries (online and offline) to improve access and quality of Education.
Countries of Implementation: Senegal
Number of years Implemented: 2
Category: Top 11(9th spot)
Problem being solved:

1. The issue

More than 65% of the African population is under 25 years old. This population will double to reach 2.5 billion in 2050. Their education remains one of the major challenges. It will be necessary to set up the material conditions for access to educational resources and documentation like libraries. The situation is very concerning because of the majority of schools in African countries do not have libraries or have insufficient documentation, especially regarding African content.

Description of innovation

2. Solution

Based on this observation, Nouvelles Editions Numériques Africaines (NENA) has produced a fully operational solution that can be scaled up across Africa. These are digital libraries of African content. Launched in 2017, the African Digital Libraries include two types:

1) Offline digital libraries on eReader

An eReader is a mobile device dedicated to reading digital books. NENA offers two eReaders, one for primary school level, the other for secondary level. It is now possible for schools to install a digital library, which is adapted to the curriculum, faster and at a lower cost than traditional libraries.

2) Online digital libraries

NENA has set up digital libraries available online on its platform. These are 9 digital libraries in law, social sciences, management, literature, art and culture, youth, accessible on the Internet by subscription.

Unique outcomes and Impact

3. Results

Already two schools in Dakar with a few thousand students have acquired dozens of eReaders.

In March 2018, a Senegalese NGO opened the “Bibliothèque populaire du développement” with a digital room with the acquisition of 10 NENA’s eReaders.

For online digital libraries, the Virtual University of Senegal is currently subscribing to all these libraries for its 4,000 students. The steps are underway at the 6 public Universities in Senegal for a subscription for 60,000 students.

Replication and Sustainability

From its conception, NENA’s project is multilingual and pan-African. So it can be replicated in any country. Among the 40 publishers with whom NENA has signed a co-publishing contract, many come from other African countries (Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea etc). NENA thus helps these publishers to digitize their catalog.

The viability of the project is based on the fact that since 10 years NENA has been digitizing and safeguarding Africa’s scientific and cultural heritage in order to make it accessible and to ensure its transmission to future generations. NENA’s digital libraries are destined to become a sustainable common good of Africa