Owning books can change a child’s life trajectory. This is a profound statement rooted in evidence from research around the world. Toddlers who are read to learn more words, aiding their ability to speak and read when they start school, and children who read for enjoyment perform well academically.

The advantage of owning books is significant — children with books at home have the edge on children who don’t, irrespective of their parents’ income or educational attainment. But many South Africans, mostly in poorer communities, are not experiencing the positive impact of book ownership since a quarter of households have no books at all.

There is a solution — giving books to children for free to support their early language development and emergent literacy. Other countries are already doing this; for instance, the United Kingdom gives families free books to encourage reading to children at home.

In this podcast, we talk about the value of owning books and whether our country needs a national book giveaway programme for our poorest children. Our guests are Kwanda Ndoda, Project Lead of Umncedi, Ongeziwe Nxokwana, Innovation Manager at DGMT and Dorette Louw, Director of Programmes and Operations at Book Dash.

The Learning Lunch podcast features three types of episodes: Deep Dives; Nourish & Flourish; and Best Bites.
Each podcast/learning lunch session is structured as follows:
The Main Meal - A ±30-minute podcast
The Takeaways - Instructions for a ±30-minute group reflection based on what you listened to.
To learn more about the work that we do, go to www.dgmt.co.za