Mother-tongue Books

The initiative for the mother-tongue books project came from one of our board, Nat Perez, and was based on research carried out by the University of Stellenbosch in collaboration with the University of Reading.  The research highlighted the importance of early learning in indigenous languages.

In 2019, the UN year of Indigenous Languages, the board took the decision to concentrate on mother-tongue books and bring an end to the book and 10 pence campaign.  This will mean we have to have a partner/s to take this forward as we would need people on the ground who have knowledge of the indigenous language in their area and the early years provision.  We would also want to receive feed back on how the mother-tongue books were making a difference to the children.  One of our partners in South Africa involved in the early years is Ikamva Labantu.  As a trusted partner we will approach them to take this project forward.