EduSpots is a UK and Ghanaian registered charity, partly based in Sevenoaks, aiming to connects, trains and equips local Catalysts to drive community-led change.
Since 2015, the organisation has built and supported 42 community-led library projects or ‘Spots’ across Ghana and Kenya which enable students, teachers and community members to access educational resources, with many powered by solar, enabling learning to continue during periods of power outages.
EduSpots’ Ghanaian has also trained over 400 volunteers in community leadership, literacy development, and practical STEM education and since 2015 alongside donating over 100,000 books through our annual book collections, working in partnership with Book Aid International. The project was recognised with the Tes International Award in 2018 for its work promoting active global citizenship education in schools in the UK and Ghana.
This April, EduSpots is organising its annual shipment of books, with an aim to collect 30,000 books to deliver across the network of community-led libraries. Thanks to the support of students and staff at Sevenoaks School, Granville School, and many other schools across Kent, we have already collected roughly 12,000 books in new or good condition.
Stephen Tettegah, EduSpots’ Head of Literacy Development, commented: “This pandemic period has been very challenging for everyone, particularly for pupils and teachers in under-resourced environments. The gap in educational provision has meant that some pupils continued their learning when others did not. The annual book drives that Eduspots leads makes it possible for students in 42 of our projects to access resources, sometimes borrowing them to read at home.”
The EduSpots team encourages anyone in the Sevenoaks area or beyond who is able to donate books or educational resources to deliver them from Tuesday 4th May – Thursday 6th May from 8.00-8.30am or 4.00-4.30pm at Solefields car park on Solefields road, where there will be a shipping container positioned.
EduSpots volunteers are particularly keen to receive African fiction and non-fiction, early years reading books, primary level fiction and non-fiction, atlases, dictionaries, literacy development books and any IT equipment in working condition or educational games and toys. Donations to support the purchase of African text books and fiction and non-fiction in Ghana, can also be made at this link: www.justgiving.com/eduspotsafricanliterature.
A community volunteer, Mr Hamza noted, noted on receipt of local text books that: “Unlike the past when students were having difficulty accessing learning materials, the supply of locally authored textbooks to the library is a dream come true.”
EduSpots is UK registered charity 1166734. See www.eduspots.org, follow @eduspots on social media and email Cat Davison cdavison@eduspots.org for questions relating to donations or to support the work of EduSpots more widely.
Learn more about our model and work here:
