CHANGING TIMES - CHANGING AFRICA

SABDET/ZIBF SEMINAR SERIES AT THE 2002 LONDON BOOK FAIR

Monday 18 March 2002, Club Room, National Hall, Olympia, London W1

Programme organised by the Southern African Book Development Education Trust (SABDET) in association with the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF).

This report has been prepared by Margaret Ling, Hon Secretary of SABDET, from notes taken during the seminars. It is freely available for use, but please credit SABDET and cite the SABDET/ZIBF seminar series at the 2002 London Book Fair as the source of the material. For further information contact Paul Westlake at sabdet@impz.demon.co


Seminar Report

Seminar Two 2pm - 4pm

THE BOOK SUPPLY CHAIN IN AFRICA

Chaired by:
OLURONKE ORIMALADE, bookseller and chair of the Pan-African Booksellers' Association

Speakers:
BARNARD BAGENDA, senior principal librarian, Uganda Public Libraries Board
presentation
JAMES NG'OMBE, managing director, Jhango Heinemann, Blantyre
presentation
JUSTUS MUGAJU, consulting/associate editor, Fountain Publishers, Kampala
presentation

MARGARET LING, SABDET secretary, welcomed participants to the second seminar.

OLURONKE ORIMALADE: Book distribution is a key problem in Africa. Congratulations to SABDET for bringing people together to focus on this topic.

BARNARD BAGENDA: The presentation will place the emphasis on libraries. Uganda is a country of 23 million people, mostly rural. It has a young population, with 54% under 18 and 21% in the 18 to 30 age range. It is multilingual; English is the national language, local languages are spoken and also Swahili. It is characterised by poverty, with a weak infrastructure and underdeveloped road network. Life expectancy is low. Radio access is 106 per 1,000 population; TV 26 per 1,000. It has suffered from civil war and economic problems. In the last decade there has been some stability with impressive economic growth - but it is still poor. The consequence of all this is low purchasing power to buy books.

Government supports the aim of a skilled and literate society, and in 1997 introduced the Poverty Eradication Programme on Shortages (PEPS). The library system comprises university, college, school, community-based, NGO, public and government libraries. The government strategy of introducing Universal Primary Education (UPE) has had significant consequences for the supply chain. Government pays the school fees for 4 children per family. This is the first time that school libraries have appeared on the political agenda. 21,429 primary schools means 21,429 school libraries. The will and the commitment now exist in government and a market for books has been created. UPE is funded by the World Bank. Schools earmark the books they want, the ministry buys, and the booksellers supply.

For the university library system, the government allocates a fraction of the university budget for libraries. This has created another market for booksellers. There are three government-funded universities with 30,000 students in total. Other universities total 6,000 students.

The public libraries are supposed to be government-funded but the budget for book-buying has not been forthcoming to date. They are unable to satisfy the needs of readers and depend on donors particularly in the USA and the UK (Book Aid International).

Why is there a lack of a book culture in Africa? Is it because books are not available? Initially donors tended to send inappropriate books, but through building relations of partnership this situation has much improved. Now the donors send according to the specifications supplied. People are starting to come to the public libraries because the books are more attractive, and the quality of holdings is improving.

With UNESCO, IDRC and British Council support, a multipurpose community centre with a library and an IT section has been opened. People started to visit because of their interest in IT but this has in turn helped to develop a love of books.

We want to develop partnerships with publishers, who need to realise the importance of properly resourced libraries for developing the book market. We are trying to develop a reading culture through book promotion activity and this helps to expand the market.

It's a question of attitude. Two potential investors went to China and found that most people were barefoot. Are the people poor? Or is this a big market for shoes?

JUSTUS MUGAJU: has worked for Fountain Publishers since 1997. Does a supply chain really exist in Uganda? If it does, how autonomous and home-grown is it? Or is it simply an extension of another, external supply chain? What opportunities can be exploited to develop an effective supply chain?

Our historical experience in Uganda divides into before the watershed of 1986, and after 1986. Before 1986 there was no supply chain at all. Writers and editors had left the country. So had the multinational publishers, and booksellers did not exist. There was no effective means of book distribution, and no book industry. The only books in the country were for schools.

Today, there are challenges at all points along the supply chain: capitalisation, a small market, a lack of authors, and a lack of reading culture - this last is the weakest link of all. More important than the issue of poverty, it’s a question of choices and perceived priorities on the part of consumers. Even professors at Makerere University do not themselves read books. In the rural areas, people read the Bible and little else. We need to boost the reading link in the chain, and to find how to turn these challenges into opportunities.

Some examples of how this can be done:

  1. Public policy today is to liberalise book procurement. Before 1986, there was a monopoly situation. During the 1990s, the decision was taken to liberalise, and this has encouraged the emergence of local publishers who are beginning to compete with the multinationals. Three new indigenous publishers have started up since 1993: M K Publishers, Fountain Publishers, and Monitor Publications. In the last 10 years, they have published many more local writers than ever before. Local skills of writing, editing and typesetting are also beginning to improve.
  2. Decentralisation - text book procurement has been decentralised to local suppliers, i.e. local booksellers. This will tend to strengthen the supply chain. Quite large booksellers have developed in Kampala and we hope that they will develop regional outlets.
  3. Co-editions between local and international publishers. The advantages are:
    (a) books on the region can be made available locally for the first time, and tend to sell very fast when they are - an example is a history of the Rwandan genocide co-published by C Hurst and Fountain
    (b) the local editions are much cheaper, for example a Westview title on women sells at US$60 but at 9,000 shillings (US$5) in the local edition.
  4. An explosion of consultancy work - for example in managing the local publication of overseas titles on a re-packaged, co-edition basis.

What are the lessons learned from the last 14 years?

  • Although the supply chain is still weak and fragile, there are opportunities which booksellers are learning to take advantage of
  • It is possible to access credit if you have a good product
  • The skill levels in editing are improving
  • New technologies are creating opportunities
  • Reading is still sensitive but is improving

What are the issues remaining?

  • What can be done to change the attitudes of Ugandans towards a reading culture and the appreciation of knowledge?
  • There is still insufficient back-up support from the booksellers association, the publishers association and other bodies for a viable supply chain
  • It remains a donor-driven environment - and what happens when the donor funds dry up? How do we avoid the collapse of the chain?

JAMES NG'OMBE: Malawi's experiences have some similarities with Uganda's. Over the last two weeks, I have been involved in a national tour of schools by publishers and booksellers, to promote books to teachers. There were 11 centres to visit, I went to five before the LBF. Each book fair started with an announcement of the bad news: the withdrawal of matching funds by Danida. The good news was that teachers would be able to buy books other than the core books with the help of the Textbook Revolving Fund (TRF). The TRF covers both core books and supplementary books and is part of an experiment over the last five years, under Danish auspices, to develop a supply chain where nothing existed before.

For Malawi, 1994 is the 'before and after' date. A 'seven day republic' had its rebirth after 1994 on all fronts, including a rebirth in education. Before 1994, the ministry both chose books and distributed them (if it distributed at all). There was no independent book distributor in Malawi. The parastatal which had been distributing had collapsed. Post-1994 we've seen the development of distribution, of authorship, of librarianship and of a reading culture. Free education has been introduced. The secondary sector had not been reviewed for 30 years, since independence, and was using books that had long since gone out of print. The development of a new curriculum, combined with publishing development, makes Danida's recent withdrawal very traumatic.

In 1994 there was one educational publisher in Malawi, now there are 11. All are members of the African Publishing Network (APNET). Publishers have managed to develop local authors to create the new curriculum.

Booksellers have come up in the gap created by the collapse of the parastatal distributor. There are now five solid bookshops, some of them chains. One of them, a new bookshop which has emerged in the last four years, has been responsible for distribution in the Danish-funded project.

Educational and text-book writers have also developed through the Danida project. The Malawian Writers Union (MWU) represents creative writers, many of whom have gone into exile. The Norwegians, through NORAD, have assisted the development of the MWU which now has an office. But the works of members are not yet represented in the local curriculum.

The Textbook Revolving Fund: The donor money from Danida did not go to the government, but encouraged the creation of the booksellers' association and of local authorship, as well as school libraries to encourage wider, non-textbook reading. Under the TRF, the Danish government was due to match school funds, with each school being responsible for building its own book collection. Titles are selected by the school committee in the light of needs, to introduce schools to the idea of choice. When the syllabus has been developed, the committee invites proposals from publishers which it then assesses and selects the best three to compete against each other in the market.

The TRF experiment was intended to develop a book chain which would outlive donor support. Donor support, due to end in 2003, has been withdrawn 18 months early. This year will test the TRF. Its success or failure will depend on the collections developed and managed by the schools. But the Danes have committed themselves to supplying all core funds. The TRF can be used for other subjects and the supplementary list of non-textbook titles, which go into school libraries.

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QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION

MR WILLIAMS, librarian from Jamaica: We have a mobile library section and have books to dispose of each year. What can the panel suggest? Are there ways that I as a librarian can help to resource leisure reading in Africa?

BARNARD BAGENDA: We need to start by creating an interest in reading, and then target the policy makers. Without commitment and interest from government your efforts may be wasted. The books have to be attractive and so may need to be repackaged. The Book Aid International Intra-African Book Support Scheme, for example, provides books with good content but whose quality may be poor.

DALHATU HAMZA, British Council, Nigeria: The Book Aid International Intra-African Book Support Scheme helps Africans to know each other better. There is a lack of a common, shared body of knowledge about African books. We have talked at today's seminars about the prospects for the book trade in Africa, but this conference has not addressed the crucial issues of the impediments in Africa. Africans fail to address their own weaknesses - the deterioration of the book trade as well as its success. The major problem is governments. An example is the decline of book shops in Nigeria over the years. There is no government commitment to books and to a literate culture. The real issue is the failure of governance and this issue needs to be addressed in considering the prospects for publishing and the book trade.

OLURONKE ORIMALADE: The World Bank procurement system in the past allowed no space for local publishers and booksellers. When the exchange rate deteriorated, bookshops ceased to be able to import books and with no local alternatives, they folded. Donors and governments must support policies which provide for local participation.

JAMES NG'OMBE: In Malawi, policy has interfered with the development of the book chain.

WALIJE GONDWE, Vinjeru Education in Malawi: We collect primary school books and equipment in the UK, our main problem is covering the shipping costs to Malawi and we need help with this.

SULAIMAN ADEBOWALE, Oxford Brookes University & Bellago Publishing Network: The debate needs to move beyond donor-funded initiatives to how to develop commercial expertise and commercially-viable initiatives. The priority is infrastructural development.

MANU HERBSTEIN: Could the panel address the issue of publishing in indigenous languages, especially with regard to schools. In Ghana, it has recently been announced that mother tongue teaching in schools is to be scrapped due to lack of books. Many mother tongue books are out of print. New technology now makes it possible to reprint easily once the rights situation is resolved.

JUSTUS MUGAJU: Fountain has moved into local language publishing. We now publish in three local languages plus Swahili. We've been pleasantly surprised by the results. But generally, publishers don't like to take these risks. With regard to donated books, the reading associations can use these, and they can be put into libraries.

OLURONKE ORIMALADE: Local language publishing is encouraged in Nigeria.

JAMES NG'OMBE: Issues of policy are confusing the situation in Malawi. There are two national languages. Currently, a new clause is being debated under which each child would use their mother tongue for the first four years in school. This would mean a jump from two languages to seven languages. Publishers are scared off by the risks entailed in dividing their publishing budget by seven instead of two.

MICHAEL SMOLLINS, Three Billion Books: Three Billion Books is a print on demand initiative to solve availability and accessibility issues in Africa. It cuts out the need to ship books across borders.

INNOCENT OKORO: A reading culture is held back by the scarcity of books that people want to read. Governments are not led by people who love books. Leaders are needed who do love books and who are prepared to introduce policies accordingly.

OLURONKE ORIMALADE: We need to get away from donor dependency and to re-introduce an appreciation of the real value of books.

DAVID NG'ANGA, Oxford Brookes University/Kenya: Books need to be seen as part of the wider market for leisure goods, they have to compete against bars and other demands on people's spending power.

BECKY CLARKE, Heinemann International: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the African Writers Series. Its history shows that when books are available at the right price, people do read. The publishing industry is still growing and we need to work together.

SUMMING UP

JUSTUS MUGAJU: We need to develop distinctive marketing techniques rather than just borrowing, and we need to build a culture which appreciates knowledge.

JAMES NG'OMBE: We need help to develop the infrastructure and the capital base. A project such as the Textbook Revolving Fund takes time to grow and publishing is an expensive business.

OLURONKE ORIMALADE: There are few bookshops in rural areas of Africa. Rural bookshop development must be a priority for donors.

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