Sabre
Foundation and Africa
1992 - 2007
By
the end of 2007, the Cambridge, MA-based Sabre Foundation has sent close
to 2.5 million new books and CD-ROMs—with a fair market value in excess
of $100 million—to Africa, with the educational materials selected and distributed
by indigenous NGO partner organizations. The books shipped were donated
to Sabre by leading U.S. publishers and covered a wide range of subjects
and educational levels.
Beginning in 1992 with shipments to Kenya and Uganda,
Sabre’s Book Donation Program in Africa has sent educational materials to
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia,
South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Sabre also endeavors to assist indigenous
publishing in Africa by purchasing Africansourced books for distribution
through Sabre’s partner organizations. In 2005/06, with funding provided
by UNESCO, Sabre purchased $20,000 worth of books published by member presses
of the African Book Collective, represented in the U.S. by Michigan State
University Press.
As part of its ongoing commitment to Africa, Sabre has
also organized ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) workshops
in Ghana and Tanzania for its African partner organizations. These workshops
provided “hands-on” training and in-depth discussion of topics such as best
practices, publishing, and program evaluation.
Sabre Foundation’s Book Donation Program is characterized by the exceptional
quality of Sabre’s inventory and a network of knowledgeable, resourceful
and motivated partners in the field. Rather than trying to send as many
books as possible, Sabre gives its partners the opportunity to select books
and CD-ROMs from detailed inventory offering lists. Only titles and quantities
requested by its partners are shipped by Sabre. Sabre’s rule-of-thumb is
that something which is of no value in the U.S. is usually equally valueless
overseas. In 2006, Sabre commissioned an external evaluation of its book
program, focusing on Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Key findings included not
only the high quality of the books sent, but also their importance to the
development of education, literacy and learning in the countries served.
Since 1986, Sabre has donated close to 8 million new books, CD-ROMs and
other educational materials, valued at more than $250 million, to over 80
countries worldwide.
February 2008
Sabre Foundation and Shipments to Arab/Muslim Countries: 2002 - 2007
From 2002 through 2007, the Cambridge, MA-based Sabre Foundation has sent
over 417,000 new books and other educational materials — with a fair market
value of over $15M — to Arab and/or Muslim countries. Beginning in 2002 with
shipments to Afghanistan, Algeria and Kyrgyzstan, the Book Donation Program
expanded to include Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Indonesia, Jordan,
Kazakhstan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and, most recently, Iraq,
Lebanon and Palestine. The books and other educational materials are donated to
Sabre by leading U.S. commercial and academic publishers and cover a wide
range of subjects and educational levels. They are selected and distributed incountry
by indigenous NGO partner organizations.
The books selected by NGO partners in these countries included the following
subject areas: Agriculture; American Studies; Art & Film; Business; Computer
Science; Ecology/Environment; Economics; Education; Engineering; English
Language & Literature; History; Human Rights; Law; Library & Reference;
Mathematics; Media; Medicine; Philosophy; Political Science; Psychology;
Science; and Social Sciences, as well as books and educational materials for
children. In addition to new books and CD-ROMs, recent shipments to Iraq
included two “mirror sites” (hard drives) provided by MIT’s OpenCourseWare for
Iraqi universities. OpenCourseWare is a large-scale, Web-based electronic
publishing site providing free, searchable access to syllabi and other materials for
all of MIT’s undergraduate courses, available to educators, students, and selflearners
around the world.
Sabre Foundation’s Book Donation Program is characterized by the exceptional
quality of Sabre’s inventory and a network of knowledgeable, resourceful and
motivated partners in the field. Rather than trying to send as many books as
possible, Sabre gives its partners the opportunity to select books and CD-ROMs
from detailed inventory offering lists. Only titles and quantities requested by its
partners are shipped by Sabre. Sabre’s rule-of-thumb is that something which is of
no value in the U.S. is usually equally valueless overseas. In 2006, Sabre
commissioned an external evaluation of its book program, focusing in particular
on Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Key findings included not only the high quality of
the books sent, but also their importance to the development of education, literacy
and learning in the countries served.
Since 1986, Sabre has donated close to 8 million new books, CD-ROMs and
other educational materials, valued at more than $250 million, to over 80
countries worldwide.
January 2008