Reading to Rise: A Book Club that Shines

The GCC Girls Academy library should be the heartbeat of the school. Its shelves hold academic, self-help and professional books, plus a community collection for young professionals in GCC's mentorship programme. Yet the library is quiet and participation is low. The problem is not ability, but a lack of consistent motivation and guidance that busy teachers cannot provide. Fortunately, we know what works. Twice in the last two years, volunteers ran book clubs for the girls and the wider community. Attendance was enthusiastic, but each club ended when the volunteers left. Interest was never the problem. Continuity was. Many girls are still catching up after years of disrupted schooling, so listening offers a pathway into reading. A facilitator reads aloud across sessions while girls practise attentive listening, ask questions at natural pauses and engage critically with the text. Each girl keeps a journal of new words. When stories introduce unfamiliar ideas, the facilitator helps girls appreciate other worlds while remaining confident in their own. This campaign will fund two part-time reading facilitators for an initial 24 months, one leading in English and one in Hausa, supported by a part-time Library & Community Coordinator. The coordinator will select books, manage inventory and loans, and organise community gatherings. Funding will also provide book-club sets, English-Hausa dictionaries, reading journals for all 400 girls, staff induction and a quarterly festival where girls read aloud to their families and community. A founding donor has already funded the first 12 months of the English programme, so momentum is real and half the journey is covered. Sponsor a facilitator for a month, a set of books or a class of journals, and help this book club shine and stay.