NABU Multilingual Reading App and Web Reader

Solution Pitch

The Problem

Globally, 400M children lack adequate literacy to participate in their societies. In low- and middle-income countries, 53% of children cannot read and understand a simple story by the end of primary school. This crisis is driven by a scarcity of culturally relevant educational materials in mother tongue languages.

The Solution

NABU is a free, digital educational tool designed to enrich children's literacy by providing access to high-quality, bilingual content in mother tongue languages. Through our low-bandwidth app and web reader, NABU makes culturally relevant books accessible, especially in regions where physical books are scarce. The app, available on iOS and Android, allows children to download and read offline, ensuring wide accessibility. The NABU Web Reader, accessible here, was launched to support schools and libraries, making the platform available on laptops for classroom use. NABU’s pedagogy is grounded in educational best practices, incorporating levelled and curated content that caters to various learning styles. By collaborating with local authors and illustrators, NABU ensures that the stories reflect the cultural nuances and daily realities of readers, fostering a sense of identity and belonging while enhancing language skills, comprehension, and critical thinking.

Stats

NABU currently serves 7.4 million children globally through their digital platforms, print materials, and teachers trainings