"Examines the involvement of the World Bank and other aid agencies in funding textbook publishing in Africa and other parts of the developing world. The author notes that the fundamental role of books in education was not, however, widely recognized at first, and relatively few early education projects had book-provision or book-development elements; specific assistance to book publishing was a later development. He reviews some of the pre-1985 activities of the World Bank in the sphere of textbooks and discusses common problems in their implementation. The history of aid agency involvement in book provision is still relatively short. It started only in the 1970s and it was inevitable that mistakes would be made initially; but recognition of the mistakes and the development of a more catholic approach came very rapidly, and within ten years there were clear signs by the aid agencies of much deeper thinking in this complex sector. The latest [1990s] generation of aid agencies is approaching book provision from a much wider basis, and many projects are extremely complex. “The World Bank recognizes this and sees it both as an important development but also an increased risk. In many countries there is a much more conscious attempt to involve local commercial organizations in developmental work and the benefits of bank investment." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 239)