"For a long period, Sida has been the main donor for textbook production and distribution in Tanzania. After several years of stagnation in the sector (despite generous support), the shortage of textbooks in schools had become alarming, and the Government of Tanzania (GoT) and Sida agreed upon a new start. The New Textbook Policy (of 1991) abolished the state monopoly in textbook production, and a new curriculum for primary school was ready to be launched. Accordingly, there was a need for new textbooks in all subjects. In addition, the former single-textbook system was to be replaced by a multitextbook system, with free choice of textbooks in school (in accordance with the New Textbook Policy). The Pilot Project for Publishing (PPP), 1993-2000, was started as an instrument for implementing the new policy and helping to strengthen the textbook sub-sector. The main aim was to smooth the transition from monopoly to market system in the textbook sector. Thus, the task of the PPP was to transfer responsibility for textbook publishing and distribution step-by-step to local commercial publishers and booksellers. The overall objective of the project was to find new ways to improve the quality of education. The private actors that were introduced into and involved in the project were intended to achieve supply of cheap and good quality textbooks. The purpose of this evaluation is to show whether and, if so, how the quality, availability and cost of school textbooks have been improved by the PPP." (Executive summary, page vii)