"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) more

"This report is the result of a joint study of gender aspects in textbooks used in primary schools in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which was commissioned by the Swedish International Development Co-Operation Agency (Sida) to be used as an input to the development of programmes which address the ... issue of quality in basic education. The report consists of three separate country-specific studies, supplemented by information gathered through interviews with individuals involved in textbook production, mainly in Zimbabwe. The three case studies examine gender aspects of primary school textbooks, gender policies, stereotyping of gender roles, stereotyping of women’s roles in textbooks, and the role of publishers. The authors state that“gender issues have not featured in African publishing debates. The issues are not yet perceived as a component of African publishing development”, and that there are two inter-related aspects to gender equity in African publishing, namely (1) the role of African women in publishing, and (2) the content of books and editorial policies of publishers. The report makes a number of recommendations that should be addressed by publishers to produce more gender aware textbooks, to involve women in buying books, reading and writing, and to facilitate women entering management levels in publishing and textbook procurement." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2372) more