"The five case studies on the cost-effectiveness of publishing educational materials in national and local African languages, published in this volume, were commissioned in 1996 on behalf of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) by its Working Group on Books and Learning Materials. The UK’s Overseas Development Agency (ODA), which is the lead agency of the ADEA Working Group on Books and Learning Materials, organized two workshops on the topic of publishing books and other educational materials in African national languages, and commissioned these five case studies of the costs and benefits of educational materials in African languages." (Introduction, page 1)