The Asia Foundation

Contribute to Change

THE BOOKS FOR ASIA FUND

Books change lives. When you give to The Asia Foundation's Books for Asia Fund you are empowering children with literacy, creating opportunities for higher learning, and educating future leaders in 18 countries, from Afghanistan to Vietnam. Books crackle with ideas and theories – they shape and hone young people's imaginations, critical thinking skills, and their understanding of the world, and are powerful tools to combat poverty and inspire positive, long-lasting change.

Many of us take access to good books and well-equipped libraries for granted. At Books for Asia we believe everyone deserves to experience the transformative power unlocked by opening a book. Your donation can make the difference between opportunity and hardship for thousands of people.

Donate Now - Just $1 can put a book into the hands of a child.

Special Update

Educators in Asia are urgently requesting textbooks in order to provide adequate English-language instruction, considered a crucial component of basic education. We are asking you to help us meet this need by supporting Books for Asia's intensive, on the ground efforts to donate one million books to Asia this year through our Books for Asia Fund. Read more…

Responding to why donations of English language books are essential, Pranorn Maisan, teacher, Phuket, Thailand, says "…students will do better in life if they can speak English." Meet Pranorn Maisan and her students by visiting our online exhibit.

Any Amount Can Help

Contributions to the Books for Asia Fund in any amount are grouped together to meet a wide range of critical and immediate needs including delivering high quality books to the most remote regions and strengthening infrastructure and staff in schools, universities, and community libraries. Here are some examples of how your donation can translate into action:

• $50 can send a first-ever set of brand new books to a rural school in Afghanistan.
• $75 can provide storybooks to encourage literacy in classrooms in Cambodia or the Philippines.
• $150 can send medical textbooks to teaching hospitals in Pakistan.
• $200 can stock five community environment learning centers with science books in Mongolia.
• $500 can provide law books to legal aid groups in Bangladesh, Nepal or Indonesia.
• $800 can repair and restock a war damaged school library in Sri Lanka.
• $1,000 can provide contemporary textbooks to universities in Laos, China and India.

Contribute to the Books for Asia Fund or mail a check to:
Books for Asia Fund
The Asia Foundation
P.O. Box 193223
San Francisco, CA 94119-3223

For more information contact the Resource Development team at:
give@asiafound.org
1-866-581-GIVE (4483)

HIGH PRIORITY BOOKS FOR ASIA PROJECTS

If you are able to support the full cost of a project, please choose from the following top priorities. These projects increase literacy and access to information for young people in Asia with the transformative, life-changing experience of outstanding, instructive books. The following projects are ready for implementation but lack funding. You can make them happen:

Expand Outreach to the Most Remote and Conflict-Ridden Regions

Young people exposed to political conflict and trauma can find inspiration through books. Books for Asia is region-wide focused, with a special immediate emphasis on nations where students are suffering or experiencing tremendous change or instability. In many countries, that means distributing books to the poorest and most remote regions.

Afghanistan
A lack of books, one of the most basic tools of education, gravely challenges the ability of schools and libraries in Afghanistan to renew education after years of war. You can send a shipment of 15,000 books to the neediest libraries and schools. $9,000

Cambodia
Years of turmoil have finally given way to stability, yet development in Cambodia is slow compared with other countries in Southeast Asia. With your support, universities, libraries, and rural areas beyond the capital city can receive double the number of new English books. $10,000

Malaysia
Four hundred miles of South China Sea separate the two largest East Malaysian states, Sabah and Sarawak, from the rest of the country. East Malaysians lag behind their peninsular counterparts in education, economic development, and health services. BFA focuses on reaching books to schools that suffer from the lowest literacy rates and to communities that are often only accessible by river boat. Because the cost of delivering books to Eastern Malaysia is prohibitive, your donation is especially important. $5,000

Mongolia
Environmental-learning centers are being established in remote Mongolia to help citizens participate in the responsible development of the country's mineral resources. Equip these centers with critical resource books and support community training to be part of securing Mongolia's future. $5,000

Pakistan
Female literacy rate stands under 9% in Pakistan's most remote areas. Help young girls become literate by enabling us to launch a Box Library Program – a mobile way of distributing books to these isolated and often conflict-affected regions. $15,000

Philippines
Mindanao is the Philippines poorest region. After decades of sectarian violence, with the current ceasefire and the promise of peace, you can help empower communities and contribute to overall development of Mindanao by sending books for local education efforts. $5,000

Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste is the 21st century's newest sovereign nation, and Asia's poorest. The country needs children's books in English, Indonesian and Tetun languages. Your contribution will support mobile libraries to distribute these essential materials. $25,000

Vietnam
Vietnam's children – the next generation of leaders – will carry forth relationships with the outside world, and books are needed to meet the educational demands of this rapidly developing country. Your support will supply special collections of English books for public libraries and reading festivals. $10,000

Strengthen Library Infrastructure and Staff

Throughout Asia, libraries and indigenous literacy programs suffer from lack of resources. Books for Asia aims to cultivate a culture of readers, researchers, and writers by training librarians and distributing resource materials to promote readership and research.

Afghanistan
Help improve the overall learning environment for girls at Lama-e Shaheed Girls High School and others like it by providing books, library equipment such as shelves, catalogues, windows, and chairs, and supporting librarian and teacher training. $15,000

Indonesia
Librarians at the Islamic university system, serving low to middle income students across the country, are in critical need of creating a common, Internet-accessible catalogue and inter-library loan system to enable all 48 member institutions to share limited resources. Even the library at the most prestigious university in the system, UIN Jakarta, contains only 4 books per student against the international standard of 20 books. $25,000

Laos
Support Laos, a country still mending from decades of foreign control that lacks basic library infrastructure. Your help will supply libraries with books, staff, and training to improve educational resources, with a focus on the Central Library of the National University. $20,000

Maldives
With support from you, Books for Asia can provide basic infrastructure to make libraries functional and provide community, school, and university librarians and teachers with training to create interlibrary loan systems and events to attract less educated populations to take advantage of library services. In island nations such as the Maldives where the cost of books and travel is prohibitive, the inability of libraries to share resources is especially limiting. $10,000

When you donate to Books for Asia, you unlock the potential of a young person and her community – and you participate in worldwide efforts for peace and prosperity.

To sponsor any of these high priority projects, please contact:

Alice Wu
Associate Director, Resource Development
awu@asiafound.org
415-743-3357

See a full list of The Asia Foundation funds.