2010 ILP Report

Thanks to the fantastic commitment and support from booksellers, together with publishers and many other contributors, we are delighted to report our 2010 fundraising figure is $609,000 – a staggering $200,000 above our original target. In the past twelve months, we've seen significant increase in donations from Individuals, schools, business and fundraising events and we would like to thank you for the role you've played in helping keep the campaign alive and in the public eye, and for helping us achieve this growth.

Sally Morgan recently wrote: Reading opens doors to dreams. In the past two years, ILP has sent over 60,000 culturally appropriate books to 200 remote communities. We have also made seven field trips to communities that stretch from the Kimberleys to Warburton in Western Australia and from the Roper River to Manyallaluk in the Northern Territory. As well as core members of the book industry, we were fortunate to have ambassadors such as Andy Griffiths, Kate Grenville and Kaz Cooke, helping kids in these communities, to write and produce their own books. As Andy Griffiths says, these stories of crocodiles and hungry pythons, floods and pig hunting are very evocative, humorous and introduce us to remote worlds. The Indigenous Literacy Project plans to publish ‘The Naked Boy & the Crocodile & Other Stories From Remote Communities’ for Indigenous Literacy Day on 7 September this year.

As well as supplying books, an important part of the project in 2010 was the launch and trial of Book Buzz , an early literacy project aimed at 0-2 year olds, in three remote communities. Whilst its early days, through the initial work and negotiations that The Fred Hollows Foundation has taken, we are delighted to report some positive feedback. This came from Warburton in WA, where stories including The Very Hungry Caterpillar were translated into the local language. Anne Shinkfield, manager of the Playgroup Centre told us that our project was having a significant impact on literacy levels within the entire community.

"Your project is making a difference. In the past six months we have seen marked change in children's behaviour towards books", she told us during our November visit.

Other highlights during the year were funding for five literacy based projects which not only supported local Indigenous culture but language development and capacity, in a diverse number of communities based in Central Australia, Katherine, Maningrida, the Barkly Tablelands and Fitzroy Crossing. These projects are listed in further detail on our website and include the publication of a series of language books called The Honey Ant Eaters; Capturing stories of Ringers and other Indigenous station workers from around the Barkly Tablelands; a children's story developed with children, parents & grandparent with ILP ambassador Leonie Norrington as well as providing resources for a new women's centre at Fitzroy Crossing; and the sponsorship of a community based play based on The Rainbow Serpent in Katherine NT.

In 2011 The Indigenous Literacy Project will become a Foundation and will hold its main fundraising day again on the first Wednesday in September, – 7 September 2011. Together with our team of ambassadors, our Patron Therese Rein and many supporters, we hope to match 2010 fundraising figures. Our first priority in the year is to address book supply to those remote communities in Qld, WA and Victoria that have been affected by floods. In addition, we're pleased to announce our involvement with the Queensland Department of Education and 50 schools in a new literacy project called IDREAM.

Karen Williams, Indigenous Literacy Project