A charity has raised £13,500 to inspire and empower young readers in the developing world.

The alliance between the Tauheedul Charity and Book Aid International began in 2013 with a programme to establish portable school libraries in ten primary schools on Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania.

The Charity launched a campaign on World Book Day 2014 to expand this project to a further five schools in the region.

Working in partnership with schools in the Tauheedul network, the charity raised £13,500 for the ‘School Library in a Box’ scheme. The donation was presented to Book Aid International this morning by the pupils and staff of Tauheedul Boys’ School, Blackburn.

The people of Pemba rely primarily on subsistence farming and small-scale fishing for a living, with many surviving on less than US $1 a day.

There is only one public library on the island, serving the population of over 300,000. Some schools do not have any books, let alone a library, and many children on Pemba had never visited a library or seen a storybook before the School Library in a Box scheme.

The project provides portable libraries containing books in Swahili and English to schools that do not have a building that can house a library.

Director of Tauheedul Charity, Hamid Patel said: “At Tauheedul, we are passionate about making a difference to the lives of children through education. Our partnership with Book Aid International is underpinned by a vision of more children in Africa learning to read and having all the opportunities that this brings. The Zanzibar School Library in a Box programme is an example of how our partnership is enhancing the lives of thousands of children and young people.”

Director of Book Aid International, Alison Hubert said: “Book Aid International’s vision is of vibrant libraries that inspire readers and empower communities.

"A School Library in a Box is just such a library – filled with all kinds of books in the children’s mother tongue and in English. With this support from Tauheedul Charity we are able to provide thousands more children in Zanzibar with the books they need to flourish at school and beyond.