Programmes

Six pillars. One ecosystem.

Our six pillars form an ecosystem that moves from documentation to delivery, from enrichment to empowerment, and from the community to the policy table. At the grassroots, we reach children directly. Through the APGD, we reach the thinking and the systems that shape their world.

01

Documentation, Publishing & Inclusive Books

VLA commissions and produces books that document settlement realities and respond to them with values-based, civic, and accessible titles — all made with local African illustrators. Publishing is the thread that runs through every other pillar.

Four book categories

  • Cat. I

    Documentation Books

    First-person accounts and photo-narrative titles documenting life in informal settlements — the foundation of everything else we do.

  • Cat. II

    Values-Based Books

    Stories and characters that model character, resilience, and ethical decision-making for young readers.

  • Cat. III

    Civic Education Books

    Age-appropriate introductions to rights, governance, community, and active citizenship.

  • Cat. IV

    Accessible & Inclusive Books

    Formats designed for children with disabilities, including Braille-ready layouts and audio companions.

Publishing goals

  • /Publish a minimum of 2 new books per year in Phase 1, scaling to 6 per year by Phase 3.
  • /Commission local African illustrators for all titles.
  • /Distribute free copies to all mobile library units and partner schools.
  • /Build an open-access digital archive of settlement documentation.
02

Mobile Children's Libraries

Roving library units bring reading directly into communities on a reliable, fixed weekly schedule — removing the access barrier for children who have no library within reach.

  • /Deploy 2 mobile library units in Year 1, serving Kibera, Mathare, and Korogocho on a fixed weekly schedule.
  • /Each unit carries a curated selection of VLA-published and third-party books across reading levels.
  • /Library visits are paired with brief storytelling or read-aloud sessions led by trained facilitators.
  • /Track readership and book circulation to guide future publishing decisions.
03

Reading, Storytelling, Civic Education & Enrichment Events

Events are where community meets programme. Children read, compete, learn their rights, and are publicly celebrated — transforming literacy from a private act into a civic one.

  • /Reading competitions and spelling bees open to all settlement children.
  • /Storytelling circles and oral narrative sessions.
  • /Community cinema screenings of documentary and educational content.
  • /Civic education workshops: know-your-rights sessions adapted for children.
  • /Art and illustration workshops tied to the VLA book series.
  • /Community health and wellness days co-facilitated with partner health NGOs.
  • /Annual VLA Reading Day: a public celebration of children's reading achievement.
  • /After-school enrichment clubs operating in partnership with local schools.
VLA Principle

Literacy + Civic Awareness = Active Citizens

A child who can read but does not know their rights is only half-equipped. VLA's events programme treats civic education not as an add-on to literacy, but as its natural destination.

04

AI Learning Fellowships & Civic Leadership

VLA's fellowship programme backs young people aged 18–28 to build AI-powered solutions to real community problems — and funds them to do it. Fellowship winners will:

  • /Receive structured mentorship from AI practitioners and civic leaders.
  • /Be funded to build an AI-powered community project addressing a documented local need.
  • /Present their project at the annual VLA Community Summit.
  • /Gain access to a VLA alumni network for ongoing support and collaboration.
  • /Be profiled in VLA's annual impact report and digital platforms.
The Fellowship Philosophy

We back builders, not consumers.

We do not train young people to consume AI — we back them to deploy it for their communities. Every fellowship project must be rooted in a documented community need.

05

Inclusive Development & Mwangaza AI

Virtue Literacy Africa is committed to ensuring that the benefits of literacy, storytelling, and civic education are accessible to every child — including those with disabilities. This pillar has two workstreams.

Workstream A — Inclusive Books & Facilitation

  • /Publish a minimum of 1 accessible/inclusive title per year (see Pillar 1).
  • /Partner with disability-focused organisations to co-design book formats and content.
  • /Ensure all mobile library units carry accessible materials.
  • /Train facilitators in inclusive facilitation and basic sign language.
  • /Advocate for inclusive education policy at county and national level.

Workstream B — Mwangaza AI

Mwangaza ("light" in Swahili) is VLA's flagship AI inclusion initiative — an offline-capable tool designed for the families and communities that need it most.

  • /An offline-capable AI tool for caregivers, parents, and teachers in low-connectivity settlements.
  • /Provides reading guidance, early literacy assessment, and learning activity suggestions.
  • /Built on open-source models, localisable to Swahili, Kikuyu, Luo, and other Kenyan languages.
  • /Designed with and for persons with disabilities: voice-first interface, high-contrast visual mode.
  • /Free to access; funded through VLA's partnership and sponsorship model.
The Mwangaza Promise

Light for everyone.

Mwangaza will never be paywalled. It is designed for the families who need it most — built to work offline, in local languages, on low-cost devices.

06

African Perspectives on Governance and Development

The work of reaching children in informal settlements generates something beyond impact on the ground. It generates evidence — about what communities need, about what works, and about the gap between the policies designed to serve people and the lives those people are actually living. That evidence deserves a rigorous, credible, internationally visible platform.

The scholarly voice of our work

The African Perspectives on Governance and Development (APGD) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published biannually — a home for evidence-based research on governance, development, and social innovation across Africa, written by and for the researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and scholars shaping the continent's future.

It carries the same conviction that drives everything else we do: that the gap between Africa's potential and Africa's reality is not fixed — and that knowledge, honestly gathered and rigorously shared, is one of the most powerful tools we have to close it.

At a glance

  • /Open access — free to read, cite, and share globally.
  • /Double-blind peer review at every stage.
  • /Biannual publication, with June and December editions.
  • /Online first — accepted articles published on acceptance.
  • /Nine focus areas, from governance to climate policy.
Visit the journal → Partner with the APGD

Support a pillar.

Sponsor

Fund a mobile unit, a book publication, a fellowship cohort, or a civic event. Every gift ties to a named deliverable.

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Partner

Schools, NGOs, government agencies, and governance organisations can partner at the pillar level.

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Volunteer your skills

Illustrators, AI practitioners, civic educators, health workers, and storytellers are all welcome.

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