Building a culture of reading
Literacy Design · Community Libraries · Readership Programs
About
Kitaab works across rural and underserved communities, redesigning libraries, running readership programs, and training local youth to lead them. We build reading ecosystems that outlast our direct involvement.Nearly 70% of government schools in India have no functioning library. Over 50% of Grade 5 children cannot read a Grade 2 text. These are not statistics about motivation. They are statistics about access.Design is central to everything we do. A well-designed library is not an aesthetic choice. It is what determines whether a child walks in once or returns every day. We aim to transform reading spaces to feel welcoming, culturally rooted, and genuinely built for the people who use them.Our Readership Program ensures that libraries do not remain passive collections of books. Through structured, volunteer-led reading sessions, storytelling, and guided discussion, we build genuine reading habits in children who have never had access to books beyond their school textbooks. We train local youth to run these sessions, creating a community of readers that sustains itself long after our direct involvement ends.Since 2015, we have worked in across North India, from remote villages in the Garhwal hills to resettlement colonies in Delhi. We have reached over 1,500 children, and built something rare: reading spaces that communities actually use, protect, and call their own.In our experience, when children are given the space, the books, and the encouragement to read, they do.
5 Libraries · 1,500+ Children · 100+ Facilitators · 4 States
Library ProgramWe redesign underutilized spaces into welcoming, well-curated community libraries. Every library is designed with the community, and stocked with age-appropriate books.
Readership ProgramWe implement structured, volunteer-led reading sessions that build reading habits in children. The target is to make reading a joyful, and regular part of a child's life, and to build life-long readers
Youth LeadershipWe recruit and train university students and young graduates as reading facilitators, and library managers. They are the driving force behind every library we build and every reading habit we nurture.
Contact
Whether you are here to partner, volunteer, donate books, or simply learn more about our work, we would love to hear from you.
Write to us at: [email protected]