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About International Reading Association

For over 50 years, the International Reading Association (IRA) has served as one of the leading volunteer organizations dedicated to advancing global literacy. The Association also serves as an advocate for the promotion of the culture of reading in schools, homes, the workplace, and the community at large. IRA, a not-for-profit professional organization, is made up of volunteers from virtually every literacy-related field including pre-school, elementary, and secondary school teachers, as well as school administrators, school and public librarians, teacher educators, education researchers, psychologists, linguists, and publishers.

Drawing upon the expertise and experience of nearly 90,000 dues-paying members, IRA acts as a dynamic engine for stimulating, collecting and disseminating information about evidence-based practices and effective education policies through such venues as its conferences, publications, and professional development workshops. The International Reading Association's network of autonomous affiliated state, provincial, and over 60 national reading associations throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania helps to further extend its reach and resources.

International Voluntary Service Activities

Volunteers from the International Reading Association provide technical expertise in capacity-building service activities in partnership with governments and local institutions. These activities have ranged from working with teacher education faculty to develop new courses for elementary school teachers, working with government ministry professionals to design new policies and programs for literacy development, and working with classroom teachers to improve instruction.

In the past year, IRA sent over 125 volunteers to such countries as Bangladesh, Ghana, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tanzania. The IRA model is intended to provide practical and technical solutions to real problems. Our programs are long-term, with some collaborative relationships lasting up to 6 years. Within these programs, IRA volunteers are typically deployed for two weeks. Volunteers generally remain engaged in the activity as resources long after they return home.

Although we rely completely on donor support to underwrite the cost of volunteer travel we anticipate a slight increase in the number of volunteers we will be able to send to the field in the coming year. We project continued activity in Africa and South Asia as well as an expanded range of programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The International Reading Association currently maintains a database of over 250 volunteers. We constantly seek to expand this database, particularly with individuals who possess special technical skills and a high level of commitment to volunteerism and the spirit of collaboration.