Lubuto’s vision is a world where all children and youth are supported by libraries to reach their full potential and realize their rights to culture and information.
Lubuto’s mission is to demonstrate how a locally owned network of dynamic, free libraries for African children and youth can support them in developing the knowledge and skills to grow and connect with their culture and community and participate fully in society.
Since its founding in 2005, Lubuto Library Partners has successfully challenged narrow perceptions about what a library can be and do through our impactful work with young people in Zambia. Lubuto equitably welcomes Zambia’s young people in safe, inclusive and joy-filled spaces—giving them opportunities to grow, learn and thrive.
Lubuto Libraries’ doors are often the only ones open to the most vulnerable children, including those out of school, children with disabilities, girls and young mothers and those living on the street. The libraries’ supportive environments feature:
● extensive and accessible collections of the best fiction and informational literature for young people, in English and Zambian languages, and the best print, film and digital media available
● programming that has given over 25,000 children education and literacy, social and emotional learning and self-expression through reading, music, art, drama, technology, mentoring, English and Zambian literacy and more, continuously making progress in achieving gender equity
● regular, targeted outreach that ensures that each child in need finds a home in the library
We work through a flagship Model Library in Lusaka and a Model Rural Library in Southern Province to train librarians, teachers and community members, building a network of five Lubuto libraries across Zambia that are owned and sustained by local organizations.
