promote their languages. Out of the more than 7800 storybooks (as of September 2020), more than 60% have been “ASb-approved”, meaning that the initiative has checked the content and language in the storybooks. All the stories are illustrated, either by professional illustrators in various African countries or by the users themselves. Development The official launch of the website took place in Pretoria, South Africa, in June 2014, with funding from the European Union. The same month there was an ASb summit at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to advance the goals of the initiative and forge connections with other organisations. Pilot countries To test and get feedback on the website and stories, ASb worked in 2014/2015 with 14 pilot sites in South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho and Uganda – schools and community libraries that represent the target audience of the initiative. The pilot sites experimented with various methods of storybook delivery suitable for rural and peri-urban African contexts: digital projection of downloaded stories using data projectors and low-cost print versions of the storybooks for individual reading. In addition, there is strong advocacy to promote systemic implementation in schools, teacher education and the library networks in the pilot countries. Currently, ASb works with local-language champions in several countries to promote storybook development and translation into Africa languages. e.g. Apps ASb has developed two apps which complement its website. African Storybook Reader allows storybooks to be downloaded on to a smartphone or tablet and read offline. With African Storybook Maker, a user can make their own picture storybooks offline on a smartphone using their own photos or with illustrations from the ASb image library. Storybooks created on a mobile device can be sent to the main ASb website (for sharing and printing) when the device is connected to the Internet. Partner organisations and partner projects Partners are key to the ASb, as it relies on other organisations and individual champions to advocate for local language storybooks in countries across the continent. Partnerships with people and organisations in communities are also crucial to ensuring that the published storybooks are appropriate for children in those communities. ASb has also collaborate with organisations doing similar work, including sharing stories, such as Pratham Books' Storyweaver, Book Dash, Room to Read, Molteno Foundation, Nelson Mandela Institute, Nal’ibali, Little Zebra Books, and READ Educational Trust. The independent Global African Storybook Project was created in 2015 with the