London ( CNN ) -- Stars from one of the world 's great soccer teams will be encouraging reading as part of a new project to put one million digital books in the hands of African children . Spanish football team FC Barcelona -- home to stars Lionel Messi , Xavi , Eric Abidal and Seydou Keita -- joined forces Thursday with the non-profit organization Worldreader in a campaign to inspire a wave of literacy in sub-Saharan Africa through the use of e-readers . Cristiano Ronaldo : I 'm better than Messi . Founded by David Risher , a former executive at Microsoft and Amazon , Worldreader works on the premise that e-readers , like Amazon 's Kindle , could help children in developing countries to `` awaken their passion for reading , and improve their lives . '' `` Worldreader is committed to putting a digital library in the hands of all children throughout the world 's developing countries , and we 're thrilled with the support of FC Barcelona to send one million e-books to students in Africa , '' said Risher , Worldreader 's CEO . 'Harry Potter ' series finally available as e-books . The campaign is appealing for one million donors to each make a $ 5 contribution to help them reach their target of distributing one million e-books to 10,000 children in Africa . Because students bring home the devices and typically share their use with family members , friends and neighbors , it is expected the initiative will help put e-books in the hands of 50,000 people . The e-readers will be distributed to children in Ghana , Kenya , and Uganda , where the non-profit is already operating , and soon in Rwanda , which is to become the next focus for the organization . Football giant Barcelona will lend its weight to the campaign , with its stars sending messages via the e-readers to encourage students to read more and achieve their goals . Worldreader believes technology can provide the best approach to encouraging literacy in parts of the developing world where books are otherwise scarce . Unlike traditional books -- which had to be physically imported , one title at a time -- a single e-Reader could provide a child with a vast array of current , relevant titles at a low distribution cost . The increased access to reading material , it was believed , could broaden the way students think and develop their creativity by allowing them to go beyond the syllabus to follow their reading interests . A year-long pilot of the program to 350 students in six schools in Ghana yielded promising results . Reading test scores for primary students participating in the program increased by 4.8 % to 7.6 % more than their peers who were not taking part , although benefits for older students were less clear . The e-readers gave students access to a much greater variety of titles : 107 , on average , as opposed to the between 3 to 11 books the average student had access to at home without the devices . They swiftly learned how to use the e-readers , despite 43 % having never used a computer before . Read also : The Himba , Namibia 's iconic red women . `` Worldreader has not only given us unparalleled access to books , the program has motivated my students and instilled a joy for reading that never existed before , '' said Jacqueline Abiso Dzifa , a teacher at Presbyterian Primary in Kade , Ghana , whose students participated in the pilot . The students relished their access to `` a wide variety of classic and cutting-edge literature by renowned authors , '' she said . As e-readers provided a pathway into the digital world , many students also used them to read international news sites that would have been inaccessible previously . Just one of the collateral benefits to the program was that students gained greater exposure to African writers , said Worldreader managing director and co-founder Colin McElwee . The program was working with African publishing houses to digitize their titles and provide students with local , relevant content -- which had positive impacts on local literary cultures . `` We want to digitize the curriculum , there 's a whole catalog of books you can digitize , '' he said . `` Once you digitize them , you ca n't just sell them in Ghana or Kenya -- you have a global market . So this is the first time African culture can be exported seamlessly , globally . That has an enormous impact on the potential of Africa over time . ''
Football club FC Barcelona is supporting a project to distribute one million e - books in Africa . The project will see e - books distributed to children in Ghana , Kenya , Uganda and Rwanda . It is believed the books encourage literacy by providing students access to more information . Younger students in an e - reader pilot project in Ghana performed better in reading tests .