BookPath
''Education is the most powerful tool with which one can change the world'' - Nelson Mandela
BookPath works towards a world where knowledge is available to every child and every student. As the value and knowledge in books are the most efficient input to tackle social challenges, we strive to enhance the quality of education in Sub-Saharan-Africa by providing students with educational resources. When knowledge becomes widely available, everybody is equipped with the necessary toolkit to change the status quo proactively. Your support creates a better-educated world!
562 €
Fundingsum
31
Supporters
Michael Schmidt
Projektberater
"This was a remarkable round of crowd financing."
About this project
Funding period
5/17/21
10:57 AM
-
6/13/21
11:59 PM
Realisation
Impact within 2 months
Start level
500 €
Finance the first big shipment of 1.000 university books to African Universities and help to expand BookPath to new locations.
Category
Education
City
Maastricht
What is this project all about?
BookPath is all about leveraging the knowledge in books to work towards a better world. On the one side, we encourage students in the Netherlands to donate their valuable university books and extend the life and impact of the written knowledge. We created the logistical infrastructure to collect up to date university books and thereby reduce the number of books thrown away after single-usage. On the other hand, we collaborate with established NGOs to transparently ship the books to destinations where these books receive a second life. Ultimately, these books fundamentally improve the students' study opportunities.
What is the project goal and who is the project for?
The goal of this project is to provide students in Africa with the university books they need. Specifically, we hope to be able to support those students that have been caught by the education void that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. Many students were unable to adopt remote, online education and require all the support they can get to be optimally prepared for their future.
Why would you support this project?
There are universities in the world where students share one book among 60 students. This results in students unable to reach their full potential. Our project identified books as the most cost-efficient and powerful input to tackle this social challenge. By supporting this project you are helping to give students access to valuable university books they use to make the most out of their education.
How will we use the money if the project is successfully funded?
Throughout the last year, we prove BookPath's business model to be locally successful. In the Dutch university city of Maastricht, we collected over 1.300 books. We built a growing community of resource-conscious students who are thankful and happy for the solution BookPath provides. We brought this campaign to life to finance the first shipment of books to specific African Universities and expand our model to other cities around the Netherlands. We strive to digitalize the donation process and grow our impact through the re-distribution of valuable study materials.
Who are the people behind the project?
We are six students of Maastricht University and members of Enactus Maastricht, a social accelerator and incubator of projects that pursue the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. We ourselves experienced the dilemma of not knowing what to do with the books we had to frequently purchase for university courses. Therefore, we decided to proactively tackle this situation and established BookPath to give our fellow students an accessible and impactful alternative to gradually letting books cover in the dust. #clearyourshelves
Support now
Cooperations
Books2Africa
Books2Africa is a UK Registered Charity (1152599) that is committed to reducing environmental waste in the UK and improving the quality of education in Africa through the collection and distribution of books. Founded in 2012 by four African students.
Enactus Netherlands
Enactus is an international collaboration between students, universities and businesses. The goal of this partnership is to enable students to develop themselves into entrepreneurial and responsible leaders. Students do this by addressing societal is
Maastricht University
Maastricht University (UM) is the most international university in the Netherlands and, with 20,000 students and 4,400 employees, is still growing. The university stands out for its innovative education model and a strong focus on social engagement.
