In 2019, an estimated 100 million African school-age children were designated ‘out-of-school’, the highest numbers in the world. COVID-19 has dramatically worsened that already bleak picture because school closures have cut off any children who cannot access education remotely. Though the new figure is not yet known, it is clear that a generation of children will fall by the wayside unless decisive steps are taken to address the systemic, infrastructural and cultural hurdles that are preventing African children from learning. That would be a huge setback for African development, with potentially disastrous consequences in years to come. In 2021, its second year of operation, the Africa Publishing Innovation Fund, an initiative led by the Geneva-based International Publishers Association, turned its attention to the remote learning challenge in Africa. A decision was taken to sponsor locally-owned projects to keep students learning and give disadvantaged communities ways to access books and premises for community cohesion, skills development, studying and reading. The APIF is not the solution, but it is a sincere attempt by publishers to address some of the problems within the overarching African education emergency.

2019 年，估计有 1 亿非洲学龄儿童被指定为“失学”，这是世界上最高的数字。COVID-19 使本已黯淡的局面急剧恶化，因为学校停课切断了任何无法远程接受教育的儿童。虽然新数字尚不清楚，但很明显，除非采取果断措施解决阻碍非洲儿童学习的系统性、基础设施和文化障碍，否则一代儿童将被淘汰。这将是非洲发展的一个巨大挫折，在未来几年可能会造成灾难性后果。2021 年，即非洲出版创新基金运作的第二年，该基金由总部位于日内瓦的国际出版商协会牵头，将注意力转向非洲的远程学习挑战。决定赞助当地拥有的项目，以保持学生的学习，并为弱势社区提供获取书籍和场所的方式，以促进社区凝聚力、技能发展、学习和阅读。APIF 不是解决方案，但它是出版商为解决总体非洲教育紧急情况中的一些问题而做出的真诚尝试。