IF Charity and The BIG Read

IF are launching an international literacy campaign with an event on World Book Day (Thursday 4th March) called The BIG Read. This event will seek to break the Guinness World Record for 'Most children reading with an adult'. Up to 5,000 children from schools in London and the rest of the UK will take part in the event, as well as celebrity readers. The event will take place at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel. They are still looking for schools and families to register.

The literacy campaign that this event launches will take the form of a series of international projects taking place in areas of the world where illiteracy is at its worst. These projects will include rural school building, provision of school kits, enrolment campaigns, literacy centres and teacher training. They will aim to have a lasting influence on the levels of literacy in the areas in which they take place, in line with the UN's Millennium Development Goals on education - namely that every child by 2015 should be able to complete a full primary education course.

Some of IF's previous projects include The Gaza 100, an attempt to break the record for most people running the 100m in a relay, to raise funds for children in Gaza and Bangla Town to Bangladesh, a charity drive from London's Brick Lane to Bangladesh in 26 days to raise funds for victims of Cyclone Sidr.