Data Overview on Cost of Teaching and Learning Materials

The Cost of Teaching and Learning Materials report provides an initial overview of data on the cost of printing books in USAID education interventions. Donors, implementing partners, and ministries of education must know the cost of different book types and what influences these costs across different contexts to inform activity design and expectations as well as scale-up and sustainability initiatives. However, data on the cost of books are not often available to the public, leading to uninformed decision-making. This report analyzes data provided by USAID implementing partners and shares findings about the contents of book purchase orders, book costs by type of book and region, the influence of order size on cost, and initial indications of what factors influence book costs. This analysis serves as a valuable starting point for deeper analyses in future studies, which may provide information to help reduce per-unit book costs.