The last decade of the century has brought macroeconomic policy changes to many African countries. Government budgets are under severe pressure, trade and currency regimes have been liberalized, and public utilities are passing into the private ownership. The impact of these changes on the book sector has been considerable : State monopolies in publishing, printing and book distribution are becoming a thing of the past.

Ministries of education are tending to focus more closely on their core educational concerns. Library services are suffering unprecedented neglect and indigenous companies are challenging the long-standing hegemony of multinational publishers. As countries continue along the path of liberalization tendencies, they go through a transition period from closed to more open book provision systems, where interaction and co-operation between the different players of the book chain as well as capacity-building of book sector personnel at the central and provincial level is increasingly important for the nation in order to face new challenges and develop a well functioning book sector.

While Phase II of the BLM Initiative has contributed to the opening up of channels of dialogue between public and private sector partners in the above context and added value to on-going book development process, the programme recognizes that technical assistance must be on-going and be of both proactive and of reactive nature.

At the level of policy planning, the BLM Initiative will seek to meet the increasing number of requests from participating countries for technical assistance in improving and broadening their textbook approach into a book sector strategy catering for the development of all segments of the book chain, including often neglected areas such as distribution and libraries. Moreover, the programme will continue to organize inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral consultations. Considering that text book provision is an industrial, as well as pedagogical activity, and that a financial enabling environment is a prerequisite for a healthy book sector these consultations shall seek to put particular emphasis on economic, fiscal and financial aspects of the decision making process. Finally, the BLM Initiative will support the consolidation of national bodies responsible for book development to enable the countries to become more independent from different individual short-term projects through co-ordinating mechanisms and concerted efforts.

At the level of training, the BLM Initiative will continue to provide support and technical assistance in different areas of the publishing chain. The pace of services will accelerate considerably as comprehensive training plans have been or are in the process of being developed, while the roster of trainers, resource persons and consultants is being expanded to ensure that the range and quality of technical services provided meets up to the Member States needs and expectations. Emphasis is being placed on co-operation with national educational institutions with a view to exploring ways of institutionalizing skills training for book sector personnel. Finally, due to the new developments of the book sector in some countries, which necessitate decentralized selection and purchases of textbooks, capacity building will also begin to move towards the district level where new skills are needed for district education offices in choosing and evaluating textbooks.

As activities generated through the programme are getting multiplied, and other countries are being included in the BLM Initiative, the programme will place emphasis on possible replication of successful experiences to other UNESCO Member States. In the future, it will also be more relevant than before to share experience and facilitate interaction between the countries through a programme network and further afield so as to facilitate co-operation in the field of book sector development and expand the outreach of the knowledge and lessons learnt so far.