Economics & Development

This report evaluates the Read@Home book-sharing intervention piloted in Baghdad by the World Bank, the Queen Rania Foundation, id:rc, and Iraq’s Ministry of Education to support school readiness among 4 to 5-year-old children not enrolled in formal education. Designed as an Iraqi adaptation of the global Read@Home model, the pilot sought to address Iraq’s significant early childhood education access gap, where enrollment remains low. The evaluation examined whether providing books with light behavioral support could improve caregiver reading practices and whether additional parent training sessions would further enhance outcomes. Findings from quantitative and qualitative evidence suggest that the intervention successfully increased the number of caregivers who engaged in reading with children at least occasionally, indicating positive effects at the extensive margin. However, it did not significantly increase the frequency of reading practices or recent reading activity. The evaluation provides valuable implementation insights and design lessons to inform future research and the development of a scalable early childhood education intervention in Iraq.