International recognition for an approach developed in Jordan that helps parents read with their children from the earliest years.

A child’s relationship with reading begins long before they can read their first word. It starts with a familiar voice telling a story, a picture that catches their attention, and a book explored alongside a parent. These moments give families opportunities to connect and support children’s language and learning from birth.

Through Iqrali, the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF) helps more families build this habit by providing books, guidance and practical tools that make shared reading easier to bring into everyday life.

We are proud that Iqrali has been selected for the HundrED Global Collection 2027, which highlights 100 impactful and scalable education innovations from around the world.

Parents may know that reading benefits their children, but putting that knowledge into practice can take support. Suitable books may be hard to find at home. Parents may wonder how to read with a baby who cannot yet speak, or struggle to find time among their daily responsibilities.

Iqrali starts by understanding these challenges. Drawing on research and behavioural science, it designs support that helps parents and caregivers read in Arabic with children from birth to age five, with the aim of strengthening early language and literacy skills and readiness for school.

The programme combines behaviour change communications, book gifting and guidance through health centres and community organisations, alongside an app and digital platform offering stories, activities and resources for parents.

The app helps parents build shared reading habits through nudges, goal-setting and personalised support. It also includes an AI companion that generates personalised stories and provides guidance on reading with children. These tools complement the programme’s in-person support, helping families get started and keep reading.

Partnerships with the public and private sectors are central to this work. By building on existing services that reach communities, Iqrali can offer reading support in places families already use, including health centres during childhood vaccination visits.

This approach connects messages about the importance of reading with books, guidance and practical tools parents can use at home. The experiences of partners, frontline teams and families also help shape improvements to the programme and how support is delivered.

Iqrali was selected from more than 800 submissions to the HundrED Global Collection 2027. Over 250 HundrED Academy members participated in the assessment, contributing 3,590 reviews of candidate innovations, which the HundrED Research Team evaluated before making the final selection.

This follows QRF’s second-place recognition in the 2025 WISE Prize for Education for the Iqrali app.

For us, this recognition is an opportunity to share what we are learning alongside families and partners in Jordan, and to learn from approaches in other contexts. Our work continues towards helping more children have access to books, time to read with their parents, and a start that supports their learning journey.

Reading with your child can begin with a picture you explore, words you repeat or a simple question about a character. Make time to enjoy a book together and let your child’s curiosity guide the conversation.

Explore stories, activities and resources for parents at iqrali.jo, and discover the HundrED Global Collection 2027.