Children whose lives have been marred by war and poverty will get access to books and reading, thanks to a Sharjah youth book programme.
The Sharjah International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) fund has launched projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help underprivileged children in those areas through “long-term reading programmes”, the organisation said in a press release on Saturday.
Children living in refugee camps in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan will benefit from a six-month reading programme for conflict and post-conflict situations, while children living in South Waziristan, Swat, Pakistan, will benefit from the “Hope Libraries”, a six-month project which aims at setting up small community children’s libraries through a two-day national conference.
Patron president of the UAE Board on Books for Young People Shaikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi said there was a growing need to provide support for children affected by war and natural disasters – “especially since the number of underprivileged children is on the rise”.
“(We want) to make the fund’s services accessible and enable greater access to children’s books in collaboration with various bodies to ensure that children in need would have access to books and reading-related programmes.”
She said the committee was eager to make the fund’s projects and programmes more beneficial, as well as to follow up on the outcomes of the projects in a manner that ensured the goals were achieved.
The Sharjah-IBBY fund was established by Sharjah in 2012, with the emirate contributing Dh4 million towards the international fund over a period of 10 years.