Regional meeting on "The Role of promoting reading, writing and publishing campaigns in spreading literacy in the Arab World"
7th September, 2002
Amman/Jordan.
Organizers: the Arab Education Forum in cooperation with the UNISCO/Amman & Ministry of Education/Jordan
Participants:
1. Yumna Albatran (Ministry of Culture/Palestine).
2. Abdulsalam Nakhleh (Tamer Institute for Community Education/Palestine).
3. Denise As?ad (Children Literature Critic and Writer/Palestine).
4. Rawda Alhuhud (National Reading Campaign/Jordan).
5. Ali Elbtairi (National Reading Campaign/Jordan).
6. Margo Mlatigelian (Child?s World Center/Jordan).
7. Lamees Alhusaini (Dar Albustan Bookshop/Jordan)/
8. Aida Maraqah (The Library of French Center for Middle Eastern Studies).
9. Taghreed Alnaji (The Library of Greater Amman Municipality).
10. Rasha Najdi (Aljana Center/Lebanon).
11. Sharifa Samawi (Department of Reading Promotion/Tunisian Ministry of Culture).
12. Margot Sonaibo (Diakonia Institute/Sweden, Jerusalem).
13. Robert Barwa (UNISCO/Amman).
14. Lina Khamees (UNISCO/Amman).
15. Munir Fasheh (Arab Education Forum).
16. Serene Huleileh (Arab Education Forum).
Recommendations and Follow-up:
This meeting was a preliminary meeting to bring together individuals as well as governmental and non governmental Organizations in the Arab world active in promoting reading and writing and publishing for children and youth. Each participant presented his/her work in the field, and the presentations were followed up by suggestions to develop this network and interaction amongst these initiatives. The following recommendations were not directed to others but were rather an expression of a commitment on the part of the participants:
Initiating an e-network for individuals and institutions active in the promotion of reading, writing and publishing in the Arab world, in order to exchange information about different activities, articles and publications to enrich each other's work and to be aware of different experiences.
Preparing for another meeting on April, 2003 at the head office of UNESCO in Jordan that includes: seminars, specialized workshops, a children's book and illustrations fair, in addition to presentations of various experiences.
Make contact with TARA (The Arab Reading Association) in Bahrain to arrange a follow-up meeting in February, 2003 in Bahrain to coincide with their annual conference.
The Arab Education Forum will allocate a special section on its website for the reading, writing and publishing promotion group, where visitors can become acquainted with the various experiences in this field.
The UNESCO website will be used to present some experiences in this field.
In addition, the following suggestions were made:
To establish an Arab Committee for Children Books.
To issue a unified Arab reading passport.
To establish a regional resource center for children's literature similar to the Palestinian experience in this field.
To draw a practical plan for the marketing and distribution of books published by non-governmental organizations.