Tamer Institute's Program Mission:
To contribute to building the Palestinian society through creating learning environments amongst youth, children, parents, and teachers by focusing on the invisible aspects of human growth (social, cultural, and spiritual) and cultural production.
Tamer Institute Philosophy:
Tamer Institute functions under the conviction that one main purpose of education is to transform patterns of thinking and aspects of social reality that are unjust and undemocratic. Transforming reality, however, is not only a rational endeavor but also involves transformation of attitudes and emotions. It is linked to the hope that change is possible and that people are responsible for it. The Institute’s logo - a spring poppy growing through hardened soil - reflects this hope for human society.
The process of building the civil society in Palestine essentially requires the community to take an important role in its welfare at any level possible. This may occur in experimental and innovative ways according to the means available. However, community education cannot take place without community action, a problem, an event or a social issue that focuses people’s efforts in attempting to find solutions or change the situation. The interaction between these groups of people while they are in action is community education. Sharing and transferring the experience of a particular group of people to others is also essential. The expression of this experience becomes a source of knowledge, which is what is necessary for growth, development, and change at the national level.
Tamer Institute's Strategy:
The Institute's mission is achieved through encouraging reading, writing, dialogue and voluntary work amongst youth working within small groups involved in community action held together by a common objective with a tangible end product. The Institute develops the specific objective and end product through its various projects and activities, in which youth are invited to participate, each according to his/her interests and needs. The youth groups formed around the projects are then the main target group who are offered guidance and training in various issues that contribute to building their personality on the social, emotional, and intellectual levels.
Tamer's strategy, which comes as a response to the urgent needs in the Palestinian community, is often susceptible to any changes or developments in the Palestinian society; it is flexible and develops in accordance with society's needs. Youth's input is extremely important while developing any new program or perspective because eventually they are the major beneficiaries of our projects that are originally designed to comply with their needs and interests.
International Board of Books for Youth (IBBY)
Tamer Institute has been lobbying to have Palestine become a national section of IBBY (rather than individual members under Israel). Just recently, with the support of British and Ireland IBBY, among others, Palestine became a national section with Tamer Institute being the focal point.
Main Activities of Tamer Institute:
Reading Campaign ?
Tamer's main activity throughout the year is the National Reading Campaign. Through this campaign the institute holds many activities throughout the year in which reading is encouraged. The climax of the campaign is in April where Tamer Institute organizes with other institutes and CBO's the National Reading Week (NRW). During the NRW Many activities and workshops are held that encourage creative writing, reading, drama and the sort. During this week long festival thousands of youth, children and adults participate in the workshops.
Animating Children's Libraries ?
A continuous activity of Tamer Institute is animating children's library throughout Palestine by providing training for librarians (when they are available) as well as supplying these libraries with Tamer publications, and other books of interest when we receive a large donation.
Publishing Unit ?
Every year Tamer Institute publishes a number of books by local authors and/or translated foreign books. Our greatest pride every year is "My First Book", a collection of children's writings and illustrations picked from the annual competition.
Our publishing unit always aims at publishing high quality material for children that will motivate them to read. In 2003, we printed a total of 21 books.
Youth Activities ?
Another major focus of Tamer Institute is its youth teams. The youth teams are divided into 4 main groups : Nakheel teams which do voluntary work in their communities, Yara'at a literary group, Sirb, those who are interested in photography and Voices from Palestine who are members of an English electronic newsletter. Through working with youth, we continually offer them training by people within their field.
Abeer Musleh
Tamer Institute - Palestine