Yemen GCM in the news

Mabruk to the Yemen Global Change Makers... . they got great coverage for their advocacy and awareness campaign... read the article below as reported in the Yemen TImes. Paying a visit to the Sana'a book fair, you will be received by team of young men and women who have devoted themselves to inspiring a love of books among children. They tell you about their ideas, ask for yours, and collect them so that they can be put into consideration. Don't be surprised if you are asked for your fingerprint, as it is just to confirm you support for their noble project "The 'I love Reading' campaign aims to instill a love of reading among children in order to build a generation able to face life's challenges," the Global Change Makers defined in their project. "In order to build a better future for their children, Parents need to push them to go and read," said Ibrahim Mothana, a Global Change Maker. "We are participating in the book fair in order to reach out parents and tell them that the idea of reading is very important." "Advocating and awareness is part of our program, and we target both parents and decision makers," he added. The campaign aims to inform people about existing libraries, connect these libraries with schools, and make children's libraries a source of fun in order to attract more children to read, in addition to putting pressure on the decision makers to apply more efforts to children libraries, according to Mothana. He said that the campaign team has been trained in Jordan on building capacities and leadership skills, and campaigning in order to enable them to implement projects that would be useful for their community. The design and delivery of creative community specific awareness campaigns by Global Change Makers target youth who are usually outside the reach of similar initiatives. These Campaigns address issues that are seen as obstacles for engagement, sustainable development, and participation "To have reading incorporated into young people's culture is not something that we will achieve overnight," said Nawaf Shamsan, assistant director of the British Council. "We are fully aware that this is a great challenge, and we are determined to overcome it." Shamsan said that the book fair was the first step the Global Change Makers decided to take in raising awareness of their program. He is satisfied with the peoples' response to the campaign. He said the reading campaign has gained the support of many people, and he hopes that this support will continue once the issue is raised with the concerned governmental institutions and organizations. "The British Council, along with its local partners in this program, will continue to provide the support needed for our team to achieve the success of building reading habits in the coming generations. This is a success which we strongly believe will have a positive impact on Yemen as a whole," he said. "Childhood is the time to inculcate values upon children," said Shaima'a Al-Qutaibi, a Global Change Maker. "Our campaign aims to build a generation loves reading and knowledge," "We have received very good impressions by the book fair visitors," she said. Hashim Adhlat wrote to the campaign members that his son is one of his projects, and that he will develop his son's appreciation of books."You are my partners in this project," he wrote. Adhlat has one son, Ayman. He collects books in order to establish a small collection of children's books at home in addition to the library. He invites the government and private sector to support the project. The next step is to contact donors and choose one of the children's libraries to rehabilitate. They plan to add more books and provide computers for the library in addition to changing the décor and furniture in order to create a better atmosphere for reading. The campaign members are preparing field trips to school libraries and to libraries in other governorates. The campaign has received positive responses from many educational and cultural institutions, such as the ministry of Education and the German House, according to Alwya Al-Saqqaf, a member of Global Change makers. The Yemeni youth group of Global Change Makers aims to influence the society through youth projects, which raise awareness in the community and which affect the decision-makers. They are a co-ed team of youth working on a voluntary basis in more than one area in the country. "Initially, the campaign is wonderful," said Abdullah Ali Jameel, head of the Yemeni Association for Disseminating Culture and Knowledge. "It is a good step, although it is limited." The association has been establishing children's libraries since 1997, which have been financed by the Social Fund for Development. There are about 87 libraries all over the country. Some of these libraries in neighborhoods, are schools, and sports clubs, and juvenile prisons, according to Jameel. "Nations cannot develop without reading," Jameel said, calling all parents to make their children read and go to libraries.