Intervention for the Mediakitab meeting – Marseille by Samar Qutob
Tamer’s profile :
Tamer Institute for Community Education is a Palestinian educational non-profit organization established in 1989 as a natural and necessary response to the urgent needs of the Palestinian community during the first intifada (uprising).
The most important of these is the need to acquire means to help young people learn and become productive. Focusing on the rights to education, identity, freedom of expression, and access to information, Tamer programs address children and youth in most parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to help create alternative forms of learning outside the formal education system. We target children and young people in order to build up local capacity within the community that carries into the long term. we interpret our vision on the ground by promote reading and writing, development of children’s literature, creative self-expression as well as youth empowerment through advocacy and community development initiatives.
Tamer’s programs and identity :
The National Reading campaign is one of Tamers main programs, the campaign is launched in the spring of each year through a National Reading Week that takes place between the 1st -7th of April. Campaign is organized and implemented in coordination with tens of governmental and non- governmental institutes and hundreds of schools all over the Palestinian districts. The National Reading week is projected as an annual National festival where all forms of cultural expressions, including folk dancing; storytelling, plays, poetry, cultural trips, movies, and book discussions are held. National and local media are usually engaged in promoting for the campaign.
Children literature occupies a good space in Tamers projects and concerns. Tamer, being keen to help the development of local children literature works closely through its publishing unit, with children book writers and illustrators in order to provide quality children books that are attractive and appealing to the young readers.
The institute also nurture and support young writers and assist them to publish their first books and promote and introduce their books to a wide spectrum of readers by distributing their books to the community libraries and school libraries.
Translation of quality books that adds to the human and cultural values we believe in is also one of Tamer’s concerns and projects.
Yara’at (fireflies) is a group of Palestinian youth from the West Bank and Gaza Strip that uses creative writing and drawing as a form of self-expression. The youth meet of their own initiative on regular basis, and their writings and drawings are published on a bimonthly basis as a supplement in the widely read national Al-Ayyam newspaper.
Voices from Palestine is a youth group that felt a need for a platform in English in order to reach the international community and explain in a universal language what it means to live under Israeli occupation, so that young people around the world can understand what occupation implies for the children and youth in Palestine. “Voices” helps to give a human face to Palestine and the occupation of the Palestinian people and land.
Sirb (flock of birds) is a group of youth that found their way of expression through drama and audiovisual means. Tamer provides them with the space, tools, and trainings they need to be able to meet, discuss their issues, and produce their plays and theatrical works.
Institute’s work stations :
Most of Tamers programs and activities are held in the premises of our children Resource Center in Ramallah and some 70 children libraries all over the West Bank and Gaza; schools, youth clubs, and women centers are also considered and targeted in some of our projects.
Our Partnership with the community libraries goes back to 1996 when the Palestinian Ministry of Culture supported the founding of those libraries to cover most cities, villages and refugee camps in Palestine. Since that date, Tamer have consciously chosen to focus on and invest in those libraries by constantly provide them with quality children books and enhance the capacities of the people working in those libraries.
In the past two years, Tamer found out that time is right to bring all associate libraries in a cooperative and coordinative network that would assist the libraries and librarians to exchange knowledge, worries, hopes and dreams, as well as resources and tools. Tamer’s children libraries network have done the infrastructural steps needed for the new body; a comprehensive field studies and need assessment for the libraries and librarians was followed by comprehensive meetings and trainings for the staff and volunteers working in the libraries.
Libraries within the network are currently engaged in regular monthly book discussions that are held with the libraries’ young members, parents, and educators. Book discussions are done with close monitoring and guidance of some children books writers, scholars and experts from the circle of friends and associates of Tamer.
Many librarians have also been trained in electronic libraries’ programs to help facilitate their work and to bring them to be ready to join an electronic network in the future; the dream to launch a libraries’ electronic network needs much preparation and facilitation to bring it to life.
To wrap up, it’s well clear to us that non of our projects could have been successfully implemented without the support of the following national and international partners:Anna Lindh Foundation, Belgian Technical Cooperation-Jerusalem, Book Aid International UK, British Council, CC NGO/EFA, Consulate General of Belgium in Jerusalem, Diakonia – Sweden , Frankfurt Book Fair, French Consulate, French Cultural Center, Goethe Institute, GTZ, Heinrich Böll Foundation, IBBY, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education & Higher Education, Norwegian Peoples Aid – NPA, PNGO, Save the Children UK, SIDA, UNESCO, and UNICEF.
At the end, allow me on behalf of Tamer to express our high regards to the Mediakitab project and our sincere willingness and desire to take part in this promising project that would extend the spectrum of cultural awareness and cultural exchange between all participating members.
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