The Uganda International book festival dubbed ''Read a book Tell a story'' aimed at promoting a good reading culture and story telling. The festival will hold from 15th to 17th August 2012, 8am to 8pm daily, at the Uganda National Museum. The organizers invite readers, writers/authors, story-tellers of all kinds, visual artists, poets, and stand up comedians to register for the event. This year we shall be celebrating authors and readers.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Art of a Child Foundation in partnership with the Uganda National Museum is organizing a 3 day literacy event to be held at the Uganda National Museum from the 15th –17th August, with a purpose to promote micro interventions based on individuals, schools and households for promoting a good reading culture in Uganda.
The major approach of this event is Education, Information and Communication (EIC) on the one hand and active participation on the other, that’s expected to foster greater interaction between authors, readers, learners and the general public.
It will also involve activities that will aim at leaving a positive mark on the literacy standards of the participants that will include amongst others;
- Live Authors Forums and Interactions
- Live painting and Art works
- Children’s Art and Literature Tent & Fun Activities
- Story Telling
- Photo and Art displays
- Literature competitions
- Mini Library with Internet connections.
WHY THIS EVENT?
Uganda’s literacy statistics are dire: 51% of P2 students in Uganda’s Central region and 82% of P2 students in the Lango region and cannot read a single word of a simple paragraph. A recent survey of 16,200 households found that 98% of P3 students could not read a P2-level text. Uganda’s 2009 National Assessment of Progress in Education found that 56% of P3 students and 48% of P6 students read at the standard established for their grade level. (USAID-2010).
Art of a Child Foundation strongly recognizes that the development of Uganda’s human capacity is critical to the sustainability of almost every sector in Uganda i.e. health, governance, and economic growth.
And whereas global and national macro-interventions are largely important, there is need to support and promote micro-interventions that encourage engagements of communities to promote a reading culture. It is vital that households, institutions, schools and even businesses be empowered to play their part in promoting efforts towards a good reading culture.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: call 0712545954, 0772380773 or 0718480065
Website: http://ugandabookfestival.org
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