The first ever book festival

The Festival

Social Mobilization for The Promotion of a Reading Culture
Read a Book, Tell a Story Festival – 2012

Art of a Child Foundation in partnership with the Uganda National Museum organized a 3 day literacy event t 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 was Education, Information and Communication (EIC) on the one hand and active participation on the other, that was expected to foster greater interaction between authors, readers, learners and the general public.
It involved activities that aimed at leaving a positive mark on the literacy standards of the participants that included 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.