Ibby Pakistan Biennial Report 2010-2012
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IBBY PAKISTAN BIENNIAL REPORT 2010-2012 INFORMATION REQUESTED FOR THE NS BIENNIAL REPORTS Reporting period: 2010 - 2012 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1 Country Pakistan 1.2 Name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail and website of the National Section (NS) Alif Laila Book Bus Society / IBBY Pakistan 3-B, Gulberg II Lahore, Pakistan (92) 042 3 5760552-35758395 (Fax): 92 042 35762238 www.aliflaila.org.pk 1.3 Representatives 1.3.1 President of the National Section (NS) Syeda Basarat Midhat Kazim 1.3.2 Secretary or main executive officer of the NS Ms. Rabia Khan 1.3.3 IBBY main Liaison Officer or contact person I. Ms. Sabah Rehman II. Ms. Ayesha Jabbar 1.4 Organization Structure 1.4.1 How is your NS organized? Describe the structure of the NS in general. The IBBY Pakistan NS team comprises of individuals and organizations working together as a to promote quality literature for children and to bring children and books together. The core team includes members of Alif Laila team (the NS is affiliated with Alif Laila Book Bus Society) , who volunteer for IIBBY projects. The section is headed by a President and a Secretary. The organizational structure is flat, with every one having a direct link with the team lead. IBBY Pakistan has brought together a group of experts,. The group of volunteers promote IBBY Pakistan and advocate reading and help IBBY Pakistan organize events and campaigns. 1.4.2 Is your NS affiliated to, or a branch of another organization or institution? If so, which one? The national secretariat, IBBY Pakistan is affiliated to the Alif Laila Book Bus Society, a registered non-profit, non-government organization. Alif Laila has been working to promote reading since 1978. The organization is accredited with setting up the first children’s library in the country. Alif Laila is the leading organization in Pakistan working to promote children’s libraries and reading habits in children. The organization has set up libraries and resource centres all over the country, in urban as well as in remote rural areas in plains or mountains. 1.4.3 Do you have an office and paid staff? IBBY Pakistan is housed at Alif Laila Book Bus Society. The IBBY National secretariat does not have paid employees any is run by a dedicated team of volunteers. Everyone on the team ,from the leadership to other staff members, works voluntarily. 1.4.4 How often do you have business meetings? We have an annual planning meeting and monthly meetings to check the proegress of projects and discuss ideas. 1.4.5 Does your NS have organizations as members? How many? What kind of organizations? Organizations that are interested in promoting reading culture in the country are active as well as unofficial members. As reading is still not a top priority for many organizations it is not easy to convince them to become a member. Alam al-Khayal Foundation for Cultural Education is one of NS active member organization working towards civil society reform in Pakistan. One component of AK's work concerns youth initiatives and programmes for children which aim at reviving the rich literary, musical, cultural and spiritual heritage of the Sub-Continent. AK conducts summer story-telling workshops in Lahore where children and youths are introduced to the traditional art of story-telling; an integral part of the ancient education system of the Sub-Continent. Funkor Childart Center is another member organization that organizes book reading sessions of the books written and illustrated by Fauzia Aziz Minallah. Funkor distributes picture books and notebooks Funkor was short listed for the Bremen Peace award in Germany in 2009, as one of the nominated projects and organizations, which are exemplary in their work for peace, justice and integrity of creation. Idara –e-Taleem-o-Agahi is also a member of IBBY Pakistan. ITA, in collaboration with OUP, FOSI, and Alif Laila Book Bus Society organized the first ever children’s literature festival in Lahore. The team is now organizing festivals and book fairs all over the country. Book Group is another esteemed member of IBBY Pakistan that has revolutionized children’s literature in Pakistan. The organization is working hard to produce quality children’s literature 1.4.6 Does your NS have individual members? How many? How do they contribute to the NS activities? The organization have individual members and we are working on increasing the number. Efforts are being made to attract more writers, illustrators, educationists and individuals who support children’s literature. The NS teachers, students, civil society activists, media personnel, writers, illustrators, story tellers, publishers, educationists and reading enthusiasts as members. Individual members who have worked exceptionally hard to take the mission of the NS include Rumanna Hussain One of NS individual members, Fauzia Aziz Minallah is a passionate children’s books author. Through children literature she raises issues of peace, tolerance and justice. Fauzia book 'Sadako's Prayer’ published by the Asian Network of Trust in Hiroshima, in Japanese, English, Dari, Urdu, Pashto, Torwali. It is the winner of Hiroshima citizen's Award for Peace Education and was distributed free of cost among nearly 10,000 children in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Japan. 'Titli and the music of Hope' written and illustrated by her is published by the National Book Trust of India under the International Center for Literacy and Culture's Peace Book Project in South Asia. Fauzia is also the winner of the Ron Kovic Peace Prize, USA in 2010. Individual members include teachers and students from Lahore Grammar School and Basti Saidan Shah Lahore, eminent illustrators such as Rumana Hussain, Writers and story tellers including Natasha Jaffery, Nudrat Majeed, Samreen Mona, Ayesha Jabbar, Fauzia Minallah, Mah-e-Zehra etc. Another esteemed member, Rumahha Hussain (a prominent childrens writer and illustrator) developed 6 graphic books, writing its narrative, speech bubbles as well as Art Briefs for illustrators for each scene. The books were based on six eminent Pakistani personalities for young children. She participated in Children’s Literature Festival 2011 was also the ambassador of CLF in 2012. She will been conducting a workshop in collaboration with Butterflyworks, The Netherlands, in Karachi in October 2012, for developing a series of original books for little children that have a Pakistani character to appear together with the world famous character of Miffy, the rabbit. She’ll will be working with them in both capacities, as writer and illustrator. She is currently in Shanghai, China, where she will be reading from her stories at the British International School to primary class students. She also wrote a bilingual (English and Urdu) series of story books set in rural Pakistan, as well as another story based in urban Pakistan. 1.4.7 Describe the makeup of your membership? More specifically: who are your members? What percentage are: teachers? authors? illustrators? publishers? students? etc. Teachers 25% Authors 30% Illustrators 20% Publishers 25% 1.4.8 What categories of membership, if any, does your NS have? So far there are two categories for membership, i.e. I. Individual membership II. Organizational membership. 1.4.9 Do you make any special effort to attract young people? IBBY Pakistan has firm belief in involving young people as an effective means of strengthening and furthering its cause. A donate a book drive has been launched, involving young people to collect books for small community and school libraries to be set up in rural areas of district Sheikhupura. Student Book ambassadors have been appointed to successfully implement the campaign. The First ever student reading fest held at Sheikhupura, was also managed and organized with help from young student volunteers who performed duties as the management team at various camps, involving children through different activities and sessions being held at the camps throughout the two day celebrations. IBBY Pakistan also engages young people through internship programmes and different student volunteer based programmes. 1.4.10 How often do you keep in touch with your members? How? We mostly keep in touch with our members through email and keep them abreast of developments and IBBY’s programmes, awards/grants etc through emails. 2. FUNDING 2.1 Annual Budget 2.1.1 What is your average annual budget in US$? Is it increasing or decreasing? The annual Budget of Alif Laila (IBBY Pakistan NS) is US$ 43,443 and it is increasing. 2.2 Sources of income 2.2.1 Is there a membership fee? How much is it? What percentage of your budget does this account for? There are no membership fees. The fee has been exempted to encourage more and more individuals and organizations to join the IBBY Pakistan network. So far, Alif Laila has been responsible for IBBY dues. The members do not contribute towards membership dues. The membership has been kept free to create a level of interest. 2.2.2 Do you receive financial support from individual sponsors and/or donors? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for? Alif Laila (the NS) receives funds by involving corporate firms and reading enthusiasts through different programmes such as: • Story teller around Pakistan- with Uni Levers Pakistan (to be launched soon) • Books Build Bridges with Asia Foundation. • Sheikhupura Mobile Library Programme with the local business community in the district. However, the funds are project based and vary from year to year. 2.2.3 Do you receive grants from your government? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for? We do not receive grants from the government. 2.2.4 Do you receive grants from national institutions or other organizations? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for? IBBY Pakistan so far has not received direct grant as funding for books is never a priority by government or donors or other organizations.