On April 18, the 7th Meeting of Directors and Teachers of the Network of School Libraries of the District of Chibuto (R.B.E.D.C) took place at the Chibuto Secondary School, part of the “Passport for Reading” program that aims to promote access to books and reading in Mozambique, bringing together 96 participants: representatives of local authorities, directors of the schools where the libraries were created, and their teachers responsible for promoting them. The main objective of the Meeting was to carry out a balance of the work that has been developed in the 28 libraries that make up the Network, since the last meeting that took place in March 2020.
This initiative was promoted by the President of the Board, Susana Damasceno, and the Community Educator, Minérica Massuco, who began the work with a reflection on the functioning of libraries after covid-19, raising some questions to teachers regarding the functioning of libraries in the wake of the epidemic crisis and their own reading habits, and suggesting strategies to motivate them to read more so that they encourage their students.
Another topic consisted of the Planning of library practices for the 2023 school year, with Directors and Teachers being questioned about the existence of Action Plans for the libraries of their Schools and some possible activities being proposed and/or debated.An animation session.
Was also held to read the bilingual tales (Portuguese Language and Changana Language) by Mozambican authors “Aldeia dos Cajueiros Mágicos”, “O Cão, Lebre e o Pássaro” and “O Artesão e os Macacos Malabaristas” of the Editorial Project “Livros para começar” of AIDGLOBAL.
Finally, the 23 Bicycles donated in March 2020 by Mozambikes were delivered to support the achievements of school libraries, and they were waiting for the resumption of these meetings to be distributed. In addition, 28 Schools received copies of the books in the “Books to Start” collection and 10 volumes of the “Hope and Happiness” collection.
At the end of the day, an evaluation of the work carried out was made and, in general, the participants believe that this type of action is very relevant as a way of sharing and exchanging experiences on the dynamization of School Libraries. This Meeting was sponsored by the Black Bulls, within the framework of a partnership signed with AIDGLOBAL to promote literacy in Mozambique, which has the support of the company Transportes Lalgy, Lda., under the social responsibility policy of this carrier.
The Network of School Libraries of the District of Chibuto, since its creation by AIDGLOBAL, in 2010, has been supported by the following entities/organizations: District Service Health, Women and Social Action, District Service of Education, Health and Technology, CIDOC, Bibliographic Fund of the Portuguese Language, Portuguese School of Mozambique, UNESCO, Camões - Institute of Cooperation and Language, i.p., Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Mozambikes, Quidgest.The "Passport for Reading" program, created in 2008, is the largest intervention program of AIDGLOBAL, in Mozambique, in the context of combating illiteracy and encouraging reading, through which it creates, teams and supports municipal and school libraries in the Province of Gaza, promoting activities of animation and training of technicians and teachers and librarians.
