"Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre" Reading establishes a sustainable community practice
Abu Dhabi, 1st March / WAM / The UAE is moving forward in strengthening its development model based on knowledge and innovation, with a focus on building cultural awareness as one of the basic pillars of preserving national identity and enhancing societal cohesion.
As National Reading Month approaches, the country continues to launch initiatives that embody its deep belief that reading is not only a way of life, but a strategic tool to enable future generations to create and contribute effectively to the process of sustainable development.
In this context, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center, affiliated with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, is implementing, for the second year, the “Community Campaign to Support Sustainable Reading,” which aims to enhance the presence of books in daily life, and establish reading as a solid societal practice, as a translation of the state’s vision of building a cohesive and prosperous knowledge society.
Coinciding with the Year of the Family, the second cycle of the campaign, which continues until the end of the year, targets 100,000 beneficiaries, seeking to consolidate the role of the family as the primary incubator of the language and the primary partner in building a generation of readers proficient in its language.
The first session of the community campaign last year succeeded in attracting more than 75,000 beneficiaries, exceeding the target of 50,000 beneficiaries in less than a year, through 2,000 cultural and knowledge events organized in cooperation with more than 100 government and private entities, with the participation of universities, schools, educational institutions, and hundreds of innovators from inside and outside the UAE, within traditional and modern fields of knowledge, including artificial intelligence, in addition to organizing 2,350 school trips to book fairs.
The campaign relied on an integrated participatory model that contributed to expanding its societal impact, through cooperation with leading national institutions, including the Abu Dhabi Housing Authority in the Reading in Vital Facilities initiative in preparation for implementing its next phase, and the Zayed Authority for People of Determination in the Arabic with the Taste of People of Determination initiative.
The partnerships included the Al Ain Municipality, the Ministry of Health and Community Protection, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, as part of the Bookcase Initiative, which traveled throughout the country from the Al Dhafra region to Fujairah with more than 30 events carrying hundreds of titles, in addition to cooperation with the Emirates Publishers Association in the Small Publisher Initiative, as well as partnerships with government and private agencies and cultural and educational centers in the various emirates of the country.
The center attracted an elite group of writers and thinkers from the Emirates and the world as part of the “Qalam Creative Writing” programme. The campaign, over the course of 2025, presented initiatives with various objectives, including the “We Read to Children” initiative to instill a love of language and reading at an early age, the “We Learn It Together” initiative, which targeted non-Arabic speakers in government work environments, and the “100 Stories from Our Society” initiative, which brought together talented people in a book that tells stories of tolerance and diversity. The number of participating stories reached More than 250 stories.
The campaign launched the “Our Summer in Arabic” program, which addressed children in their language and dreams through interactive initiatives, in addition to launching the home library initiative, with the content of 54 books for each library, in celebration of the 54th anniversary of Union Day, aiming to distribute more than 380,000 books to employees of a number of institutions and government agencies in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The center also launched the “Reading Taxi” initiative to enhance the presence of the Arabic language in daily spaces, by broadcasting awareness messages and cognitive content via 2,350 smart screens in taxis, allowing passengers to access electronic and audio books via a QR code.
The center paid special attention to children and adolescents through workshops, school trips, reading sessions, and cultural initiatives, and the total number of children attending campaign activities reached 15,971 children.
The youth category represented more than a third of the participants in the Arab and Creative Industries Congress organized by the Center last year, and it also recorded an active presence in book fairs, as the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair witnessed the participation of nearly 1,000 participants in its various programs, along with 350 volunteers from 22 nationalities, while the Al Ain Book Festival attracted about 200 participants from poets, artists, chefs and Emirati cultural icons.
During the year 2025, the Kalima Reading Club expanded to include schools, universities, government institutions, and community members, and organized 12 events inside and outside the country with the participation of 648 people, in addition to 44 reading sessions whose attendance exceeded 1,100 participants.
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