Bodour Al Qasimi launches a campaign "Reading for the future" And initiative "Youth Voices in World Book Capitals" In Rabat
Rabat, April 26, 2020 – Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Education and Book Culture, yesterday, as part of the activities celebrating Rabat as World Book Capital 2026, launched a global campaign entitled “Reading for the Future”, in cooperation with UNESCO, aimed at supporting the reading skills of children and youth and enhancing the role of reading as a basis for building knowledge societies.
It also launched a global cultural initiative entitled “Youth Voices from the World Book Capitals” – jointly implemented with UNESCO – to support young writers and enable them to express their visions and shape their future with the word.
This came during a ceremony held in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth and Culture, His Excellency Charaf Ahmemed, Director of the Regional Office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the Maghreb, and a number of international officials and representatives of the cultural and educational sectors.
In her speech during the ceremony, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi stressed that UNESCO views reading as an issue linked to the quality of education and the stability of societies, stressing that investing in reading is an investment in people, their awareness and their ability to understand and participate in building their future.
She explained that the “Reading for the Future” campaign seeks to mobilize international efforts to address the challenges of illiteracy among children and youth, noting that it comes in light of global indicators indicating that there are about 244 million children outside the education system, and the inability of approximately 70% of children in low-income countries to read simple text at the age of ten.
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi stressed that the “Youth Voices of the World Book Capitals” initiative represents an international platform to support young writers and enable them to express their literary and intellectual visions. She stressed that the future of societies is not written by knowledge alone, but by the ability to read this knowledge, interpret it, and transform it into living awareness, pointing out that history proves that reading has always been at the heart of every human renaissance, as civilizations were not built by wealth alone, but rather by libraries.
She explained that reading is not the last stop, stressing the need to empower young people to be partners in shaping the future, not just witnesses to it, noting that reading gives them awareness, while writing gives them the ability to express, influence and create.
His Excellency Sharaf Ahmad, Director of the Regional Office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that books and literature are not only a legacy of the past, but rather they are effective tools for building the future. This meeting, which brings together established literary names and young writers in the heart of this modern capital and ancient city, confirms that literary narrative is still one of the most powerful means of confronting the challenges of our time. Through initiatives such as (Youth Voices from the World Book Capitals), UNESCO continues its commitment to empowering the next generation not only to read the future, but also to be a partner in writing it.
The ceremony witnessed a panel discussion entitled “Imagining a Better Future: How Literature Helps Us Deal with Uncertainty and Find Hope.”
Education policy expert Farid Shafiqi, writer Rasha Belkoda, and writer Kawthar Al-Qurashi spoke during the session, and the session addressed issues of reading and creativity, and anticipating the future of literature in light of the current cultural transformations.
The “Reading for the Future” campaign seeks to consolidate reading as a basis for education, creativity, and participation in the knowledge economy, by building international partnerships that bring together educational and cultural institutions, publishers, and policy makers, in a way that contributes to supporting the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, and enhancing opportunities for equitable access to education and knowledge.
The Youth Voices of the World Book Capitals initiative targets young people between the ages of 18 and 30 around the world. It invites them to present their works in the fields of stories, essays, poetry, and reflections related to reading and society. Five young names are scheduled to be selected annually, and their works will be published in literary anthologies with the support of UNESCO, and displayed during the activities of the world book capitals, thus enhancing the presence of the new generation in the global cultural scene, and linking these capitals within a sustainable cooperation network starting from Rabat all the way to the participating future cities.
UNESCO launched the annual international initiative “World Book Capital” in 2001, to honor cities that work to promote a culture of reading and education, protect copyrights, and promote freedom of expression. UNESCO chose the city of Medellin in Colombia as World Book Capital for the year 2027, after Rabat.
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