Reading is essential to the development of children’s personality, imagination, and cognitive skills. Arabia News estimated that the # of pages read for pleasure in the Middle East is 0.5/year, while for the USA it’s 11 books/year, negatively impacting education systems and economic outputs of the region.

Children must learn to love and enjoy reading to reap its benefits. Many programs that attempted to increase reading levels by providing books have failed. Research has shown that reading aloud is key in fostering the love of reading. In the West, this task is fulfilled by parents, teachers or librarians. Although these individuals are present in developing countries, the culture hasn’t embedded a sense of enthusiasm for reading aloud, and many are illiterate or lack reading skills and habits. 

Mission:

To provide a complete, sustainable, accessible, cost efficient, grassroots, flexible, “Read Aloud Program” to foster love of reading among children, empowering communities through activism of local volunteers from the Middle East, Africa and the rest of the developing world. They will realize this goal by engaging their workforce, creating partnerships, optimizing their program and model, utilizing technology, and continuous research.

Vision:

To foster the love of reading for pleasure among children. 

Values:

Interest of the community, Well-being of their workforce, Quality, Approaching the whole world irrelevant of gender, religion, social status, Integrity, Impacting future generations, Respect, Ownership, Human-centered approach.

Goals and Objectives:

-Spread awareness among parents about the importance and benefits of reading to children.
-Help kids develop a bond and love toward reading at a young age.
-Shift the way society in Jordan perceives reading and their investment in it.
-Train more groups of storytellers in different neighborhoods in different provinces in Jordan.
-Establish more “We Love Reading” libraries and storytelling sessions in neighborhoods across Jordan.
-Create a solid and growing storytellers network.
-Spread the idea and message of “We Love Reading” to reach over 10,000 individuals through TV, radio, newspaper and other media venues.
-Establish more collaborations and connections with organizations abroad.
-Build a growing collection and choices of children stories in the Arabic language.
-Help shape the future and minds of young children and expand their creativity and horizon