Kalimat Foundation

Kalimat Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Its mission is to provide books and reading materials to children in need and promote a culture of reading among them. The Foundation is the charitable arm of Kalimat Group, a publisher in the United Arab Emirates, with international partnerships including Britain's Bloomsbury[1] and France's Gallimard Jeunesse.[2] The organisation’s founder and chairperson is Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the American University of Sharjah,[3] past President of the International Publishers Association (2021 - 2022).[4][5]

History

The foundation was established in 2016 by Her Highness Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah, who is a strong advocate for education and literacy. Kalimat Foundation works in partnership with various organizations, schools, and libraries to distribute books to underprivileged children and refugees in different countries.

Programmes and partnerships

Established in 2016, Kalimat Foundation’s objective has been to encourage literacy particularly for youngsters in Arabic-speaking communities.[6] Its Pledge a Library programme was launched in November 2017 with an aim of distributing books to children fleeing conflict in Middle Eastern states. More recently the campaign has extended to Arabic speaking communities in East and West Africa, as a result of partnership in June 2021 with Book Aid International in the United Kingdom.[7]

The foundation's Ara initiative was launched in 2017 to make accessible book formats available,[8] supporting objectives set in the 2013 Marrakesh VIP Treaty. In November 2018 a partnership agreement was signed with the Accessible Books Consortium to aid the production of born-accessible books in Arabic.[9] More recently, in 2022, the foundation received license by the UAE Ministry of Economy and authorisation by the World Intellectual Property Organization, to publish literary works in accessible formats, without contravening copyright laws.[10]

References
  1. "Bloomsbury partners with Arabic publisher Kalimat Group | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  2. "Kalimat Group in tie-up with French publisher". www.zawya.com. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  3. "Sheikha Bodour named president of American University of Sharjah". The National. 2023-01-29. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  4. "International Publishers Association". International Publishers Association. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  5. "Pansa and Jobava confirmed as IPA President and Vice President Elect". International Publishers Association. 29 September 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  6. "Kalimat Foundation launched to empower children". gulfnews.com. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  7. "UAE-based global non-profit foundation to deliver 15 libraries to refugees and children". gulfnews.com. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  8. "'Ara' provides 30,000 books for visually challenged children". wam. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  9. "WIPO and Kalimat Foundation: New Agreement Helps Arabic Children Who are Blind or Visually Impaired". www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  10. "UAE's Kalimat Foundation to reproduce books in formats accessible for visually impaired". gulfnews.com. 27 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-08.


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