DUBAI: As part of Harvest of Knowledge initiative, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) to provide Gaza children with 30000 books, including various collections of books issued by the foundation, as part of the Tarjem and Iqraa Programmes.

The signing ceremony was attended by President of the UAEBBY Seikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, and Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation Adel Rashid Al Shared who signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation is donating the books in support of the UAEBBY's Children in Crisis programme, which aims to provide books for children whose lives have been disrupted by war, civil unrest or natural disaster, in addition to children with special needs, all over the world.

UAEBBY announced that the books donated by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation will be allocated to children in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, with the aim of benefitting culturally marginalized children by supporting reading culture through the provision of the necessary books to children, training courses to reading professionals, and by promoting the importance of reading among children.

Sheikha Bodour lauded this humanitarian initiative by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.

She said that the difficult living conditions of children in unstable or war torn countries should not jeopardize their right to have access to reading and knowledge or to develop a culture of reading, adding that developing children's awareness and knowledge through reading will help them to overcome the challenges they may face as a result of their circumstances.

She added that these books would be provided through the UAEBBY and the IBBY to children in Gaza Strip, who are suffering from instability due to war and occupation.

"The mechanism of distributing the books to the largest number of beneficiaries possible will be announced later," she clarified.

She also said that UAEBBY would coordinate with the Palestinian section of IBBY in distributing books, in order to benefit from their local experience and knowledge of the region's population structure so that they may accurately target those children who are the most vulnerable and therefore would benefit most from the UAEBBY's Children in Crisis programme.

HE Adel Rashid Al Shared, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, expressed his delight at their partnership with the UAEBBY, as it forms the foundation for many more initiatives and joint ventures, to serve the interests of young people in the Arab Word, to come.

He added, "Through the "Harvest of Knowledge" initiative, the foundation seeks to deliver the right book to the right reader. For this purpose it joined hands with the UAEBBY to dedicate a specific collection of books, published by the foundation, to the children of Gaza. These books were selected on the basis of their educational and entertainment value in order to best meet the children's need for social and educational development." He added, "The foundation's participation in this programme is consistent with its objective of facilitating children's entry into to the knowledge-based-economy world, in line with the vision of Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Therefore, the foundation determined this year to focus on the young generation through a number of initiatives and projects, most important of which is the participation in the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival, today, the signing of an MoU with the Ministry of Education to distribute 200 000 books to 422 government schools supervised by the MoE, and the launch of the Arab Knowledge Report 2010/2011 under this year's title 'Preparing Future Generation for the Knowledge Society'. We hope our children and youth will benefit from these initiatives aimed at helping them to enter the world of the knowledge-based-economy."UAEBBY is the National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), which was founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1953. The IBBY includes a network of over 70 national sections worldwide, committed to brining books and children together.

UAEBBY was officially instituted on 1 January 2010, following IBBY's approval of the UAE as a member upon an initiative by Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), and Founder and CEO of Kalimat Publishing House.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2012.