Youth Sada in partnership with bp Oman, launches the fourth cycle of the Reading Family programme

Sunday, 20th March 2022: In partnership with bp Oman, Youth Sada launched its fourth version of the Reading Family programme. It aims to instill the culture of reading and literature within the Omani community by nurturing children’s enthusiasm in reading. It also encourages Omani youth to develop their capabilities in delivering literature workshops and raises awareness within the community on narrative methods involved to encourage reading among the future generations.

The programme includes eight main activities which are the Reading Family Forum, the Reading Ambassadors Network, the ‘Rawafid’ Training Programme (Youth Training Programme), ‘My Child Reads’ sessions, ‘Hakawati’ sessions, a picture story telling competition, educational publications and a book fair to sell children books. This social investment programme managed by bp is continuously benefiting communities with the contribution of our Block 61 partners. Block 61 is operated by bp in partnership with OQ, PTTEP, and PETRONAS.

The Reading Family Forum offers various academic workshops, games and recreational challenges designed for children.  Whereas the ‘Rawafid’ Training Programme aims to qualify and train 30 Omanis in children literature. As for the Reading Ambassadors Network, it aims to enhance the reading performance among 35 kids with the support of parents through continuous reading and evaluation by specialised supervisors. The programme also offers ‘My Child Reads’ sessions which targets mothers and helps develop the essential skills needed on how to communicate with their children and encourage them to read.

Shamsa Al-Rawahi, bp Oman social investment manager, commented: “We are proud of our partnership with Youth Sada as it works on creating a rich culture of reading in the Ad’Dhahirah region by delivering specialised reading programmes. Reading is a core part of education and seeking knowledge, which is in line of Oman’s 2040 vision of advancing education.”

Suleiman Al Maqrashi, Project Manager at Youth Sada, commented saying: “There’s no doubt that these types of programmes encourage the culture of reading and literature among children and families, and this was evident through the outcomes of the last three versions of the programmes whereby 1096 children benefitted from this programme. We were able to encourage the habit of reading among hundreds of families within our region.”