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Contributing $ 10
News from the Street Library
THREE times over the coming year, we will send you a personalised email with photos and messages from the boys and girls of the Street Library
> 02 Co-financiers
About this project
Books, art and culture for all children in a neighbourhood of El Alto marked by poverty.
Show list of needs
Material
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Minimum | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
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Purchase of books for the Street Library
We need books to read in Street Library and to start lending books. We know that to get children interested we have to be very careful about the quality of the books we offer. We need to buy stories, non-fiction, books for very young children, interactive books with games,… With this budget, we could buy 200 books!
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$ 2,347 | |
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Material for workshops
As well as reading, the Street Library offers workshops in art, sciences, manual skills … For that we need quality supplies: paper, card, crayons, marker pens, paint, ...
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$ 282 | |
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Purchase of board games
We would like to be able to give the girls and boys time to play games: chess, educational games, board games … as always, high quality!
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$ 282 | |
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Costs of the Festival of Learning
We want to hold the Festival of Learning 21-24 June in the neighbourhood itself. A time for fun and for meeting people where everyone is invited to share their knowledge, leading an art workshop, teaching a skill, talking about science, sport … We need money to buy quality supplies, to have a fridge and to accommodate the animators. For example, we already have a photography workshop with a pinhole camera, and for that we need to buy supplies (photo paper, developer …)
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$ 1,877 | |
| Total | $ 2,347 | $ 4,788 |
Necessary
Supplemental
General information
The Street Library is an open cultural gathering which takes place in a neighbourhood of El Alto (Bolivia) marked by poverty. Twice a week, a group of facilitators provide a time to read with children, and their parents, so they can discover the pleasure of reading books and having access to quality art and cultural activities.
We also hope soon to propose book borrowing which will allow children to continue reading at home with their parents, grandparents and siblings (which is why we need more books and your financial support!).
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
The Street Library is a very special project because:
- we are in the street, in a place marked by poverty
- we look to make links with families who are socially excluded
- it is free and accessible to children of all ages
- it prioritises reaching children who have the least opportunities to take part in cultural activities
- we pay particular attention to the quality of the books we offer
- we provide a time around books to use the imagination away from the school context
- children are free to take part and free from the pressure of complying, and the fear of failure
The Street Libraries aims are to:
- Enable access to reading, culture and art for children in a neighbourhood of El Alto marked by poverty
- Meet and create links with families in the neighbourhood who live in extreme poverty and social exclusion, and invite them to rake part in the Street Library and other anti-poverty projects
* Promote participation and a social commitment to young people, inviting them to train and get involved as Street Library facilitators. - Support the neighbourhood primary school (which has a shortage of teachers, classrooms and material) and support the teachers’, parents’ and children’s efforts for a quality education
Why this is important
The city of El Alto has a million inhabitants. Of those, a third are under 15 years old. Forty percent of El Alto’s population live below the poverty line. The city does not have any public libraries. The neighbourhood primary school has 140 students but does not have a single book available for the children.
When the Street Library wagon arrives, the children welcome the facilitators shouting, “books, books!” It is moving to feel this hunger for books and this thirst for reading!
ATD Fourth World has been in El Alto for 20 years. A full-time team of six people looks for ways to join the efforts of the community to fight poverty. This team strives to reach the poorest families in the neighbourhood, knocking on doors, personally inviting children and their parents. The Street Library is not an isolated project but rather one that ties in with other anti-poverty projects run by ATD Fourth World members in Bolivia:
A Festival of Learning is organised each year. A time for fun and getting to know each other in the neighbourhood, in which everyone gets together to share talents and knowledge.
Young people and adults are also invited to take part in regular gatherings to speak out, dialogue and think together, in a project known as the “Fourth World People’s Universities”.
Finally concrete ways in which to fight poverty are conceived, for example participatory action-research projects or by bringing together people who are motivated by a world in which no one is left behind.
Social commitment
Solidary
ATD Fourth World is a movement that brings together people fighting every day against extreme poverty with people from all backgrounds who want to do something for dignity, participation in society, and meaningful recognition of human rights. ATD Fourth World has as its objective a world of peace where nobody is left behind. Founded more than 60 years ago, it is now active in more than 30 countries, both in the North and in the South. In Bolivia, it has been promoting cultural projects and projects to engage children, young people and adults for 20 years, joined by people from all backgrounds to think and act against extreme poverty.