UNESCO names Ghana’s Greater Accra World Book Capital 2023
The capital of Ghana, Accra has been selected as the World Book Capital for 2023 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay said on Wednesday.
UNESCO’s pick of Accra as the 2023 World Book Capital comes after Guadalajara, a city in western Mexico was chosen for the year 2022. Greater Accra is the twenty-third city to bear the ‘World Book Capital’ title since 2001.
Ghana’s capital, the United Nations (UN) Agency in a blog post sighted by EducationWeb.com.gh was selected for its strong focus on young people and their potential to contribute to the culture and wealth of Ghana.
“Accra’s proposed programme seeks to use the power of books to engage these young people, as an effective way of skilling up the next generation. The city proposed to the committee a broad programme that targets marginal groups with high levels of illiteracy including women, youth, migrants, street children and persons with disabilities,” it stated.
UNESCO as part of the Book Capital says it will put in place measures including reinforcing school and community infrastructure and institutional support for lifelong learning to foster the culture of reading in the Greater Accra Region.
“By championing the publishing sector and other creative industries, the programme also aims to encourage professional skills development to stimulate the country’s socio-economic transformation,” the UN agency said.
Activities of the 2023 programme UNESCO said will include the introduction of mobile libraries to reach marginalized groups, the holding of workshops to promote reading and writing of books in different Ghanaian languages.
“There will also be a platform for the establishment of skills and training centres for unemployed youth and the organization of competitions to showcase Ghanaian arts and culture and promote inclusivity,” the Organization added.
The WBC will start on April 23, 2023, on World Book and Copyright Day. Cities designated as UNESCO Book Capital undertake to promote books and reading for all ages and population groups, within and across national borders.
Credit: Educationweb.com.gh
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