The IBBY President visited Avay-e-Mandegar Empowerment Center

On 25 April 2019, Mingzhou Zhang, president of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) visited Avay-e-Mandegar Empowerment Center, a center covered by the Read with Me project.

After having been informed about the activities of this center’s library, preschool and kindergarten as well as the economic and cultural situation of the region’s residents, the IBBY president visited the different sections of the center. By sitting among the children in the Reading Aloud Sessions held in the library and kindergarten and experiencing the Read with Me project from up close, he was further introduced to the implementation methods of this project.

The IBBY president praised the skillfulness of the Read with Me tutors and claimed this visit to be a unique experience for him.

Avay-e-Mandegar Empowerment Center has been established to make a change in the living situation of mothers and children by improving their literacy and empowering female-headed households with social and economic skills. The Read with Me program has been implemented in Avay-e-Mandegar Empowerment Center since May 2004. This center has also been equipped with a child-centered library, welcoming children living in the region since 2007.