IBBY-Yamada 2011: Nepal

The Humla district is in a remote area of northwest Nepal. Children in this area speak a dialect different from standard Nepali and have access to very few books they can understand. The project led by the Nepalese Society for Children’s Literature had three parts: to develop books in the Humla dialect with colourful illustrations using local resources; to improve the style of storytelling to children; and to support ten schools in the district to establish libraries.

Ten schools were selected in the Humla district where the libraries were to be established and from each school two teachers prepared the base for creating 20 manuscripts of picture books. Four students from each school prepared the artwork and the books were then created in Kathmandhu. These books, together with many donated books were then distributed to the ten schools. The school libraries were set up by the selected teachers with the help of IBBY Nepal.