Local Youth Successfully Activate Child Friendly Library

Although the building was established seven years ago, the Child Friendly Village Library in one of WVI's assisted villages is not functioning properly. The library does not have a management and is often closed. Children and the community also rarely come to visit. In fact, the literacy skills of children in the village are still underdeveloped. Most children are more interested in playing games using gadgets than reading books. 

Seeing this condition, the youth in the village felt the need to take a role and make a change. One of the changemakers who successfully activated the Child Friendly Village Library is Annisa. This 20-year-old young woman was worried about how children were busy with their gadgets while also facing the situation of not being able to read fluently. "Many children in our village are not good at reading. Therefore, one of our goals in opening the library is to increase children's interest in literacy through reading books," she said. 

Ica, as she is familiarly called, was then trusted by the Village Head and the community to reactivate the library. With a sincere heart and the spirit of wanting to build the village to be more advanced and independent, Ica made up her mind to start small but brave step by taking on the role as Chairperson of the Child Friendly Village Library.  

Thanks to the management of Ica and her friends, today children and adults who want to read and seek knowledge loves to visit the library. The library provides interesting books to read such as fairy tale books, books about animals or plants, as well as fish farming books, cooking recipe books, and others. In December 2023, the library won an award in the category of Village Library Participant of Provincial Independent Replication in the Social Inclusion-Based Library Transformation Programme.  

But before getting the achievement as it is now, many obstacles were passed, one of which was in the capacity of the management team. Passion and initiative need to be balanced with skills and experience. Ica and her friends were worried because though they have the passion, they did not have the knowledge or capacity to manage a village library. 

In collaboration with the Regional Library Office of Sambas Regency, WVI organised a library management training for the Village Children's Forum. During the training, children's forum members gained insights into library organisation, selecting appropriate books, and how to encourage people to come to the library. Ica and her team participated in the training and took home some very useful knowledge. 

After the training, Ica and her friends rushed to create a work programme for the library. To attract visitors, Ica and friends opened tutoring for elementary school children in the village library, assisted children to do school assignments, as well as various activities such as painting competitions, reading competitions and storytelling in the library. 

Through the activities carried out by Ica and friends, children and villagers are increasingly interested in visiting the library. And most importantly, the children have become better at reading and there are even some children who have won prizes at school after taking lessons at the library. 

"I used to feel dificult to read and was embarrassed when asked by the teacher to read in class. But after this child-friendly library was opened, I became a good and fluent reader. The librarians were patient in teaching me to read and never got angry," said Celsi (10). Celsi is one of the children who diligently comes to the library for tutoring and other activities organised by the management. Celsi's academic grades at school have improved since attending tutoring and activities at the library. 

Drs Ruhanas, the Village Head, is proud of the success of the Child Friendly Village Library management. "I am very optimistic that they can do their best," said Mr Ruhanas. In addition to programmes targeting the literacy skills of children in the village, WVI is also currently implementing the PASTI programme which focuses on the issue of stunting in children under five. Mr Ruhanas is delighted with these programme and promise to give full support and cooperation in building child well-being in the village. 

Author: Yasika Amanda (AP Sambas team member) 

Editor: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)