Ghana’s capital, Accra, has been named as UNESCO World Book Capital for 2023, following the evaluation of the World Book Capital Advisory Committee.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, who announced on Wednesday, disclosed that the city was chosen for its strong focus on young people and their potential to contribute to Ghana’s culture and wealth.
UNESCO explained that Accra’s proposed programme seeks to use the power of books to engage young people as an effective way of skilling up the next generation.
The city proposed a broad programme that targets marginal groups with high levels of illiteracy, including women, youth, migrants, street children and persons with disabilities.
Measures to be implemented include reinforcing school and community infrastructure and institutional support for lifelong learning to foster the culture of reading.
The programme aims to encourage professional skills development to stimulate the country’s socio-economic transformation by championing the publishing sector and other creative industries.
During Accra’s time as World Book Capital, activities that will happen include introducing mobile libraries to reach marginalised groups and workshops to promote the reading and writing of books in different Ghanaian languages. Others are establishing skills and training centres for unemployed youth and organising competitions to showcase Ghanaian arts and culture and promote inclusivity.
UNESCO disclosed that Accra’s application also includes a strong human rights dimension, which aims to raise public awareness about freedom of information and expression, building on its promotion of these rights and its involvement in World Press Freedom Day.
The year of celebrations will start on 23 April 2023, on World Book and Copyright Day.
Cities designated as UNESCO World Book Capital promote books and reading for all ages and population groups, within and across national borders, and organise a programme of activities for the year.
While Accra is bearing the title for 2023, Guadalajara is 2022 host, and Tbilisi is this year’s host.
Past World Book capitals include Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Anvers (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogota (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010), Buenos Aires (2011), Erevan (2012), Bangkok (2013), Port Harcourt (2014), Incheon (2015), Wroclaw (2016), Conakry (2017), Athens (2018), Sharjah, (2019) and Kuala Lumpur (2020).
