| Programme name | Country | Date of information |
| TXIKIKIDS CORNER:
BOOKSTART EUSKADI |
SPAIN | 08/09/2021 |
| Question | Answer |
| About the Organisation | |
| Organisation name | Asociación Artística-Sociocultural Mestiza |
| Organisation address | Paseo Zarategi 82 bajo Izda, 20015 Donostia –San Sebastian, Gipuzkoa, Spain |
| Goal/objective | Mestiza is an innovative non-profit organization committed to strengthening community through art and education. Established in 2008, we aim to promote and develop artistic, educational and socio-cultural projects that reflect the multicultural diversity of our environment in San Sebastian and the Basque Country.
Mestiza develops its projects and activities based on a strong relationship with statutory/local and regional governments (City Council of San Sebastián, Donostia Kultura, The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council) and with the support of a network of volunteers and private institutions. One of our main aims is to promote reading and literature, with a special focus on early childhood. For that, we created the Txikikids Corner Programme in 2009, which encompasses several reading activities based on our belief in the power of books, songs and nursery rhymes. This programme encourages families to share books, read aloud and read for pleasure to their children. Txikikids Corner´s reading activities are held in the local libraries in the Basque Country of Spain and they all are free and inclusive. |
| Contact Person | Ana Molina |
| Position of Contact Person | Director of the early years programme |
| Contact email | info@mestiza.org.es |
| Organisation website | https://bookstart-es.org.es/ |
| Organisation type | Non profit |
| How many staff does your organisation employ? | 3 |
| About the Programme | |
| Basic details | |
| Programme name | TXIKIKIDS CORNER: BOOKSTART EUSKADI |
| Country/Province/City where the programme takes place | Basque Country of Spain. |
| Year organisation started, and programme | 2009 |
| Programme goal/objective | Bookstart Euskadi is a universal reading promotion programme through which children (0-3 years old) an annual package of books, free of charge, with the aim of inspiring a love of stories, songs and rhymes from birth. Bookstart Euskadi informs parents about the reading benefits in their children’s development. |
| Funding sources | Bookstart Euskadi is being funded by the Department of Culture, Cooperation, Youth and Sports of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, Ermua City Council and Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council from the Basque Country, Spain.
The programme is also supported by The High Commissioner against Child Poverty of Spain. Txikikids Corner is funded by the City Council of San Sebastián, Donostia Kultura, The Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and The Spanish Basque Country government. |
| Geographic coverage | Basque country of Spain. |
| Purpose of the programme | |
| Not for profit? | The programme is not for profit. |
| Religious or political purpose? | None |
| Local consistency of model | |
| Is your programme model consistent across your geographic area, or are there regional differences | Consistent
|
| Book Packs | |
| What are the contents of your gifting pack? | BOOKSTART EUSKADI
Age 0 to 3 years old. Our LiburuPacks (the name of the book bags) contain three books (in three languages: basque, spanish and english), a rhyme sheet, an information leaflet on the benefits of reading from the earliest years and a bookmark with the calendar of the “Liburu Baby Kluba” reading promotion sessions. |
| Is your programme offered free of charge to all families? | Yes |
| Partnerships and Delivery | |
| What are your primary ‘points of contact’ with the population you serve? (i.e your local programme partners.) | Libraries, Public Cultural Centres, Municipal Nursery Schools
|
| Who gifts/hands-out your pack to families? | Librarians, Municipal Nursery School Teachers, volunteers |
| Please list your other programme partnerships |
|
| Does your programme uses volunteers | Our volunteers are an important key from the beginning to the end and during the process of the development of Bookstart Euskadi in each municipality. The volunteers’ profiles are diverse and have different skills to help us in many programme areas since they will help to prepare book bags and support reading sessions, illustrators and students. |
| Audience | |
| Is the programme universal or targeted? | Bookstart Euskadi is a universal programme and targets children from 0 to 3 years and their families, tutors and guardians. |
| How many children does your programme serve a year? | Since we started the pilot project Bookstart Euskadi in June 2022 to February 2023 we have delivered 895 book packages and 15 packages for children with additional needs in three cities of the Spanish Basque Country. Ordizia, Gipuzkoa, Ermua, Bizkaia and Vitiria-Gasteiz, Araba. |
| At what age/gifting period do children receive your programme. | We focus on children from birth to 3 years old.
|
| Diversity provision | |
| Does your program include provisions or resources for children with special needs? | Bookstart Euskadi believes that it is essential to to offer an inclusive offer for children children and their families, and therefore provides the the possibility of including books for children children with special needs.
To adapt to the different demands, it includes: Bookbag: for deaf and hard-of-hearing children or hearing impaired children. Bookbag: for blind and visually impaired children or visually impaired children. Bookbag: for children with motor difficulties. |
| What language populations does your programme serve? | From the beginning, Txikikids Corner programme introduced its trilingual activities as an innovative aspect, to attract different audiences, so that the fact of not mastering a single language is not an excuse or impediment to attend the activity and at the same time bring the public closer to the libraries and cultural spaces of their locality. So that we provide material and reading sessions in basque, spanish and english, the first two are the official languages of the Basque Country in Spain. |
| Evaluation and research | |
| Have you conducted programme evaluation or research (including longitudinal)?
If yes, has this evaluation/research been published? |
We collaborate with the Education Sciences Department of the University of the Basque Country to research and evaluate Bookstart Euskadi in each municipality and globally in the basque territory.
We have conducted an evaluation of Bookstart Euskadi in Ermua with the collaboration of the University of the Basque Country, that was carried out by Joana Miguelena Torrado, PhD in Education and lecturer of “Socio-educational Intervention in Family, Childhood, Adolescence” in the Degree of Social Education in the Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Anthropology of Donostia. She is the author of several scientific articles related to childhood and adolescence under a protection measure and their transition to adult life. The evaluation has not been published since it has finished recently. At the moment we have not included longitudinal study. |
Videos
Nov 2022 – Presentation to the Polish Book Institute Conference, Warsaw
Ana Molina, Director of the early years programme, Asociación Artística-Sociocultural Mestiza
March 2023 – New pilot programmes in Norway and Spain
Ana Molina, Presidente of Mestiza association, San Sebastian, Spain; and Araya Goitia, the publishers association ¡ÂLBUM!, founder member of Leer Transforma, Spain.
- Ana Molina, Presidente of Mestiza association, San Sebastian, Spain. The implementation of the Bookstart Spain project and the power of networking.
- Araya Goitia, the publishers association ¡ÂLBUM!, founder member of Leer Transforma, Spain. READING TRANSFORMS: Leer Transforma: the creation of a new network in Spain to join literature promotion practices and programs.