David Jessup, the Australian High Commissioner to the Maldives has sent through this report from DFAT’s Public Diplomacy update.
He says that they are really pleased at the reception the project has received both in Maldives and within DFAT. I wanted to share this with you as the significant contribution from the Rotary Club of Flemington/Kensington to the project has been recognised here.
The donation of thousands of books to 29 schools and public libraries across 15 atolls in the Maldives will reap goodwill for Australia in Maldivian communities for years to come. Maldives has 187 inhabited islands, the majority of which have their own local schools with great unmet demand for books and teaching resources – by providing the books to schools and libraries, Australia responded to this need.
The books and school resources were collected by the Rotary Club of Flemington/Kensington in Melbourne, sourced from Rotary Donations in Kind, individual donations and a partnership with a former South Melbourne Market bookseller, Robert.
Post then leveraged its Maldivian connections to handle, sort, and distribute the books.
An Australia Awards alumna, Asima Abdul Gadir, led a team of volunteers that vetted, stamped, and organised the distribution of all the books to different communities.
This initiative helped diversify Australia’s contribution in the education sector of the Maldives, which is the bedrock of the bilateral relationship through the scholarship opportunities Australia has provided to the Maldives for 60+ years. While the scale of donations under this project was significant, the demand for books remains high - the continuation of this (or similar) projects will help local communities in the Maldives access basic resources to strengthen their education system.