Grassroots comics in mother tongue promotion in Azerbaijan

Grassroots comics made in the children's  mother tongue

We received an e-mail from Elsa Sysser, who works for the SIL International in a mother-tongue language program in Azerbaijan. She arranged a five-day grassroots comics workshop for youngsters in a mountain village.  The number of participants varied from day to day (7 – 15 participants) as especially the boys also had to tend to the livestock of their families.

The children made comics about the winter and about the rain. A detail below:

A detail from a comic that celebrates the rain. 

Grassroots comics is an attractive component in programs that promote the use of language and reading. This has been evident in many of our workshops where the participants have always been happy to use the local language.

Elsa Sysser has not received any training for running comics workshops, and used the book “Grassroots Comics – a development communication tool” to guide her through the process. This is possible, you too can give it a try!