Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may blessings and peace be upon His trustworthy Messenger.

This voluntary initiative is entitled: “The Eritrean National Encyclopaedia”, abbreviated in Arabic as “Māwiyah”- meaning mirror in Arabic. It is also referred to as ENE, an acronym for its English name: Eritrean National Encyclopaedia – ENE.

The initiative seeks to develop a website that brings together essential information about Eritrea, making it easy to access and benefit from, and serving as a reliable reference for researchers and those interested in Eritrean affairs. The details of this initiative are listed in the following points:

First: Importance and Features of the Initiative:

We know of no comprehensive online platform about Eritrea that undertakes this mission, which makes this initiative essential in serving readers, researchers, and those concerned with Eritrean affairs. The Eritrean National Encyclopaedia is characterized by the following:

• It seeks to include and publish everything related to Eritrea: its people, land, and history.
• Subject-based classification of research content.
• Verification and authentication of material before publication by a specialized committee and by means of expert review.
• Facilitating access to content either by search or through browsing categories.

The encyclopaedia relies on volunteer research committees formed by interested individuals to gather its material and provide accurate and reliable content.

Second: Definition

It is an independent, comprehensive encyclopaedia dedicated to the Eritrean nation, gathering and publishing introductory information. It contains essential data about Eritrea, monitors, documents, and presents concise and useful information about people, places, social components, geography, governance and politics, education, economy, population activities—everything connected to the homeland and its citizens, its enduring history and ever-renewing present, and the key fields of knowledge relevant to Eritrea.

Third: Objective

• Preserving the authenticity of the homeland—its land, people, and history—from distortion that may arise from ignorance, political motives, or cultural and sectarian competition.
• Presenting important information about Eritrea to readers in an accessible manner that keeps pace with modern technology.
• Assisting researchers and interested individuals by providing them with information in one unified platform.
• Facilitating access to information through search tools or browsing categories to reach the desired topic.
• Providing research-based information for the various sections of the website in service of researchers and those interested.
• Upon completion, the encyclopaedia aims to produce a printed version suitable for distribution among readers and for use as an educational resource about Eritrea.

Fourth: The Working Team

• The working team is composed of volunteers, whether founders or individuals wishing to join and contribute to the honor of completing the project. Qualified and interested persons will be contacted to obtain their various contributions and participation.
• The founders form the administrative body of the project, which is renewed whenever the need arises. The administration includes individuals with diverse talents that serve the project, as well as academic qualifications related to geography, history, the Arabic language, and Eritrean national culture.
• The working team is divided into groups responsible for design tasks, technical follow-up, editing tasks, and producing research content. All interested individuals may participate in gathering information, while verification of the research material—after preparation—is carried out by a specialist from among the team members, or entrusted to a specialized committee or expert consultant, before being approved and published in the encyclopaedia.
• The administrative team may select academic and research experts and communicate with them to undertake advisory roles in the project, research tasks, and verification of data and content intended for publication or already published.

Fifth: Implementation Timeline

The initiative aims, according to its detailed plan, to produce and upload 30,000 entries and diverse contents covering most essential information about Eritrea within a period of two to five years (2023–2028), which is the final target date for completing the project, Insha’Allah. The encyclopaedia’s website is expected to open to the public once an initial body of research-based informational content has been completed for all main sections.

Sixth: Sources of Content

The encyclopaedia relies on several primary sources, including:

1. Accounts of living individuals contacted by the volunteer team.
2. Published research on the Internet about Eritrea.
3. Books and related documents concerning Eritrea.

Seventh: Plan for Collecting Research Content

Any individual, group, or committee wishing to contribute information to enrich the National Encyclopaedia must observe the following:

• Forming a team of initiators to collect and review content, and providing full identification of initiators as responsible sources for the accuracy of the data —especially for unpublished information, which requires extra verification and research scrutiny.
• Exchanging and reviewing data among members according to the geographical area or group under study to ensure accuracy.

• Classifying information and research materials according to their relevance to the six main sections of the encyclopaedia:

  • Definitions: including an introduction to the encyclopaedia and explanations of each of its sections.
  • General introduction to Eritrea: including geography, borders, regions, cities, and villages.
  • Society: covering population, religions, and languages.
  • History and Politics: covering the political situation, historical events, and national figures.
  • Resources: including the economy, agriculture and vegetation cover, livestock, tourism, mining, energy, education, culture, and the arts.
  • The Eritrean Library.
  • Any other classification as maybe required.

It is strictly prohibited to approve or publish any material that is unreliable, defamatory, expressed in inappropriate or non-objective language, involves abusive argumentation non-academic debate, or content that incites discord among citizens.

After completion, research contents shall be sent to: The Eritrean National Encyclopaedia.

May Allah grant us success.

Administration of the Eritrean National Encyclopaedia

26 August 2023