Literacy and Sustainable Societies

Education experts from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) gathered in Montevideo, Uruguay on 26 and 27 November, 2015 to monitor progress and identify concrete areas for regional collaboration in achieving the literacy and adult education goals illustrated in the new Education 2030 Framework for Action adopted by UNESCO Member States this year. The meeting, organized by the Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC), focused on developing concrete initiatives that could be used in countries of the region to develop youth and adult education with a lifelong learning perspective. A representative of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) joined the meeting to share the Institute’s perspective on lifelong learning. The participants identified strategies for further action:

• Prepare a regional report on adult learning and education (ALE), based on the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE).
• Showcase the policies and strategies on literacy and adult learning and education (ALE) through a LAC Observatory on ALE.
• Conduct exploratory research on the experience of the region on Recognition, Validation and Accreditation (RVA) of the learning outcomes of non-formal and informal learning.
• Develop tools to guide countries in conducting capacity building for trainers/facilitators in ALE.

Continued focus on literacy and adult education in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This meeting complements the regional CONFINTEA VI follow-up meeting for LAC that was jointly organised by UIL and OREALC and took place in Mexico in 2011, in which more than 250 participants adopted the regional Matrix for the Implementation and Monitoring of the Belém Framework for Action (BFA) in Latin America and the Caribbean. This regional Matrix informed discussions at the Montevideo meeting and continues to be an instrumental document in the implementation of ALE programmes.

Although the right to education is reflected in the legislation of all Member States in the region, and a variety of literacy and adult education programmes are available, critical challenges relating to many factors reflected in the regional Matrix remain.

The concrete points identified at the meeting will provide a solid background for countries in working towards achieving their education goals. ‘The meeting contributed to building a joint roadmap post-2015 for the region, which will inform the new regional platform for the implementation of the Education 2030 Framework for Action,’ said Jorge Sequeira, Director of OREALC.