UNESCO’s publication, based on a cross-analysis of nine mobile learning projects in three world regions, explores how mobile phones can enhance women’s literacy and lead to their social empowerment.

The mobile learning projects took place in Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal and Somalia and targeted women in rural and slum areas, through economic empowerment programmes and non-formal literacy programmes, and touched on topics including sanitation, maternal health, goat-rearing and water management. Mobile phones were used as learning and business tools to reinforce literacy programmes and improve communication through texting.

The challenges encountered among the nine projects reviewed in this publication and the recommendations derived from these experiences provide a way forward for policy-makers and practitioners in the conceptualization and implementation of quality mobile learning as part of women’s human development.

UNESCO is a partner to the Asian Summit for Education and Skills which is Asia’s only annual leadership summit dedicated to the education and training sector. Each year, ASES brings together influential leaders and prominent educationists, including national education ministers, senior policy-makers, and other key experts and stakeholders to highlight the role literacy plays in the development of skills for life and work. ASES's overarching theme for 2015 is ‘New Opportunities for Education and Skills.’