© UNESCO
The motto of International Women’s Day (8 March) in 2015 is “Empower Women, Empower Humanity – Picture it!” For UIL, this means promoting recognition of the right to education and learning by women.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which was adopted twenty years ago, stated that, “investing in formal and non-formal education and training for girls and women, with its exceptionally high social and economic return, has proved to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable development and economic growth”.
Many literacy education practices targeting women prove this to be true. One of the recommendations of UIL’s study on Literacy and Education for Sustainable Development and Women’s Empowerment, which analysed successful literacy programmes, is to recognise the importance of literacy to sustainable development and the empowerment of women in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.
UIL is committed to working towards the empowerment of women through the Global Network of Learning Cities, through capacity development of government and civil society partners and by monitoring implementation of the Belém Framework of Action.
Other links:
About International Women’s Day 2015
UNESCO Director-General’s Message
For more information, please contact UIL Gender Focal Points ( or ).
