Since literacy is a fundamental right for all, how can one explain that 62 per cent of women in Africa are denied the right to literacy? How can current trends be changed to prevent nearly 800 million adults, among whom a high proportion of women are still illiterate in 2015?

While there is a willingness on the part of stakeholders to meet international commitments on gender equality and the empowerment of women, efforts remain insufficient in light of the scale of the challenge.UIL is addressing this issue through capacity building for literacy and gender research. It has adopted...

In a 1953 landmark publication, UNESCO underscored the importance of educating children in their mother-tongue (UNESCO, 1953). Yet, more than 50 years since the first UNESCO statement, and despite a plethora of books, articles, numerous conventions, declarations and recommendations addressing this issue, including a range of conclusive experiments of using local languages in education and polity, most African countries continue to use the former colonial language as the primary language of instruction and governance. This advocacy brief seeks to show the pivotal role of languages in...

The Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE 2006-2015) is one of UNESCO’s three flagship initiatives dedicated to tackling illiteracy, advancing the EFA agenda and achieving the goals of the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD – 2003-2012). The LIFE initiative targets 35 countries that are home to 85 % of the world’s population deprived of literacy competencies. It is built on genuine commitment and provides a new vision and course of action. Now that the initiative has been in place for three years, a major review has been published to take stock, assess its achievements, identify...

This publication provides an analysis of and recommendations on literacy learning for indigenous youth and adults in multicultural and multilingual contexts. The publication is based on seven studies on the topic carried out in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru in 2007-2008 to mark the UN’s International Year of Languages (2008). The studies focused on analysing programmes that recognised the crucial role that indigenous languages play in people’s acquisition of the written code and consequently combined bilingual/multilingual learning...

This is the report of the second Regional Meeting of the six Arab LIFE countries (Egypt, Iraq, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen) which took place in December 2007 in Marakkech, Morocco. It was jointly organised by the UNESCO Cluster Office in Rabat, UIL, and the UNESCO Regional Bureau in Beirut. The national focal points for LIFE together with the LIFE focal points of the UNESCO offices met to review progress, and to exchange and learn from prior experiences. They also examined the LIFE implementation strategy and discussed innovative approaches to literacy and NFE that can enrich...

The African Regional Conference in Support of Global Literacy was held from 10 to 12 September 2007 in Bamako, Mali. It was a high-level advocacy initiative designed to promote literacy at the national, regional and international levels, contribute towards achieving one of the major Education for All goals, and secure the foundation for lifelong learning. It is one of a series of six Regional Conferences worldwide, organized by UNESCO within the framework of Education for All (EFA), the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) and UNESCO‘s Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE). The...

This book of Family Literacy materials contains forty-eight copies of working sheets that have been tested in practice in the areas of reading aloud, writing, talking/storytelling, suggestions for encouraging phonological awareness, self-evaluation of work done, and so on. These were created through the Family Literacy project, a cooperative project between the Landesinstitut für Lehrerbil-dung und Schulentwicklung and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. The project forms part of the model programme’’Promotion of Children and Young People from Migrant Backgrounds...

This book of Family Literacy materials contains forty-eight copies of working sheets that have been tested in practice in the areas of reading aloud, writing, talking/storytelling, suggestions for encouraging phonological awareness, self-evaluation of work done, and so on. These were created through the Family Literacy project, a cooperative project between the Landesinstitut für Lehrerbildung und Schulentwicklung and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. The project forms part of the model programme „Promotion of Children and Young People from Migrant Backgrounds” (FörMig) run by...

This book will help to promote literacy by raising understanding and awareness of family literacy in Africa. It shows that a variety of experiences with regard to this concept exist in this region and will help to bring different stakeholders together, enter into dialogue and chart a new course of action. It will inform practitioners, policymakers and funders about a concept able not only to reach children and adults but also produce more effective and sustainable programmes.

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This publication brings together the main presentations from the meeting on “Literacy and the Promotion of Citizenship: The Challenge of Learning“, which took place in Lyon, France from 2-5 April 2005 and was organized by UIE (now UIL) and its partners, the Agence Nationale de Lutte Contre L’Illettrisme (ANLCI) and the UNESCO French National Commission. It documents the diversity of literacy-related thinking and practice in the region. This advocacy meeting, attended by policy makers, researchers and practitioners, succeeded in creating a momentum to forge a collective...