UNESCO Chairs gather for knowledge sharing and collaboration ahead of September’s International Literacy Day

On 10 June 2021, UNESCO organized an online meeting with nine UNESCO Chairs and one observer prior to this year’s International Literacy Day (ILD), which will focus on “The right to literacy in times of COVID: the contribution of digital literacy and distance learning programmes”. Among the 31 participants were UNESCO Chairs in literacy, lifelong learning, and skills development, and ICT and education from universities in Belarus, China, Cyprus, France, , the Netherlands, Uganda, Ukraine, USA, and the UK.

This was the first time such a meeting with UNESCO Chairs was organized to enhance cooperation between the Organization and UNESCO Chairs for the promotion of literacy in the lead up to ILD 2021 and beyond. Participants were introduced to UNESCO’s work on literacy, identified key issues to be addressed through the ILD celebrations, and explored potential areas for future collaboration. The meeting facilitated interaction between the chairs, resulting in the UNESCO Chair in Literacies, Green Skilling and Capacity Development for Sustainable Communities in Africa, and the UNESCO Chair in Knowledge Transfer for Sustainable Development supported by ICTs being connected for possible collaboration in Uganda.

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