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Vulnerable groups
To promote inclusion and gender equality in lifelong learning, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) conducts action-oriented research and policy advocacy that reaches out to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of young people and adults. People with low literacy skills often come from vulnerable backgrounds. A wide range of factors, such as gender inequality, physical or mental disability, and low socio-economic status, contributes to this vulnerability. Other issues, which vary according to the context (e.g. rural, urban, post-conflict or post-disaster), may exacerbate the challenges these people face.UIL seeks to empower vulnerable people by enhancing targeted education and development policies and programmes, focusing in particular on the following groups:
- Women with no or low literacy skills
- Out-of-school youth and young people with low literacy and basic skills
- Indigenous people
- Prisoners
- Refugees