Her Royal Highness Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, expert on literacy, was appointed UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development in 2009. Since the designation as a UNESCO Special Envoy, Princess Laurentien has acted as an advocate for the cause of literacy all over the world. She has been supportive of UNESCO’s efforts to scale up literacy efforts.
As a firm believer that literacy constitutes a human right, Princess Laurentien has been recognised for her outstanding work in defending this right since 2003. She created the Reading & Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven) in 2004, and became patron of various organizations such as the Braille, Talking Library of the Netherlands and the Association of Public Libraries. She is also holder of the ABC prize for literacy.
Moreover, she is currently the president of the European Cultural Foundation, an independent pan European institution developing cultural programs and funding grants for European projects related to culture and education.
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