Youth and Adult Learning and Education
Officially there are 781 million adults in the world who are not literate and most of them are women. In reality this figure is much higher and even more adults are unable to read or write well enough to function effectively in society. Yet literacy is a fundamental human right and a right that enables people to access and secure many other rights. Youth and adult literacy is a cross cutting development strategy that enables people to participate more fully in the political, social and economic life of their society. It is the "invisible glue" that underlies the achievement of development goals and individual and community development, enhancing skills and confidence to advocate for one's rights.
CONFINTEA VI December 2009
The overall thrust of the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Belém Pará Brazil, was to draw attention to the contribution of adult learning and education to sustainable development,
which includes social, economic, ecological and cultural dimensions. The themes explored at the conference
included policies, structures and financing for adult learning and education; inclusion and participation; the quality of
adult learning and education; literacy and other key competencies; and poverty eradication. It brought together government
officials from UNESCO member states, United Nations agencies, cooperation agencies among countries, civil society
organizations, the private sector and learners from around the world.
See UNESCO's UIL web site for updated unformation
"CALL FOR ACTION" Abuja 2007
Committed to building new momentum on adult literacy, 60 participants from 24 countries gathered in Abuja, Nigeria from 12th-16th February 2007, including Ministers of Education, Permanent Secretaries, Directors and Managers of National Literacy Programmes, United Nations officials, donors and civil society organisations. The participants were all committed to "writing the wrongs" in the field of adult literacy - reversing decades of under-investment in the sector, and transforming policy and practice to develop effective programmes. They identified a range of important priorities for national and international action.
Writing the Wrongs - International Benchmarks for Adult Literacy
Illiteracy is a violation of the fundamental human right to education. But if that is not argument enough, the Global Campaign for Education believes that there are five compelling practical reasons for governments and donors to invest now in adult literacy:
- Literacy is vital to reducing gender inequality.
- Adult literacy is critical for the healthy development
and education of children, especially girls. - Literacy is vital to human and economic development.
- Literacy is vital for fighting AIDS.
- Adult literacy programmes work.
The research contained in this report by the Global Campaign for Education shows that adult literacy programmes can be both affordable and effective. This is reinforced by recent research, not least the studies commissioned by the Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2006.
The Benchmarks are the result of the largest-ever attempt to systematise experience of what works in adult literacy. 67 successful literacy programmes in 35 countries were analysed in order to see whether they shared any common features that could be simplified into concrete, hands-on benchmarks or guidelines for policy-makers. Although no one would advocate a "blueprint" approach to literacy, there was remarkable consensus among the practitioners we surveyed as to the basic ingredients for success. It turns out that we do know what works in adult literacy programmes and there is no great mystery to it. There are clear steps that can be taken to design and manage good quality, cost-effective programmes - and where this is done they can yield exceptional results.
