March to support Global Literacy
African Regional Conference Bamako, 10 - 12 September 2007
"3% for Literacy!!"
The marchers came from civil society organisatons in Mali, Guinea and Senegal. Some of them had participated in the caravan that travelled across the three countries covering 3,467 km. The main demand to African governments was to allocate a minimum of 3% of national education budgets to literacy programmes. During the conference Mali's President Amadou Toumani Touré comitted Mali to respecting this demand.
The Conference was one of a series of six Regional Conferences supporting global literacy organized within the framework of Education For All (EFA), the United Nations Literacy Decade and UNESCO's Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE).The conferences were part of a drive to promote literacy at national, regional and international levels as a major EFA goal and foundation for lifelong learning. The objective was to trigger sustained global and country level leadership for the promotion of literacy by renewing support to and investment in literacy for all and integrating literacy programmes into a sector-wide education strategy.
34 years old and the mother of 3 children, Maria is the facilitaor of the Reflect circle in Salambaldé (Guinea Conakry). She herself learned to read and write at the age of 24. Maria and her son, who is only 12 months old, covered 3,467 km with the caravan to participate in the march, where she delivered the Bamako Declaration to Conference officials.
