Fourth Meeting of the Working Group on EFA
United Nations Literacy Decade
(UNLD: 2003-2012)
Aicha Bah Diallo
Deputy Assistant Director-General for Education
UNESCO
Background
• The 56th Session of UN General Assembly
adopted UNLD in Dec 2001
• The International Plans of Action was adopted
at the 57th Session in Oct. 2002.
• UNLD was officially launched by SG, UN, DG,
UNESCO, Mongolian President, US First Lady
and other dignitaries in UN, New York in Feb.
2003.
• Regional and national launches follow in 2003
(Africa – Nov., Asia –Sept., Brazil, angora,
Thailand, Jordan, etc.)
WHY UN Literacy Decade?
1. One of five adults cannot communicate
through literacy (862 million non-literates
in 2000) and 113 M children have no
access to school.
2. Literacy is a human right. It is a scandal
that this right continues to be violated for
such a huge population of humanity.
3. Literacy efforts up to now have proved
inadequate at national and international
levels. (Especially after Jomtien)
Expected outcomes
1. Significant progress towards the Dakar
Goal of 2015
2. Attainment of a mastery level of learning
by all learners in literacy and life skills
3. Dynamic literate environments for literacy
to be sustained and expanded beyond
2012
4. Improved quality of life
Strategies
1. Placing literacy at the centre for all levels of
national education system and developmental
efforts
2. Adopting an approach for promoting synergy
between formal and NFE
3. Promoting an environment supportive uses of
literacy and a culture of reading
4. Ensuring community involvement
5. Building partnership at all levels
6. Developing systematic monitoring and
evaluation processes supported by researches
and databases
UNLD…
intends to promote
Literacy for All and
proposes
plural notion of literacy for
creating literate environments
Literacy for All
• The vision of UNLD situates Literacy for All
at the heart of Education for All.
• Literacy is central to all levels of education
through all delivery modes – formal, non-
formal and informal.
• Literacy for All encompasses settings and
contexts, in the North and the South, the
urban and the rural, those in school and
those out of school, adults and children,
boys and girls, and men and women.
A renewed vision of Literacy
• Literacy is beyond a set of standardized
skills of reading, writing and calculating.
• It is a part of broader learning purposes
and lifelong learning processes, which is
shaped by the context of daily life.
• The uses and practices of literacy are
plural in different social, cultural,
economical and political circumstances
and literacy provision should be planned
and implemented according to such
diversity.
Literate environments
• Literate environments or literacy
supportive surroundings in schools
and communities to be developed for
sustainability of UNLD.
• Literate environments will be most
dynamic where written
communication is a natural and
essential part of community life.
UNLD in EFA
• Literacy is mentioned explicitly in two of the six
Dakar goals, those relating to adult literacy and to
educational quality (4 and 6).
• Implicitly, literacy is an essential learning tool at all
stages of education and for all learners.
• Literacy is therefore an integral and pertinent part
of EFA efforts and this implies that efforts to meet
one, several or all of the Dakar goals in a
particular context will necessarily involve
consideration of how literacy may be promoted to
facilitate further learning.
UNLD and Other Flagships
Areas of possible cooperation with other Flagships
are quite wide as UNLD deals with literacy as
learner-centered learning process focusing on
the under served population.
• Target-wise: ERP, UNGEI, ECCE,
Person with Disabilities, Education in
Situations of Emergency and Crisis
• Contents-wise: AIDS, FRESH
UNLD and Development Goals
:One of the UNLD goals, ‘literate environment’
is integral for achieving the global goals
such as eradicating poverty, reducing
child mortality, curbing population growth,
achieving gender equality and ensuring
sustainable development, peace and
democracy.
UNLD Partners
UNLD belongs to national governments, NGOs, civil
society, communities and the people.
International community supports them sustain
and enhance UNLD implementation.
• UN inter-agency working group meeting
for UNLD is held on regular basis among
UNESCO, UNICEF, WB, FAO, ILO, OHCHR,
UNAIDS, UNDP, UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNHCR,
WFP, and WHO.
• UNESCO is assigned to take a
coordinating role at international level.
UNESCO’s perspective
• UNESCO promotes a plural notion of
literacy under a banner of ‘Literacy for All’,
putting a priority on literacy provision for the
under-served people with innovations such
as learner-centered context-sensitive
approach, community learning centre (CLC),
ICT application to contribute to achievement
of EFA and Millennium Development Goals
in collaboration with partners at international,
regional and national levels.
Challenges: Do more for…
• Coordination with global development
goals (MDGs, FTI) at international level
• Integration of literacy and NFE
components in EFA national plans
• Integrated approach with other flagships
in programme planning and
implementation at national level (UNDAF,
CCA)
• Reliable literacy monitoring and
assessment for improvement of literacy
work (LAMP, NFE-MIS, etc.)