The 56 th Session of UN General Assembly adopted UNLD in Dec 2001

1. Fourth Meeting of the Working Group on EFAUnited Nations Literacy Decade(UNLD: 2003-2012)Aicha Bah DialloDeputy Assistant Director-General for EducationUNESCO

2. 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.)

3. WHY UN Literacy Decade? • One of five adults cannot communicate through literacy (862 million non-literates in 2000) and 113 M children have no access to school. • Literacy is a human right. It is a scandal that this right continues to be violated for such a huge population of humanity. • Literacy efforts up to now have proved inadequate at national and international levels. (Especially after Jomtien)

4. Expected outcomes • Significant progress towards the Dakar Goal of 2015 • Attainment of a mastery level of learning by all learners in literacy and life skills • Dynamic literate environments for literacy to be sustained and expanded beyond 2012 • Improved quality of life

5. Strategies • Placing literacy at the centre for all levels of national education system and developmental efforts • Adopting an approach for promoting synergy between formal and NFE • Promoting an environment supportive uses of literacy and a culture of reading • Ensuring community involvement • Building partnership at all levels • Developing systematic monitoring and evaluation processes supported by researches and databases

6. UNLD… intends to promote Literacy for All and proposes plural notion of literacy for creating literate environments

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.)