Monitoring the benefits of adult learning and education

The UNESCO Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) is produced every three or four years to monitor developments in adult learning and education in all regions of the world. GRALE is the key instrument for policy advice, advocacy and monitoring progress in Member States with regard to the recommendations adopted at the 6th International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) through the Belém Framework for Action (BFA). It complements UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report, which monitors global progress on the Education for All initiative detailed in the Dakar Framework for Action. Every three to four years, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) collates and synthesizes national reports on adult learning and education from Member States in order to report on the implementation of BFA.

GRALE III

Against this context, a second follow-up meeting of the GRALE III working group was hosted by UIL in September. The meeting aimed to chart ways forward for the drafting and dissemination of the report. GRALE III will focus on monitoring the benefits of adult learning and education for health, employment and community development. The report will be produced by UIL in conjunction with international partners, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

Previous GRALE reports

GRALE I (2009) was prepared using information from 152 national reports and served as the key resource for developing the CONFINTEA VI recommendations on Adult Education in Belém, Brazil, in 2009. GRALE II (2012), which focuses on literacy and monitors the implementation of the CONFINTEA VI recommendations, was prepared based on information from national reports submitted by 141 Member States.

Bibliography

• The first-ever Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2009) was published on the occasion of CONFINTEA VI in 2009, based on national reports on the state of adult learning and education submitted by UNESCO Member States.
• The Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education: Rethinking Literacy was launched in October 2012 to assess progress since GRALE I.