© UNESCO
The theme of this year’s International Literacy Day (8 September) is “Literacy and Peace”. It will be marked in New Delhi, India, at an International Conference, “Women’s Literacy for Inclusive and Sustainable Development”, organised by the Government of India’s Department of School Education & Literacy.
Among the objectives of the Conference, which takes place from 8-10 September, will be:
- to present key aspects of India’s Saakshar Bharat adult literacy programme and advocate for its adoption or adaptation in other E-9 countries;
- to facilitate a network of countries which will exchange knowledge and technical expertise on planning, monitoring and financial management models for literacy; and
- to develop an outline capacity-building plan, as part of a South-South collaborative process.
In addition, the awards ceremony for the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize and the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy will be held on the first day of the Conference.
UIL has prepared a comprehensive description of the “Bilingual Literacy for Life” programme of the Institute for Adult Education in Mexico, which has won one of the two 2011 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes. This can be found on UIL’s Effective Literacy Practice Database together with other newly-loaded case studies.
In his presentation entitled “Adult Education and Lifelong Learning. International Developments, UIL Director, Arne Carlsen states that “literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning. Even if there is a positive movement as far as adult learning and education is concerned, there is still a lot to be done. By organizing the CONFINTEA conferences, by monitoring the Belém Framework for Action, as well as by publishing the GRALE report, and by conducting the LAMP programme as well as the LIFE strategic framework, UNESCO aims to support Member States to develop holistic and sustainable lifelong learning systems”.
