ProLiteracy Staff Help Organize Quito Forum on Citizen Participation

-

Organizaccion, a grass roots organization in Ecuador specializing in democracy, transparency, and governance, held a special event in Ecuador on January 12, 2011 at 5 p.m. at the National Assembly of Quito. More than 80 representatives of NGOs, and national leaders attended, as Roxana Silva Ch. presented her ideas on civic participation, based on her recent paper ‘Educacion y Participacion Ciudadana,’ recently published as part of ProLiteracy’s Critical Issues in Literacy series.

ProLiteracy’s partners, PLAMAC and Tú Mujer tuned in live at the event and shared examples of integrating literacy with education on civic participation in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

ProLiteracy's international programs manager Mary Kelly participated via video from Syracuse, N.Y., and ProLiteracy’s international programs coordinator Alesha Anderson helped with coordination on site in Quito.

The event was recorded and will soon be shared.

Comments

  1. gunnyawnFebruary 26, 2011 at 4:17 PM

    I am curious as to whether the concept of literacy as a part of civic participation is readily agreed to (or even known) by the local populace, or is it limited to intellectuals vying for social change in the country?

    ReplyDelete
  2. EcuatoriGringaFebruary 28, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    Thank you for your interest in ProLiteracy. We appreciate your question about local involvement.

    The 52 partners with which ProLiteracy works are grass-roots organizations. As you may note from our UPDATE (see What We Do, then click “Internationally), ProLiteracy’s work seeks to reach the ‘last-mile’—in other words, those individuals and communities who are not normally reached by local or international organizations.

    The Ecuador event was organized by Ecuadorians who share this concern. The paper presented was written by an Ecuadorian and the participants were all from Latin America.

    Comment reply by Alesha Anderson, International Program Officer at ProLiteracy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CONFINTEA VI - Blogging from Belem, Brazil

-
Image
David Harvey, ProLiteracy President & CEO - From the International Civil Society Forum (ICSF) - Belem, Brazil - 11/28/09 Lynn Curtis, head of ProLiteracy´s international programs, and I, David Harvey, arrived this past Saturday after a 10 hour flight to Belem, Brazil, to participate in ICSF. Over 1000 NGOs from all over the world are participating in the Forum, ahead of UNESCO´s CONFINTEA conference. CONFINTEA only happens every 12 or 13 years, so this is a rare meeting indeed! The Forum is preparing NGOs to participate in CONFINTEA, and will prepare an action agenda to try and influence the outcome of CONFINTEA. David Harvey, From ICSF Belem, Brazil - 11/29/09 One of the opening speakers of ICSF, Jose Roberto Guerara, from the Asia/Pacific Association for Basic Education, asked people to stand up if they had participated in past CONFINTEA conferences, with the first happening in the late 40s. A few people stood up. Mr. Guerara then asked, ¨"what has changed since t...
Read more

Increased Attention to Adult Literacy : U.S. Government and UN Join Forces

-
ProLiteracy’s 80 years of global experience have caused us to recognize the tragic reality that adult literacy, a crucial element of the development and poverty reduction process, is often missing from key international policy discussions. In the past few weeks, the adult literacy topic has been highlighted among top government and international organizations in three critical areas. Educating Girls Today, 796 million adults worldwide lack basic literacy skills; two-thirds of that population are women. UNESCO recently announced a joint project with the United States Department of State, targeting education rates among women. The program , “Better Lives, Better Future” will help stem dropout rates of adolescent girls as they transition from primary to secondary education. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hopes that this new focus will help policy makers effectively target education investments. “When we educate a young girl, we are shaping our world for a better tomorrow...
Read more

The World Welcomes South Sudan

-
Image
Women celebrating from Sudanese NGO, My Sister's Keeper In July 2011, South Sudan will become an independent nation, Africa’s 55th country, and the world’s youngest state. After two decades of civil war and high poverty levels, the new country will face many challenges. Literacy and education will play a vital role in charting a new course for South Sudan. A recent policy paper published by UNESCO discusses how education will be a first step toward the construction of peace and a better future for the people of South Sudan.The policy paper reveals that women face some of the most imminent challenges in terms of access to education. Today, only around 8 percent of women in South Sudan are literate, possibly the lowest female literacy rate in the world. Young girls in South Sudan face extreme disadvantages in education. Girls are less likely to enter school and more likely to drop out early. Today, a young girl in South Sudan is three times more likely to die in pregnancy or ch...
Read more