Global Literacy Matters

According to UNESCO, “Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.” Literacy is linked with socio-economic progress and is no longer only about the basic technical skills of reading and writing. Take, for example, women in the fishing village of Tanjung Benoa, Indonesia, who recently participated in financial literacy training to improve their skills as the finance manager in their families. The training included simple but crucial tips on financial literacy in an attempt to combat the economic and social challenges the residents face daily, including a lack of understanding on money management and limited access to information. Standard Chartered Bank and the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry organized the training. The bank has conducted training programs and financial discussions for more than 500 female microentrepreneurs throughout ...

As the school year gets underway here in the United States, UNICEF and the Malian Ministry of Education are working to ensure that the same can be said for Malian school children on October 1, the beginning of their school year. Due to political and environmental conflict in the country and region, the Malian Ministry of Education estimates 800,000 children have had their schooling interrupted. Many schools lack basic necessities for the 2013-2014 school year, including benches for the classrooms and notebooks for the students. UNICEF representative in Mali, Francoise Ackermans, said, “An educated child is becoming a citizen of his own country and of the world. This is one of the basic rights of every child. This is in the constitution in Mali – that every single child has the right to free education, to free quality education. We are far from there. We have to commit ourselves to work together on that.” To attend to the education needs of schoolchildren in Mali, UNICEF needs $2...

According to UNESCO, “over 84 percent of the world’s adults are now literate.” While this is an encouraging statistic, representing an 8-percentage point increase since 1990, it still leaves more than 774 million adults around the world who cannot read or write. September 8 is International Literacy Day. UNESCO declared the day in 1966 to raise awareness of literacy issues around the world. This year’s theme is “Literacies for the 21st Century,” reflecting the idea that literacy is the cornerstone of peace and development today since literacy is at the heart of basic education for all. An international colloquium on this issue will be held at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters on Monday, September 9, as part of the celebration for International Literacy Day. Opened by the Director-General, the event will bring together ministers and deputy ministers of education, development and culture from Afghanistan, Benin, the Republic of Chad, India, Namibia, Pakistan, and Senegal, along with repres...