Global Literacy Matters

Around 2.9 million girls are married by the age of 15 in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, equivalent to one in eight girls in each region, according to estimates in the 2013-14 EFA Global Monitoring Report . If present trends continue, 142 million girls will be married before their 18th birthday over the next decade. That’s an average of 14.2 million girls each year. These shocking statistics mean millions of girls are robbed of their childhood and denied an education. Studies show that education empowers women to overcome discrimination. Girls and women who are educated have greater awareness about their rights and have confidence to make decisions about their lives. Studies show that girls with higher levels of schooling are less likely to marry as children. In Mozambique, some 60 percent of girls with no education are married by 18, compared to 10 percent of girls with secondary schooling and less than one percent of girls with higher education. Educating adolescent...

International Literacy Day Mexico Proyectos Laubach de Alfabetización en Mexico, Asociación Civil, PLAMAC This woman-focused educational organization works in economically and socially marginalized communities that receive few public services, particularly in the realm of education. All of the communities have women’s savings clubs, in which women individually save small amounts of money in a communal chest or savings box. Literacy instruction is based in part on the weekly meetings of women coming together to deposit money into the savings box and includes record-keeping and numeric skills. Over time, the women begin to develop business plans for the use of the savings; income-generating projects include livestock cooperatives, bakeries, and small stores. By donating to ProLiteracy right now, you will help these women receive the tools necessary to learn and prosper such as notebooks to better keep track of funds and literacy materials to encourage safe and smart investing. Our goal i...

"Literacy helped us understand our own surroundings and our own power as individuals. We learned about our rights and potential." - Adult Learners, Bangladesh

On March 11th, 2009 President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families. In particular, the Council will work to enhance, support and coordinate the efforts of existing programs for women and girls. The Council will also work as a resource for each agency and the White House so that there is a comprehensive approach to the federal government's policy on women and girls. Although, creation of this council might seem long overdue, it comes as joyful news to organizations such as ProLiteracy, who have worked for years to uplift the lives of women around the world through our women-centered literacy programs. Women, who count for half of the world...