International Literacy Day, devoted this year to the connection between literacy and
sustainable development, provides us with an opportunity to remember a simple
truth: literacy not only changes lives, it saves them.
Literacy helps reduce poverty and ena
bles people to find jobs and obtain higher
salaries. It is one of the most efficient ways of improving the health of mothers and
children, understanding doctors’ prescriptions and gaining access to healthcare.
The lives of more than two million children un
der the age of five were saved
between 1990 and 2009
thanks to
improvements in the education of women of
reproductive age. Literacy facilitates access to knowledge and triggers a process of
empowerment and self
-
esteem that benefits everyone. This energy,
multiplied by
millions of people, is essential to the future of societies.
Today, 781 million adults worldwide cannot read, write or count. Two
thirds of them
are women. More than 250 million children are unable to read a single sentence,
even though half of them have spent four years in school. What kind of societi
es do
we expect to build with an illiterate youth?
This
is not the kind of world we
wish to
live In
. We want a world where
everyone
can participate in the destiny of
their
societies, gain access to knowledge and enrich it in turn. To succeed, we must also
change the traditional approach of literacy programmes
to
encompass, beyond
reading and writing in the narrower sense, broader skills with regard to consumption
and sus
tainable lifestyles,
the
conservation of biodiversity, poverty reduction,
disaster risk reduction
as well as
civic participation.
In these ways, l
iteracy
programmes
can
unlock their
full
transformative potential.
Commitment to these goals will be central to the forthcoming Aichi
-
Nagoya
conference on education for sustainable development
to be
held in Japan this
November. It will also be at the heart of the World Education Forum
to be
held next
year in Incheon, Repu
blic of Korea, to lead the global debate towards the adoption
of new sustainable development goals at the United Nations General Assembly in
2015. UNESCO is working
across
the world
–
in
Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal an
d elsewhere
–
to ensure that literacy is
integrated into national development strategies.
The Global Partnership for Girls’
and Women’
s Education and the Malala Fund for
Girls’
R
ight
to
Education
,
launched by UNESCO, also focus on literacy. The programmes
acknowledged
by
the UNESCO
-
Confucius Prize for Literacy and the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy
Prize enable us each year to celebrate innovative practices that show that
achievement is within our re
ach. New technologies, including mobile telephones,
also offer fresh opportunities for literacy for all. We must invest more, and I appeal
to every Member State and all our partners to redouble efforts
–
political and
financial
–
to ensure that literacy is
fully recognized as one of the most powerful
accelerators of sustainable development. The future we want starts with the
alphabet.
International Literacy Day 2014 will be celebrated worldwide on 8
September under the theme Literacy and Sustainable Development. The Day
will be “an opportunity to remember a simple truth: literacy not only
changes lives, it saves them,” explains the Director-General of UNESCO,
Irina Bokova, in her message for the Day.
Literacy Day will start with the award ceremony in Dhaka for
this year’s five UNESCO Literacy Prizes, attended by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
It will continue with the International Conference
Girls’ and Women’s Literacy Education: Foundation for Sustainable Development,
organized by the Government of Bangladesh and UNESCO, and opened by the
Prime Minister and Director-General. The conference takes place within
the framework of the
UN Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) whose Champion Countries* are expected to have high level representatives at the Conference.
Representatives from several United Nations
organizations will also take part in the conference alongside donors,
including international financial institutions, national and
international non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
They will draw the world’s attention to the
importance of girls’ and women’s literacy and education for sustainable
development, contributing to the new international development goals
that will come into effect in 2015. Almost two-thirds of the world’s 781
million illiterate adults are women, with no progress in reducing this
share since 1990.
In a number of sessions, participants will reflect
on girls’ and women’s education and literacy as conditions for lifelong
learning and sustainable development, drawing on experiences from
Bangladesh and around the world, as well as the findings of the 2013/14
Education For All Global Monitoring Report (GMR). Evidence from the
report shows, for example, that if all women had a primary education,
child mortality could fall by a sixth and maternal deaths by two-thirds.
Child marriages would fall by 14% if all girls in sub-Saharan Africa
and South and West Asia had primary education, and by 64% with secondary
education.
Poor quality education is leaving a legacy of
illiteracy more widespread than previously believed: one in four young
people—175 million adolescents—is unable to read a single sentence.
Based on current trends, the GMR projects that it will take until 2072
for the poorest young women in developing countries to learn to read.
But even in high-income countries, education systems
are failing significant minorities. In New Zealand, almost all students
from rich households achieve minimum learning standards in grades 4 and
8, but only two-thirds of poor students do. Many immigrants in rich
countries are also left behind: in France, for example, fewer than 60
per cent of immigrants have reached the minimum benchmark for reading.
Despite slow global progress in reducing the number
of illiterate adults, there are examples of success. In Bangladesh,
women’s literacy more than doubled from 1990 to 2011. In Ethiopia, the
number of literate young people increased by nearly 20 per cent between
2000 and 2011.
This year’s activities focus on the links between
literacy and sustainable development. They underscore the power of
literacy to enable people to make choices that promote economic growth,
social development and environmental integration. Literacy is the basis
for lifelong learning and plays a crucial role in the creation of
sustainable, prosperous and peaceful societies.
“We must invest more,” states the Director-General
of UNESCO. “I appeal to every Member State and all our partners to
redouble efforts – political and financial – to ensure that literacy is
fully recognized as one of the most powerful accelerators of sustainable
development.”
Events marking Literacy Day will be held in many countries around the world. See our
webpage
For more information about countries’ progress towards achieving EFA objectives, see UNESCO’s annual
Education for All Monitoring Report
* Andorra, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil,
China, Croatia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Guyana, Mozambique, South Africa,
Tunisia, and the United States of America.
UNESCO Literacy Awards Ceremony, 8 September, Dhaka
Programme (Draft)
DELEGATES REGISTRATION (9:00-9:30)
INAUGURATION & PRESENTATION OF UNESCO LITERACY AWARDS (9:30-11:00)
SESSION: PLENARY (11:00-13:00 )
Panel discussion on the global literacy challenge and the importance of focusing on girls and women's literacy and education for sustainable development
LUNCH BREAK (13:00-14:00)
SESSION 2: PARALLEL SESSIONS (14:00-16:00) - Policies, programmes, funding, monitoring, institutional strengthening, multi-stakeholder partnerships
SESSION 3: PLENARY (16:30-1800) - Reporting from the groups and charting the way forward
fold
COFFE BREAK
CULTURAL PROGRAMME FOLLOWED BY DINNER (18:30-20:30)
More Information
Join the Forum :
September 8 is International Literacy Day
Invitation International Literacy Day 2014 (PDF)
Information Note for the celebration of the International Literacy Day 2014 (PDF)
or visit the 
