‘Youth and Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning’ is the theme of Global Action Week 2009.
Illiteracy continues to be a huge barrier, with 774 million adults worldwide illiterate. Progress needs to be stepped up, according to current estimates 72 out of 101 countries will not succeed in halving adult literacy rates by 2015. The Global Monitoring Report, indicates women are less likely to have basic literacy skills, with 89 literate women for every 100 literate men.
The decision to focus on literacy for the 2009 campaign provides an opportunity for collective action to tackle youth and adult literacy. Teacher unions have considerable influence and by planning now for next April, teacher unions can build on their current activities and play a central role in campaigning for literacy for all. The Global Campaign for Education has published a Planning Pack to assist organisations to get involved in national Global Action Week activities. In the Planning Pack you can find out more about the ‘Big Read’ and other activities for 20-26 April 2009, and how to get involved.
Read about the involvement of teacher unions in activities carried out in Global Action Week 2008 by downloading your copy of the Big Book 2008 which will be launched soon on the GCE website