The United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012) aims to extend the use of literacy to those who do not currently have access to it. Over 861 million adults are in that position, and over 113 million children are not in school and therefore not gaining access to literacy either. The Decade will focus on the needs of adults with the goal that people everywhere should be able to use literacy to communicate within their own community, in the wider society and beyond. Literacy efforts have so far failed to reach the poorest and most marginalised groups of people – the Decade will particularly address such populations, under the banner of Literacy for all: voice for all, learning for all.

The outcome of the Decade will be locally sustainable literate environments. These environments will give people opportunities to express their ideas and views, engage in effective learning, participate in the written communication which characterises democratic societies, and exchange knowledge with others. This will include increasingly the use of electronic media and information technologies, both as a means of self-expression and for accessing and assessing the vast stores of knowledge available today.

Literacy is a plural concept, with diverse literacies shaped by their use in particular contexts. The Decade will work to promote literacies across the full range of purposes, contexts, languages, and modes of acquisition which communities of learners identify for themselves.

Why has it been established?
There are three reasons which justify the Decade:

· One in five people over the age of 15 cannot communicate through literacy or take any part in the surrounding literate environment. The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2002 spelled out the scope of the challenge – over 861 million people without access to literacy. Two thirds of these people are women, with illiteracy thus adding to the deprivation and subordination to which women are already subject. In an interconnected world where literacy is a key to communication such exclusion is unacceptable.

Literacy is a human right. Basic education, within which literacy is the key learning tool, was recognised as a human right over 50 years ago, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a scandal that this right continues to be violated for such a large proportion of humanity.

· Literacy efforts up to now have proved inadequate, at national and international levels. The Decade is an opportunity to make a sustained collective effort which will go beyond one-shot programmes or campaigns.

The Literacy Decade is an initiative of the United Nations General Assembly, adopted unanimously in a resolution of December 2001. Thus it expresses strongly the collective will of the international community, both those who face a big literacy challenge and those who may be in a position to give assistance in meeting it. The nations of the world recognise that the promotion of literacy is in the interest of all, as part of efforts towards peace, respect and exchange in a globalising world.

The Literacy Decade is also part of broader international work in education and development. The Education for All (EFA) goal of increasing literacy rates by 50% by 2015 provides the overall target for the Decade, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set the Decade in the context of poverty reduction. Literacy promotion is at the heart of both EFA and MDG goals.

How will it make a difference?
The International Plan of Action for the Literacy Decade proposes six lines of action to implement literacy for all:

Policy change: policies must provide a framework for local participation in literacy, including multilingual approaches and freedom of expression. National policy environments must link literacy promotion with strategies of poverty reduction and with programmes in agriculture, health, HIV/AIDS prevention, conflict resolution and other social concerns.

Flexible programmes: diverse and meaningful literacies require flexible modes of acquisition and delivery, using appropriate materials and languages, focusing on relevant purposes, and generating interesting, culturally relevant and gender-sensitive materials at the local level. Well-trained non-formal facilitators will respect learners’ needs. Programmes should enable learners to move on to more formal learning opportunities.

Capacity-building: as well as increasing and improving the training of literacy facilitators, capacity-building will focus on areas which need strengthening in particular countries. These may include the planning and management of programmes, research and documentation, material production and curriculum design.

Research: new policies for literacy will be most effective when they are based on the results of empirical research. This will answer questions such as: what is the long-term impact of literacy? How can local communities better participate? What is the extent of civil society engagement in literacy? Studies, databases and papers will make the outcomes of this research widely available.

Community participation: strong community ownership of the purposes and processes of literacy will result in its effective use. This requires good communication between government and communities, inter-community networks, community learning centres and other ways of ensuring that literacies are relevant and useful to people in their daily lives and serve their aspirations.

Monitoring and evaluation: better literacy indicators are necessary to show what progress is made during the Decade, both in terms of literacy rates and numbers, and in terms of the impact of literacy. UNESCO will work with its institutes and its partners to find improved ways of measuring literacy, in local contexts and worldwide.

Who will be involved?
A key feature of the Decade will be the prominent role which learners take in the design of literacy strategies for their own situations. Standardised, one-size-fits-all literacy programmes have not on the whole been effective or led to sustainable literate environments. Other partners should participate in literacy promotion on the understanding that they will work in respectful ways with learners and their communities, jointly negotiating strategies, methods and approaches. Community-based organisations, NGOs and civil society will provide channels for collective action. Governments will have the responsibility to work closely with them, negotiating resource provision: training input, financial support, institutional recognition and validation.

At the international level, the UN General Assembly asked UNESCO to take on the coordinating role, bringing partners together for joint action and policy debate. The whole of the UN system is implicated, each part promoting literacy components within its own area of specialisation. International civil society networks have a responsibility both to sensitise their own members and to raise the awareness of governments and the general public about literacy.