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Overall, adult literacy did not meet the goal of halving the percentage of illiterate adults between 2000 and 2015.  This can be attributed to four elements.  Global commitment was weak, although attempted to facilitate literacy, focused more on an overall view of literacy instead of funding existing programs. Secondly, there was a huge decline in funding for literacy programs and campaigns in the 1990’s resulting in a setback and lack of coordination on all levels.  Furthermore, local dialects and languages were not embraced as a way to educate adults, and instead a push for making adults bi-lingual took place. Finally, technology allows the increase in demand for literacy education, but programs have not embraced it to link opportunities or educate adults.  By focusing on these four elements, adult literacy can increase.

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Adult literacy will only be promoted if the demand for literacy increases.  This requires more education, as well as opportunities to use, improve, and retain important literacy skills.  Changes in technology have made these skills more beneficial, but the impact of technology on this skills has not yet been captured.  The use of computers, internet, and cell phones may make a huge impact of literacy demands, but technology is still rare in developing countries where the majority of illiterate adults reside.

Different countries have captured these demands in different ways – farming in Cameroon, Mali and Mozambique, health services in the Philippines, and microfinance initiatives in many different countries.  These initiatives have helped adults in more than just their literacy, but also with their way of life

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Attempts to Promote Mother Tongue Literacy
Programs

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Attempts to Promote Mother Tongue Literacy
Programs

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The Dakar Framework for Action put emphasis on “the importance of local languages for initial literacy” (148).  After this, there was a push for adult literacy in native languages, even ones that were not part of the dominant culture, and was supported in both traditional and non-traditional educational settings.  Many leaders were wary of the ability multilingual approaches for fear of division or conflict due to linguistic diversity.  Over time, more support has come out for multilingual approaches to education, very few strategies are brought forward to encourage and teach both primary literacy and secondary language literacy. Additionally, many countries didn’t promote, or even acknowledge, languages outside of their official languages, so there was very little chance of adult literacy education occurring in a language outside of the official languages.

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UNESCO (2015). EFA Global Monitoring Report. "Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges.  Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002322/232205e.pdf

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Effectiveness of Literacy Campaigns and Programs

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Effectiveness of Literacy Campaigns and Programs

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In the 1970’s and 1980’s, governments proposed large changes to adult literacy programs.  In the 1990’s, these campaings became less common as the focus shifted to universal primary education.  Many literacy campaigns are risky due to their large size and some-what unrealistic expectations.  They also have a “one size fits all” approach to education, some focus on specific demographics instead of all illiterate adults, and the wording of the program portrays a “social illness”.

Monitoring and evaluation of adult literacy is an issue, where there are very few ways to determine when an adult becomes literate.   Additionally, evaluation does not occur for each and every individual, but rather groupings of adults.  This grouping can be done through age, gender, race, location, and many other ways. The best way to determine the success of these programs and campaigns is to evaluate a group based on age and follow them as they age.

Furthermore, adult education teachers are hard to find, and their training and recruitment is low. Many programs and campaigns use volunteers to educate adults, and this is considered the weakest part of most programs.

Overall, literacy programs and campaigns have had little impact on the improving adult literacy skills.

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There are many different global education plans, but the two largest are the EFA and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  The MDGs plan assumes that adult literacy will become a resultant of childhood education, and as a consequence to this plan, adult literacy has been lowered on both national and international education agendas.  This is confirmed when education plans were compared from 2000 and 2007 in over 30 countries and adult literacy was not as present in 2007 as it was in 2000.

The United Nations declared the UN Literacy Decade (UNLD) from 2003 – 2012, and put a focus back on adult literacy, and literacy in general.  UNESCO created the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) program in 2006 to implement UNLD, when it became clear that the current efforts would not produce the desired results by 2015.  LIFE encouraged governments, organizations, private sector companies, and development agencies to focus on literacy initiatives in the 35 countries where 85% of the world’s illiterate adults resided.

Belém Framework for Action, a result of UNESCO’s Sixth International Conference on Adult Education was another initiative to refocus on adult literacy, positioning it at the center of adult education and lifelong learning.

Unfortunately, these programs have not been very effective, as it was found that LIFE was difficult to create a common understanding of the initiative and therefore the program was lacking in a long-term vision that could cohabitate with national education strategies.

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The goal for adult literacy is to half the percentage of people considered illiterate by 2015, based on 2000 numbers. (137)

Also a goal is to decrease the gender discrepancy in literacy. (137)

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In 2015, approximately 718 million adults were considered illiterate. (137)

In 2000, 18% of the population was considered illiterate, while in 2015 only 14% of the population is considered illiterate. (137)

Progress is attributed more to the older, illiterate generation being replaced by the younger, literate generation than past school aged adults becoming literate. (137)

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"UNESCO’s 1950s definition of ‘literacy’ was merely an ability to ‘read and write, with understanding, a short, simple statement about everyday life’, by 1990 literacy was more recognized as a skill that contributes to individual well-being.  Today, literacy is seen as a continuum of skills that enables individuals to achieve their goals in work and life and participate fully in society, a point confirmed by the international community in the 2009 Belém Framework for Action (UIL, 2010)." (137)