Advancing Literacy: A review of LIFE 2006-2009

The Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE 2006-2015) is one of UNESCO's three flagship initiatives dedicated to tackling illiteracy, advancing the EFA agenda and achieving the goals of the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD - 2003-2012). The LIFE initiative targets 35 countries that are home to 85% of the world's population deprived of literacy competencies. It is built on genuine commitment and provides a vision and course of action. Now that the Initiative has been in place for three years, a major review has been published to take stock, assess its achievements, identify lessons learned and move forward. UNESCO's review had the following aims: 1) to assess the overall performance of LIFE and evaluate the results of its implementation at country level; 2) to make a case for literacy; 3) to share experiences and lessons learned with interested stakeholders; and 4) to make contributions to the discussions on how to advance the LIFE strategy and to plan the way forward.