[AAACE-NLA] White House Conference on Global Literacy

Sat Sep 23 19:46:26 EDT 2006

I sense some Bush bashing on adult literacy. I wonder if it will put Laura 
Bush in a bad light. She seems wanting to help adult literacy. Yes funding 
is important for all literacy and she seems to be a good promoter of what 
you are trying to get accomplished. If some programs are put on the shelf is 
that meaning a new program is not worthy of its merit? I have some concerns 
of what these new programs are and what they mean. In Iowa we strive for 
increasing technology education, new programs at the State Library level , 
training of librarians in youth awareness and handling poverty related 
issues. This will mean knew programs and shelving others. Hopefully for the 
better.

Merle Ayres
412 8th st. North
Humboldt,Iowa 50548
Tel.1-515-332-4630
Fax 515-332-1738

>From: "Jon Steinberg" <jons at lacnyc.org>
>Reply-To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by 
>AAACE<aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
>To: "National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by 
>AAACE"<aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
>Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] White House Conference on Global Literacy
>Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:57:35 -0400
>
>Reply to John Comings:
>
>Conferences bringing together prominent officials and their wives and
>mothers in support of literacy can be valuable, but as Director of
>NCSALL, I'm sure you would agree that an organizational structure that
>promotes and supports adult literacy work is vital as well. On the
>international level, that structure was the Adult Literacy and Non
>Formal Education Section within the Division of Basic Education of
>UNESCO. On July 1, this section was eliminated by the Assistant
>Director-General for Education, Peter Plympton Smith. Mr. Smith was
>nominated for his position by the Bush Administration.
>
>The high-level adult literacy specialists at UNESCO have been dispersed,
>their positions eliminated. Responsibility for programming has been
>transferred from Paris to a UNESCO "project," in Hamburg Germany, now
>known as the Institute for Lifelong Learning. The United Nations
>Literacy Decade has been transferred to a newly-created Division for UN
>Priorities; in place of the international literacy specialists formerly
>in charge, the new office has one mid-level functionary and an
>assistant. The Assistant Director-General for Education cancelled the
>September 8 International Literacy Day celebrations and the
>International Literacy Prizes award ceremony. (One of this year's prizes
>was to go to Venezuela; this may have had something to do with the
>cancellation.). At least one international meeting of literacy educators
>has also been cancelled.
>
>Laura Bush may be an effective Honorary Ambassador for the Literacy
>Decade, but a strong, highly visible UNESCO program staffed by trained
>specialists would also seem useful in a campaign to bring literacy to
>hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. Thanks to the Bush
>Administration, that program no longer exists.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
>[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of John
>Comings
>Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:08 AM
>To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
>Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] White House Conference on Global Literacy
>
>I attended this conference, and I feel it should be viewed within the UN
>
>culture. Some of you, Tom Sticht for example, are familiar with that
>culture and some are not.
>
>One of the ways in which UNESCO supports positive change is through
>conferences in which Ministers of Education, officials from donor
>agencies,
>and sometimes heads of state are educated about an issue and persuaded
>that
>they must take action. This conference targeted Ministers of Education
>and
>spouses of heads-of-state. The conference will be followed up with
>conferences in the Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Caribbean,
>
>and Asia/Pacific regions. The goal, as I understand it, is to generate
>the
>support of national governments and donor agencies for efforts that
>provide
>opportunities for the 800 million adults and youth who have never had a
>chance to learn to read, with a  particular focus on women and girls.
>
>I've been to some of these UNESCO conferences before. This one was the
>most
>spectacular, in terms of US government participation. George and Laura
>Bush, both of their mothers, Condolezzsa Rice, Margaret Spellings, the
>director of USAID, Karen Hughes, and many others attended. You may not
>like
>them, but they are our government. The Director General of UNESCO, the
>CEOs
>of several foundations, and many other important players in
>international
>development attended.
>
>I have no way of knowing if the Bush administration is going to put
>money
>behind this initiative, and the only new US investment announced was a
>US
>grant for $1 million to UNESCO's new statistics institute in Canada to
>develop a form of the NALS for use in countries with very high rates of
>Level adults. However, something called the Millennium Challenge Grants
>was
>mentioned as a source of US funding. Even if the US support is not much,
>
>the real payoff will come if UNESCO can capitalize on the momentum
>generated by this conference and persuade member countries and donor
>agencies to invest in adult literacy and improve access to and the
>quality
>of primary schooling in countries with very low literacy rates.
>
>Several people who teach in or run adult literacy programs in Asia,
>Africa,
>the Middle East, Latin America and the US spoke about their programs as
>part of the conference. Their stories were amazing. Those of you who
>have
>visited adult literacy programs or primary schools in poor rural
>communities around the world know how much work needs to be done. UNESCO
>is
>the UN agency that should be leading the advocacy effort.
>
>Ten years ago, I worked at World Education, which was founded by an
>extraordinary woman, Welthy Fisher. Welthy was once criticized for
>taking
>money from a source that held views that contradicted her own. Her
>response
>was, "I will take money from the devil and sanctify it." Given the
>recent
>remarks of the President of Venezuela, Welthy Fisher might have some
>good
>advice for those who support literacy but not the Bush administration.
>
>John Comings
>
>
>
>John Comings, Director
>National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
>Harvard Graduate School of Education
>7 Appian Way
>Cambridge MA 02138
>(617) 496-0516, voice
>(617) 495-4811, fax
>(617) 335-9839, mobile
>john_comings at harvard.edu
>http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu
>
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