International Literacy Day

"To be a leader, you must be a reader!"

- Executive Women International

 

 

 

 

Good Day EWI!

 

Sunday, the 08th of September is International Literacy Day!  What a wonderful "day" to truly celebrate!

 

A friend just asked me why literacy is so important to EWI and I replied with our mantra that "to be a leader, you need to be a reader".  What a powerful slogan that is!

 

In visiting the UNESCO website about this special designated day, I read with interest the message from Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of International Literacy Day.  She says,

 

"Literacy is a basic right and an essential motor for human development.  It paves the way to autonomy, the acquisition of skills, cultural expression and full participation in society.  Literacy is much more than an educational priority - it is the ultimate investment in the future and the first step towards all the new forms of literacy required in the twenty-first century.  We wish to see a century where every child is able to read and to use this skill to gain autonomy.  On this International Literacy Day, we call on governments to work together to achieve this dream.  The progress made in recent years shows that this is possible, and UNESCO is committed to doing all that it can to make it happen."

 

The UNESCO website also quotes the following stats I thought I would share with you today:

• 774M adults are illiterate, 2/3 of which are women (493M)
• 123M youth (age 15-24) are illiterate, 2/3 of which are female (76M)
• Of those 76M young girls, 54M of them live in just 9 countries with India having over 50% of them!  27M young girls in India cannot read or write

What about the children?  While visiting UNESCO's site I also enjoyed an interview from Wednesday with Room to Read.  The Founder of which, John Wood, is our keynote at LCAM on our own "EWI Foundation Literacy Day"!  Room to Read was the laureate of the UNESCO 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy.

 

In the interview Room to Read states that, "There are currently 250M children of primary age who cannot read or write.  Literacy is the foundation for all future learning and we need to work hard to ensure these children are not shortchanged for the entirety of their education.  Room to Read's vision is for all children - no matter where they are born - to have access to a safe, effective school that can provide them with trained teachers and the tools need to develop literacy skills and a habit of independent reading."

 

I am so excited to hear John speak on Friday of LCAM week!  If that were not enough, we also get to hear from Inocente, Mark Shriver and Alaina Podmorrow that day!  WOW!  I sure hope you are coming to LCAM to help us celebrate our 75th Anniversary with this special day dedicated to Literacy!

 

In closing, my wish for all of you is to have some quiet time on Sunday with a book, or grab a youngster and sit down to read to them and share this incredible gift of literacy we have all been so blessed with just by virtue of where we were born.

 

Have a wonderful weekend reading!

 

- K