10 years on..

Literacy & Development in Sudan, Burundi and Malawi
Over the past 10 years Mothers’ Union has committed volunteers, over £1 million of its own funding and nearly £800,000 external partnership funding into tackling illiteracy in Malawi, Sudan and Burundi. During that time over 74,000 adults, the majority of them women, have been given access to literacy and numeracy skills through Mothers’ Union Literacy & Development community groups, and of these 53,148 have already achieved accredited level in their learning. In developing countries literacy rates have gone up from 68% to 79%.

The consequences are not simply increased reading, writing and numeracy skills. Literacy is key to communication of all kinds. UNESCO describes it as “a fundamental condition of access to today’s knowledge societies...a survival tool in a fiercely competitive world.” Those who attain literacy are given a vital key in development. Essential for eradicating poverty, literacy learning and community learning groups such as literacy circles reduce child mortality, teach birth control to lessen poverty, achieve gender equality and greater tolerance. People who are made literate are more likely to send their children to school, to understand and promote basic health and hygiene practices and to understand and value their human rights.

Yet still more than 750 million adults lack basic literacy and numeracy education. To these people the key of social inclusion, empowerment and improved quality of life is a seemingly unachievable goal.

Mothers’ Union is rightly proud of the achievements of its Literacy & Development programmes (MULDP). But still much remains to be done. And with your help we could do so much more. Already established programmes could be extended to new areas. New skills – ongoing learning in business skills – could be included in an expanded programme in successful areas. More countries could be given vital training to establish similar networks of volunteer literacy group facilitators. More people, more mothers, could be equipped to overcome social inequality.

This World Literacy Day spend some time evaluating your life without literacy and numeracy skills

• How would you earn a living?
• If your child were sick, how would you understand the treatment?
• How would you know your basic human rights, such as the right to live in your marriage as an equal partner without fear of violence?
• How would you be equal in your community?

Download and play our literacy snakes and ladders game

See some of our beneficiaries on the Mothers' Union YouTube channel

And please donate whatever you can to the literacy and women's education