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The U.S. Mission’s work with UNESCO’s Education Sector is one of our top priorities. We work with the Education Sector and other member states on issues such as family literacy and basic education; post-conflict education reconstruction; teacher training; and HIV/AIDS education. The U.S. Mission is also working to help UNESCO achieve measurable results toward the goals of Education for All and the UN Literacy Decade.
First Lady Laura Bush is the Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade. As Honorary Ambassador, Mrs. Bush leads America’s efforts to bring education to people worldwide, especially to women and girls. She is also leading a project to build a teacher-training institute for women in Afghanistan. The First Lady’s White House Conference on Global Literacy was held in New York on September 18, 2006 and was organized jointly by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of State and USAID.	Mrs. Laura Bush, who serves as an Honorary Ambassador to the United Nations Decade of Literacy, addresses UNESCO participants during a roundtable discussion while visiting Paris Monday, Jan. 15, 2007.

Mrs. Laura Bush delivers remarks at Grand Medine Primary School Tuesday, June 26, 2007, in Dakar, Senegal. During her visit, Mrs. Bush announced that 805,000 books were donated to Senegal this summer through President Bush's Africa Education Initiative. © White House photo by Shealah Craighead

The White House conference underscored the need for sustained global and country level leadership in promoting literacy and emphasized the themes of Mother-Child Literacy and Intergenerational Learning, Literacy for Health and Literacy for Economic Self-Sufficiency. It was the starting point for a major campaign in support of literacy internationally, within the framework of the UN Literacy Decade and UNESCO’s Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE).

Following the conference, the United States and UNESCO organized a roundtable discussion on January 15, 2007 at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters, hosted by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura and First Lady Laura Bush and entitled "Teacher Training and Literacy.” The roundtable focused on literacy and teacher training for educational practitioners who teach literacy outside of formal school settings.

As a follow-up to the White House Conference on Global Literacy, UNESCO has organized regional literacy conferences around the world: a Middle East regional conference in Doha, Qatar, from March 12-14, 2007, an East-Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific regional conference in Beijing, China, from July 31-August 1, 2007, an Africa regional conference in Bamako, Mali, from September 10-12, 2007, a South, South-West and Central Asia regional conference in New Delhi from November 29-30, 2007, an East and Central European and the Caucasus regional conference in Baku, Azerbaijan from May 14-16, 2008, and a Latin American regional conference in Mexico City from September 10-12, 2008. These UNESCO Regional Conferences are designed to build upon and extend the work begun at the White House Conference on Global Literacy.

The U.S. also participated actively in the UNESCO Education For All (EFA) High Level Group meeting in Dakar, Senegal from December 11-13, 2007, with a Delegation led by U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO Louise V. Oliver that included two senior officials from USAID. Midway to the 2015 target date, the meeting focused on ways to achieve EFA goals. The United States strongly supports UNESCO’s goal of ensuring every child has access to a quality education by 2015.

Mrs. Laura Bush and Senegal's First Lady Viviane Wade look through schoolbooks donated by Elizabeth City State University during a visit to Grand Medine Primary School Tuesday, June 26, 2007, in Dakar, Senegal. The books were donated through the Africa Education Initiative textbook program, which partners together African and American institutions. © White House photo by Shealah Craighead

	First Lady's Webpage at the White House The White House Conference on Global Literacy Website Announcement of 2006 Global Literacy     Conference Fact Sheet:     A Commitment to Helping America's Youth LIFE UNESCO Education Sector
While in Senegal to attend the UNESCO Education For All (EFA) High Level Group, Ambassador Oliver Visits the Tostan Program on Literacy, and meets with Malik Diagne, Deputy Director of Tostan.. © White House photo by Emily Spencer