2007 UNESCO Literacy Prize winners announced

The UNESCO International Reading Association Literacy Prize is awarded to the Community Education Administration Centre, Longsheng Ethnic Minority Autonomous County (China). This Centre is based in a remote, rural and mountainous area located in the north-east of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Region has a large ethnic population and a high illiteracy rate among its women.

One of the two UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prizes goes to the Children’s Book Project (United Republic of Tanzania), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works to develop a solid reading culture, for the development of a literate environment. Thanks to the production of books in Kiswahili and the training of teachers, writers, publishers and illustrators, it seeks to promote a reading culture among young people and adults by strengthening the local publishing industry.

The other UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize awards the men and women of Tostan (Senegal), an organization working with rural communities throughout the country. The work focuses on empowering women and communities. The project helps dealing with such issues as reproductive health, female genital mutilations, and contributes to community development through the respect of human rights.

One of the two UNESCO Confucius Prizes for Literacy is attributed to Reach out and Read (United States), an organization that works closely with health care infrastructures – urban health centres, neighbourhood clinics, hospitals and public health departments – to reach low-income children most at risk of school failure by offering literacy guidance to their families and promoting a reading culture.

The other UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy is awarded to Family Re-orientation Education and Empowerment, FREE (Nigeria), an NGO working to establish an effective network for community development through programmes aimed at various beneficiaries, especially women and girls.

The Honourable Mention of the UNESCO International Reading Association Literacy Prize is awarded to the Fundación Adunare, CODEF Adult Education Centre (Spain), an NGO working to build a society that encourages critical thinking and forges relationships through dialogue, through its programme Education of Disadvantaged Groups, also addressing migrants.

The UNESCO prizes are awarded annually in recognition of particularly effective contributions to the fight against illiteracy, one of UNESCO’s priorities. They call attention to the efforts of thousands of men and women who devote themselves year after year to advancing the cause of literacy for all.

The award ceremony will take place on 10 September 2007 in Bamako (Mali) during the African Regional Conference in Support of Global Literacy.


* The US $ 20,000 UNESCO International Reading Association Literacy Award was founded in 1979 thanks to the International Reading Association.
The two US $20,000 King Sejong Literacy Prizes were created in 1989 through the generosity of the Government of the Republic of Korea.
The US $ 20,000 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy was established 2005 through the generosity of the Government of the People’s Republic of China.