Although September was Education & Basic Literacy Month, NOW is a perfect time to promote how your club is involved Basic Education and Literacy - or to explore how your club might get involved to support education in your community. Education an area of focus that affects every community around the world. Globally 17% of the world’s population over the age of 15 are illiterate, that’s nearly 775 million adults worldwide. Additionally, 60 million children lack access to education. The financial cost of illiteracy? It is estimated that $1.2 Trillion in lost annual wages are the direct result of low literacy or illiteracy......
The human toll of illiteracy or low literacy is evident in all aspects of a society - from restricted earnings, to generational poverty (and generational illiteracy), to cost of health care - each of our communities benefit when quality literacy is available to everyone. There are so many ways for Rotarians to be involved, depending on the needs of the communities they serve. Rotarians can work with our youngest learners to close the early learning gap, assist adults to improve their literacy or language skills (think: immigrant or refugee communities), mentor or support underperforming youth or out of school youth, or providing access to education for children with disabilities.
To promote local Rotary engagement in education/literacy programs, LITRAG invites your club to share what Rotary is doing locally to support education. LITRAG will give awards to three clubs whose projects best demonstrate how Rotary strengthens the capacity of their community to provide and support education for all. More information about how to apply and deadlines is included in this newsletter. This is a great way to spotlight the good work being done by your club - and you may receive a cash award to continue your project!
Note that project submission deadline has been extended to October 15, 2020
LITRAG and Save the Children Offer Webinars to help Rotarians Close the Early Learning Gap:
LITRAG and Save the Children partner to support Rotary clubs in their efforts to promote early literacy. Over the last months, we have offered a series of webinars outlining how clubs can become actively involved with their communities to support parents in becoming their child's best first teacher. Topics presented include:
The final webinar in this series will be held October 13 (4:00 PM Eastern Time) A panel of Rotarians and Save the Children representatives will explore “Advocacy: How you can become an advocate for Early Childhood Education. Register here
For more information or resources: LITRAG.org or savethechildren.org/Rotary
Goals of LITRAG
- Increase awareness of illiteracy and its impact on quality of life
- Create awareness among Rotarians and Club of how they can strengthen the capacity of communities to provide education and literacy to all
- Assist Rotarians to increase the scale and effectiveness of education and literacy projects
- Collaborate with Rotarians to establish partnerships for projects with other areas of focus.
Educating Girls: A Long Range Community Investment :
LITRAG was pleased to participate in the 2020 RI Convention by presenting an excellent program for one of the virtual break out sessions. Our topic of Girls Education brought together Rotarians involved with four programs that support education of the girl child:
Razia’s Ray of Hope
Remember Niger
EduGirls
MAIA Impact
These are all quality programs and are quite interested in further partnerships with Rotarians. Information of specific needs of each organization and how Rotarians might get involved is posted on the LITAG website. A recording of the break out session is available.
New Webinar Series: Literacy in Difficult Times:
With schools closed and classes suspended across the globe as a result of the pandemic quarantine, the education of all students has been put at risk. LITRAG is pleased to partner with RC Washington Global to present a timely discussion of Promoting Literacy in Difficult Contexts to help shed light on how Rotarians might support communities in response to this interruption in education services. This webinar, will be held on Thursday, October 15 @ 10:30 AM (Eastern) We will discuss the impact of COVID on education, implications of children being separated from school programs for extended periods of time and the implications and potential of technology to fill the gap.
The webinar will feature keynotes from Halsey Rogers (World Bank) and Rabi Karmacharya (OLE Nepal and a Rotarian in Kathmandu). The discussion will be on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and how to use technology to respond. To attend, please register at https://www.surveymonkey.
A second webinar, Investing in Adolescent Girls, will be presented on Friday, 13 November at 10:00 AM (Eastern) This session will feature keynote talks on education by Stephanie Psaki (Population Council), health by Nafy Diop (UNFPA), and skills/employment by Markus Goldstein (World Bank). Their presentations will be followed by a panel showcasing a few great projects by Rotary and other CSOs.Part of the focus will be on difficult contexts, including those faced by refugees and migrants. To register
