“...Literacy is crucial to the acquisition, by every child, youth, and adult, of essential life skills that enable them to address the challenges they can face in life”.

United Nations Resolution on Literacy Decade 56/116

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights gives everyone the right to education. Article 26.2 reads: “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace”.

The ability to read and to write is fundamental to education. IPA supports literacy and reading initiatives which collaborate with publishers to promote literacy and reading in such a way that a sustainable local publishing industry can develop. Local publishers give local writers a voice and local readers, whatever their age, the reading material that reflects on their reality, their cultural context and their own way of life. IPA therefore encourages literacy campaigns that collaborate closely with the local publishing industry.