Alan Tuckett

Adult education policy is being shaped at the international level through several instruments – global commitments, agreed agendas, global programmes and common actions. Literacy is widely recognized as one of the most important goals on the global agendas – including both the EFA, adopted in 2000, and the more recent SDGs. The authors have taken active part in the creation of policy and have been able to conduct an analysis of the concepts, actors and events, and of policy planning and implementation. In the paper they offer an examination of the role of literacy in the the EFA, and its absence from the MDGs. Through their analysis of the documents and text, and monitoring reports and research, the authors show that there is a large gap between policy plans and results, and highlight the reasons for the failure, which may impact the achievement of the SDG agenda too. Their main focus is on the civil society perspective – as an important partner in global policy-making, civil society offers concepts and approaches that may help in overcoming the existing gap and achieving better results in the field of adult literacy. Examples from several continents are given and advocacy is stressed as one of the main instruments for more effective NGO participation in decision-making and dialogue about adult education at the global level.