Toespraak van Prinses Laurentien tijdens het White House Symposium over Advancing Global Literacy in New York, 22 september 2008

Mrs Bush, Mr Matsuura, First Ladies, Excellencies, dear friends,

I too applaud this initiative of gathering different and global perspectives around literacy.

Concerted action is more urgent than ever before. Knowledge lies at the centre of much of what we do and produce. The more digitalised our processes, communications and services, the greater the role of the written word. So more than ever before, our ability to master the written word defines how we function in society.

We should be inspired by the enriching experiences expressed in books such as this one: poems by formerly illiterate people who all tell us that becoming literate is about being freed from personal and social isolation. Let us never forget that this is what we’re doing it for. Societies are made not by organisations, but by people. Society can only be free and open when its citizens have the ability to be free and open.

An important lesson from the Baku conference: the persistent misperceptions about who’s affected by literacy. It’s not just immigrants or those with special needs. Take the Netherlands, with 1.5 million functionally illiterates... two thirds are born and bred in our country. This has important implications for how we tackle and position illiteracy. It is essential for countries to admit that they have – often unexpectedly high – levels of illiteracy.  Difficult, but a necessary step towards structural solutions.

Given the great diversity of the 34 countries the Baku conference covered, there are of course regional nuances. But we also face similar challenges. I mention a few:

1. Literacy is about how people function in society. So our efforts need to be guided by people and their actual functions in society: they’re voters, employees, unemployed, parents, schoolchildren, homeless... Understanding these functions and roles helps us understand the obstacles for becoming literate so we can distribute our resources and energies effectively.
2. This perspective calls for a comprehensive vision about literacy around the notion of the “literacy chain”. Adult education remains key. But reduction goes hand in hand with prevention. So we need to focus on preventing illiteracy in early childhood and on lowering the numbers among adults.  In the Netherlands, this notion of the “literacy chain” is gaining ground, and with some success.
3. If we say literacy goes to the heart of our societies, we should mobilise society to create a broad sense of co-responsibility of all for preventing and tackling illiteracy. This means thinking outside the box, not preaching to the converted and involving all stakeholders, including “unusual” suspects beyond the educational world. 
4. How? By making literacy everyone’s business, by embedding literacy in the core functioning of all organisations. In the Netherlands, we’ve built our approach around the literacy “marketplace” of bringing together and creating supply and demand: a diverse supply of formal and non-formal educational initiatives, and a demand for such initiatives among all kinds of organisations throughout society – from trade unions to prisons, from national to local authorities and companies to child healthcare centres.

 

I end with the plea I had in Baku. There is no silver bullet in eradicating illiteracy. So we need to join forces and focus our resources and energy on making a real impact.  

Like you, my wish is to capitalize on the momentum of this initiative to achieve real results. We have no choice. We have no time to waste.

Thank you.


Zie ook nieuwsbericht van 19 september 2008