The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is pleased to announce the publication of its Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education - Rethinking Literacy. The first GRALE was published in December 2009 to coincide with the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI). The outcome document of that conference, the Belém Framework for Action, which was adopted by 144 UNESCO Member States, stipulated that UIL should conduct "a monitoring process at the global level to take stock and report periodically on progress in adult learning and education". This report is the result of that monitoring process for the period 2010–2012. The print publication will be available in English, French and Spanish, and will be launched in all five UNESCO regions, starting with Asia and the Pacific (Jakarta) on 20–22 August 2013.

Drawing on data received from 141 countries, most in the form of a quantitative reporting template, the Report reviews progress in implementing the Belém Framework for Action. It focuses on the five key themes identified in Belém – policy, governance, financing, participation and quality – and examines in particular detail the transversal theme of adult literacy. It reveals that, while many of the same challenges remain, several of the core messages of the Belém Framework have found their way into national policy debates and reform processes.

Perhaps the most important message that emerges from this report is that lifelong and life-wide learning offers the most promising perspective to address the challenge of adult literacy.