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Put this publication down because you can’t read it. Forget about balancing your checkbook. If you want to pass the time with a newspaper or magazine you’ll have to be content with just looking at the photographs. Don’t stop at an ATM tonight for the cash you need. By doing these things you’ll join over 1 billion other inhabitants on this planet that live their lives unable to read, write or compute.

Of the many organizations promoting literacy, Laubach Literacy International (LLI) is the oldest, and largest. Founded by pioneering literacy advocate Frank C. Laubach in 1955, LLI is now preparing for the next step in the battle against illiteracy. Or, as Beth Kogut, Director of Corporate Communications for LLI, correctly rephrases it-the battle to promote literacy.

Laubach Literacy International and the Literacy Volunteers of America. To help accomplish this goal, Laubach has nearly completed a merger with the Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA). LVA’s strength in US literacy training dovetails nicely with Laubach’s national and international programs. Although Laubach is already positioned as the world’s largest pro-literacy operation, LVA adds its 320 US affiliates, thereby increasing Laubach’s footprint and bringing efficiencies of economy to both organizations. The synergies of the two groups were underlined when both made Worth magazine’s list of “America’s 100 Best Charities” in 2001.

The name of the new combined organization will be announced and publicized later this year, but World Pulse has been given permission to preannounce it now: ProLiteracy Worldwide. Robert Wedge-worth, Laubach and ProLiteracy World-wide’s president, points out, “We wanted to develop a name that would indicate the scope of the new organization.”

One of the first joint efforts between Laubach and LVA will be to sponsor a literacy conference May 29-June 1 in San Diego, Calif. The keynote speaker will be Walter Anderson, Chairman, CEO and publisher of Parade Publications. Of interest will be more than 80 workshops, 45 information booths, and featured speakers from Laubach’s international programs. Commenting on the upcoming event Kogut says that participants can look forward to networking and the sharing of ideas, along with numerous training opportunities. She also says: “It will give people who come a firsthand look at the wonderful joint assets that are being forged to form this new organization.” The conference is expected to draw upwards of 1,200 participants.

When asked about the future of this new, joint organization Wedgeworth says, “Down the road it will give us the ability to achieve greater visibility for the issue of adult illiteracy. Although illiteracy among children is a very important issue, you can’t educate children without dealing with the issue of low literate adults. Fifty percent of children of low literate parents become low-literate themselves”

New Readers Press. Accounting for three-fourths of Laubach Literacy’s annual revenue is their New Readers Press (NRP) publishing arm. Every year, this division of Laubach publishes over 500 literacy related titles. Most of these titles are developed internally, approximately 15-20 percent of the titles come from outside. Sales to prisons is a fast growing sector of NRB’s business, as is the “English as a Second Language” program. Wedgeworth projects moderate growth for NRP as it completes the last few years of a five-year business plan. He also indicates that there are new tools and programs being developed over the next couple of years that will create significant growth for NRP once they are released.

Laubach’s international programs. On the international level Laubach’s primary approach to promoting literacy is through “Partner Programs.” A Partner Program is Laubach’s way of working with a local non-government agency for the purpose of establishing literacy education and human development. These programs allow Laubach to work jointly with 76 partners in 884 communities scattered among 44 developing countries. The programs are disbursed throughout Central and South America, Africa, Asia, India, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Laubach Literacy Interna-tional’s Partner Programs. Lynn Curtis, director, International Programs Division for Laubach, comments that he would like to see this number increase to 50 countries and 100 partners in the next couple of years. To accomplish this Curtis indicates that Laubach has added a new twist – “collaborations.” These resource-sharing relationships formed with other non-profit agencies involved in international work allow Laubach to share its expertise in literacy education and community development. Over the last couple of years, Laubach has utilized the volunteer efforts of senior and graduate level interns (known as Laubach Fellows) to help make possible these collaborative efforts.

Curtis, whose upcoming trips include Afghanistan in April and China in May, comments on whether international expansion was driven by local requests or by areas targeted internally by Laubach. “It’s a combination of both. We get over a hundred proposals a year (to set up a Partner Program), but we can’t follow up on many of them. We look for geographic and social mix; we don’t just want to put pins on the wall. We want to be able to show how our programs work in many different settings. We currently are targeting Afghanistan, Brazil and Nicaragua.”

When asked about his trip to Afghanistan, a country clearly in chaos, Curtis points out that Laubach had planned some involvement a while back and that, “There are a number of groups that have been wanting to partner with us, like seeds that have been waiting for springtime. Some say we won’t be going back (to Afghanistan) soon enough. Because of the nature of our programs we can work with structure, but it really is ideal for places without structure.”

How does Laubach measure success in its fight to promote literacy on an international scale? Curtis replies that they use both qualitative and quantitative methods. Laubach measures number of people enrolled in classes, sessions and classes held, amount of people attending and completing classes, etc. Mr. Curtis also says, “The financial grants (for the programs) are fairly small. We tend to work with the groups that can do a lot with a little bit of money. The best qualitative measures are the statements of the participants themselves.”

Laubach strongly positions its programs in the context of addressing social concerns in the areas in which its programs are applied, combining literacy materials with human development to form “Literacy Solutions.” Literacy Solutions defines itself as affecting any or all of the following six “Action Areas”—health, human rights, environment, peace, education and economic self-reliance.

Curtis comments, “With extrapolation we can link literacy and action. It isn’t just learning to read and write. People learn to change their lives. It gives people the capacity to do something they want to do. One hundred people may attend a class but they may also help build a clinic.” When asked to respond to the criticism that Laubach might be emphasizing social change over promoting literacy Curtis replies: “We strive for balance. Laubach does not have a preconceived idea of what social change should occur. We will support the people with where they want to go. They tend to be their own monitors. These ideas may seem revolutionary for them but they control it. Reading and writing is a very powerful tool, it gives them greater self-confidence to be very involved with their environment.”

The numbers back Curtis’ assertion. According to the Human Development Report 2000, the least developed countries suffer with a 49 percent illiteracy rate compared to an average below 25 percent for the world in total. (For more data on the relationship between illiteracy and human development/social change see www.undp .org/hdr2000/english/HDR2000.html).

April 19, 2002