A one day conference was held in the serena Hotal on 8 December2013,organized by the National Literacy Department. The purpose of the conference was to have all stakeholders who work in the literacy section come together to share ideas and opinions how to further develop the literacy program in order to achieve the desired results.

 

The target outlined by the National Literacy Department was that:

1. The literacy rate should increase from 36% ( 20% female. 50% male) in 2013 to 60%( 50% female and 70% male) by 2020 across all group of men and women aged 15 and above.

2. More adults (15 and above) should be enabled to gain access to continuing education after completing literacy programs.

The stakeholders had come from all provinces and from kabul itself, including a representative from OPAWC.Other partners such as the swedish ambassador, representatives of japan, Germany and UNESF, the minister from the ministry of Education, and many other high ranking officials, participated in the conference.

 

The conference began with an audio speech from president Karzai and ended with a support pledge of 9 million dollar to the literacy department from the swedish Ambassador. This is at a time when 90% of Afghan people are illiterate and billions of dollars have been received based on several agreements for the cause, but unfortunately there has not been any improvement in this section of education.

OPAWC hopes that this agreement and the new plan for field action will be successful.