According to UNESCO, 793 million adults worldwide cannot read, and of them, 64% of them are women. But if the team at LitWorld — a U.S.-based nonprofit that facilitates on-the-ground mentoring campaigns to fight illiteracy around the world — has a say, that number will disappear -- no matter how long it takes.
World-wide illiteracy rates are startling, especially for girls (for starters, only 30% of girls in the world are enrolled in secondary school). And while it’s common for Westerners to consider illiteracy isolated to the developing world, the issue knows no race or ethnicity; in fact, 14% of adults in the United States cannot read, according to the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy.
But the United Nations, through its International Day of the Girl this Saturday, October 11, and other groups like LitWorld are slowly working to eradicate the issue.
Pam Allyn, a literacy expert and founding director of LitWorld, helped launch the 10,000 Girls Initiative earlier in the year. The campaign aims to reach girls around the world through mentoring programs, while providing them with basic needs -- like sanitary supplies and cell phones -- to ensure that they can stay in school.
“It’s really about having a ticket to personal freedom,” says Allyn. “This is urgent. We’ve all been that 13 year old girl, we’ve all been on the cusp, but we have so many people surrounding us to help us.”
On its face, the 10,000 Girls Initiative isn’t so different from what LitWorld has been doing for years. But it provides a tangible, poignant goal for the organization and for volunteers and donors who want to get involved but may have not known where to begin.
“I’m not planning to stop at all,” says Allyn. “We can do it to, the more people we can get involved and engaged, the more we can all be together in this, we can solve the problem of gender inequity in education, and very quickly.”
After partnering with local grassroots organizations and training community leaders, LitWorld uses the power of the students’ own stories not only to make learning relatable, but to dignify the voices and experiences of girls across the globe.
“The core of our program is really about sharing stories and the power that your story holds, not only for you but the impact that it has on the people around you,” says Yaya Yuan, LitWorld’s Advocacy and US Program Director. “That’s something that we do every session with the girls, we encourage them to share stories of their lives.”
Global Girls Rising, a nonprofit that also works to educate girls and fight poverty across the globe, is partnering with LitWorld.
LitClubs can already be found across the world, from Detroit to Nepal to Syrian refuge camps, and from Los Angeles to the Philippines to Peru.
Beyond educating girls across the globe, though, LitWorld offers something perhaps even more valuable: a safe, open community for girls where they are free to be themselves and invest in their own futures, without fear of retribution or embarrassment.
“That’s how you get past the façade,” says Yuan. “You don’t only make friends but you create a really positive support network.”
Stephanie Marfo, 17, has been involved in a LitClub in her Harlem neighborhood for five years. First joining as a student, she later became a mentor for other young girls and a librarian. Now a student at Buffalo State College, Marfo credits the organization with opening her eyes to the good in the world around her.
“Before LitWorld I was really shy, I didn’t like to talk to people,” says Marfo. “Now I’m more open, I’m always there to help out, I just like to help people.”
“I didn’t really connect with a lot of people in my neighborhood. I thought they were mean, but when they got in the program with me I learned that they’re really great people. I would have walked right past them, and I’m glad I didn’t do that.”
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