This publication contributes, in the critical context of Africa, to the conceptual development of the notion of the literate environment--an essential element for the promotion of literacy. It brings knowledge and insights about literate environments, highlighting inter-related issues such as its definitions, previous undertakings, methods of assessment as well as interactions between the supply and demand sides of environments.--

The text of this publication explores how the adult literacy drive and the promotion of sustainable development can be brought together, while a counter argument is presented that a more integral approach to literacy and sustainable development should be developed. The book offers signposts for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners within the education field.

This book addresses the changes in education practices, especially basic education, necessitated by the global challenges of climate change and sustainable development and in a context characterized by increasing poverty and inequality, migration and refugees. Written by a range of international scholars, scientists and grassroots practitioners from Africa, Latin America, Asia (India, China, Malaysia) and Europe, the individual contributions focus on education policies and child development in various social contexts. Case-based experiences from both developed and developing countries provide inspiration and shed new light on the fundamental changes needed to adapt existing school systems and teacher training to face the challenges of the future. In this regard, the need to empower children themselves is emphasized. All contributions are based on a Workshop hosted in November 2015 by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican entitled “Children and Sustainable Development: A Challenge for Education” and follow three other significant events on sustainable development in 2015, namely the publication of Laudato Si’, the Encyclical Letter from Pope Francis, the release of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the COP21 Conference in Paris.

Based on qualitative research focused on literacy and health from three schools in coastal Kenya, this book examines country, school, and family contexts to develop a dual-generation maternal-child model for literacy learning and to connect local-specific phenomena with national and international policy arenas. In contrast to international development organizations’ educational policies and programs that tend to ignore literacy as a social practice within diverse contexts, the author unpacks the relationship between education and health, and the role of family and mothers in particular, highlighting how mothers are key actors in children’s literacy development and health outcomes.

This volume provides a systematic analysis of the role of literacy in social development, and advances a set of directions that governments and other agencies should take in designing their literacy programmes.

Africa wired up provides an important history of how two technologies – mobile calling and internet – were made available to millions of Sub-Saharan Africans and the impact they have had on their lives. The book deals with the political challenges of liberalization and privatization that needed to be in place to get these technologies built. It analyses how the mobile phone fundamentally changed communications in Sub-Saharan Africa and the ways Africans have made these technologies part of their lives. It examines critically the technologies’ impact on development practices and the key role development actors played in accelerating things like regulatory reform, fibre roll-out and mobile money. The book considers how corruption in the industry is a prism through which patronage relationships in Government can be understood. The arrival of a start-up ecosystem has the potential to break these relationships and offer a new wave of investment opportunities. The author seeks to go beyond the hype to make a provisional assessment of the kinds of changes that have happened over three decades. It examines how and why these technologies became transformative and seem to have opened out a very different future for Sub-Saharan Africa.