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The Need:
The United Nations estimates that like many in Liberia there are more than 774 million people globally who are unable to read and write. It is widely recognized that factors such as food security, medical support and academic mentorship play key roles in the educational development of children and adults. For these reasons, a comprehensive approach to tackling illiteracy and its underlying factors is required to reduce the number of people unable to read and write.
In 2004, a joint report published by the United Nations and the Government of Liberia determined a benchmark assessment of Liberia’s position with respect to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of 2015. Due largely to a very late start and widespread damage to the nation’s infrastructure, the report’s overall conclusion reflected a high unlikelihood of Liberia achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Purpose/Goals:
The Liberian Books Project adopts the goals of the United Nations Millennium Development Challenge of 2015, and seeks to support the accomplishment of these goals in Liberia by creating 1,200 scholarships, supporting 1,200 literacy centers and providing renewable electricity to schools in Liberia by 2015.
UN Millennium Development Goals 2015
#1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Target 1: Reduce, by one half, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day
Target 2: Reduce, by one half, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
#2 Achieve universal primary education
Target 3: Ensure that children, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
#3 Promote gender equality and empower women
Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education
#4 Reduce child mortality
Target 5: Reduce, by two thirds, the under-five mortality rate
#5 Improve maternal health
Target 6: Reduce, by three quarters, the maternal morality rate
#6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
#7 Ensure environment sustainability
Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the losses of environmental resources
Target 10: Reduce, by one half, by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
Target 11: By 2015 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
#8 Develop a global partnership for development
Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
Target 13 & 14: Address the special needs of the least developed, land-locked, and small island developing countries
Target 15: Deal comprehensively with debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long
Target 16: In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth
Target 17: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
Target 18: In cooperation with the private sector, make achievable the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications technologies
Liberian Books Project Goals
#1 Create 1,200 scholarships
#2 Certify 1,200 volunteer literacy trainers
#3 Support 1,200 literacy centers
#4 Provide renewable electricity to 1,200 literacy centers
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