Round Table of Bankers, Economists and Financiers on Literacy
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUPIRM? aRSUMR ED 031 669 ACOOS 111 Round Tab* of Bankers. Economists andFinanciers on Literacy; Final Report (Rome. Italy.February 11-13. 1969). United Nations Educational. Scientific, andCultural Organization. Paris (France). Pub Date Mar 69 Note-16p. EDRS Price MF 1025 HC -10.90 Descriptors-Agricultural Education, Cost Effectiveness.*Developing Nations. *Financial Support. *Illiteracy. Industrial Training. Literacy, Vocational Education Identifiers -Food and Agriculture Organization.International Labour Organisation, Unesco, *UnitedNations Development Programme, World Health Organization A report on the Round Table ofBankers. Economists and Financiers on Literacy contains a brief summaryof discussion, the eleven recommendationsof the Round Table. and the opening address given byMr. Rene Maheu. Director-Ceneral ofUnesco. The consensus of the participants' opinions wasthat literacy isessential to development. that functional literacy canbest be achieved in developing areas through vocationally-associated training programsrather than solely through a school system. and that tax incentivesto industry are an important meansfor encouraging the establishmentof literacy programs. The financingof literacy programs. the initial questionunder consideration. was discussedwith relation to both government and non-governmentalfund sources. A final recommendation wasthat. within the framework of the programmefor the Second DevelopmentDecade. functional literacy should become arecognized dimension of developmentplanning. both as a social objective and as anefficient tool. Cmf) . Ari.eall 111.1 MEOWS AMP U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION I WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS Distribution: limitedSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION EIVRERLIT/69/3 POSITION OR POLICY. PARIS, 17 March 1969 Original: English-French UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION ROUND TABLE OF BANKERS, ECONOMISTS AND FINANCIERS ON LITERACY Rome, 11-13 February 1969 FINAL REPORT EWCS -47/1 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPYRIGHT TD MATERIAJ. HAS BEEN (GRANTED BY TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE U.S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION. FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM REOUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER." ED/BEFLIT/69/3- page 2 Introduction 1. The Round Table of Bankers,Economists and Financierswas convened in Rome from 11 to 13 February 1969 by the Director-General of Unesco,in accordance with a recommendation made by the InternationalConsultative Liaison Committee for Literacy, which stated at its first session inJune 1967, that: "A round- table meeting of economists, bankers and businessmen shouldbe convened to examine the problems of long-term financing". At its second session, inSeptember 1968, the Committee recommendedthat: "The Round Tableof Bankers and Economists sched- uled for February 1969 should discuss literacyas an economic investment, and ad- vise on the ways in which literacy operations might bemost appropriately financed, with particular attentionto possible newresources, methods and procedures". 2. The Round,T4blewas attended by seventeen participantsin their personal capacity.k1)Mr. Guido Carli (Governor ofthe Banca d'Italia)was elected Chairman and Mr. A.R. Gale (United States of America) and D. K.Salim (Jordan) Vice-Presidents. 3. In his opening address (AnnexI), the Director-Generallaid stress on the seriousness of the problem of world illiteracy, both fromeconomic as wellas social and human points ofview, and referred to theneed for the co-operation of business and financial circlesin reducing illiteracy. Mr. Veronese spoke of the deep interest, particularly of the Italian MnterministerialWorking Group on Lit- eracy, in systematically dealing withthe problem of illiteracyand believed that the Round Table would beable to find solutionsto the serious problems in regard to resources, methods and structures for financing functionalliteracy activities. Introducing the debate, Mr. Carliexpressed his deepconcern over the problem of illiteracy which is not beingadequately solved at presentowing to shortage of human and financialresources. 4. The meeting was unanimousin recognizing the economicand social importance of literacy and its roleas a productive factor for developmentin industry, commerce and agriculture. It was felt that the hugetotal of illiteratesrepre- sents a vast loss of humanproductive power,as well as an affront to human dig- nity. All participants agreedthat, in spite of theprogress made in recent years, more resources should be broughtto bear on this problem both inthe inter- est of economic and socialdevelopment, as wellas the building of a peaceful world community. However, it was felt thatit is neither possiblenor necessary to deal in the present meeting with all aspects of theprogramme, including stra- tegy, means and methods, and the RoundTable decided to remain withinthe precise scope of its terms of reference. Its attentionwas concentrated on the planning and financing of functional literacyprogrammes and on the aid which could be brought to literacy through actionby bankers, businessmen andfinanciers. 5. The Round Table understoodfunctional literacyas training centring around basic literacy programmes which willenable the individual to functionef- ficiently and satisfactorilyas a productive member of the community,industry (1) Annex II list of participants ED/HEFL4/69/3- page 3 and other commercial or agricultural activities,and as a contributing member of society. It therefore accepted as a base of discussion theconcept of functional literacy, introduced in the Unesco/UNDP assisted literacyprojects and now imple- mented in various training schemes carried out bynumerous enterprises in differ- ent parts of the world. In other words, the Round Table based itsdiscussions on literacy programmes as linked to development objectivesand projects which inte- grate literacy teaching with vocational training. 6. The Round Table felt that the question of functionalliteracy should be con- sidered in relation to multipronged developmentschemes and specific kinds of enterprises in the industrial (large, mediumor small scale), agricultural, con- struction and the tertiary sectors.These differences affect the identification, preparation, appraisal, financing and implementationof functional literacy activities. 7. RECOMMENDATION I In the preparation ofnew development projects as in the reappraising of existing production activities, the importance ofwork-oriented literacy for short and long-term efficiency should alwaysbe considered.Thus, functional literacy training should appropriatelyconstitute an integral part of the planning and implementationprocess. Planning and financing of functional literacy Q. The Round Table emphasized that ina development programme involving indust- rial, commercial and agricultural workers,the inclusion of a functional literacy component should be systematicallyplanned at the earliest stage, when a project is in the preparatory phase.The content of a functionalliteracy pro- gramme should be related to the objectives, nature ofproduction, equipment and manpower structure of the activity concerned. Examples were given illustrating why industrial organizations often hadto employ mostly literate workers and why this in many cases determined theirchoice of whether or not to launch enterprises in certain areas of developing countries.It was stressed thatmany big industrial enterprises were willing and ready to undertaketraining programmes including lit- eracy as the necessity arises. However, the Round Table noted thatfunctional literacy has so far been neglected inmany agricultural projects, in small industry and in construction works, althoughthe need for it, in such activities, isbeing increasingly realized. 9. The Round Table considered thatthe inclusion of a literacy component in development projects was frequentlyoverlooked due to the lack ofan adequate system for identifying and appraising thebenefits of literacy.This, in turn, raised the question ofmeans and methods of identifying, preparing andappraising projects for investment and for determiningthe main mechanisisms by which bankers, financiers and businessmen could make suitableinvestments. The Round Tablewas of the view that greater attention shouldbe given to ensure the identification of the literacy component at the planningstage, it being often advisable to train workers in advance of the plant coming into actualoperation. Often the family unit rather than the individual workerwas the productive unit. 10. The Round Table discussed thevarious ways of financing functionalliteracy within the framework of business,banking and finance. The firstto be con- sidered was the making offinancial provision for literacyas a component of in- vestment in development projects,either present or future. It was felt that this should not be difficultas a rule, as the cost of functional literacyper worker or even family is usually small in relationto total investment outlaysnecessary to create additional jobsor to improve agriculture by means of irrigationand other major works. The Round Tablewas of the opinion that the financing should be derived both from theindividual resources of enterprisesas well as from loans from national and internationalbanks, preferably integrated ina loan serving the overall investmentpurposes. The distinctionwas made between loans from