On the occasion of Literacy Day 2005, a video clip entitled "Be part of Literate Africa" was produced by the UNESCO Institute for Education in cooperation with the Bureau rщgional de l´UNESCO pour l´щducation en Afrique (BREDA).

The clip was sent to all National Commissions for UNESCO in Africa and shown in Literacy Day ceremonies in many African television channels. It was broadcast in the news of the French TV channel TV5. Also, it was shown during the Literacy Day Ceremony at UNESCO.

In Germany, the UNESCO Institute for Education and the Federal Literacy Association, in cooperation with the publishing house Ernst Klett Sprachen and the German Commission for UNESCO, held an information seminar for journalists on "Literacy in Germany" on the premises of the Ernst Klett Sprachen publishing house in Berlin. The focus of the event held on 7 September 2005 was on how to reach people with insufficient reading and writing skills. 20 stakeholders and journalists were updated on the current situation with regard to literacy in the country. The seminar took place in the context of the "German Coordination Group for Literacy and Basic Education" established on the occasion of the UN Literacy Decade. The speakers were

• Maren Elfert of UIE and Jќrgen Genuneit, editor at Ernst Klett Sprachen and member of the Board of the Federal Literacy Association, presenting an overview of illiteracy worldwide, in Europe and in Germany
• Renate Valtin, Professor for Primary Pedagogy at the Humboldt University and President of the German Society for Reading and Writing with a presentation on the findings of the PISA study and the primary school study IGLU
• Dr. Jіrg Lіsel of the educational channel BR alpha of the TV channel Bayerischer Rundfunk, who presented a new television series produced with the support of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research
• Peter Hubertus, founding member and Managing Director of the Federal Literacy Association, who reported on the German "Alfa hotline", which offers advice and support to people who have difficulties with reading and writing and is celebrating this year its tenth anniversary
• Martin Rag g, project coordinator of the internet portal APOLL financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, who took stock of the first very successful year of the new website www.ichwill- schreiben-lernen.de ("I want to learn to write"), which enables functional illiterates to learn to read and write anonymously at home. The website had 200,000 clicks already in its first days. It has 19,000 registrations and 6,500 anonymous users.

In discussion Ute Jaehn-Niesert, Managing Director of the Arbeitskreis Orientierungsund Bildungshilfe (AOB) and Marie-Luise Oswald, Chairperson of the Lesen und Schreiben e.V., both literacy course providers in Berlin, and their students reported that the spots and advertisements for the "Alfa" hotline had encouraged attendance at literacy courses.

On 8 September, the German Adult Education Association and the Federal Literacy Association celebrated Literacy Day with a festive event in the permanent representation of the Saarland in Berlin. The highlight of the event was the awarding of literature prizes for the best texts to literacy class students.

Source: UIE News