Roundtable Program at US-Mission Lagos

Please find below the details of the program below:

ILD is traditionally observed on September 8 every year. The Day was set to bring to fore the worldwide literacy needs. According to the United Nations, “more than 780 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write, and between 94 and 115 million children lack access to education.”

In Nigeria, ILD coincides with the beginning of a new school year. This presents a great opportunity for all Nigerians to reflect on the importance of literacy in the lives of Nigerian children and adults.

The roundtable program is planned to kick-start the U.S. Mission’s contribution towards encouraging literacy in Nigeria. This event is aimed at highlighting the importance of literacy, education and life-long learning. There will be a roundtable discussion on the theme – Literacy and Peace (http://bit.ly/literacy2011) by stakeholders. These include the Government, Teachers, Parents, Librarians and Civil Societies. Consul General, Lagos will flag off the event with a keynote message on the theme, while the Public Affairs Officer moderates the discussion.

Date: Thursday, September 8, 2011

Venue: PAS, 2 Broad Street

Time: 10:00 am

Draft Agenda:

9:00 am - 10:00 am Registration

10:00 am - 10:15 am General Introduction

10:15 am – 10:30 am Consul General’s Keynote Speech

10:30 am – 10:50 am Reading/Poems (organized by US-Africa Literary Foundation

10:50 am - 11:50 am Roundtable discussion on the Theme: Literacy and Peace

11:50 pm – 12:30 pm Q & A

12:30 pm – 12:35 pm Closing – Vote of Thanks

12:35 pm Refreshment

Proposed Partners:

· IOWA Group

· US-Africa Literary Foundation http://www.us-alf.org/

· Reading Association of Nigeria

FOLLOW-UP PROGRAMS

We are also planning these follow-up programs with some partner institutions:

1. Secondary Schools Reading Challenge (SSRC): It is conceived to encourage reading among secondary school students in the Lagos Island area. The program will be implemented in this format; the first event will gather students from participating schools and be taught on Techniques of Speed reading. The selected schools (at least six) will be given books to read for a period of time. The second event will bring them together to discuss the books and winners will be given prizes as determined by the facilitators.

2. Read it Loud (RIL) is a program designed for adults who are interested in reading and writing books. This will be a bi-weekly program where anyone with any form of writing will be allowed to read it out and participants could comment on such work. The U.S.-Africa Literacy Foundation (UALF) (http://www.us-alf.org/) will facilitate this bi-weekly event. Barack Obama American Corner (BOAC) has agreed to host this program on Weekend.

3. Read-In Month for IRCs and American Corners in Nigeria. IRCs’ and American Corners’ users will be motivated to visit closest IRCs/Corners and read-in for certain number of hours in a specific month.