The winners of the prestigious 2024 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize have been announced: the Foundation for Educational Equity and Development (FEED) of Ghana, Fundación ProEd of Panama, and the University College of Teacher Education Vienna of Austria.

To raise awareness on the importance of literacy, UNESCO established September 8 as International Literacy Day in 1965, and has since awarded individuals and organizations that contribute to the global efforts to resolve illiteracy every year. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister YU In Chon, MCST) has supported UNESCO’s efforts to raise literacy around the globe by awarding the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, established in 1989, as a means to celebrate King Sejong’s legacy of creating Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and making literacy accessible to all. Each winner group (organization) is awarded a prize of USD 20,000, along with a certificate of recognition.

Ghana’s Foundation for Educational Equity and Development (FEED): Delivering Digital Libraries to Promote Literacy Training Across the Country

Founded in 2017, the Foundation for Educational Equity and Development (FEED) in Ghana collaborates with local schools and community centers, NGOs, and tech companies to provide students easy access to educational resources through mobile libraries and digital tools. In particular, its flagship program Libraries Without Walls focuses on delivering literacy, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), and digital education opportunities to underserved children in rural areas. To date, over 12,000 learners have benefited from 200 hours of educational content. As the main aim of the program is to empower girls by promoting their social participation and reducing gender disparities through practical literacy and storytelling in local languages, most participants are female students. FEED plans to expand its efforts by developing a multilingual online platform to further foster literacy among Ghanaian youth.

Panama’s Fundación ProEd: Literacy Education Program for the Marginalized Communities

Austria’s University College of Teacher Education Vienna: Promoting Multilingual Education Support Programs

Established in 2007, Panama’s Fundación ProEd continues to address educational inequality. It currently operates its standout program, the ProEd Lecto Labs, in ten marginalized communities, where the program aims to promote literacy by strengthening the collaboration between teachers, schools, and local communities. The foundation has provided 80 hours of teacher training and employed innovative teaching methods for Spanish literacy education, while setting up schoolbook clubs to promote reading and discussion. These efforts have recently expanded to creating classroom libraries.

The University College of Teacher Education Vienna of Austria launched the voXmi educational network in 2008, which fosters the introduction of multilingual classroom environments in urban areas. More than 62 education institutions nationwide are taking part in the collaboration network, which is committed to fighting against exclusion, racism, and language discrimination while promoting social integration and a peaceful culture of coexistence among migrants in Austria. The network trains teachers in meticulous language teaching methods and the use of digital media given a multilingual environment to ensure that the diverse languages of the immigrant students are effectively integrated into the classroom.

Awardees Invited to Korea in Celebration of the 578^th Hangul Day

The International Literacy Day celebration event was held on September 9-10 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. During the event, the 2024 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize awarding ceremony also took place on September 9. Moreover, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism invited the delegations of the winning organizations to Korea within the year in celebration of the 578^th Hangul Day, where they will be introduced to the culture of Korea.