Government announces €1M fund for adult literacy projects

Today, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris has announced a €1 million fund to address the unmet literacy needs of adults in Ireland. 

The Adult Literacy for Life (ALL) Strategy aims to address unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs for people across Ireland through the support of funded projects.

The €1 million is available for grants under the Collaboration & Innovation Fund. Public, non-profit, community and voluntary organisations are all eligible to apply to a maximum of €50,000 each.

Simon Harris spoke about the launch earlier today and revealed, “We all want to live in an Ireland where every adult has the necessary skills to fully engage in society and realise their full potential”.

“This fund will help support organisations carry out vital work with people on financial, or health literacy, digital skills or how to read and write”.

The Minister added, “I strongly encourage all of these critically important groups and organisations around the country to apply for the €50,000 grants available. I am looking forward to seeing what exciting, rewarding and important work comes out of it”.

The Director of the ALL National Programme Office in SOLAS, Yvonne McKenna released a statement that reads, “With this funding call, we’re looking for truly collaborative and innovative projects and groups to support – we know that working together is how we best support those with oftentimes complex unmet literacy needs”.

“One important condition of this new Fund is that there must be a minimum of 2 organisations per application – really showcasing genuine and meaningful collaboration on the ground and how we all work best together for the most powerful learner-focused outcomes”.