Good Read: Celebrating Malala Day

By Karen Bergin, Director of Citizenship and Public Affairs

Did you know that one out of every four adults worldwide is functionality illiterate? This represents 793 million people. Addressing illiteracy around the world is a huge challenge because it is often the most silent. Microsoft Citizenship and Public Affairs General Manager, Lori Harnick, posted a blog today on Microsoft on the Issues about the global literacy challenge and Microsoft’s commitment to address it on several levels through YouthSpark as well as through its involvement on Literacy for Life, a voluntary collaboration between Microsoft and organizations such as UNESCO, USAID, World Vision, the Global Partnership for Education and the World Bank.

Also, today, in partnership with the United Nations, Microsoft is celebrating the UN Youth Takeover Day and Malala Yousafzai’s 16th birthday – Malala Day, to honor the young woman from Pakistan who was terrorized for speaking out for girls’ education.

You can read more on the Microsoft on the Issues blog here.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Malala Yousafzai, the young education rights campaigner from Pakistan. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe