A literacy program created in Cuba and with broad possibilities of being implemented internationally is expected to enable illiteracy not just being an issue on UN meeting agendas. The program is already being applied in Venezuela, Argentina and other Latin American countries.

"Yes, I can!" was created by IPLAC – the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute – and developed by the Cuban government. Thus far, it is being used in various Latin American countries, but is expected to be extended throughout the region and the world as a literacy program.

The initiative is a model for change in face of unsuccessful attempts to address illiteracy that have been made by governments. However, education is usually a top campaign issue for political parties. And it is certainly a central question for policies of democracy, although in most cases, it would seem that regional governments have not tried very hard to redistribute their efforts and benefit the educational sector.

According to international estimates, based on census data from UNESCO, there are 862 million people without access to education. At the end of 2004, 70% of illiterate populations were located in sub-Saharan Africa, Southern and Western Asia, the Arab nations and Northern Africa. In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are up to 39 million illiterate people – a number that exceeds, for example, the entire population of Argentina –, which is the equivalent of 11% of the total Latin American and Caribbean adult population. Data from other sources indicates that in Latin America, almost 110 million young people have not finished elementary school, making them semi-illiterate or functionally illiterate.

This program uses an audiovisual teaching method comprising 65 televised classes of 30 minutes each, and in just three months, people can learn how to read and write.

The method, created by Cuban teacher Leonela Relys, goes from the known – numbers – to the unknown – letters – and is based on experience. It has three stages: training, teaching reading/writing, and consolidation. The classes seek to go from the general to the particular; that is, for participants to begin by observing the totality.

Teaching reading/writing is based on the audiovisual method, which is combined with a "primer," following a sequence of three logotypes: ear/eye: listening and seeing; ear/book: listening and reading; and ear/pencil: listening and writing.

Another important aspect of the system is that in each teaching space, there are "facilitators" who accompany and follow the work of the participants. These "facilitators" may be teachers or neighbors, which helps to have more intimate knowledge of the particular characteristics of the members of each group.

In Argentina, this educational tool is being used on the basis of a request by a group of neighborhood organizations called UMMEP – the acronym in Spanish for "A better world is possible."

"Everything began based on our work in the grassroots organizations, where we would find illiteracy problems in indigenous communities, or in very poor areas of greater Buenos Aires," UNMEP sources say.

Currently, the program is being applied in 12 provinces for more than 2,100 people in each: Buenos Aires, Jujuy, Chaco, Corrientes, Santa Fé, Río Negro, Neuquén, Córdoba, Mendoza, Salta and Tucumán. This immense task is being taken forward thanks to a group of volunteer literacy workers who are participating in the 400 literacy centers.

The UNMEP organizers note that this problem is not just one of illiterate people, but of all of society, which should not remain indifferent to such injustice. And they add that reading and writing is much more than that; it is being able to express what you think, what you feel; it is about truly participating and solving problems of everyday life without having to depend on someone to read your prescription or accompany you to fill out an application, or constantly worrying because you’re not sure what you’re signing with your thumbprint; it is a qualitative leap into life, and thus into society.

September 8 is celebrated a "International Literacy Day" by UNESCO since 1967, and the objective is to acknowledge education as a universal human right to which every individual should have access without any type of discrimination. This acknowledgement confers on every woman, man, youth or child the right to a basic, free and mandatory education, as well as all of the options for secondary and higher education. Those who participate in the "Yes, I can!" literacy program are in agreement with this concept of education, and propose that this literacy method should be generalized universally, as a way of reducing illiteracy in the world.

One aspect that should be highlighted is that the "Yes, I can!" program has been tested in various countries very successfully. For this reason, some have commented that there is no need to spend resources on developing other literacy programs, when one already exists that has been demonstrated it can be applied on a large scale, and now needs support from the UN.

Thus, actions have been taken so that the UN adopts this literacy program at global level.

In the framework of this campaign, a document has been drafted stating that "UNESCO proclaimed a UN decade for literacy for the period of 2003 to 2012, and that in the preamble of the resolution, the General Assembly affirms that it is convinced that literacy is essential so that every child, youth and adult acquires the essential knowledge for everyday life, which is an indispensable means of effective participation in society and the economy of the 21st century."

Likewise, in that declaration, it is affirmed that "the creation of literate environments and societies is essential to achieving the objectives of eradicating poverty; reducing infant mortality; controlling population growth; achieving gender equality; and achieving sustainable development, peace and democracy."