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For=20 updates and e-mail alerts,

Issue=20 DH/4380 Tuesday,=20 26 April 2005 &n= bsp; =20

UN=20 Daily News

UN=20 News Centre =95 www.un.org/news

UN=20 goes online to educate rural people with tool kit to=20 slash

hunger=20 and poverty

26 April - Efforts to achieve the = Millennium=20 Development Goal of slashing world hunger and poverty = in

half by 2015 received a new boost = today from=20 an online educational tool kit targeting rural people,=20 launched

by the United Nations Food and = Agriculture=20 Organization (FAO).

For the first time, a wide = range of=20 teaching and learning tools for the education of rural people is=20 available

on the Internet, providing = governments,=20 international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs),=20 rural

school teachers, extension agents = and the=20 public at large with the latest knowledge on how to help rural = communities=20 better

their = livelihoods.

=93The tool kit will help = policy-makers to=20 implement education programmes and improve the quality level of = education=20 in

rural areas,=94 said Lavinia Gasperini, an = FAO expert=20 who works in close collaboration with the UN Educational,=20 Scientific

and Cultural Organization = (UNESCO) and=20 other organizations on the Education for Rural People initiative, = launched at=20 the

World=20 Summit on = Sustainable=20 Development in 2002 in Johannesburg.

=93You cannot promote = agriculture if you=20 fail to educate rural people. The first Millennium Development Goal =96=20 reducing

hunger and poverty =96 will not be = achieved=20 unless we give a higher priority to improving education in rural areas, = where=20 the

majority of the people live,=94 she=20 added.

Hunger, malnutrition and food = insecurity=20 reduce school attendance and erode cognitive abilities. Conversely, = illiteracy=20 and

lack of education reduce earning = capacity=20 and contribute to hunger and poverty. Education plays a fundamental role = in

improving the food security, incomes = and=20 productivity of rural people. It also helps to promote new technologies, = as=20 literate

people are more inclined to adopt = these=20 technologies and to protect their environment.

The tool kit is a valuable = resource for=20 all those whose daily work consists of = training the=20 rural poor in food and nutrition,

local knowledge systems, agrobiodiversity, food quality and safety, rural = finance,=20 marketing, forestry, fisheries,

communication and other related=20 issues.

According to latest estimates, = =93in the=20 so-called global village, about 130 million children, the majority of = whom are=20 rural, do

not have a pencil or a pen, nor a = book, nor=20 a teacher, and do not go to school,=94 Ms Gasperini=20 said. These children will

become illiterate adults who will = join the 880=20 million illiterates in the world, the majority of whom are rural=20 adults.

-=20 12 -

UN=20 Daily News 26=20 April 2005