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UN=20 goes online to educate rural people with Tool Kit to slash Hunger = and=20 Poverty=20
by UN=20 Food & Agriculture Organization

26 April = 2005=20

Efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal = of=20 slashing world hunger and poverty in half by 2015 received a new = boost=20 today from an online educational tool kit targeting rural people, = launched=20 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).=20

For the first time, a wide range of teaching and = learning=20 tools for the education of rural people is available on the = Internet,=20 providing governments, international and non-governmental = organizations=20 (NGOs), rural school teachers, extension agents and the public at = large=20 with the latest knowledge on how to help rural communities better = their=20 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 who works in close=20 collaboration with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural=20 Organization (UNESCO) and other organizations on the Education for = Rural=20 People initiative, launched at the World Summit on Sustainable = Development=20 in 2002 in Johannesburg.

=93You cannot promote = agriculture if=20 you fail to educate rural people. The first Millennium Development = Goal =96=20 reducing hunger and poverty =96 will not be achieved unless we = give a higher=20 priority to improving education in rural areas, where the majority = of the=20 people live,=94 she added.

Hunger, malnutrition and = food=20 insecurity reduce school attendance and erode cognitive abilities. = Conversely, illiteracy and lack of education reduce earning = capacity and=20 contribute to hunger and poverty. Education plays a fundamental = role in=20 improving the food security, incomes and productivity of rural = people. It=20 also helps to promote new technologies, as literate people are = more=20 inclined to adopt these technologies and to protect their = environment.=20

The tool kit is a valuable resource for all those = whose=20 daily work consists of training the rural poor in food and = nutrition,=20 local knowledge systems, agrobiodiversity, food=20 quality and safety, rural finance, marketing, forestry, fisheries, = communication and other related issues.

According to = latest=20 estimates, =93in the so-called global village, about 130 million = children,=20 the majority of whom are rural, do not have a pencil or a pen, nor = a book,=20 nor a teacher, and do not go to school,=94 Ms Gasperini said. These children will become = illiterate=20 adults who will join the 880 million illiterates in the world, the = majority of whom are rural adults.

Click on the link = below=20 to access the toolkit.

Visit the related web = page=20

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