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Contact: David Bridges +250-78-658-1808 and Carolina Valenzuela +250-78-658-1893

From 29 February to 2 March 2012, HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development, will join ministers of education and other representatives from developing countries, NGOs, multilateral agencies, and donor countries at the All Children Reading event in Kigali, Rwanda, to help improve literacy for primary school-aged children in 25 African countries and Haiti.

The All Children Reading event is a series of 4-day workshops hosted by the Global Partnership for Education, a multilateral partnership devoted to getting all children into school for a quality education. HRH Princess Laurentien will address attendees and participate with delegations in discussing action plans to boost children’s reading skills in early grade. The Princess will also visit local primary schools to meet teachers and to read to students.

HRH Princess Laurentien is UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development as well as chair of the European High Level Group on Literacy. She has a long track record on the issue of literacy and she chairs the Dutch Reading & Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven), an organization she founded in 2004. The Princess’ participation in the All Children Reading Workshops is part of her outstanding commitment to the promotion of literacy development and the importance of reading in the development of young children.