Meeting Millennium Development Goals
through local languages
Eight goals were adopted by 189 United Nations member states to be achieved by 2015.
SIL views local language-based development as essential to achieve these goals.
Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower women
Nearly two-thirds of the world's 875 million illiterate people are women. In ethnolinguistic communities, boys are often encouraged to interact with others in languages of wider communication. Girls, however, are typically expected to stay close to home where the local language is often the only language used. Research shows that girls and women who are educated in languages familiar to them stay in school longer and achieve better results than those who do not get mother-tongue instruction.
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