Illiteracy (en)

Scope of the Foundation / Call for proposals launched at national level (in February 2010 and May 2011) followed by the literacy programme with around thirty associations operating with families.

There are 3.1 million illiterate people in France. Problems with reading, writing and numeracy arithmetic, ingrained since childhood, quickly turn into illiteracy on reaching adulthood. Even the simplest tasks then become impossible writing a cheque, doing the accounts, reading the label on a medicine bottle and sufferers often live in denial or shame. They need support to escape this predicament.

In 2010, the Fondation Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, where Marie-Thérèse Geffroy has her office as Director of the ANLCI (the French national agency to fight illiteracy), launched an appeal for projects in the departments of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region since expanded to national level. Grants were then disbursed to association projects designed for families suffering from illiteracy. The purpose was twofold: prevention in the case of young children, and literacy support for parents. Further literacy campaigns have been conducted in conjunction with local associations (EnVol, Sport dans la ville).