Our world population right now is around 7,727,000,000
One person out of 7 amongst us can't read and write! This is 750 000 000 people!
Two-thirds of which are women!
Poster exhibition from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8 - Paris 18th. Poster for tomorrow's headquarter Halle Pajol

While the rate of literacy has significantly increased in the last 50 years, experts say that 750 million people are still illiterate around the world.
According to data released by UNESCO, 750 million people, two-thirds of which are women, are illiterate around the world. Although there has been a significant increase in literacy rates over the last 50 years, the high number of illiterate people has drawn the attention of the international community.
Forty-five percent of the illiterate people live in South Asia, and 27 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. While 10 percent are in East and Southeastern Asia, 9 percent live in North Africa and West Asia.
Along with this information, researchers found that the biggest increase in the rate of literacy was in East and South Asia, and North and West Africa. When literates around the world are examined in terms of sex, interestingly the number of literate women is less than literate men. According to data collected over the past few years, the rate of young illiterate women is 59 percent, meaning the number of literate women when compared to literate men in a country averages one to five.

Today is the day. We are excited to publish, for the world to know, the names of all the designers that took part, with their work and their passion, to the current edition of poster for tomorrow. They're more than a thousand and it is only thanks to them that this edition has been such a success so far.

This year and for the first time we'd like to pay a small tribute not only to those whose work has been acknowledged by poster for tomorrow's jury by being selected for the exhibition but also to those that made it to the shortlist. All their names are now published in specific pages on our website.

If this wasn't enough, we have a treat for your eyes and your intellect: the gallery of the 10 posters that will be included in the permanent collections of the prestigious design museums around the world that collaborate with our project.

We're not used to boast our achievements, and indeed this note doesn't intend to do so, but please let us share with all of you our joy and happiness in seeing the closing of a very special day: our first day for tomorrow.

Despite the difficulties and the inevitable shortcomings which we became familiar with as we were running this project, for us it was a success. That's because many of the 30 exhibitions we managed to get organised around the world, are in countries which are seldom part of the graphic design discourse. For this reason, we hope to have started a dialogue that will continue in the future to include new players in an industry that is in dire need to redefine its scope and ambitions.

Moreover, we were able to shed some light on a topic such as the Right to Education. There's a strong need for us to be aware of this problem and its consequences, which limits people's potential in the South as well as in the North of the world.

Our wish is that the posters that we collected in the exhibitions and the book will fuel debate - hopefully not only within the graphic design circle, but in civil society as a whole.
In the next few days we'll try to share with you what we achieved today by pictures and more so please keep tuned!

With exhibitions confirmed from India to Ecuador and from the US of A to Botswana, chances are there's a Poster for tomorrow "Right to Education" event near you.

Check out the "Events" tab on our Facebook page or follow this link to read the list directly on our website, complete with all the details you need to come and celebrate with us the International Human Rights Declaration anniversary.

We finally let it out! It’s the catalogue of our 2011 edition. Opened by a foreword from Irina Bokova, Unesco’s Director-General, designed by dutch maestro Ingrid Van Der Meulen and written by celebrated English author Will Georgi, it makes an outstanding holiday season gift.
What are you wainting for?! Click here to read more about the book and its content, browse the gallery and have access to the online shop.

We're looking for couriers to help us with the poster shippings for the exhibitions that will be held next 10 December, "a day for tomorrow".

You could give invaluable help to our organisation by flying our posters with you. Please get in touch if you're interested and if by chance you are leaving from Paris or any large city in Europe between 21 November and  5 December and you're headed to one of the following countries:
Bolivia, Botswana, Canada, Colombia, Georgia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Uganda, Pakistan, Peru, Tunisia, Ukraine and the United States.

Even if you can't help us this time, in case you're a frequent traveller  please get in touch. We're building a small database of people that happens to travel frequently between Europe and America, Africa, Asia. If you're such a person or if you know someone who does travel often along these routes, please forward this message to them.

Please send us an email if you'd like to help!
 

UNESCO joins poster for tomorrow as a partner for the 2011 exhibitions dedicated to the "Right to Education".

Poster for tomorrow is delighted to announce the new partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This partnership represents a fitting climax the current edition of the contest, which is devoted to the “Right to Education”.

In the words of Irina Bokova, Director-General of Unesco:

“This contest has mobilized some 2700 participants throughout the world and among their contributions 100 posters have been selected which will make it to a catalog book e a globe-trotting exhibition.
This is a great opportunity to wear the colors of education as a fundamental human right in a way that will reach a new and different audience.
It is also a way to send a strong message of solidarity that emphasizes the importance of education. Education is an empowering tool that makes each and every child, boy or girl, man or woman stronger and in so doing enables them to lead an authentic and dignified life and to participate fully in the world around them.
I congratulate poster for tomorrow and each participant for this wonderful initiative.”

The exhibitions will open all around the world on the same day, to celebrate the International Day of Human Rights, with UNESCO as a global partner.

Exhibitions in Bolivia, Botswana, Colombia, Ecuador, Georgia, Ghana, Germany, Guinea, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Marocco, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Venezuela, Ukraine and USA are already confirmed.

The Poster for tomorrow 2011 “The right to education” catalog book

The book comes in three languages: English, French and Spanish, with a preface by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO. It features the 100 posters selected for the global exhibitions, plus chapters on the Pan African Workshops that poster of tomorrow has been promoting and organizing in 2011 as well as news about our future project “Draw me Democracy” funded by UNDEF (the United Nations Democracy Fund) that will kick off next year.


About UNESCO

UNESCO works to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon respect for commonly shared values. It is through this dialogue that the world can achieve global visions of sustainable development encompassing observance of human rights, mutual respect and the alleviation of poverty, all of which are at the heart of UNESCO’s mission and activities.

The last 6 and 7 October we held the live jury voting for the 2011 edition of Poster for Tomorrow in our Paris headquarters.
Alain Le Quernec chaired a 9 jurors strong panel, moderated by Guy Schockaert and made up by designers such as Michal Batory, Joanna Gorska, Yuri Gulitov, Giancarlo Iliprandi, Ruth Klotzel, Sophie Thomas and Niklaus Troxler.

They selected the best 100 entries amongst the 400 artworks shortlisted by our preselection committee, a panel composed by 50 women and 50 men working in the design, media and advertising industries. Their role was to review and select online the best 400 posters amongst 2780 entries coming from 88 countries we received this year.

Ten outstanding posters have been picked by the jury to enter the permanent collection of renowned design museums around the world: Dansk Plakatmuseum, Design Museum Gent, Graphic Design Museum Breda, Lahti Poster Museum, Les Arts Décoratifs, Museum für Gestaltung, Political Graphics, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wilanów Poster Museum.

Many of you already contacted us to know if their poster was selected and to know if we're going to publish a list of all the winners. In the next few days we'll proceed to inform all the shortlisted and selected posters designers contacting them directly by email, so please wait for us to get in touch with you. At the end of this process, an online list containing the names of everyone who participated, the shortlisted posters designers and the authors of the selected posters will be published on this website.
In the meantime, please take a minute to fill up your account information so that it will show up correctly in our gallery in case your work is included.

WORLDWIDE EXHIBITIONS AND CATALOGUE
The 100 posters selected by our jury will be and exhibited around the world on "a day for tomorrow" the next 10 December, International Human Rights Day. The posters will be available also as a catalogue, prefaced by UNESCO Director-General Irena Bokova.
The flagship Paris exhibition will open its doors to public on December the 8th at Les Arts Decoratifs.
 

8 September, International Literacy Day!

According to data from UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, 793 million adults – most of them girls and women - are illiterate. A further 67 million children of primary school age are not in primary school and 72 million adolescents of lower secondary school age are also missing out their right to an education.
More than half the adult population of the following 11 countries are illiterate: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. South and West Asia account for more than half (51,8%) the world’s adult illiterate population, ahead of sub-Saharan Africa (21,4%), East Asia and the Pacific (12,8%), the Arab States (7,6%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4,6%), North America, Europe and Central Asia (2%).
“The world urgently needs increased political commitment to literacy backed by adequate resources to scale up effective programs. Today I urge governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector to make literacy a policy priority, so that every individual can develop their potential, and actively participate in shaping more sustainable, just and peaceful societies,” declared UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

So after the extension, our 2011 competition is now closed for entries. We hope the extension gave everyone had enough time to get their posters in…

At the last count we had received 2780 posters which we're extremely happy with. These posters will now be judged by our online jury over the next 50 days. The online jury is formed of 50 men and 50 women from all over the world (from 45 countries to be exact) and is made up of graphic designers, charity workers, teachers and people from a variety of disciplines.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank a lot of people, so here we go…

Thank you to: everyone who entered the competition (and good luck!), all the teachers and professors who incorporated poster for tomorrow in your classes, all our supporters and endorsers and you for reading!

We'll be in touch with more news soon, watch this space...

Poster for tomorrow's 'Right to education' call for entries deadline has been extended for 48 hours. We hope this will give a chance to participate to anyone who's experiencing technical issues. Don't hesitate to contact us if you're having any problem with uploading your poster entry.

We are proud to announce that the Council of Europe (Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs) has, for the second year running, granted its financial support to poster for tomorrow.

Having received the Concil of Europe Patronage since its creation, we see the renewal of financial support as a sign of confidence in our actions.

Poster for tomorrow needs your support more than ever. You can become a member of 4 Tomorrow association, buy our iPhone App or simply make a donation.

Nous sommes fiers d’annoncer que le Conseil de l’Europe (Direction Générale des droits de l’homme et des affaires juridiques) a accordé son soutien financier à poster for tomorrow pour la 2e année consécutive.
 
Avoir obtenu le patronage de l'Organisation des 47 depuis la création du Concours, nous voyons dans le renouvellement de son soutien financier un signe de confiance en nos actions.
 
poster for tomorrow a plus que jamais besoin de votre soutien. Vous pouvez devenir membre de l’association, acheter notre l’iPhone App ou tout simplement faire une donation.

Every year poster for tomorrow chooses a basic human right to draw attention to. We then invite the global design community to make posters on this theme that are exhibited around the world on International Human Rights Day, December 10th. We passionately believe that one poster is a start, but one hundred, one thousand, constitute a movement that can’t be denied.

We're pleased to announce that in 2011 we'll be addressing the right to education for all; irrespective of gender, religion or handicap.
Incredibly 121 million children worldwide are not in primary school, despite universal primary education being a right "guaranteed" in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a UN Millennium Goal; while illiteracy rates are still staggeringly high even in countries where a child's right to education is guaranteed. In France illiteracy has become a "cause nationale" (with 3.1 million people unable to read, write or count), the rate of illiteracy in the U.K. is "unacceptably" high according to M.P.s, while according to the National Adult Literacy Survey, 42 million adult Americans can't read (and current estimates have the number of functionally illiterate adults in the U.S. increasing by approximately 2,500,000 persons each year). This is truly a problem that affects us all.

We've chosen to fight for the right to education for all as we believe that education gives people across the whole world the chance to break the cycle of poverty; to live in a more equal world, without discrimination, where everybody has the same chance to learn the same skills and enjoy the same success. To enjoy a better tomorrow!