This Is What It Looks Like to Hack Illiteracy

According to UNESCO’s most recent findings, 757 million people around the world lack basic reading and writing skills. Illiteracy is a complicated global problem, one that makes it more likely for people everywhere to experience crime, infant mortality, gender inequality, poverty, and infectious diseases.

The root causes of illiteracy are no less complex than the impact it leaves on those affected by it. So to help grapple with some of the biggest obstacles facing parents, educators, and policy makers around the world, Project Literacy and Mashable put out a call to coders, makers, and creative thinkers to partner on a unique solution to this urgent global problem. The Project Literacy Makeathon took place over the course of eight innovative hours on September 12 in San Francisco. By the end of the day, several dynamic solutions to illiteracy came to light, including new digital tools, mobile apps, and more.

Check out the above slideshow for highlights from the day. And if you’d like an easy way to throw your hat in the ring, sign this petition from Project Literacy, intended to keep illiteracy top of mind for influential global leaders.