Child Literacy Development
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Overview
Building strong literacy skills from an early age lays the groundwork for lifelong learning, enabling children to reach their full potential and contribute to safer, more equitable, and prosperous societies. Countries with high literacy rates benefit from economic growth, social mobility, health and well-being, civic engagement, equality, and sustainable development. However, many children in low-income countries face significant barriers to education, such as diverse local languages, limited literacy cultures, insufficient teacher capacity, and ineffective literacy instruction. Factors like nutrition, safety, poverty, and competing priorities for families further impact child literacy development.
Impact
Guided by our Catholic mission to serve the most vulnerable, CRS is dedicated to fostering child literacy development as the cornerstone of meaningful learning for poor, disaster-affected, and conflict-affected children. Our literacy programs address a holistic set of factors including school governance, home and instructional language, learner variability, teacher knowledge and resources, and the health and well-being of children, their caregivers, and their teachers. By collaborating with local governments and education partners, CRS works to enhance child literacy development in 17 countries worldwide through evidence-based, data-informed approaches, improving literacy outcomes and empowering learners to actively engage with society and shape a brighter future for themselves and others.
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Impact Stories
Explore Our Projects

Welcoming Our Holy Father with Joy and Hope
Catholic Relief Services warmly welcomes our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, with grateful and joyful hearts.
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Stephen Ucembe: A Story of Resilience
The founder of the Kenya Society of Care Leavers, Stephen Ucembe survived life in an orphanage where hunger, isolation, and abuse were rampant.
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Our Current Prayer
As Catholics, we recognize that prayer is of the utmost importance. In our mission to act with the Church to serve people around the world, we begin with prayer.
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Improving Livestock Farming in Central African Republic
I Londo I Mai is a 24-month project that aims to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable and conflict-affected families and improve their economic resilience in the northwest of the Central African Republic.
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Transforming Livelihoods Across Generations
CRS focuses on high-value crops that grow in harmony with native tree populations found only in the rainforests of Madagascar.
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Niger Youth Program Launches Work Opportunities
The project helps budding entrepreneurs learn skills as they build their own businesses and increase their income.
Read Story arrow_right_altA Win-Win for American Farmers and School Children in Laos
How the USDA's McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program benefits the U.S. and Laos.
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Raising the Score in Early Childhood Development
Religious sisters expand outreach to children in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia.
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