FREE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN IN POOR AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES To: Senator Saxby Chambliss and Senator Johnny Isakson Education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and for laying the basis for sustained economic growth. We are fighting to improve lives by giving education to those who cannot afford it. Across the world, children are living without proper guidance that would help them lead successful lives. 96% of unschooled children live in developing countries and 75% of unschooled children live in Sub-Saharan Africa and West and South Asia. In Western and Central Africa, less than half of poor children complete even the first year of school. More and more children are becoming illiterate, leading to over 800 million adolescents and adults lacking literacy skills, which could equip them with the abilities needed to work their way out of poverty. Literacy highly leads to healthier environments. Uneducated children are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS, expanding mortality rates. And if born into a literate family, children are 50% more likely to live past the age of five. Education is an effective way to fight poverty and to build well functioning democracies and peaceful societies. We respectfully call upon the government to guarantee this fundamental right to the children of poor and developing countries, and to implement the following: Provide support for attaining the goals of the EFA (Education for all) by 2015. Participate with the Global Campaign For Education (GCE) by partaking in the Global Action Week (April 24