In 2000, the Education for All (EFA) dedication was made in Senegal at the Dakar World Education Forum. It was a call to governments around the world to make education available at all levels and for all people. The reality is that the majority of monitored countries have only marginally reduced the numbers of their illiterate citizens. Eighty million children and almost a billion adults still do not receive any education. The disproportionately large number of people without an opportunity for schooling live in the least economically developed countries.

This book is a collection of essays reporting the successes, failures, and barriers contributing to a lack of educational access in developing countries. The international contributors to this volume work in communities that are in the front lines of the battle to achieve universal access to education for everyone.