On November 8, All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (a partnership of USAID, World Vision US, World Vision Australia and the Australian Government) announced the launch of Sign On For Literacy, a new global competition seeking innovations that increase access to local sign languages and advance language and literacy outcomes for deaf children. The competition criteria can be found here.

Lending support to the prize promotion were Gordon Brown and new breakout star from the recently released Wonderstruck movie, actress Millicent Simmonds.

Gordon Brown

Mr. Brown’s support was quoted in our press release: “The civil rights struggle of our time is delivering an education to all – and not just some – children,” said Gordon Brown, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. “By spurring innovation that provides children who are deaf access to sign language and literacy, Sign On For Literacy is helping us move closer to a world where all children can participate, learn and gain the skills they need to thrive.”

Wonderstruck actress, Millicent Simmonds

As part of the announcement at the International Conference of the World Federation of the Deaf in Budapest, a video from Millicent Simmonds was played during the launch announcement.

What you can do

While World Vision is unable to compete, due to conflict of interest, the most vulnerable children we serve—those with disabilities—will be able to benefit from the innovations sourced through this competition by including them in WV funding proposals and programming.

We encourage you to promote this competition through your networks and on social media by retweeting and sharing the announcement from our twitter (@ReadingGCD) or facebook (@AllChildrenReading) feeds.