Developing literate environments: Fleshing out the demand side of Education For All

► Most discussions of literacy in deprived areas focus on the supply side: provision of instructional resources. ► Equal challenges are posed by the demand side: building opportunities for using and maintaining literacy. ► The concept of “literate environments” and recent practice in designing them helps to rectify the balance. ► It is rooted in those factors that make it possible for the newly literate to capitalize resources and exercise new responsibilities. ► Lessons from history and recent development experience undergird the argument and suggest policy implications.