National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) - Partnerships

NLS activities are undertaken in partnership with the provinces, territories, non-governmental organizations and business and labour organizations. Innovative partnerships are created to communicate the literacy message to all Canadians.

While the NLS sets national directions for literacy programs it is not directly involved in delivering the teaching of reading and writing skills to Canadians. This is done by the provinces through the education system, and by voluntary groups, literacy organizations, labour and other groups which have an expertise in the area.

The role of the NLS is one of a facilitator, bringing together organizations which can benefit from each other's experiences. We work with a broad constituency of organizations which deal with a range including remedial learning for adults in the community and in the workplace, to preventive programming for families.

The NLS has been successful in partnership development in order to bring on board organizations which serve clients who have weak literacy skills and who are not likely to participate in more traditional learning opportunities. The NLS entrepreneurial style uses both grants and operating dollars to attract financial commitments to literacy from a wide range of non-governmental partners and from other levels of government:

voluntary organizations and professional associations
The NLS works with non-literacy voluntary organizations and professional associations whose clients are people with weak literacy skills. The goal is to make these organizations more accessible to people who do not read and write well.
business and labour
The NLS develops partnerships with business and labour to foster corporate and labour awareness and involvement in literacy issues. The NLS focus has included non-traditional learning opportunities and on access to innovative ways to promote learning both inside and outside the workplace.
government
Through partnerships, the NLS jointly funds projects in each province and territory. The partnerships vary from province to province, recognizing the unique needs and priorities of each region of the country, and are tailored to meet specific provincial or territorial needs.