by Elizabeth Bleacher

The 8th Pan-African Reading for All (PARFA) Conference will be held from July 9 to August 2, 2013, at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. The conference’s theme will be Literacy for All: Leading the way to Literacy Excellence, with special attention given to innovative literacy strategies and techniques that have proven to have positive impacts on literacy throughout Africa. The conference’s goal is to identify what teaching structures need to be developed or strengthened to promote literacy both nationally and internationally.

Proposal submissions for the 2013 conference are due by December 31, 2012. Submissions must include the official proposal form. Additionally, all participants will be required to pay a conference registration fee, whether they are presenting or not. The registration fee is not due with proposals and should be submitted at a later date with a separate form. The fee for participants from continents other than Africa is US$250. Participants from Africa are asked to pay US$150.

Presentations will be accepted as individual papers, colloquia, workshops, poster sessions, and films/documentaries. Aside from meeting the general conference objectives, all proposals need to fall under one of the ten sub-themes of the conference.

Those sub-themes are:

• Literacy and Early Childhood Education;
• Literacy Across the Curriculum;
• Literacy, Information Centers, and Technology; 
• Literacy and Community Participation;
• Literacy and Language of Education;
• Literacy Instruction and Assessment;
• Literacy, Health, and Human Rights;
• Literacy, Publishing, and Materials Development;
• Innovations in Literacy Instruction; and
• Multicultural Literacies.

Colloquia will be given two hours, and workshops will be given one full hour. Individual papers, poster sessions, and documentaries will be given a half hour for presentations as well as questions. For this reason, films and documentaries cannot exceed twenty minutes.

Past conferences have proven successful in creating and implementing strategies to promote literacy and have left lasting impacts on host regions and participants. Much of this success can be attributed to the quality of the presentations given at the conferences and the literacy teaching methods that have developed as a result.

More information about the application process can be found at the International Reading Association website.

Elizabeth Bleacher is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.