Organizing for Literacy: The Argentine Case for Educational Change

By Argentinos por la Educación and Leading Change Network

Over the past two years, early literacy has emerged as an urgent priority on Argentina’s education agenda—thanks to the momentum sparked by the National Literacy Campaign. Launched in 2023 by Argentinos por la Educación, the campaign goal was to reverse a troubling statistic: according to UNESCO’s 2019 Regional Education Assessment, 46% of Argentine third graders (around nine years old) do not understand what they read—a figure that climbs to 61.5% among the most vulnerable populations. In response, Argentinos por la Educación teamed up with more than 200 organizations to pursue a clear goal: ensure that every third-grade student can comprehend written texts. To achieve this, the campaign blended rigorous evidence, mass communication, and strategic advocacy. 

The campaign’s fundamental theory of change was straightforward: if civil society could effectively make the problem visible and generate public pressure, political leaders would be incentivized to act, especially given that 2023 was an election year for both the President and governors. To achieve this, Argentinos por la Educación collaborated with more than 200 partner organizations.

Drawing inspiration from the principles of the People, Power, Change leadership pedagogy developed by Marshall Ganz and associates in developing its advocacy strategy, the campaign implemented several interconnected practices:

• Building Genuine Relationships: The campaign focused on engaging a broad spectrum of individuals, including educators, civic leaders, policymakers, business figures, and media personalities, to foster a unified community with a shared sense of purpose. This began with one-on-one meetings across various sectors to identify key leaders and strategic allies, followed by a founding meeting in February 2023 that convened 25 intersectoral leaders to solidify commitments and organize working groups based on diverse skills.
• Crafting a Compelling Public Narrative: The campaign centered its message on the stark reality that one in two children struggles with reading comprehension, creating an emotionally resonant narrative that created a sense of urgency and galvanized support and legitimacy. The initial hashtag, #NoEntiendenLoQueLeen (“They Don’t Understand What They Read”), gained significant media traction in 2023.
• Establishing a Distributed Leadership Structure: A network of regional and thematic committees was created, which enabled coordinated action at both national and local levels.
• Pursuing Strategic High-Level Political Commitments: A key strategic focus was securing pledges from top-tier political figures, including presidential candidates and governors.
• Deploying Targeted Tactics: The campaign combined direct advocacy, public pressure, and digital engagement to ensure that promised plans transitioned into concrete actions.

On June 5, 2025, the National Literacy Campaign—driven by Argentinos por la Educación—embarked on a new phase in its mission to make early literacy a top public priority in Argentina. That day, the campaign re-launched its viral hashtag #QueEntiendanLoQueLean (“Let Them Understand What They Read”), this time with a twist: hundreds of social, educational, cultural, and sports leaders literally “put on the jersey” for literacy. In the weeks to follow, they shared photos of well-known figures from every sector wearing the campaign’s t-shirts, renewing the message, amplifying its reach, and rallying support nationwide.

Significant Progress and Regional Inspiration

The strategic timing of the campaign proved impactful, elevating literacy to a political and social imperative. The achievements have been substantial:

• In 2023, all six leading presidential hopefuls, including the current President, signed a political commitment to literacy.
• By 2024, 18 out of 24 provincial governors followed suit.
• The campaign has generated over 30 million media impressions annually across traditional media, social networks, and digital platforms.
• Following these political commitments, all 24 provincial jurisdictions, along with the National Secretariat of Education, have unveiled and begun implementing their own literacy plans. These plans include teacher training, textbook distribution, fluency and comprehension assessments, and the administration of the national “Aprender” test in third grade.
• To ensure accountability, the campaign also established a public, ongoing monitoring mechanism.

The success of Argentina’s National Literacy Campaign is seen as an example of collective action driven by civil society to address a deep-rooted challenge through a long-term strategic vision. 

This experience has also resonated beyond Argentina’s borders. In October 2024, it was a central topic at the “Latinoamericanos por la Educación” (Latin Americans for Education) gathering at Harvard Kennedy School. Foundations, academics, business leaders, multilateral agencies, public officials, and communicators from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru convened to exchange strategies and begin sketching similar campaigns under a new “Latin America Literacy Commitment”. Renowned figures—Marshall Ganz, Alejandro Ganimian, Paola Uccelli, Catherine Snow, Emiliana Vegas, and Jaime Saavedra—led policy co-design workshops, all aimed at scaling political and social commitment to early literacy across the region. The Argentine model is now inspiring neighboring countries to forge their own regional commitment to early literacy.

Building on this successful advocacy and coalition-building effort, conversations are ongoing between Leading Change Network and Argentinos por la Educación on how to embed the campaign in the core concepts of the People, Power, Change framework: building grassroots power and centering the constituency most impacted by this issue as leaders within the campaign. 

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Who is Argentinos por la educación

Argentinos por la Educación is a plural, independent, and nationwide organization dedicated to improving education in Argentina. Its mission is to help transform the educational system through rigorous data analysis, consensus-building, and targeted advocacy campaigns.

The organization uses data to understand the current state of education in the country, creates spaces for leaders to agree on long-term education policies, and mobilizes families to help make those changes a reality.