The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and its partners, the Agence Nationale de Lutte Contre L’Illettrisme (ANLCI) and the UNESCO French National Commission, organized a Regional Meeting on “Literacy and the Promotion of Citizenship: The Challenge of Learning” from 2-5 April 2005 in Lyon, France. Participants from 38 countries of what UNESCO considers to be the European Region (i.e. Europe, Canada, Israel and the United States of America) reviewed pertinent policies and shared good practices.By focusing on the theme of citizenship, the meeting sought to establish a link between literacy and the empowerment of citizens. This publication brings together the main presentations from that meeting, and as such documents the diversity of literacy-related thinking and practice in the region.