To enhance the transparency and accelerate the impact of assistance provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to promote quality basic education in developing countries, to better enable such countries to achieve universal access to quality basic education and improved learning outcomes, to eliminate duplication and waste, and for other purposes.

Worldwide, 62 million girls are currently out of school, and nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women.  This has serious consequences for families and communities – a woman’s earnings increase by an estimated 10-20% for every year of school she completes, and children born to literate mothers are much more likely to survive past the age of 5.  The READ Act, H.R. 601, introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), makes existing U.S. foreign assistance more efficient and effective while expanding girls’ access to quality basic education in developing and conflict-affected countries. The bill was signed into law on September 8, 2017 (P.L. 115-56).

Full text of H.R. 601, as introduced

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House Passes Foreign Affairs Committee’s READ Act (January 24, 2017)