Interview of the month Bouthaïna Abdelwahed Abdelsalam - making dreams come true in award-winning rural Egyptian literacy scheme A 24-year-old mother of two, Bouthaïna Abdelwahed Abdelsalam is a development leader with the Females for Families programme in Abu-Ashur, Egypt. The Governorate of Ismailia, which runs the programme, has won the 2010 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy for its individualized, needs-based approach to literacy and development. Bouthaïna told EduInfo about how the success of Females for Families has given confidence to the whole Abu-Ashur community, to women in general and to her in particular. More Coming Up First-ever World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (27-29 September) Early childhood is a critical period, yet countries have been slow to recognize its importance. On 27-29 September in Moscow, Russian Federation, the first-ever World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education will remedy the situation.   Education at the Millennium Development Goals Summit, 20-22 September Preparations are well under way for the High-Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (United Nations, New York, 20-22 September 2010).     Roundup Vuvuzelas ring for education as FIFA World Cup ends Hours before the FIFA World Cup final on 11 July, UNESCO’s Director-General and political leaders from across the African continent gathered in Pretoria for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Education Summit.   E-9 leaders make historic commitment to literacy The leaders of the nine most highly-populated countries of the South (E-9) have adopted an ambitious action agenda to mobilize stronger commitment to literacy, boost effective delivery of literacy programmes, harness new resources and continue their successful teamwork.   UNESCO connects Haitian and French children through books On January 12, 2010, the earthquake that struck Haiti took the lives of 300, 000 people and destroyed most of the administrative and educational infrastructure of the country. Children lost their homes, their schools and their educational system, putting their future on hold.   New figures on aid to education According to new analysis by the Global Monitoring Report team, in 2008 global aid spending on basic education remained unchanged at US$4.7 billion.