The concept of functional literacy might be considered to have its ceremonial initiation at the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy in Tehran, Iran, in 1965. At that conference important implications emerged for program development, methodology of teaching, and program content. An effort is made in this paper to work out more specifically these implications. The author states that literacy projects should be planned basically as part of the educational effort on one hand and as part of the economical planning for the country on the other hand. The comprehensive nature of the program should include economic, social, and political development. The program should also be linked with the literate environment of the community and should be formally evaluated. Lack of proper selection of priorities causes the project to lose its focus and effectiveness. Today functional literacy projects face such problems as (1) reflecting clearly both educational and economic concerns, (2) coordinating relations between project staff and field staff, (3) finding effective administrative methods, and (4) promoting the concept so that highly professional commitments at all levels could be obtained. (AW)