The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (2006-2015)--LIFE--to tackle the literacy challenge. This is a collaborative effort to accelerate literacy efforts in thirty five of the world's most challenged countries and thereby to unlock progress to reach all of the Millennium Development Goals. Now underway for five years, it is time to review the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment. This is the goal of this global mid-term evaluation report, which draws on prior national and regional evaluation processes and the evidence of existing research, to provide strategic directions for the remaining implementation of the initiative. This evaluation confirms the value of LIFE to literacy development. The majority of LIFE countries recorded an increase in adult literacy rates by an average of 3.1 percent, compared with 1.9 percent at global level over the same period, from 1995-2004 to 2005-2009. One focus of LIFE is a concerted effort to empower women and girls. The evaluation reveals here a mixed picture that shows there is still much to do. The evaluation confirms the need for an increased commitment to literacy that is backed by adequate resources to scale up and deliver programmes of high quality. This underlines the importance of policies of capacity development for improved literacy and nonformal education at national and sub-national levels. Appended are: (1) Objectives of the LIFE mid-term evaluation process; (2) Countries participating in LIFE; (3) LIFE logframe matrix; (4) Partnership and coordination structure for LIFE; and (5) Situation analysis and needs assessment studies. (Contains 5 tables, 1 diagram, 13 boxes, and 90 footnotes.)