This "Global Report on Adult Learning and Education" ("GRALE") serves as UNESCO's international monitoring report, synthesizing the national progress reports from 141 countries. Unlike the first "GRALE," which was prepared as a reference document for CONFINTEA VI, this report contains additional features. It offers the opportunity for all stakeholders to assess whether they are progressing in relation to the Belém commitments. This report and succeeding reports will not only cover the five key areas of adult learning and education (policy, governance, participation, financing, and quality as per the "Belém Framework of Action"), but also highlight one theme in each issue. As the "Belém Framework for Action" affirms the fundamental role of literacy within adult education, and since the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) ended in 2012, adult literacy was selected as the special theme of this report. In addition to the data from national progress reports, a literature review of the six areas was also undertaken to identify trends in these areas since 2009. The response rate in this round of reporting was more than satisfactory. The 129 completed national progress reports that UIL received from 127 Member States (the United Kingdom submitted separate reports for England, Scotland, and Wales) provided a large amount of new information, which was used as a basis for the qualitative and quantitative analysis, and constitutes the foundation of the Global Report. In addition, ten countries submitted narrative reports. Because these did not follow the format of the reporting template, they could not be considered in the quantitative data analysis, but were referred to, where possible, in the Report. Following a foreword by Irina Bokova, the report contains the following chapters: (1) Literacy as a Foundation for Adult Learning and Education (Ulrike Hanemann); (2) Promoting Adult Education Policy within a Lifelong Learning Perspective (Bettina Bochynek and Christine Glanz); (3) Putting Governance Structures and Processes in Place (Werner Mauch, Peter Roslander, and Angela Owusu-Boampong); (4) Financing Adult Learning and Education (Jin Yang and Raúl Valdés-Cotera); (5) Expanding Participation and Provision in Adult Education (Rika Yorozu, Anna Bernhardt, and Lisa Krolak); and (6) Ensuring Quality in Adult Education (Madhu Singh). Contains an appendix with a list of the countries that submitted reports. Individual chapters contain bibliographies. [Final editorial work was undertaken with the assistance of Anna Bernhardt.] [For the first "Global Report on Adult Learning and Education," see ED540497.]