Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 calls on countries to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Sub-goal 4.6 aims to ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults of both genders achieve literacy and numeracy, with literacy being regarded indispensable not only for the achievement of SDG 4 but also for the other 16 SDGs, specifically those relating to health and wellbeing, gender equality, active citizenship, income generation and responsible consumption and production. However, the potential of achieving literacy can only be reached if it is approached from a lifelong learning perspective; therefore literacy learning activities should be offered as part of a lifelong learning framework. This article describes how the Kha Ri Gude Literacy Campaign in South Africa, conceptualised within a lifelong learning framework, extended its literacy curriculum to engender agency and empowerment among the national target of adult learners who, as a result of the legacy of apartheid in South Africa, had little or no education. It examines how, through conceptualising literacy curricula content around the (local, national and international) development goals, it is possible to use literacy instruction as a catalyst to effect transformation and social change. The article draws on the mixed methods approach followed by the research to show learners' perceptions of the social, economic and developmental opportunities afforded by literacy acquisition.