National Adult Literacy Database

The Board of Directors of the National Indigenous Literacy Association (NILA) represents First Nations people, Metis people, and Inuit people from coast to coast. Through provincial representation as well as representation in all stakeholder groups, NILA is poised to respond to the vision of eradicating illiteracy in its communities.

In May 2008 NILA was at a major organizational crossroads. There had been some monumental gains in the 10 years NILA had been in operation but there were some significant challenges.

The challenges that NILA recognized at that time included:

• A need for a renewal of organizational strength and vision

• The need to respond to the national priority of the development of essential skills

• The need to create self-sufficiency because of funding issues

• The need to ensure NILA had the capacity to respond to the needs of stakeholders including business, learners, communities, governments, teachers and programs.

Because of the pressing challenges and the vision of the board, a strategic planning process was started. The following document is the compilation of the strategic planning discussions of the meetings of the Board, the outcomes of two strategic planning sessions, and the input of the staff.