This paper represents the text of a presentation given by the author during a panel discussion on "Paving the Way towards CONFINTEA VI: Balance and Challenges on the Side of Civil Society," in Montevideo in June 2006. The author argues that adult learning, instead of inciting general interest and concern, tends to be forgotten in public discourse as well as in budgets and provision. For adult educators, their constant concern is to make learning opportunities for the adult population in their countries stay on the agenda of public commitments rather than disappear completely from them. They try to stem the tendency to ever more cuts in public budgets for adult education provision which is nibbling away more and more of the substance of this basic human right which is respected in verbose declarations but overlooked in the implementation of public administration. They seek to make decision-makers listen to their claim that adult learning opportunities must not be left to the forces of the free market but require the sponsorship and assistance of the public community in order to safeguard social inclusion and care for those members of their societies who are lagging behind. Using his country, Germany, as a case in point, the author emphasizes that cooperation at various levels, including the local, the national, the regional, and the global compass, is important in achieving anything in favor of adult learning.