The 2008 EFA Global Monitoring Report recognises adult literacy as the most neglected of the EFA goals. It is neglected most obviously in respect of the financial allocations made by governments and donors. This shortage of financing creates a dangerous situation in which adult educators seek to convince politicians to invest, based on false promises of quick wins at low cost. Yes, research (eg Writing the Wrongs, gce 2005) shows that the key to success is sustained investment in an ongoing learning process. Governments should be investing 6% of their education budgets on adult education and half of that should go to basic literacy. Governments need to include adult literacy in education sector plans and demand support for adult literacy from the Fast Track Initiative. Adult educators also need to link with other constituencies (HIV, health, wider education campaigners) to challenge IMF macro-economic conditions that undermine investment in the public sector as a whole. We should use the build up to CONFINTEA to make the case for new investment in adult education and to popularise simple reference points against which we can monitor the performance of governments and donors. (Contains 2 notes.)