At its founding in 1946, UNESCO put literacy at the top of its education and human rights agenda. More than six decades later, UNESCO maintains the mission statement: "UNESCO is at the forefront of global literacy efforts and is dedicated to keeping literacy high on national, regional and international agendas." This chapter briefly describes how UNESCO has sought to accomplish this mission and its prospects for the future. With its claimed status as the leader in international literacy work, what UNESCO does, and does not, achieve will no doubt have an important impact on the future of literacy, especially in the low-income regions of the world that depend on external funding and technical assistance.