The UNESCO LEAP (Literacy Empowerment for Afghan Police) Programme, launched in June 2011, seeks to enhance human and institutional capacities in the security sector of the Government of Afghanistan, by providing literacy training to 3,000 Afghan National Police (ANP) and law enforcement officers who have difficulties in reading, writing and arithmetic.  

Through the generous contribution of the Government of Japan, the LEAP programme is being implemented in Kabul and 7 other province, jointly by the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Ministry of Education, as well as in close collaboration and coordination with the  large scale literacy interventions by the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) in support of the ANP.  

UNESCO is providing key technical support through the development of curriculum and teaching/learning resources for the ANP, as well as equipping 20 master trainers with enhanced capacities in managing and sustaining quality literacy education, within the ministries of Education and Interior, as well as other relevant literacy providers.  

At the operational level, the programme identifies beneficiaries (police officers and law enforcement officers) who are in need of literacy training, but are not covered by existing programmes, and then provides better quality and accelerated literacy training to those officers. In addition, advanced level curriculum and teaching/learning resources developed under the programme can further augment basic literacy skills of ANP officers who have been trained through the NTM-A.          

LEAP has been designed in co-ordination with the major UNESCO literacy programmes in Afghanistan including LIFE (Literacy Initiative for Empowerment) and ELA (Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan Programme). The overarching goal of the programme is to develop better literacy, peacebuilding and productive skills among police officers, thereby contributing to peaceful and sustainable nation-building in Afghanistan.