Collaboration and Innovation Fund 2026 Launched to support adults with unmet literacy needs

SOLAS/04.12.2025

Minister Marian Harkin, Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has announced funding of €1 million to support adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs. The 2026 fund will also support family and financial literacy projects.

Over 700,000 people in Ireland have unmet literacy needs. In today’s world, literacy is much more than reading and writing and many people have unmet numeracy, digital and financial literacy needs. This means that daily tasks can be a struggle such as filling in a form, reading instructions on medicines, adding up a bill, helping children with homework or searching online for information.

Announcing the Fund, Minister Harkin said: "I am delighted to launch the 2026 Collaboration and Innovation Fund. Over the last number of years, it has supported hundreds of innovative projects in communities across Ireland who are doing vital work to create a more literacy friendly and equal society.

“This Government believes that literacy is a human right as it allows each of us to fully engage in society as active citizens. That is why promoting the Adult Literacy for Life Strategy is a key priority for my Department, SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards. Literacy allows us to engage effectively with others while enabling us to understand, use, and act on information, to access services and use technology. Therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to support people with unmet literacy needs – whether that’s at home, at work, or in our communities.”

“As a parent and a former secondary school teacher, I understand the importance of literacy in the home and strongly welcome this year’s emphasis on family literacy projects. The proposed activities will help parents and children to enhance their literacy practices through activities such as reading together, storytelling, and playing games. These activities, combining fun and learning, will foster children’s language and literacy development.”

The Collaboration and Innovation Fund is managed by the Adult Literacy for Life (ALL) National Programme Office in SOLAS. Its purpose is to support a more inclusive and equal society by awarding collaborative and innovative projects that support adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs.

The 2026 fund will focus on family and financial literacy:

·       Part of the fund this year will be made available to new and innovative family literacy projects. These projects are focused on supporting parents with literacy needs through fun and rich literacy activities that encourage their own and their children’s language and literacy development, such as reading a book, telling stories and playing games.

·       For a second year, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is supporting the financial literacy strand of the Collaboration and Innovation Fund with a contribution of €200,000.

Yvonne McKenna, Director of the ALL Programme Office at SOLAS said:

"Initiatives such as the ALL Collaboration and Innovation Fund are playing a vital role in working towards ensuring that all adults in Ireland have the literacy to meet their needs. It has a real impact in supporting a more literacy-aware and literacy-friendly society.

The Fund enables the delivery of a vibrant and diverse range of programmes that are helping to change the lives of adults with unmet literacy needs in Ireland. The fund is aimed at those most at risk of having literacy needs including older adults, members of the Traveller community, migrants, people parenting alone, and early school leavers."

Brian McHugh, Chair of the CCPC said:

“The CCPC is committed to promoting and supporting financial education initiatives to help address Ireland’s financial literacy gap. We’re delighted to continue our partnership with SOLAS and the Adult Literacy for Life Office through the Collaboration and Innovation Fund.

“Last year’s initiatives demonstrated how innovative approaches and community-based projects can make a real difference in helping vulnerable communities to manage their money in practical ways, fully engage in society and realise their potential. We’re committed to building on that success with even more innovative and impactful initiatives in 2026.”

The closing date for the fund is 12pm on Thursday 22 January 2026. 

Further information about last year’s projects is available at: https://www.adultliteracyforlife.ie/fund/