This handbook provides information, evidence and basic conceptual models to facilitate the adoption of LLL in national and local settings. it provides evidence from diverse initiatives and describes some of the contemporary issues to which LLL responds – including how it shapes the 2030 agenda for Sustainable development.

This handbook can be used by anyone tasked with or interested in the promotion and facilitation of LLL. It is designed to be particularly useful to national policy-makers. It can be followed sequentially or compartmentally to support LLL in a specific form or context. The handbook is structured in such a way as to guide the reader from the basics of LLL as a concept to the concrete implementation of LLL initiatives.

Chapter 1 introduces LLL as an integrated policy for sustainable development, Chapter 2 provides guidance for the formulation of national LLL policies, Chapter 3 supports the design of national LLL implementation strategies that address contemporary issues and, finally, Chapter 4 moves to the local level and relates the guidance of previous chapters to the UNESCO learning city model.

This handbook serves as a resource through which the ideals of LLL can be translated into LLL opportunities for all.

(Cited from the Foreword of the Handbook)