This paper attempts to address reasons that Literacy for All and thus Education for All (EFA) may be such difficult goals to achieve and explores strategies to address them by examining the action plans submitted by 28 countries to UNESCO in preparation for the High-Level International Round Table on Literacy that took place as a closing event for the UN Literacy Decade at the UNESCO Headquarters in September 2012. This paper first reviews progress in adult literacy, along with other EFA goals, since the 2000 Dakar Forum and then analyzes challenges and strategies toward the attainment of universal adult literacy in the context of EFA. The paper is concluded with a discussion toward solutions.