This book is the result of a collective effort. It is a tribute to the remarkable impact which Lalage Bown had on so many people from different areas of adult education research, policy and practice across the globe that everyone we approached agreed -without hesitation -to contribute. As editors, we sincerely appreciate their hard work, from which we have learnt so much. We know there are many others who would like to have been involved and apologise to them that it is only due to space limitations that we could not include more authors.We are grateful for support provided by the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning and the School of Education at the University of Glasgow towards publication of the book; also, the invaluable assistance provided by Dr Lucia Vazquez Mendoza, Post-doctoral Researcher at the Higher Education Research Centre (HERC) Institute of Education, Dublin City University. In addition, we acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions made by the anonymous reviewers.We are particularly indebted to Professor Paolo Federighi and Professor Vanna Boffo, Florence University, and Florence University Press (FUP) in accepting the book for inclusion in the book series, Studies on Adult Learning and Education.The book involves thirty-seven authors who, at the time of writing, were based in fourteen countries from the global south and north: Africa