Effective Literacy and Numeracy Programmes

Benin

Supporting Literacy for Integrated Development

POTAL MEN

The objective of the programme is to help grassroots community groups, especially young people and women, attain self-sufficiency and to promote their self-development on the national, regional and international levels by means of a well-integrated literacy programme. The concept of the programme was developed jointly with beneficiaries and with the support of other actors from the region. This consensual approach is intended to encourage beneficiaries to become involved in the programme and to play a major role in it.

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Burkina Faso

Programme d’Education Bilingue

Ministère de L'Enseignement de Base et de L'Alphabétisation (MEBA),
Oeuvre Suìsse d'Entraìde Ouvrière (OSEO)

One of the important strategies to deal with the problems of access, quality and relevance in the area of basic education in Burkina Faso is to provide a bilingual education programme which links non-formal and formal education and is conceived as an educational programme for children, youth and adults. French and the national languages are used in combination in order to provide a more effective education within a multi-programme approach that addresses different ages and the diverse needs of learners. The results were so convincing that policymakers later adopted the bilingual approach.

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Cape Verde

Distance Learning for Adults: Radio ECCA Project for the Socioeconomic Development

Government of Cape Verde/ Spanish Agency for International Cooperation/ Regional Government of the Canary Islands

The project was set up in support of the National Programme of Adult Education and Training, which combines distance education based on ICTs with adult basic education, secondary education, vocational education and training as well as community learning for development. It is based on the synchronized use of radio classes, print materials and orientation tutorials. Distance education based on ICTs seems to be the ideal solution for an island state such as Cape Verde as a means of reducing geographical disparities and providing equal educational opportunities for all citizens. This is underlined by the Law of Foundations of the Education System of Cape Verde that stipulates that learning achievement gained through distance education should be recognized as equivalent to those gained through formal education.

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Ethiopia

Poverty Reduction and Capacity Building through Livelihood Skills Training

Ministry of Education, supported by the German Adult Education Association (DVV) International

The project established model skill training centres that provide systematic skills training to educationally disadvantaged people living in rural areas in Ethiopia. The model centres show how to organize development-oriented adult and non-formal education for improving the livelihood of poor people. The results of an impact evaluation of this three-year pilot programme show that it does help to reduce poverty in the country. This is mainly due to the fact that the programme is flexible since it allows skills areas to be chosen depending on the geographical location, the target group and the socio-economically diverse environments.

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Ghana

Education Quality for All (EQUALL)

Education Quality for All (EQUALL) is a five-year (2004-2009) USAID funded project. It is designed to support the Ministry of Education and Sports and the Ghana Education Service to fight illiteracy. EQUALL is currently supporting two government programmes: The Complementary Education Program (CEP) is a non-formal education programme for children aged eight to fourteen, who do not enroll or finish school due to poverty and/or the need to tend to farms and domestic work. It provides local language and English instruction and is implemented by volunteer teachers using learner-centred materials and their own creativity in conducting classed. The Reading Improvement in Primary Education (RIPE) programme works to improve the quality of teaching and learning in formal primary schools. Both programmes provide evidence for the advantages of children developing literacy in their local language prior to acquiring literacy in a second language.

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GILLBT Literacy Programme

Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT)

The Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT) offers a community based literacy programme. It aims to combat poverty and exclusion from social, economic and political processes brought about by lack of education, economic opportunities and by lack of awareness of citizens’ rights. The programme has been successfully functioning for more than 30 years among the least privileged minority groups in northern and central Ghana. Apart from basic literacy, the programme provides its beneficiaries with local knowledge on sustainable development, gender promotion, income-generating activities, as well as HIV/AIDS and other health related issues.

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India

Reading for a Billion: Same Language Subtitling on TV

Planet Read

The main goal of the Same Language Subtitling (SLS) project, which subtitles song-based programmes on TV, is to integrate reading into the lives of people, especially of neo-literates. By doing so, they may make the transition from early alphabetic recognition to an increasingly fluent reading ability. However, although SLS contributes significantly and measurably towards improving reading skills and reading motivation among adults and children, the programme is rather expensive and has yet to become a national policy.

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Madagascar

Joint Programme: "Supporting the Promotion of Education for All – Non-Formal Education"

Malagasy Government / United Nations System

Illiterate children, youths and adults, particularly girls and women, are the main target groups of this project, which aims to tackle the problem of illiteracy and to improve access to high-quality basic education for all in Madagascar. Innovative methodological approaches and methods such as ‘Ambohitsoratra’, a special method for learning to read involving play activities for children, have been implemented in this project. Multipurpose resource centres have been set up at the community level, which function as libraries and information centres.

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Mali

Community Development Programme

Jeunesse et Développement

In this programme the STAR (Stepping Stones and Reflect) approach is used. Stepping Stones is a communication and training tool based on participatory methods, which was developed to address the vulnerability of young people and women with regard to decisions about their sexual behaviour. REFLECT combines the tools and techniques of participatory research with communication techniques. The programme aims to improve social and health conditions by providing information on the advantages of good health and by raising awareness on key issues concerning individual health needs.

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Support for the Quality and Equity of Education

World Education Mali

This programme supports the Ministry of Education’s ten-year strategic plan by providing training and ongoing support to over 700 parent associations and school management committees. The specific goal of the programme is to provide parents and members of community-based organizations with the basic literacy skills needed to enable them to engage in the education of their children and to strengthen community participation in education activities. An improvement in the quality of education has been noticed and participants have been more active in the supervision of their children’s education at home and at school.

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Namibia

National Literacy Programme in Namibia

Government of the Republic of Namibia

This programme aims to empower illiterates with skills that will enable them to take part in socio-economic activities in order to become more productive and self-reliant. The programme is divided into three important stages: The first two stages focus on mother tongue literacy and basic numeracy, with learning materials in 11 national languages, while English is introduced at the third stage. The methodological approach is learner-centred with group discussions and story-telling as two of the commonly-used methods. Additionally, efforts have been made to decentralize all literacy activities, including curriculum development and development of materials.

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Nigeria

Use of Radio in a Nomadic Education Programme

National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE)

The National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) has used the medium of radio as Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) to provide nomads in Nigeria with access to quality basic education. The programme aims to boost literacy and equip the nomads with skills and competences to enhance their well-being and participation in the nation-building process. Radio listening groups support the work of the IRI. As one result of its innovative strategies, there have been great improvements in the quality of curriculum content delivery and the learning achievement of nomadic children.

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Senegal

Associates in Research & Education for Development (ARED)

With over 800,000 books sold, and more than 450 training courses delivered since its inception in 1990, Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED) has been dedicated to developing materials in African languages and implementing participatory training courses. They are designed around the idea of “constructing knowledge” by interweaving the new and the known to emphasize that the pursuit of education is no longer associated with cultural alienation, as was often the case with formal education in French. The striking success of the programme lies in the result that the participants view literacy classes and training courses as a process of empowerment, not merely as a set of mechanical skills that must be learned.

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South Africa

Family Literacy Project

The Family Literacy Project (FLP) was set up to address the low literacy achievement of many pre- and primary school children, despite government interventions in the early childhood sector. The project brings together adult and child literacy by improving the literacy skills of parents (or those who take on the role of parents) and by supporting the role of parents in early literacy development of children, as they are the first and most important educators of children. The project runs various community libraries that provide relevant reading materials. Children who are supported by their parents usually do well at school and this motivates adults to continue offering their support.

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Uganda

Family Basic Education (FABE)

Literacy and Adult Education (LABE)

Family Basic Education (FABE) is a programme founded by Literacy and Adult Education (LABE), a leading NGO in Uganda. It targets families in the Bugiri district, one of the poorest districts and among those with the lowest adult literacy rates in the country. The approach used in this programme combines both professional primary school teachers and para-professional adult literacy educators. As a result of the programme, parents were enabled to interact better with their children to reinforce their reading, writing and numeracy skills. The programme plans to expand the content by emphasizing literacy and contextualized basic education in a broader sense.

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Integrated Intergenerational Literacy Project (IILP)

Uganda Rural Literacy and Community Development Association (URLCODA)

The Integrated Intergenerational Literacy Project (IILP) is a volunteer-based initiative in response to the needs of the rural poor in the Arua district of Uganda. With an intergenerational approach the project aims to build up literacy and life skills of community members that enable them to better meet the challenges of their community and society. The project depends on a multi-disciplinary team of 24 volunteers for the literacy programme and the activities of the annual community health literacy week. Through the spirit of voluntarism and meaningful partnerships and collaboration, it has been possible to carry out the project with limited funds.

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Zambia

Reflect and HIV/AIDS

People´s Action Forum (PAF)

The implementation of the Reflect approach by the People’s Action Forum (PAF) is based on the idea that active participation of the communities plays a central role in promoting literacy and functional life skills. The CABLAC concept (Capacity Building Learning Activity Centre), integrated in the approach, has made people deal with diverse issues, including HIV/AIDS. Results show that the approach has succeeded in developing the communities’ capacity to prevent and mitigate HIV/AIDS.

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