Kenya Celebrates Adult Literacy

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ProLiteracy's partners in Kenya recently celebrated Adult Learners' Week at the beginning of September. Once a year, members of the literacy community and staff of Kenya Adult Learners' Association (KALA) get together to celebrate the accomplishments of adult learners and raise awareness of about adult illiteracy. This year the event coincided with International Literacy Day. It was also the first time that KALA collaborated with the Kenyan government for Adult Learners Week.

Adult learners were encouraged and given the opportunity to share their personal stories. Participants realized that they too have the voice and power to speak, and be advocates for their rights to sustainable education through participation and interaction with other adult learners from Kenya and outside of the country. Literacy has enabled them to become self sufficient because they can now bake breads, cakes, and run income generating businesses to support their families. Their lives have been changed because they can also read newspapers and be involved in what is happening in the country and other parts of the world. The participants were challenged to come up with ways to foster an engaging atmosphere in hopes to increase local participation in literacy programs. Local groups and participants were also given the opportunity to exhibit their products and educational materials. Songs, dances, and poems were presented by adult learner groups honoring the role of literacy in their lives and being part of literacy mobilization.

In the spirit of Adult Learner Week, learners in the Masaba District made the following recommendations:

  • THAT learners voices must be heard at the local and international levels
  • THAT both UNESCO and ICAE must adapt the International Adult Learners Network and support the international learner conference by strengthening the network of the adult learner's charter.
  • THAT UNESCO and ICAE must support the launch of ICT for the Network to make the communication easy using necessary tools and skills for improving education.
  • THAT all governments must support learners associations by providing sufficient budgetary allocations to adult learners programmes and involve them in policy and decision making.
  • THAT adult learners should have a curriculum easy to modify to their level which will enable them to continue learning.
  • THAT adult learners who have made remarkable achievements at all levels be recognized and awarded with honorary degrees, certificates, and diplomas and other related awards to boost their participation in local programs and motivate others to join adult education initiatives.

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