Global Literacy Matters

Education and literacy statistics are staggering—or rather, the low levels of literacy and quality education around the world. One teacher in Mexico and an educational technology professor in India, among others, are experimenting with innovative ways to address these problems, since traditional fixes (money, more teachers, etc.) are not always available. Many of ProLiteracy’s international programs use student-inspired programs, so the skills learned can be used immediately in the student’s daily life.   Not only is this useful for the adult learners who often have little time to play catch up in their education, but it is similar to how humans learn, according to recent research. According to this article , Sugata Mitra was chief scientist at a company in New Delhi, India, that trains software developers. His office was on the edge of a poor neighborhood, and on a hunch one day, he decided to put a computer into a nook in a wall separating his building from the neighborh...

Tens of thousands of previously non-literate Afghans can now read, thanks to the five-year NATO-led $200 million literacy program for the Afghan national security forces. With fewer than 28 percent of adults who can read and write, non-literacy in Afghanistan is exacerbated by decades of war and disruptions in public education. Non-literacy among Afghans of military age was a major hurdle for the NATO coalition in Afghanistan, as recruits couldn't follow basic written instructions or read manuals for new weapons and equipment. NATO set up a course to teach basic reading skills to expand literacy among the new Afghan army and police forces. More than 220,000 members have been trained in basic reading and more than 70,000 have achieved a level of functional literacy. 50,000 more recruits are in the program currently, and the Afghan government plans to continue the program after the end of NATO involvement next year. Fewer than 1 million Afghan children were enrolled in school i...

Saakshar Bharat is “the world’s largest adult education program” and it aims to make 70 million adults literate by 2017. Only 62.8 percent of India’s population over age 15 can read and write, according to the CIA World Factbook. [1] With a total population in India of more than 1.2 billion people, that translates to more than 446 million Indians who cannot read and write, and does not factor in age-appropriate reading levels or numerical literacy. To combat this, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched Saakshar Bharat in 2009 as an initiative of the Indian Department for School Education and Literacy (DSEL). [2] Saakshar Bharat places special emphasis on female literacy in India. Anu Priya, a representative of a village from Villupram in Tamil Nadu said 2,000 villagers were being taught. They had held six exams so far. The next batch of 114 adult students was well prepared for the next exams, she said. "The people have learnt a lot of things. No...

We recently asked our partners and members to share an inspirational story through words or photos about the importance of literacy and education for women. We will be posting short stories on Facebook, Twitter, and our International Programs blog as we count down to International Women’s Day on March 8th! The story below is one that our partner in Tanzania recently sent us. Najma is 13 years old and lives in the municipality of Moshi in Tanzania. She attended a short training organized by Solidarity of People living with HIV/AIDS in the Kilimanjaro Region. The course was part of capacity building program for Positive Youths – living with HIV/AIDS. Using the skills learned in the program, Najma and 10 ot hers are now educating fellow primary school students on how to combat HIV/AIDS, encouraging them to become knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS and to take protective measures to avoid contracting the disease. For those already living with HIV, Najma and her peers talk about good health pract...

Dear Readers, 2011 has certainly been an exciting year as we worked to advance literacy both here in the United States and around the world! As we count down the days to the New Year, we would like to highlight some of our favorite stories about how literacy has empowered adult learners and their families. Please join us every day over the next 13 days as we share a new story celebrating the power of literacy in transforming lives and communities during 2011! Story # 1 This story comes from an adult learner who participated in a literacy class with our partner ALFALIT in El Savador. ProLiteracy has been working with Alfalit for more than 15 years supporting literacy programs to residents of urban and rural villages. “My name is Rosa Rosenda Ventura. I am sixty-two years old. Almost all my life, I have sold fresh fish. I had often heard that there were programs that taught people how to read and write, but I had never been invited. When hurricane Ida hit El Salvador,...

Now We Can Read and Write! For this blog post, we offer an account from our partner, World Concern, in Laos. This post was written by Anne Thomas, director of the Lao Literacy Project. 2009 Imagine you are Laotian. Everyone in your village is busy from dawn to dusk, farming the steep mountain slopes. Women and girls twirl cotton spindles as they hike to distant fields, making homespun cotton thread as they go. There are no books in your house, and no books in your village. Even if there were, no one could read them. Only a handful of men in your village can write their own names. 2010 The Lao Literacy Project comes to your village. The village chief signs people up for th e new evening classes. Teenage girls are reluctant at first, afraid it will be too difficult. But the new book teaches literacy step by step, with one new word and one picture per lesson. Slowly, people in your village learn to read. 2011 Students gather to show their skills, their faces glowing with excitement: “We c...

Organizaccion , a grass roots organization in Ecuador specializing in democracy, transparency, and governance, held a special event in Ecuador on January 12, 2011 at 5 p.m. at the National Assembly of Quito. More than 80 representatives of NGOs, and national leaders attended, as Roxana Silva Ch. presented her ideas on civic participation, based on her recent paper ‘Educacion y Participacion Ciudadana, ’ recently published as part of ProLiteracy’s Critical Issues in Literacy series. ProLiteracy’s partners, PLAMAC and Tú Mujer tuned in live at the event and shared examples of integrating literacy with education on civic participation in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. ProLiteracy's international programs manager Mary Kelly participated via video from Syracuse, N.Y., and ProLiteracy’s international programs coordinator Alesha Anderson helped with coordination on site in Quito. The event was recorded and will soon be shared.

Day 4 Ngororero is the project site where IFLI partner Umuhuza has been working to strengthen families. We met with 15 trained practitioners to hear their successes and struggles with the project. We met with local officials to hear their impressions of the work. We visited several homes to hear from parents how the program has benefited them. Yesterday, we celebrated with 100 families who have completed the parent training sessions. Umuhuza chose to go to remote Ngororero with the IFLI early learning curriculum because the first genocidal massacres took place in this region back in the 1950s. Umuhuza is an agency focused on creating a culture of peace in Rwanda. They believe that the IFLI curriculum is a way to create peace within families that can then have a bigger effect on society. We heard many testimonies from parents, practitioners and local officials about the reduction in domestic violence.