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Connections/EdTech News, February 2005
Focus is on "Learning for life in a changing world"
Twenty-six people from around the world gathered for the International Literacy and Livelihoods Experts Meeting, held 15-17 November 2004 in Vancouver. Organised by COL and supported by the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), this meeting focussed on ways that COL can provide greater support to Commonwealth developing countries seeking to improve the livelihood opportunities of their illiterates. The international experts represented government, development agencies, non-governmental institutions (NGOs), international organisations and education institutions.
The first part of the meeting provided participants with background about COL and the issues and challenges involved in enhancing literacy and livelihoods programmes. There were also presentations about the current reality with respect to literacy and livelihoods education in the regions of the Commonwealth.
In his keynote, Sir John Daniel, COL President and CEO, discussed COL's role and the link between literacy and livelihoods. COL's task, he explained, is to get greater leverage on the challenge of preparing people for life in a changing world by using technology intelligently. This will be accomplished by bringing together our organised knowledge and by being very sensitive to the social systems in which we are operating.
"The challenge before you in the next few days is to advise us how we might combine the potential of technologies with what we know about literacy and livelihoods to achieve impact at scale," Sir John concluded. "The fundamental purpose, let us remember, is to reduce poverty and hunger through such interventions."
The current reality
The four keynote presentations that focused on literacy and livelihoods development in the broader global context included:
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UNESCO's Adult Literacy Initiative: "Literacy Initiative for the Excluded (LIFE)" by Dr. Qian Tang, Director, Executive Office, Education Sector, UNESCO, Paris, France
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"Literacy and Livelihoods for Youth at Risk - the SERVOL Experience" by Mr. Martin Pacheco, Executive Coordinator, Service Volunteered for All (SERVOL Ltd.), Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
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"Conceptualisation of Education Reform in the Pacific from a Cultural Perspective with Particular Reference to Literacy & Livelihoods" presented by Mr. Mahendra Singh, Project Manager, Pacific Regional Initiatives for Delivery of Basic Education (PRIDE), Suva, Fiji
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"Meeting the Literacy and Livelihoods Agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa" by Mr. Arvil Van Adams, Senior Advisor for Social Protection, Africa Region, The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA
Additional "current reality" information was provided by other participants who accepted the invitation to prepare background papers on literacy and livelihoods in their respective countries or on a related topic.
Exploring the opportunities
The second part of the meeting focused on eliciting advice for initiatives that COL could take on in the area of literacy and livelihoods development. Participants were divided into four working groups to explore the best opportunities for COL to add value and provide recommendations regarding how COL might pursue these priority opportunities.
The opportunities were identified as:
Each working group set priorities among these opportunities and recommended the actions, strategies and resources that COL should consider in order to realise the opportunities.
Guiding principles
There was unanimous agreement among meeting participants that the acquisition of literacy skills needs to be integrated with learning for livelihoods in both formal and informal contexts. The development of literacy skills must have a practical application in the context of the lives of the learners. And for policy makers, it must have a demonstrably positive impact on national socio-economic objectives.
The group strongly supports the COL initiative to establish a programme area that focuses on this challenge.
The group also outlined several principles they felt should guide COL as it moves forward. COL's activities in this area should lead to sustainability and scalability of applicable outcomes and must be:
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consistent with the open and distance learning (ODL) and technology mediated learning mandate of COL;
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within the human and fiscal resource capacities of COL in order to avoid "over promising and under performing"; and
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needs-based and linked to the poverty reduction strategy plans of target countries.
Primacy focus
There was near unanimity that COL should assist policy makers in developing and implementing policies that foster the integration of literacy skills acquisition with livelihoods development initiatives.
This focus is consistent with two sub-programmes of COL's Three-year Plan - Policy Development for Basic and Secondary Education and ODL Applications for Poverty Reduction.
The rationale for this recommendation is that literacy development programmes generally suffer from a lack of clear co-ordinating policy and that the role of literacy in development is not well understood. Group members felt that efforts that bring policy makers from ministries of education together with those from ministries responsible for economic development are urgently needed. They expressed the view that COL is well positioned to contribute because of its current activities.
Moving forward
In order to turn these recommendations into a plan, participants outlined essential "next steps" that COL should undertake over the next year. These are:
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Validate the recommended framework
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Build on current activities
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Develop the details for the next Three-year Plan
For a more detailed report from the International Literacy and Livelihoods Experts Meeting, see the Summary Report
MEETING ORGANISERS DR. GLEN FARRELL (LEFT) AND MR. JOSHUA MALLET, COL EDUCATION SPECIALIST, LITERACY AND LIVELIHOODS
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Mobile boat schools are providing a unique learning opportunity for people who live in the most remote areas of Bangladesh. The Mobile Internet-Educational Unit on Boats (MIEUB) initiative was developed by Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, a national voluntary NGO, through funding provided by COL's Poverty Reduction Outcomes Through Education Innovations and Networks (COL-PROTEIN) programme.
The boats travel the extensive network of rivers and streams in Bangladesh, collecting students from different riverside areas and then anchoring at the side of the river. Using solar energy to power technical equipment such as computers and projectors, the boats provide learning in several ways:
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Library facility. Girls and young women who aren't involved in the formal education system have access to books, computers and other learning resources.
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Micro-enterprise development. Targeted at young women, this programme provides small business training. Participants receive support in starting small-scale income-generating activities, which in turn, provide parents with the income to pay education expenses and keep their children in school.
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Evening education programmes on large screens. Children and their parents have access to basic non-formal education. The eight-month programme is arranged according to age groups and attracts 250-300 people for each educational show. There are also classes in human rights education.
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Distance education for farmers. The mobile Internet-educational units provide multimedia displays, mobile phones, e-mail and Internet features that provide distance education on agricultural and environmental issues, as well as information on commodity and farm input prices.
In a country where the majority of the population is illiterate, the MIEUB programme is making a significant impact. The enrolment of girls in primary education has increased. The literacy rate is improving. The overall health of the water system and agricultural productivity are on the rise. And the quality of life has improved for thousands of people.
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Beyond learning reading, writing and numeracy, what's the impact of literacy learning on everyday life? This is discussed in the final report of the COL Literacy Project (COLLIT). With support from the British Department for International Development (DFID), COL undertook a pilot project in India and Zambia to explore ways in which literacy programmes might be enhanced through the use of appropriate technologies.
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Before I started attending computer lessons, I did not think I could do anything. Now that I know how to use a computer, I feel I can do anything." -
COLLIT participant
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Upon completion, the three-and-a-half year COLLIT project revealed that the most profound impact of these literacy initiatives was the effect it had on the learners' self-esteem and on the way they used their newly acquired literacy skills in everyday life.
The findings of the COLLIT project, outlined in more detail in the project report, "ICT and Literacy: Who benefits?", include:
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No matter how rudimentary the literacy skills acquired, most learners start to use them immediately. The most frequently cited examples were reading bus schedules, signs and advertisements. Learners who were involved in agriculture started reading agriculture commodity prices. Several people reported reading newspapers, books and their children's textbooks.
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Although learners used writing skills less than reading skills, being able to sign their name and do small writing tasks enhanced their self-esteem. People reported using writing skills to sign forms and applications such as ration cards, attendance registers, children's report cards, bank forms and government documents.
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Numeracy skills were used mostly for counting and handling money, maintaining household accounts, reading bus numbers and telling time. Learners involved in wage labour used numeracy skills for monitoring wage payments, saying that now nobody could cheat them.
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Literacy classes had the most profound effect on people over the age of 40. These people had considered themselves too old to learn, but soon realised they could learn to read, write and use technology. They gained confidence and felt more self-reliant in everyday life. They also believed their status in the family and community increased as a result of their improved literacy.
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Many parents in the COLLIT project developed a more positive attitude towards education and became more involved in their children's schooling. They were better able to monitor their children's progress and started to interact more with teachers.
The COLLIT project demonstrated that the benefits of improved literacy extend far beyond reading, writing and numeracy. In fact, many of the impacts that people described had to do with everyday life and how they earn a living.
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The current state of literacy and livelihoods programmes in various regions of the Commonwealth was outlined in four keynote presentations and 16 country papers at the International Literacy and Livelihoods Experts Meeting. Several common themes emerged from these many points of view.
Growing number and diversity of providers
A diverse array of agencies and organisations are involved in literacy development programming, ranging from national governments and NGOs to churches and a growing number of private sector organisations.
Emerging national, regional and global programmes
A lack of co-ordination among various programme providers seems to be changing as illustrated by examples in the Pacific Islands, Africa and UNESCO's global project.
Increasing linkage between literacy and development
A growing realisation that there are many "literacies" besides reading and numeracy that are essential to socio-economic development is propelling a trend toward including literacy learning opportunities in development strategies.
Increasing collaboration across sectors
The isolation of literacy education in the education sector is breaking down through involvement particularly with the health and agriculture sectors.
Increasing focus on target learners
The emerging national priorities for literacy learning are out of school youth, women and neo-literates.
Limited use of ICTs
While radio has been used creatively in many contexts for a long time, there has been little use of other ICTs. However, there is evidence that this is rapidly changing as ICT infrastructure becomes more accessible - particularly in rural areas.
Development of new conceptual frameworks
New conceptual models that offer more comprehensive definitions of literacy and which promote literacy learning as an essential ingredient in the development process are providing useful frameworks for planning more integrated literacy and livelihoods programmes.
Inter-dependent and persistent constraints
The forces constraining the progress of literacy and livelihoods development and training include lack of funding, poverty, cultural beliefs, lack of appropriate materials, low worker morale and lack of ICT infrastructure. This is the reality that challenges both policy makers and practitioners as they plan and implement literacy and livelihoods initiatives.
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COL joins its sister agencies in expressing its sympathy for the victims of the recent Asian tsunami and shares the world's concern over its lingering impact. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the long-term effect could throw nearly two million additional people into poverty.
Ironically, although there was no warning system in place to reduce the loss of life along the shores of the Bay of Bengal, word of the disaster spread around the globe instantly thanks to modern technology (video cameras, cell phones, the World Wide Web, e-mail, text messaging) and dominated the news for weeks.
People and their governments the world over have come together in an unprecedented way to give support through the front-line agencies for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
COL has contacted many of its partners in South Asia. We have been heartened to learn that some of our capacity-building initiatives with NGOs and educational institutions have been put to work effectively in support of the relief efforts. For example, community/suitcase radio stations, HAM (two-way "amateur" radio) and video production facilities have been used to communicate with and among affected communities and provide important guidance on how to avoid the spread of disease.
Full recovery will take many years. In the education sector schools must be rebuilt, replacement teachers trained and infrastructure repaired. UNICEF's school-in-a-box systems are allowing education to resume in the worst affected areas. Getting the schools functioning again is a key symbol of a return to normal life.
COL will assist in a longer-term perspective. Sadly, it takes events like these to emphasise the importance of locally based communication. COL's Media Empowerment programme could have greater impact if governments would relax restrictions on community and HAM radio. This disaster has shown that such restrictions act against the interests of the population at times when whole communities must be mobilised.
COL is now working to extend the availability of training courses in a distance learning format on relevant topics (e.g. disaster relief, resettlement, safe water practices, post-trauma counselling). Distance education systems for teacher training (both initial and in-service) are already widely available and the concept of open schooling is attracting increasing interest at the secondary level in developing countries.
Finally, like other international and Commonwealth agencies, COL has to set this tsunami disaster in the wider context of those many areas of the world where disease and hunger are still the daily experience of millions of people. Across the globe, more than 100 million children do not have access to primary education and of those who do, many are taught by poorly trained teachers in ill-equipped schools with no learning materials, laboratories or libraries. Many may not even complete primary school. Millions of adults never received an education when they were young and are in desperate need of literacy and/or new skills in order to function in an ever-changing world.
In Africa, 6,500 people die of AIDS every day (described by British Prime Minister Tony Blair as "a man-made tsunami in Africa every week") and the disease is now spreading alarmingly in Asia.
COL's mission is to harness technology to increase the scope and scale of human learning with a special focus on extending the use of the proven techniques of distance education. "Education and training are not a vaccine against natural disasters like this tsunami," says COL's President and CEO, Sir John Daniel, "but they are the primary means for mitigating their effects and ensuring a rapid return to normal life. Harnessing technology to education is essential if the world is to respond effectively both to natural disasters and to the larger challenge posed by widespread poverty and disease."
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