As the number of adult literacy programmes grows, is there evidence that they work? How can we evaluate whether those who have passed through adult education schemes have achieved basic literacy? Should donors do more to fund adult literacy or instead continue their focus on achieving the goal of universal primary education?

A detailed World Bank report, commissioned by the Ugandan Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, takes stock of how the Ugandan authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are working to eradicate adult illiteracy. Adding to the limited data on the effects of literacy initiatives, it suggests that donors need to reassess their view that programmes do not produce results.

The evaluation assessed the attainment and retention by recent graduates of literacy and numeracy skills in six of Uganda’s eight regions and compared their achievements with primary school children and control groups of nonliterates. It examined the resource requirements and effectiveness of the Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) approach (based mainly on the UNESCO model and depending heavily on unpaid volunteers) and the more extensive Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques (REFLECT) generally adopted by NGOs, with facilitators receiving small honoraria.

The World Bank finds evidence that literacy programmes are affordable, successful and likely to narrow gender gaps in educational opportunities and attainment. Age is no impediment to learning. A test given to adult literacy graduates and school children found that the adults’ average performance after 200-300 hours instruction exceeded that of children in grades 3 /4. FAL cost about US$4 per participant per year while REFLECT programmes, which pay stipends to facilitators, cost US$9 per adult literacy graduate. By comparison, primary school children with similar attainments had US$60 spent on their education.

Among other key findings are:

• the state can do as well as NGOs: while the average results of all REFLECT graduates are higher than those of ex FAL students, FAL participants with little or no previous schooling do better than comparable REFLECT students
• primary education often fails to produce literate children: three quarters of the sampled adults had been to primary school but had emerged without functional literacy
• most literacy programme graduates continue to use their reading, writing and mental calculation skills, many as part of new agricultural, animal husbandry and handicraft microenterprises
• local cultural attitudes towards female education, motivation levels of individual female students and the degree of support and supervision from local authorities and communities create wide regional variations in measured attainment
• many graduates with basic competencies in their local language, now wish to be helped to develop literacy in English.

Policy recommendations for educators, policy-makers and donors include:

• investing more: literacy schemes lose momentum if run on a very low budget with over-reliance on volunteer labour
• guarding against the risk that adult literacy programmes attract only those who already have some literacy, rather than the primary target beneficiaries – nonliterates who have never been to school
• providing better supervision, training and payment for instructors
• guaranteeing an adequate supply of relevant reading materials in local languages
• situating literacy schemes within comprehensive national adult education strategies
• combining basic education in the local language with an introduction to an official language to make dealings with wider society easier.

Source(s):
‘Adult literacy programs in Uganda’ edited by R. Carr-Hill, Africa Region Human Development Series, World Bank, January 2001 Full document.

Funded by: World Bank

id21 Research Highlight: 28 February, 2003

Further Information:
Roy A. Carr-Hill
Lifelong Education and International Development
Institute of Education
University of London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7612 6631
Fax: +44(0) 207 612 6632
Contact the contributor: roycarrhill@yahoo.com

Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Other related links:
'Better livelihoods through literacy or literacy through livelihoods skills?'

'Reading between the lines: why literacy for women?'

'Throwing away the primer: the 'real literacies' approach to adult literacy'

'Reading and writing in the real world: new directions for post literacy?'

'Adult literacy students write their own textbooks. Actionaid's REFLECT programme'

See the ELDIS collection of items on Adult Literacy