Rural education and training are essential to overcoming poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. If people are skilled to manage their resources better, they can improve productivity and sustainability – even with population growth and environmental degradation. Governments should make education policies coherent and training relevant. They need to apply recent innovations and improve leadership and management.

In sub-Saharan Africa, rural areas are often rich in resources and could generate wealth for local communities, but they are still underdeveloped, according to recent research from Reading University, in the UK. The study outlines a ten step framework for improving rural education and training (RET) in order to increase the productivity of millions of small rural households.

Improving food security remains the primary goal for most, but they also need to increase surpluses of raw and processed food products to sell in local and export markets. Formal and non-formal training institutions need to play an active developmental role in their local communities, as well as their wider educational role. Governments also need to make changes that reflect technological advances in agriculture, as well as the increasing economic and social pressures.

In the past, the training of agricultural professionals has not been given sufficient priority. Today there are many positive innovations - one example is the School of Rural Community Development at the University of Natal, in South Africa, where students undertake community internships. At the same time, RET systems face critical challenges:

• There is a lack of funding and teachers have low morale and motivation. Furthermore, policymakers and rural communities do not value agricultural education sufficiently.
• There is no systematic progression in agricultural education from primary to higher education and no connection between agricultural colleges and the main tertiary education institutions.
• HIV and AIDS have had a negative impact on RET. In Malawi and Zambia, for instance, more than 30 percent of teachers are infected and children are forced to leave school to care for sick relatives and work at home.
• Donors are insensitive to people’s real needs, although some agencies are beginning to coordinate their efforts.

More encouragingly:

• Some public providers are developing their training activities in imaginative ways that combine formal and non-formal vocational education.
• Some research and training services are collaborating with rural communities to create new ‘rural knowledge systems’.

Although these new ideas are promising, they are not leading to long-term changes in the sector or to wider implementation. Local people blame this on poor donor support. It also reflects a lack of confidence in the sector’s potential to improve with only limited outside resources. On the whole, revitalisation of RET may be achieved, mainly with local resources, if the following ten steps are taken. Governments need to:

• develop a clear policy framework for RET
• promote better dialogue between policy bodies and funding agencies
• create links between formal providers and non-formal programmes
• ensure a close partnership between research organisations and training services that promote sustainable livelihoods
• reform curriculum processes and curriculum contents at national and local levels
• make sure that the theoretical basis of the curriculum is balanced by content that is relevant to people’s lives
• give access to and appropriate training for poor rural groups
• support improvements in teaching practical skills with national testing schemes
• support teacher development at all levels
• ensure that the leadership of both policymaking and training organisations is visionary, entrepreneurial and effective.

Source(s):
‘A Framework for Revitalization of Rural Education and Training Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Strengthening the Human Resource Base for Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods’, International Journal of Educational Development 27, pages 581 to 590, by Ian Wallace, 2007 (PDF)
‘Education for Rural Development: Towards New Policy Responses’, Food and Agriculture Organization and UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, edited by David Atchoarena and Lavinia Gasperini 2003 Full document.

Funded by: UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning

id21 Research Highlight: 15 June 2008

Further Information:
Ian Wallace

Contact the contributor: mi.wallace@onetel.net

School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
The University of Reading
Whiteknights PO Box 237 Reading RG6 6AR UK

Tel: + 44 118 3788471

School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, The University of Reading, UK

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'Tackling illiteracy in rural areas'

'Achieving quality distance learning in Africa'

'Does investing in education reduce poverty? Evidence from Ghana, Uganda and South Africa'