Literacy is vital for development and democracy to become established and grow. Although an estimated two billion adults around the world are illiterate, in the past twenty years adult literacy programmes have declined steeply. Investing in adult education has major economic, social, cultural and political benefits for a country.  

UNESCO statistics show that almost one billion adults still cannot read or write, yet it is believed that the real figure is closer to two billion – higher if the ability to use these skills is taken into consideration. Most illiterate adults live in dire poverty and almost two-thirds of them are women. Literacy is vital in any successful strategy for eliminating poverty.

In 1990, the UN Education for All goals, which were reaffirmed at Dakar in 2000, included a commitment to lifelong learning and to reducing illiteracy by 50 percent by 2015. Globally, governments have pledged their allegiance to this goal but it is apparent that they are investing far too little in programmes aimed at achieving it. Instead, funding and political will has focused on the expansion of formal primary education.

A study by ActionAid and the Global Campaign for Education assesses the evidence from effective adult literacy programmes to reveal what works. It analyses 67 programmes in 35 countries to find out what features they have in common, and draws up a list of guidelines for policymakers as basic ingredients for success.

The study made the following findings:

• Successful adult literacy programmes are those that avoid a narrow view and incorporate the goals of development agendas, including empowering women and reducing poverty.
• These programmes provide an opportunity to focus on the poorest and most excluded people, bringing about change to their lives through an intensive and extensive process.
• Programmes that link well to critical issues in their learners’ lives are effective, and this is considered the most important factor for success as the learners are helped simultaneously.
• In this way, programmes can bring about a remarkable range of results, including on critical issues such as awareness of rights, health and HIV/AIDS, and women’s empowerment.

There are clear steps to designing and managing successful, cost-effective programmes with dramatic results. Probably the biggest shift that will be needed is in political will. The report lists 12 guidelines for programme success, including the following:

• Literacy involves learners acquiring and using reading, writing and numeracy skills, and so developing active participation as citizens, improving health and livelihoods, and contributing to gender equality. Literacy programme goals should reflect this.
• Literacy should be viewed as a continuous process involving ongoing learning and use. Programme and policy should encourage this instead of focusing on one-off provision.
• Governments are responsible for the right to adult literacy and should provide the leadership, policies, enabling environment and resources necessary to achieve this.
• Governments should set aside at least 3 percent of their education budgets for adult literacy programmes. International donors should fill in any gaps.
• Programme facilitators must be supported with substantial initial training and refresher courses, and must be paid at least as much as a primary school teacher, to help retain them.

Source(s):
‘Writing the Wrongs: International Benchmarks on Adult Literacy’, Global Campaign for Education, by David Archer, 2006 Full document.

Funded by: The Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2006 and UNESCO

id21 Research Highlight: 9 February 2007

Further Information:
David Archer
ActionAid International
Hamlyn House
MacDonald Road
Archway
London N19 5PG
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7561 7561
Fax: +44 (0)20 7272 0899
Contact the contributor: david.archer@actionaid.org

Actionaid, UK

Lucia Fry
Global Campaign for Education
PO Box 521733
Saxonwold
Johannesburg 2132
South Africa

Tel: +27 (0)11 447 4111
Fax: +27 (0)11 447 4138
Contact the contributor: lucia@campaignforeducation.org

Global Campaign for Education

Other related links:
'Time to get serious about meeting the literacy challenge'

'Literacy skills – proven pathway out of poverty'

'Better livelihoods through literacy or literacy through livelihoods skills?'

'Women’s literacy programmes improve social and economic development in Nepal'

'Reflecting on REFLECT: destigmatising literacy ‘drop-outs’

'Do literacy programmes for indigenous people ignore gender?'