ADULT EDUCATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION FROM AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

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ADULT EDUCATION AND POVERTY REDUCTIONFROM AN
AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

• BACKGROUND
• POVERTY REDUCTION APPROACH IN AFRICAN CONTRIES
• ADULT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES

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BACKGROUND

• AT THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC LEVEL
• THE SITUATION IN SOUTH SAHARAN AFRICA REMAINS
  PREOCCUPYING DUE TO
• THE SEVERE IMPACT OF DROUGHT, FAMINE, AND HEALTH
  PROBLEMS ON RURAL POPULATIONS
• POOR RETURNS ON AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS
• INADEQUATE ECONOMIC POLICIES

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Background

• AT THE POLITICAL LEVEL
• PROGRESS IN DEMOCRATIC REVIVAL IS STILL HAMPERED
  BY SOME UPS AND DOWNS
• ON THE WHOLE, DECENTRALIZATION IS IN PROGRESS

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Background

• ON THE EDUCATION FRONT
• ILLITERACY RATES ARE STILL HIGH IN MOST AFRICAN
  COUNTRIES (an average of 60 in many countries)
• Two-thirds of Africas illiterate population is
  made up of women

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POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIC PAPERS (PRSP)

• Poverty is now a global issue for the
  international community through
• The Millennium Development goals which include
• GOAL 1 ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER

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MDGs

• TARGET 1 Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the
  proportion of people whose income is less than 1
  a day
• TARGET 2 Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the
  proportion of people who suffer from hunger

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POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES (PRS) APPROACH IN
AFRICA

• A common strategy is now applied in Africa
• The PRS approach has become widespread in Africa.
  
• Currently half of the countries have prepared
  national poverty reduction strategies

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• A similar proportion are heavily-indebted poor
  countries (HIPCs).
• Even countries with substantial oil revenues have
  a large proportion of very poor populations

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POVERTY ANALYSIS

• Poverty is multidimensional
• But in the countries where the problem is more
  acute, poverty reduction policies fail to take
  its different dimensions into account.

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• In developing countries,
• poverty is usually studied in monetary terms by
  comparing the level of income or consumption with
  a given threshold.(people living with less than
  one dollar a day)

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• In developed countries Recent studies demonstrate
  that
• Well-being is not only based on monetary income
  or consumption,
• But also on other factors such as employment and
  health.

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• POVERTY FACTORS ALSO INCLUDE
• IGNORANCE
• ILLITERACY
• POOR HEALTH ACCESS
• Other factors

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• IN MOST AFRICAN COUNTRIES SOUTH OF THE SAHARA,
• POVERTY IS DETERMINED BY ALL THE ABOVE FACTORS
  AND MOREOVER,
• THE POOREST SECTIONS OF POPULATIONS ARE RURAL,

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• THE VAST MAJORITY ARE WOMEN
• MOST OF THE POOR ARE ILLITERATE
• THEREFORE, LITERACY AND ADULT EDUCATION ARE IN
  FOR A CRUCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO POVERTY REDUCTION

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ADULT EDUCATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION

• HOW COULD ADULT EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE TO POVERTY
  ALLEVIATION?
• HOW DO WE DEVELOP LITERACY AND ADULT EDUCATION
  PROGRAMMES SO AS TO EQUIP LEARNERS WITH
  OCCUPATIONAL SKILLS ?

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• HOW DO WE TRANSLATE THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL ROLE OF
  ADULT EDUCATION AS A POWERFUL INSTRUMENT OF
  DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ?

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RELEVANT LITERACIES AND ADULT EDUCATION
PROGRAMMMES

• WHAT WE NEED IS
• RELEVANT LITERACIES ARE THOSE EMBEDDED WITHIN
  PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES (Alan Rogers, 2005) AND
  ALSO THOSE TAILORED TO SPECIFIC NEEDS OF TARGET
  LEARNERS
• Because adults learn through doing, not in
  preparation for doing

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• They should learn through the texts involved in
  their occupations or some other immediately
  relevant activity. (Text Pedagogy)

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• The trainees should see this learning as
  immediately relevant to their own set purpose
• These literacies should be part of the necessary
  skills to become a proficient skilled worker
  they are not an add on to the main task of
  skills training.

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• There should be no delay between the learning on
  one hand and the application of the learning to
  the skill training, on the other.

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HOW DO WE COMBINE LITERACY AND OCCUPATIONAL OR
INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES?

• SOME STRATEGIES ARE NECESSARY
• We need well-trained, well-supported and
  innovative/ creative trainers who have access to
  a range of relevant materials relating to the
  trade or skills which form the basis of the
  training
• These trainers will have to

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• Combine both vocational skills training and
  literacy learning rather than keep them in
  parallel (Rogers, 2005)
• Embed the learning of literacy within the skills
  training by using the embedded literacies of the
  craft or trade as the teaching-learning materials

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• This will mean not having, possibly, separate
  literacy learning classes but simply using these
  texts in the training programme in exactly the
  same way as learning to use a chisel or a trowel
  or sewing machine, etc.
• The whole learning would be based on experimental
  approach and reasoning so that knowledge
  acquisition be basically a scientific approach.

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SPECIFIC FIELDS OF CONTRIBUTION OF A/E

• Human capital formation.
• Adult education through know-how in Health care,
  sanitation, and nutrition, will improve peoples
  standard of living
• This will reduce sickness and mortality rates and
  increase life expectancy

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• INCREASING LABOR PRODUCTIVITY
• Adult basic education, by equipping recipients
  with essential literacy and numeracy skills,
  yields high rates on investment, thereby
  enhancing labor productivity.

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• INCREASING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AT GRASSROOT
  LEVEL
• It is now widely admitted that growth will not
  reduce poverty unless poor people are able to
  actively participate in it.
• Such participation can become effective to a
  large extent through adult education.

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Adult Education for women

• Adult education for women is another powerful
  means to contribute to socio-economic
  development, because, according to a report of
  the African Union
• women are the backbone of Africas rural
  economy, accounting for 70 per cent of food
  production,

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• Most of the selling of the family produce and
  half of the animal husbandry in addition to food
  preparation, gathering firewood, fetching water,
  childcare and the care of the sick and the
  elderly.

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• (i) Fewer women (than men) are enrolled in
  literacy classes and a smaller proportion of
  those enrolled ever achieve functional literacy

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• (ii) a smaller proportion of Africas female
  population is literate (two-thirds of Africas
  illiterate population is made up of women)

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• (iii) Fewer women are engaged in the acquisition
  of life-skills, among out-of-school youth.
  Therefore
• TRAINING WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS WILL PROVIDE 2/3
  OF THE ACTIVE POPULATION IN RURAL AFRICA WITH
  VITAL SKILLS FOR DEVELOPMENT

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Links between Adult learning and democracy

• There is a strong link between adult learning and
  democracy.
• It is today admitted that
• the lack of recognition of the need to involve
  civil society,
• especially grassroots organizations,
• by giving them a voice in decision-making and
  the means to participate effectively in society
• is one of the major causes of development failure
  in many African countries. (AU Report)

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• For democracy to be achieved, adult education is
  needed to educate citizens on the democratic
  culture
• To inform them of their rights and
  responsibilities as democracy also requires
  people to actively participate at local, national
  and global levels.
• The new wave of democracy in Africa therefore
  needs a strong adult education strategies to
  prosper

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• Adult education may also prove to be a powerful
  tool for favoring inclusive development through
  democracy, thereby ensuring peace and stability,
  because
• Prevention (through adult education) is much more
  effective than intervention.

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• Prevention of political disorders and civil
  unrest can be made possible through various adult
  education strategies

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APPROPRIATE TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

• To achieve the above recommendations, appropriate
  strategies are required including
• TOT resources (Higher TOT, Training material)
• Trainers available at various levels
• Political will and financial resources (through
  adequate national policies on adult education)
• International cooperation in adult education

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FINAL RECOMMENDATION

• International cooperation would be strongly
  needed to support the development of adult
  education strategies and programmes in Africa