Hi Brenda,

Folks on the list may not know that from 1999-2004, I traveled back and forth to Mali and Guinea in West Africa helping World Education establish literacy programs, in a role not unlike Brenda's.

 In Mali, when we asked literacy class participants how they were using their literacy skills, a common response was: I"m not getting cheated in the market anymore.
We were interested to learn that folks were using literacy immediately---before they knew the entire alphabet, for example, and in ways we wouldn't have predicted. One man explained that in their village, when they were going to share the meat of an animal, the tradition was to get a stone for each family who wanted a share. The total number of stones indicated the number of shares, thus how to divide the meat, etc. But it didn't help him remember exactly which families. Now he was writing the names of the families: making a list.
A few parents showed me how they monitor their kids' homework: now they can read the date at the top of the page and question the kids if there doesn't seem to be enough written below it.
What struck me was that these folks were treating literacy as a tool to use in very practical ways.

Barb Garner
(editor of NCSALL's "Focus on Basics")

From: Brenda Bell <BBell at edc.org>
Date: Tue Nov 22 05:49:22 CST 2005
To: "The Women &  Literacy Discussion List" <womenliteracy at dev.nifl.gov>
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan

Daphne and all -- 
 
In general, there are more women than men in literacy programs here in Afghanistan.  In the government-run programs, figures for last year show about 45,000 more women than men enrolled, out of a total enrollment of about 385,500.  This is not surprising, given that women were denied access to education under the Taliban government and are so eager to learn.  But men are eager, too, having lived for so many years in the midst of fighting with limited educational opportunities.
 
Classes for women and men are held separately.  There may be some places in Kabul where literacy classes are held for women and men together, but I'm not aware of them.  
 
As for literacy goals -- I can speak most directly from my own experience with learners in the Literacy and Community Empowerment Program -- both female and male.  During the recent internal evaluation field visits to 16 villages in three provinces, we talked with 409 females and 365 males, in 32 classes.  Their ages ranged from 10 to over 40, with the majority in the 13-18 range.   (This program is primarily for youth and young adults, though open to learners over the age of 10, with no upper age limit).  In the structured discussions held with each group, we asked questions such as:  why are you participating in this learning center? what do you hope to do with the skills you are learning? 
 
The common response to the first question (why are you in this class?), from both male and female classes, was -- to learn reading, writing and math!  Of course.  But with further probing, the young men said things like - to be able to read letters from relatives in Iran; to read shop signs; to get skills to help my family; to have a better future; to help our country develop; to become doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, carpenters, metal workers.  Young women said  -- to read and write letters to relatives; to become teachers (most); doctors, engineers, shop keepers (some); to do business in the bazaar; to learn everything we can; to help our families and our community.  (O course, there were many other comments -- these were the most common.)
 
What do you think about these responses?  similar to what you would have expected?
 
Brenda

________________________________

From: womenliteracy-bounces at dev.nifl.gov on behalf of Daphne Greenberg
Sent: Tue 11/22/2005 2:34 AM
To: womenliteracy at dev.nifl.gov
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan



Brenda,
I am wondering whether you see an equal amount (more or less) of women and men in the literacy programs. Are the classes co-ed? Do the men and women express similar literacy goals?
Daphne


>>> BBell at edc.org 11/21/2005 4:57:25 AM >>>



Hello all -



I'm in the midst of an interesting discussion with some of the lead trainers for the Literacy and Community Empowerment Program.  I posed some of David's questions about the history of literacy in Afghanistan - starting a discussion that has sent several women off to get more exact information, which they should have by tomorrow.



Meanwhile, in the interest of keeping a discussion going with you on this list, here is a summary of what a group of older Afghan women and one younger man had to say: 



"The early literacy courses for adults were called 'elder literacy.'  The courses lasted for 3 months and the methods used were memorization and drill.  While the classes were mostly for men, there were courses for women in basic literacy and some that were related to vocational skills. 



"During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the number of literacy courses increased, but according to the discussion, the level of learning dropped.  "Really they were using literacy for political objectives.  Literacy groups were formed but not much learning took place.  They were used to implement the objectives of the government.  Not many people became literate."  



They also said that during the 'mujahadeen time' when the U.S. backed the mujahadeen fight against the Russians, literacy texts were also politicized. They cited the now-famous (in some circles) example of numeracy activities in which the items to be counted were guns. 



"Now when we go into villages with our literacy program, some people are very suspicious.  They want to make sure that our program is not going to be like other literacy programs that 'misled' the people. We tell them no, it is not the same.  You can look at our teaching materials and at our lesson guides and see that this is a program that will help villagers get the skills they need to develop their communities. We are promoting peace and empowerment. And we include quotations from the Qu'ran in our materials.  This helps us."



Perhaps some other members of this discussion list know some of this history and can add more!



Brenda



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