DVV » Publications » International Perspectives in Adult Education » Titles published » IPE 28 - Partnership and Solidarity in Action » Africa
Selected Partners in Africa, August 2000
Angola: Direcção Nacional do Educacâo de Adultos (DNEA), inisterio da Educação, Luanda - Accâo Angolano para o Desenvolvimento (AAD), Luanda
Botswana: Department of Adult Education (DAE), University of Botswana, Gaborone
Cameroon: Service d’Appui aux Initiatives Locales de Développement (SAILD), Yaoundé
Chad: Université Populaire (UP), N’Djamena
Ethiopia: Non-formal Education Panel (NFEP), Ministry of Education, Addis Ababa - Jimma Teachers College, Jimma
Ghana: Institute of Adult Education (IAE), University of Ghana, Legon
Guinea: Entraide Universitaire pour le Développement (EUPD), Conakry - Association des Volontaires du Développement de Guinée (AVODEG), Conakry
Kenya: College of Education and External Studies (CEES), Faculty of Education, University of Nairobi, Nairobi
Lesotho: Lesotho Association of Non-formal Education (LANFE), Maseru - Institute of Extra-mural Studies (IEMS), National University of Lesotho, Maseru
Namibia: Department of Adult and Non-formal Education, Windhoek
Madagascar: Institut de Recherche et d’Application des Méthodes pour le Développement Communautaire (IREDEC), Antsirabé - Malagasy Mahomby (MM), Fianarantsoa
Sierra Leone: Partners in Adult Education Coordinating Office (PADECO), Freetown - Institute of Adult Education and Extra-mural Studies (INSTADEX), Fourah Bay College, Freetown - Sierra Leone Adult Education Association (SLADEA), Freetown - Peoples Educational Association (PEA), Freetown
South Africa: Adult Education and Trainers Association of South Africa (AETASA), Johannesburg - Centre of Adult and Continuing Education (CACE), University of the Western Cape, Bellville
Uganda: Uganda Joint Action for Adult Education (UJAFAE), Kampala - National Adult Education Association (NAEA), Kampala - Tororo Community Initiated Development Association (TOCIDA), Gwaragwara – Kisoko
Zambia: Department of Adult Education and Extension Studies (DAEES), University of Zambia, Lusaka
Zimbabwe: Department of Adult Education (DAE), University of Zimbabwe, Harare
General Situation
The IIZ/DVV promotes a wide variety of projects and programmes in Africa that differ both in approach and focus. It cooperates with very diverse partners in very diverse geographical and political settings. The problems facing the work on the continent are many.
Although in recent years the overall trend toward democracy in Africa has continued, the balance of progress has often been disappointing. In many places, the political situation has made the conditions for work extremely difficult. While it is true that conflicts have abated in some places, unresolved social, ethnic, religious, and political situations continue to aggravate or trigger turbulence in others. Africa continues to occupy a marginal position in the new world order. It produces less than two percent of all world exports, a figure which is expected to drop even further. The major African currencies have become weaker as socio-economic conditions have deteriorated. The general economic picture in the individual countries remains bleak. Figures for per capita income and GNP have declined over the course of the past decade. There have been serious set-backs in the development of the African food industry. Unemployment and underemployment continue to rise, requiring ever more individuals to earn a living in the informal sector or through subsistence farming. Nearly fifty percent of Africa’s people are forced to live in absolute poverty, and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. With the highest rate of population growth in the world, Africa faces enormous problems of environmental degradation. In the face of all these growing problems, programmes for structural reform often remain ineffective.
In view of the ongoing crisis in Africa’s formal education system, international organizations have become noticeably more willing to recognize the need for financing non-formal basic education. Both in the North and South, however, assistance from government organizations largely goes to support programmes that allow participants to obtain school-leaving equivalency diplomas. The provision of adult education of the type that is geared to demand and designed to foster development is a task left, for the most part, to NGOs. Relatively few universities or ministry adult education departments offer programmes that deal with the problems of everyday life and the world of work. In general, the different approaches and structures of adult education in the various countries of Africa do not receive the kind of political recognition and financial support that is needed to create a comprehensive system of lifelong learning.
Angola
April 1997 witnessed the establishment of the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation in Angola, and the return of the deputies of the Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA), the former rebel movement, to the National Assembly. At the beginning of 1998, the country still seemed to be making progress towards peace, but during the months that followed, the process disintegrated. In December 1998, open military conflict broke out between government and UNITA forces in the provinces of Bíe and Huambo, driving tens of thousands of civilians from their homes. The number of civilian casualties rose as a result of ambushes and the land-mining of roads and public places.
Despite the discovery of new oil zones and the rise in oil production, the downward slide in Angola’s economy persists with catastrophic consequences for the majority of the country’s population. Programmes seeking to include the greater majority of the population in a more just distribution of the country’s enormous wealth continue to face virtually insurmountable obstacles in the form of the corroded structures carried over from the former one-party socialist government, incompetence in policy-making and administration, and corruption motivated by personal gain. With the increase of military activities, financial resources have been diverted from the social sector to increase the military budget. This has led to a deterioration of existing structures, and has halted the process of social and economic development.
In spite of ongoing economic, social, and political problems in Angola, collaboration there between IIZ/DVV and its partner organizations has continued to be marked by success. It is the aim of the project in Angola to foster the development of social structures, in particular:
- to assist partner organizations in the development of their infrastructures and in the various aspects of project management;
- to provide qualifying measures for adult education practitioners with a special accent on participatory methods;
- to foster political education, peace education, and the protection of human rights;
- to combat poverty through agricultural projects designed to help people improve their living conditions and employment chances; and
- to elaborate functional teaching and learning materials.
Prior to 1997, the project had concentrated its efforts on the provision of further training measures for National Literacy Institute instructors working in the provinces. After the decision was made to phase out the obsolete campaign-approach to literacy training, however, the focus shifted to staff members at the national level, and opportunities were organized to acquaint them with functional literacy training methods geared to specific target groups.
In programmes of cooperation with Angolan NGOs, and in particular with IIZ/DVV’s main partner in Angola, the Acção Angolano para o Desenvolviemento (AAD) in the province of Kwanza Sul, special emphasis is also placed on staff training in the area of community development and extension services. Within the framework of this cooperation, concrete plans were elaborated and steps were taken to support family farming efforts and farming cooperatives in the area of Seles. A cooperative was organized with the assistance of AAD and the Ministry of Agriculture to reintroduce cattle to this war-torn area, and credit was applied for to purchase draught animals. Progress was brought to a halt, however, when military activities flared up again in 1998.
Without social and economic infrastructures which have been destroyed in the war, any attempts to resettle the Angolan highlands face tremendous obstacles. The problem is compounded by the scarcity of food because of erosion and soil depletion. In response to this dilemma, AAD conducted a workshop in collaboration with IIZ/DVV to train extension workers in alternative methods of soil restoration, seed improvement, fertilizer production, and pest control.
For many years, access to schooling or education was denied to broad sectors of the population as a consequence of the tight controls imposed by the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). In order to pave the way for re-integrating such large numbers of people into the formal school system, a pilot project of non-formal training for teachers and adult educators was developed in conjunction with AAD and the Adult Education Department of the Ministry of Education. Teaching and learning materials were facilitated within the framework of the project.
In Angola’s current political and social environment, little priority is given to the observance of human rights and the fostering of civic education. Because of the significance of these issues, a pilot programme was elaborated and launched together with AAD to promote political and civic education. The material elaborated in a joint effort with the staff of the ministry of education is based on a series of thought-provoking illustrations designed to encourage dialogue in schools and communities. During the course of 1998, the project supported seventeen civic education functions in six different provinces. In programmes concentrating on topics relating to education policy, peace education, and freedom from violence, participants, including members of church groups, teachers, and police officers, were prepared to serve as intermediaries in local conflicts.
There is scarcely any access to financial resources on the part of the majority of the rural population who have lost most of their personal belongings. To help remedy this difficult situation, the project conducted a workshop around the theme of small credits for agricultural development with a view toward initiating agricultural improvements. In a pilot phase following the workshop, a credit plan was designed for farmers to purchase disease-resistant poultry. In collaboration with a local commission, AAD has assumed responsibility for this small scale credit scheme in order to extend credit to other impoverished farmers and enable them to improve their material existence.
Because of the high rate of unemployment and the difficulty in finding regular work in Angola, the informal sector there has been expanding at a steady pace. In response to this trend, the project has supported a series of workshops on micro-business management. In the interest of achieving a multiplier effect, trainers are prepared to capacitate operators of small businesses in the basic skills of marketing, cost and price as well as loss and profit calculation, and simple bookkeeping.
In 1998, IIZ/DVV provided financial and technical support for participatory research conducted by the Igreja Evangélica Congregacional de Angola (IECA) together with various NGOs from Huambo in the Province of Bié, and by the Alliança Evangélica de Angola in the Province of Bengo. Assistance was also provided for the first time for a participatory study in an urban setting – a community in the capital city of Luanda. The study was conducted by the Forum of Angolan NGOs (FONGA) in cooperation with several of its members which are active in the capital. Another measure conducted together with FONGA in 1998 was a workshop on functional literacy for participants from diverse NGOs from Luanda.
Especially in and around Angola’s cities, industrial pollution, toxic wastes, and automobile emissions have become a serious and growing problem. Although ecological awareness is vital to counteract the trend, environmental education is considered a luxury rather than a priority in the face of progressively worsening poverty. In response to the lack of public programmes in this area, AAD has been working together with Juventude Ecológica to educate the public in the area of environmental problems. In 1998, three Angolan NGOs were commissioned to plan a technical, economic, and socio-cultural study on the recycling of paper and glass by micro businesses in the informal sector. The results of the study shed light on the organizational structures of individuals who depend on wastes for their living, and provided a basis for developing ways to help this sector. In cooperation with IECA, a workshop was conducted in Huambo for representatives of various NGOs around the theme “Finance Management and Bookkeeping”. Workshops on participatory methods and techniques were conducted in Lubango (in the Province of Huila) and in Luanda.
Support was also given to the Adult Education Commission of AAD in Kwanza Sul for the realization of a literacy workshop for representatives of the Protestant and Catholic churches in the province capital of Sumbe. Assistance was also channelled into the acquisition of office equipment and supplies for the Adult Education Commission in Kwanza Sul and AAD headquarters in Luanda in order to increase the efficiency of their work both on the regional as well as the national level. In 1998, IIZ/DVV continued to cooperate with the provincial delegations of the Ministry of Education in Luanda and Kwanza Sul. Didactic material on political education was elaborated for use in schools and for teacher training.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia remains at the bottom of the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index based on indicators including access to safe drinking water, daily calorie supply per capita and the availability of healthcare services. Nevertheless, over the past five years there have been indications of an ongoing trend of economic growth in Ethiopia. Rural development, the government’s chief political focus, concentrates on the development of rural counselling systems, road building, and the health and education sectors for which the government elaborated five-year plans in 1997.
IIZ/DVV has been collaborating with partners in Ethiopia since 1994 in an effort to develop the country’s non-formal basic education sector and increase opportunities for income-oriented vocational training. It seeks to create relevant learning environments and to organize opportunities for adult educators to increase their qualifications. These tasks imply advocacy work with people in decision-making positions to convince them of the importance of non-formal approaches to adult education and the need to upgrade the status of adult education on the regional as well as the national level. The regional education bureaus and their adult education departments continue to be the IIZ/DVV’s main partners in Ethiopia.
Development of the Adult Education Sector
The government’s five-year Education Sector Development Programme (1997–2001) was initially restricted to primary school and vocational training. As a result of intervention on the part of the IIZ/DDV project, the programme has meanwhile been expanded to include non-formal adult education as an area in its own right. The project provides assistance and technical advice to the Non-Formal Education Panel (NFEP), which was set up under the Ministry of Education to coordinate cooperation with regional entities.
Production-Oriented Training at Community Skills Training Centres
Under its Education Sector Development Programme, the government seeks to provide young people and adults between the ages of fifteen and forty, and women in particular, with opportunities to acquire basic education and practical vocational training at Community Skills Training Centres. IIZ/DVV supports those Centres, which exist in every region of the country, in their efforts to become need-oriented and attractive centres of vocational learning.
Particularly among the ranks of the unemployed, there continues to be a high demand for practical training at Community Skills Training Centres in every region of the country. In 1998, four-month training courses were held in Addis Ababa for more than 500 participants, two thirds of whom were women. Four-month courses were also held in Tigray for a total of 582 participants, 185 of whom were women. A series of training courses were likewise offered at the two Community Skills Training Centres located in Gambella.
After the completion of the first round of courses in Addis Ababa, a follow-up study was conducted to determine their impact. Investigation showed that eighty-eight participants had either set up their own businesses or were working as trainers.
Getting started in an independent business is just as important as learning the skills of a trade. Most participants, however, lack the minimum financial means to acquire their own loom, potter’s wheel, or hammer, anvil, forge, and bellows. There is a need for increased cooperation between regional training institutions and other government agencies to help participants in training programmes procure starting loans from credit funds offered by social programmes or trade organizations.
Research and Investigation
In addition to the aforementioned impact study, the project has supported various other research projects, including a study on the management of non-formal education in projects of twelve NGOs, the investigation of possibilities for providing nomadic communities in the region of Somalia with adult education, and an examination of the significance of oral culture and traditional knowledge.
Development of Non-Formal Basic Education in Regional and Local Languages
Since December 1996, the Ministry of Education’s plan for non-formal education has provided the framework for building up the basic education sector. The government plan expressly recognizes the need to provide technical staff at the regional level with opportunities for basic and further training. Nevertheless, 1997 witnessed the closure of the only national training programme for adult educators at Bahir Dar Teachers College. This induced the project to work on a concept for regional adult education diploma courses. Cooperation with the adult education departments under the regional education bureaus and the Non-Formal Education Panel focused on the development of teaching materials for non-formal basic education in regional languages, mathematics, and environmental issues. Three regions elaborated teaching manuals in different languages. Seminars for government personnel were held to promote experience exchange among participants from the different regions, to develop newsletters for novice readers, to lend support in the design of regional adult education approaches, and to elaborate basic education textbooks in the Tigrinya language.
Basic and Continued Training for Adult Educators
In 1997, assistance was provided for CSTC coordinators to attend regional seminars, a six-week course at Bahir Dar Teachers College as well as three-month courses at Burayou Basic Technology Centre. Three Burayou courses were conducted, giving a total of 135 adult educators the opportunity to update their knowledge, learn new technology, and improve their teaching skills. Training at Burayou is offered in pottery making, weaving, metal working, leather and cowhorn crafting, photofinishing, batik, and the manufacture of moulds for fuel-efficient clay stoves. The participants in the course for stove making were provided with moulds that are intended to serve as models for reproduction in the various centres where they work. In addition, a three-month period of practical and pedagogical training was provided for 48 CSTC coordinators and trainers from six regions at Burayou Basic Technology Centre.
Among other measures in 1998, the IIZ/DVV helped finance three seminars held by the Oromia Education Bureau for the purpose of formulating its regional strategy for basic education and training courses at Community Skills Training Centres as well as the publication of the resulting document.
Promotion of Women
An important focus of the project is to increase participation on the part of women in all aspects of its programmes. The male-female ratio at seminars is still approximately fifty to one or two. During 1998, the project lent its support to the realization of a conference organized to analyze and discuss the situation of women in one of the regions (Gambella).
Elaboration of Printed Materials and Publications
Support is provided within the framework of the project for the development of teaching and learning aids and materials for the dissemination of information. Efforts in this area include the elaboration of an Amharic/English glossary of adult education terminology, a directory of AE providers and programmes in Ethiopia, a study on the management of adult education through NGOs, a poster series on the alphabet in Oromiffa, as well as textbooks in Tigrinya, Anuak, and Nuer. The textbooks, which were elaborated for all three phases of non-formal basic education, were completed in 1998, and were brought into use in the courses for which they were designed in January 1999. Statistics for basic education courses during 1998 show a total of 241,155 participants in Tigray, 16,692 in Gambell, and 63,433 in Oromia. Textbooks produced in the Amharic language in collaboration with the Benishangul-Gumuz Education Bureau are being tested in certain centres. To date, only the Tigray Education Bureau has successfully produced adequate teaching manuals for non-formal basic education.
In addition to didactic materials, the project has collected data on organizations working in the adult education sector, and has put together a Directory of Adult and Nonformal Education in Ethiopia. It also publishes and distributes its own newsletter.
In 1998 it published a manual on organization of CSTC training of the Non-Formal Education Panel of the Ministry of Education, brochures for basic education teachers in the Oromiffa and Tigrinya languages, health and nutrition brochures in Tigrinya, as well as a manual in the Amharic language on the production of newsletters for novice readers. The Amharic manual on oral literature of Ethiopia was tested and revised for publication with the aim of serving as an orientation for regional education and culture bureaus to document traditional knowledge and oral literature.
Cooperation with NGOs
A recent project supported by the IIZ/DVV was the publication of a directory of Adult and Nonformal Education listing forty-six NGOs and twenty-two other providers. The directory has created a clearer picture of the range of adult education offered in Ethiopia.
The IIZ/DVV collaborates with several Ethiopian NGOs in the area of health and environment education, family planning, literacy training, income-generating measures, and agricultural extension services. Assistance is channelled into a number of model NGO activities such as a rural advisory programme and an experience exchange programme for farmers from three different ethnic villages covered by the project and for the nomadic Afars.
Information Exchange and Networking
Within the project framework, IIZ/DVV supports the Adult and Nonformal Education Association in Ethiopia (ANFEAE), which was founded in 1995 as an umbrella organization for Ethiopian adult education organizations. Various NGOs involved in the promotion of non-formal education have meanwhile organized a Basic Education Network in order to facilitate cooperation and exchange. ANFEAE plays a leading role in the network. By providing support to both government and non-government organs of adult education, the IIZ/DVV is in a favourable position to serve as a link between the two sectors.
| Adult Education for Nomadic Peoples Three areas in Ethiopia have a large nomadic population – Afar, Somali and Borana. Becuase the needs of nomadic peoples differ so completely from those of people living in permanent dwellings, unique approaches to adult education are required in these areas. In 1998, the IIZ/DVV and the Non-Formal Education Panel conducted an awareness-building seminar on migrant issues for the Somali Education Bureau. The Somali region is comparable in size with the area of the Federal Republic of Germany. An estimated 3,440,000 migrant or semi-migrant people live in this area. Some of the fifty-three participants in the seminar required up to eight days to make the journey to the site where the seminar was held. It became clear from discussion group sessions at the seminar that adult education programmes in Somali do not respond to the needs of nomadic communities. The necessity was stressed for providers of adult education to collaborate with nomadic peoples in the shaping of non-formal education activities around their special needs. The seminar participants recommended that the Somali Education Bureau:
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Burundi – Rwanda – the Democratic Republic of Congo
Ethnic polarization and violence continue to plague Burundi, Rwanda, and The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Eastern Zaire). Conditions for refugees remain intolerable and human rights violations and atrocities persist on all sides. Humanitarian relief is the only recourse to survival for broad sectors of the population.
Between 1992 and 1996, the IIZ/DVV maintained a project office in Bujumbura, Burundi to promote adult education in the area through its support to organizations that provide development-oriented nonformal basic and further training. In 1996, as the political crisis in Burundi escalated making conditions progressively more unsafe, the project office was closed. Conditions in Rwanda were just as precarious, and with the flare up of rebel conflicts in The Democratic Republic of Congo, virtually all activities in the area were terminated at the end of 1997.
Until that time, it had been one of the primary interests of the project to promote networking among NGOs within the three countries of the region. Special emphasis had been given to the fostering of cooperation between providers of literacy training and human rights organizations. Once the project office was closed, the IIZ/DVV had to resort to telephone communication or sporadic contacts through other European NGOs to keep abreast of developments and learn whether the partners supported by IIZ/DVV had been able to realize any of their proposed plans.
Cooperation with organizations which abide by the principles of democracy and promote respect for human rights concentrated on two organizations. One, the Human Rights League (Ligue des Droits de la personne dans la Région des Grands Lacs – LDGL), is an umbrella association for human rights organizations in the three project countries. It serves an important coordinating and information function for Rwandan, Burundian, and Zairian NGOs working in the sector. The other is the Regional Programme for Education and Exchange for Development (Programme Régional de Formation et d’Echange pour le Développement PREFED), a non-government organization represented in each of the three countries. PREFED seeks to strengthen NGOs by offering training in “management of grassroots initiative”, by assisting NGOs to become better organized and make more efficient use of their resources, and through NGO networking.
Although there is no question that the activities of our partners deserve ongoing support, at the present time the practical and effective implementation of cooperation is precluded by the critical conditions that prevail throughout the region.
Guinea
The current government of Guinea is run by young, highly-qualified technocrats. Their aim is to build a constitutional government and democracy, a goal that will have to be realized step by step in the face of unyielding opposition on the part of the powers of the old regime of Sekou Toure. In response to pressure from the World Bank, the government has recently become more active in its attempts to curb corruption. In addition, conditions for economic development seem to be improving, partly on the basis of the country’s rich mineral deposits as well as its abundant waterways and hydroelectric dams. In general, the political climate is optimistic and positive, a fact that is reflected in the willingness on the part of international donors to provide assistance.
Since 1991, the IIZ/DVV has been collaborating in Guinea with the Centre Africain de Formation pour le Développement (CENAFOD). The undertaking, which began as a special programme on a relatively small assistance budget, has since been expanded into a full country project.
CENAFOD is a non-government organization which provides advisory services and training for self-help organizations. By fostering democracy and encouraging disadvantaged members of society to participate in the processes that shape society, self-help organizations lay the groundwork for helping people to help themselves. For this reason, CENAFOD has begun to focus greater attention on the promotion of local self-administration, its chief goal being to turn the legal framework that was created a number of years ago into practice by developing relevant policies and concrete measures and by providing everyone concerned with information and training. During both 1997 and 1998, numerous basic information pamphlets were elaborated and translated into Pular and Malinké, the major local languages, giving the people’s elected representatives, who for the most part can only read and write in their maternal language, access for the very first time to the most important laws and regulations governing the tax and administration system. Through training measures and counselling, these elected officials have become better prepared to represent the interests of the people in their dealings with administrative bodies and central power. The programme, initiated in the district of Dabola, has meanwhile become a model for other efforts toward decentralization of political decision-making structures. The IIZ/DVV has succeeded in obtaining supplementary assistance from the European Union for the programme.
Initially a literacy programme geared to women’s groups in Gongoré, the project has meanwhile grown to include a broad range of measures designed to help the participating women improve their living conditions in every facet of life. The literacy and basic education work continues but has been expanded to include such initiatives as a savings and credit cooperative, reforestation of areas suffering from drought, learning and application of soil-improvement techniques like mulching and composting, setting up tree nurseries, as well as diversifying and marketing agricultural produce. Important themes in the work with the women include disciplined planning of agricultural activities around rainy and arid seasons, ecological management of existing natural resources, credit management and basic information about conducting a business. The women have learned to organize themselves in village associations that operate more successfully on the market. The social competence they have gained as a result of their activities has simultaneously improved their chances to participate in local decision-making processes.
From its starting point as a functional literacy programme, this pioneer project has expanded across the years to include virtually every aspect involved in conducting economic activities. Special emphasis has been placed on the principles of self-initiative and self-responsibility among the members of the focus group. According to their own reports, the women have been able to practically double their income.
During 1998, an expert was commissioned to gain a better overview of the problems facing the adult education sector in Guinea and investigate long-term perspectives for project work there. Based on the analysis and recommendations in the resulting report, the IIZ/DVV has decided to step up its work with CENAFOD while expanding measures of cooperation to include other government and non-government AE organizations. In 1999, the IIZ/DVV opened a project office in Guinea.
Republic of Madagascar
Some of the most pressing problems in Madagascar include chronic malnutrition, the lack of public funds for health and education facilities, deforestation, and environmental degradation. The economy depends largely on agriculture, fishing, and forestry. Growth has been stalled by an inconsistent government course of economic reform, political and social tensions in the form of antigovernment strikes and demonstrations by workers and students, and a decreasing demand for coffee on the world market. After ex-President Albert Zafy resigned from office at the end of 1996, the presidential election was won on a slim margin by Didier Ratsiraka, who had already headed the military regime that ruled the country between 1975 until 1992. In 1998, the presidency was strengthened through a constitutional reform. Efforts toward democratization and decentralization included a referendum on the division of government power. The structure of a federal government comprising six partially-autonomous provinces was favoured by a slight majority. In the future, the functions of central government will be restricted to foreign and defence policy and financial coordination of the provinces. Although the direction can be rated as a sign of progress, there is still a notable lack of effective strategies for its implementation. The structural adjustments imposed by the International Monetary Fund will bring improvements on a macro-economic scale, but they will also tend to increase social disparity. It remains to be seen whether the government will succeed in creating the reforms needed to raise the standard of living, which has declined sharply during recent decades.
In 1996, the management of the IIZ/DVV project office in Madagascar was transferred to a team of national adult educators. The project continues to organize a broad spectrum of activities in the adult education sector together with its various Malagasy partner organizations. It seeks to contribute to reducing poverty, illness, and hunger through practical programmes of assistance and to encourage the people of the country, especially in rural areas, to participate in the development of social processes. Efforts concentrate on continuing training programmes and literacy measures geared to improving the living conditions of the impoverished members of society.
One of the three main partners of IIZ/DVV in Madagascar, the Institut de Recherche et d’Application des Méthodes pour le Développement Communautaire (IREDEC), conducts various basic and further training measures in farming communities. It serves the region of Vakinankarata, 170 km south of the country’s capital, and currently works in nineteen rural communities as well as on the island of Ste Marie. IREDEC also conducts a basic and further training programme at the village level, focusing on the development of agricultural production systems, assistance in the process of decentralization, health and cultural education, development of rural infrastructure, and the promotion of non-agricultural micro-businesses. Other activities include training measures for mayors, members of community councils, and local government officials to increase their competence and advance the process of democratization on the level of local government. In the area of research, the institute focuses on the social structure of local villages and their development potential and problems. In 1998, intensive studies were conducted around the problems of child labour and the training of community representatives. IREDEC operates with a high degree of autonomy. It has a sound system of management, finances a significant degree of its programmes, and provides on-going training for its staff.
The work of Malagasy Mahomby (MM), an organization located in the southern highlands of the country, concentrates on basic and continued vocational training. It depends largely on a staff of volunteers. Besides conducting a wide range of basic and further training measures around agricultural methods and economic development, it publishes documents and organizes libraries in order to help cultivate the Malagasy language. In both 1997 and 1998, MM continued to promote the development of village libraries. Several book fairs were held in this connection. In addition to publishing an information newsletter, it has elaborated a number of smaller pamphlets to acquaint farmers with alternative methods of farming. Among other things, it has sought to build up an AE network. It collaborated with the IIZ/DVV and IREDEC in the design of programmes to train trainers and inter-community development workers. During the course of 1998, the IIZ/DVV office assisted MM in narrowing down its very broad programme of activities to maximize results. Efforts continued to help the organization achieve greater financial autonomy.
IIZ/DVV also lends support to Solidarité Corporative des Agriculteurs et Eleveurs (SCAE), an association that offers advisory services and basic education to rural farmers. The work of the association concentrates on the north-eastern part of the island, Sambava, and Andappa. SCAE is a grassroots organization that works closely with its focus groups and enjoys a high degree of acceptance on the part of the population. Its staff of twenty animators is keenly aware of the urgent need for non-formal education. The main emphasis alongside training in appropriate and improved methods of production is on functional and post literacy training. Besides being involved in diverse community activities, SCAE Sambva and Andapa are active participants in the efforts of the AE network supported by the IIZ/DVV. During 1998, they organized literacy training courses around themes including new and improved methods for cultivating rice, fish farming and beekeeping, and sought to guide participants in the use of literacy and numeracy skills in marketing activities. Literacy courses are coupled with sewing courses to help participants learn skills by which they can help improve the economic base of their families. One of the main obstacles facing SCAE is the inaccessibility of the grassroots population that it serves.
During 1998, the IIZ/DVV project office made significant progress in gaining recognition for the adult education sector in Madagascar as well as the adult education network Association Malagasy pour l’Éducation des Adultes AMEA. Besides focusing public attention on the deficits of the formal education system, a continuing education and information seminar conducted in February 1998 on the new administrative structure of the six autonomous provinces demonstrated how the non-formal AE sector can assume many of the tasks of education. Another measure designed to increase public awareness about the importance of adult education was conducted in March in the form of a competition to create logos and slogans for adult education in Madagascar. The winner was announced at the First Information Fair held for Malagasy non-government organizations. The Fair offered an opportunity for the IIZ/DVV project to acquaint a very broad public with its publications, and served as a forum for providers of AE to make joint resolutions and plan future programmes. In addition, the project made it possible for fifteen professional adult educators to participate in the first official training course for AE trainers with specializations. In addition to assisting in the organization of a number of regional conferences and supporting the production of publications like the “Diary Tadidy”, the IIZ/DVV project office provided advisory services to individual partners, helped to coordinate their interests, and supported their joint activities and functions.
Sierra Leone
After six years of civil war, the peace treaty of 1996 marked the official end to fighting in Sierra Leone. Democratic elections were held and a new government was formed. In May 1997, however, a coup was conducted by a group of young military officers dissatisfied with the progress of the peace process and the direction of inner political developments. The ensuing disturbances substantially worsened the already critical situation of the impoverished masses. In February 1998, the coup leaders were expelled from the country by ECOMOG troops, and the legitimate government was restored. The flight of the members of the Junta was accompanied by looting, rioting, and heavy fighting. The country now faces the formidable task of rebuilding its infrastructures and economic base. In January 1998, production figures in the industrial sector were eighty percent below normal, and income figures for the state had dropped sixty percent. Refugees must be reintegrated into society. About 350,000 persons who fled to neighbouring countries are expected to return. Moreover, ECOMOG and the government have not yet succeeded to completely crush the overthrown military junta, which continues to violate human rights in a campaign of terror that its members are pursuing among the civilian population in the border areas where it has retained power. Towards the end of 1998 fighting flared up once again in the northern part of the country. By early 1999, the rebels had advanced as far as Freetown, temporarily seizing parts of the capital. Extensive sectors of the city were devastated in the wake of armed clashes as rebel forces withdrew.
Although the signing of the peace agreement of 1996 was particularly encouraging, the promising outlook for the work of the IIZ/DVV partnerships in Sierra Leone has been short-lived. With the military coup in May of 1997, all civil activities in the country, including AE measures, came to a halt. Losses in terms of lives and infrastructures were considerable. Several of the partner organizations’ vehicles were destroyed or damaged in the clashes. Fire claimed half of the PADECO building. The partners were not able to resume activities until October when the turbulence began to subside, and then only to a limited degree.
The PADECO building and the project vehicle were damaged once again in the disturbances that took place in February 1998. In the months that followed, a semblance of normalcy returned, allowing partner organizations to conduct numerous activities, but in December 1998, working conditions were again severely impaired in the wake of new clashes. Nevertheless, a number of measures were effectively realized during intervals of relative clam and in areas less marked by tension.
The Sierra Leone Adult Education Association (SLADEA) organized several meetings for its various members and committees and held a number of training workshops both in 1997 and in 1998. Training was provided for literacy workers and teaching and learning materials were elaborated. The Association also continued to publish its newsletter, Glimpses.
The People’s Educational Association (PEA) offered workshops to upgrade the qualifications of members and conducted meetings for its own managerial staff in various parts of the country to discuss planning, finances, and organizational administration and operation.
Within the scope of an investigation on the structure of participation in the government sponsored national literacy programme, the Adult Education Unit (AEU) of the Ministry of Education received assistance from IIZ/DVV in 1998 to hold a refresher course for literacy workers. Four seminars were conducted around the provision of educational and psychological support for victims of traumatic war experiences. In addition to these measures, the AEU continued to coordinate and supervise AE activities in the country to the extent possible under the given circumstances.
In addition to academic training courses, which the IIZ/DVV supports with scholarships, assistance was channelled into efforts conducted by the Institute of Adult Education and Extra-mural Studies (INSTADEX) at Fourah Bay College in Freetown including workshops on rural education and the relationship between the college and local groups, continuing education measures for members of the faculty, advisory personnel, and members of rural communities, and the publication of a manual for community workers.
Njala University College offered practice-oriented courses for women around the raising and marketing of garden fruits and vegetables, food processing and preservation, and other skills to aid them in their struggle for survival in a war-torn environment.
The Partners in Adult Education Coordinating Office PADECO continued to fulfil its coordination function by managing the funds provided by the IIZ/DVV and overseeing partner activities. In addition to this role, the Office conducted a workshop to elaborate a three-year plan and published a calendar.
Many challenges face the partners of the IIZ/DVV in Sierra Leone in the future. Appropriate adult education measures will be needed to advance the rebuilding process, support returning refugees, reintegrate ex-combatants, and promote democratization efforts.
South Africa
It has been nearly four years since the end of apartheid in South Africa. Government administration is still marked by inefficiency in many areas, and many promises made by the government remain unfulfilled. Unemployment continues to grow. Each year, thousands of young adults leave school to flood an employment market that has difficulty incorporating individuals who are the product of an educational system still characterized by an apartheid mentality. The disposition for social violence is growing with the frustration and dissatisfaction above all of the so-called “lost generation”, the individuals who refused to conform to the apartheid school system and who now face a bleak future.
Policy-makers in the education and adult education sector have been paying closer attention to the demands of the South African economy. Greater stress is being placed on strengthening basic adult education and training. The creation of chances for adults to remedy learning deficits has been made part of the presidential agenda. In view of these favourable developments, the IIZ/DVV opened a project office in South Africa in October 1997 to facilitate support of South African AE.
The chief goal of the IIZ/DVV in South Africa is to help strengthen and consolidate NGO providers of adult education, to work with them to create a strong lobby on behalf of adult education, and to secure the place of AE in government policy decisions. Efforts are geared to helping society’s hitherto neglected popular sectors improve their living conditions by addressing their needs through integrated approaches to development, literacy training in connection with community development, and a decentralized system of continuing adult education.
To achieve this goal, IIZ/DVV has been working together with the country’s only national adult education association, the Adult Educators and Trainers Association of South Africa (AETASA). At the same time, it has undertaken to foster the development of a forum and lobby for adult education in the provinces in close cooperation with AETASA, and, within the limits of its financial possibilities, to promote sound adult education and literacy praxis through the development of pilot projects.
AETASA, which recruits its members from every province in the country, was founded in 1994, and has meanwhile become a driving force in support of AE in South Africa. Its agenda has three major focuses:
- Improving the qualifications of adult educators and developing AE praxis: In 1997, with assistance from IIZ/DVV, AETASA held two larger conferences to provide adult educators with information and training and help increase their awareness and understanding of current political issues.
- Advocacy (influencing AE policy): The key activity of AETASA in its function to represent the interests of AE was the organization of Adult Learners Week, an annual media campaign to increase awareness about the many aspects of adult learning. Participants in the 1998 event included not only South African adult educators but also representatives of adult education organizations from other African countries as well as from Asia, America, and Europe. As part of its advocacy work, it also published Practioners Talk, a newsletter which serves to provide information for adult educators and recruit new members.
- Organization development and programme evaluation: To assist its member organizations in capacity building, AETASA took steps to create a data bank, engaged a national coordinator, and intensified its programme evaluation efforts.
In addition to providing ongoing support to the AETASA, the IIZ/DVV cooperates with the following providers of adult education:
- NASA (Natal Adult Basic Education Support Agency): with the goal of supplying a resource centre with equipment and furnishings as well as educational materials for literacy training;
- USWE (Use Speak and Write English): to elaborate and publish five manuals for training adult educators;
- CVET (Community Video Education Training): to purchase equipment and materials required to train adult educators in the media sector; and
- SHARE (Adult Education Centre, Somerset West): to finance the purchase of a photocopier and training measures for literacy workers.
IIZ/DVV also collaborates with the National Institute for Community Education (NICE), which has taken on the task of restructuring the Further Education and Training Sector (FET). Assistance is being channelled into the compilation of a data bank to provide a better overview of educational opportunities at FET colleges and technical colleges.
In addition to these measures, IIZ/DVV collaborates with more than fifteen providers of South African adult education which are conducting a number of pilot projects designed, among other things:
- to foster literacy and basic education through measures of vocational training and functions to promote democratization, healthcare, and community projects;
- to encourage literacy learning and train volunteer literacy workers in rural areas;
- to support multi-level training programmes geared to on-the-job communication, business English, and helping young people adjust to the working world after leaving school;
- to investigate and assess current priorities and the existing weaknesses in the provision of AE through public institutions (city administration, for example), industry, and government;
- to hold author workshops for the production of English texts for novice readers;
- to carry out a nationwide television campaign involving a competition to encourage reading, above all among novice readers; and
- to acquaint instructors with the new curriculum in mathematics.
The greatest problems facing South Africa today continue to lie in the unequal distribution of income, unequal education and employment opportunities, and unequal access to decent housing, public utilities, and healthcare services. Adult education, which is so crucial to the solution of such problems, still occupies an inferior position on the country’s political agenda. Although conditions should improve somewhat in the sector due to a number of laws passed during the second half of 1998 to ensure racial equality on the labour market and upgrade the training and employment status of teachers and instructors, much remains to be done in the way of lobby work before South Africa’s decision makers undertake to build up an effective system of adult education.
Uganda
The conflict with Sudan remains unresolved in Uganda, and the government has not succeeded in quelling rebel activities along the country’s northern and western border. Nevertheless, Uganda enjoys a positive image abroad where it is considered a model for effective economic policy. A four-year development strategy has been drafted together with Tanzania and Kenya within the framework of the newly founded East African Community. Despite a relatively high rate of economic growth, a figure of six percent per year, marked social disparities continue to exist within the ranks of the country’s population. Symptoms of poverty include a high rate of child mortality and a climbing incidence of AIDS that is responsible for the country’s low life-expectancy average (46 years).
The IIZ/DVV works together with Ugandan partners to promote an adult education system geared to helping people learn how to more effectively satisfy their basic needs, acquire job skills, and improve their income. The goal is to build a system capable of contributing to the improvement of the economic, social, cultural, and political conditions of the country’s greater majorities by encouraging social participation and mobilizing social forces. Support is given to the members of the partner organizations and their staffs, to rural literacy and self-help groups as well as to bodies and organs responsible for political decisions affecting the education sector. The project was initiated in 1985 in an environment where long years of dictatorship and civil war had virtually immobilized local adult education organizations. Since that time the institutional structures of those organizations have been significantly strengthened so that they are able to function more efficiently and effectively. Partner organizations received support through a project office under the direction of an IIZ/DVV representative from 1991 until the second half of 1996, when the project office was closed and a special unit, the Uganda Joint Action for Adult Education UJAFAE, was created to coordinate cooperation between the IIZ/DVV and its eight Ugandan partners.
At the end of 1997, the Uganda project was evaluated by a team of independent experts who confirmed the project’s success. In line with recommendations made in the evaluation report, the IIZ/DVV and its partners undertook a number of small structural changes and adjustments in the partners’ agendas as well as in the focuses of cooperation.
In addition to coordinating all partner activities, UJAFAE also conducts lobbying activities on behalf of adult education in Uganda and stimulates networking within the sector. It organizes regular meetings for staff members and board members. During 1997, activities included the organization of an adult education conference that took place in Tororo, the elaboration of radio programmes, the publication of the first issue of the newsletter, The Literacy Focus, and the printing of a calendar with photos of a representative selection of activities conducted by UJFAE. It also continued to develop its information and documentation centre for adult education. In 1998, it organized special functions to celebrate International Literacy Day and conducted a large AE conference for the northern part of Uganda. The costs of operating the unit, including expenses for activities and the salaries of the UJAFAE team, are financed from project funds. Efforts are being made to mobilize additional resources, but without any significant degree of success to date.
The Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) continued to conduct its two-year diploma course in adult education at the university. Funds were made available by IIZ/DVV within the framework of the diploma course to finance research carried out by the students and to produce teaching and learning materials. Workshops were held for authors of didactic material, for distance education tutors, and for literacy instructors. Research projects were conducted. Several manuals, brochures, and other teaching materials were elaborated and/or printed. Material assistance was provided to equip and renovate IACE offices.
In 1998, a conference was held around the theme of community work through development projects.
The National Adult Education Association (NAEA), an umbrella association of Ugandan adult education organizations, founded in 1980, is represented by eighty-three subcentres throughout the country. With the aim of strengthening the Association, further training seminars were held for staff members in positions of responsibility and members of NAEA in every region of Uganda (eighteen in 1997 and seventeen in 1998). In the interest of publicity, the Association issued a calendar and published an issue of its periodical, “Newsleaf”, around the topic of sustainable development and adult education. The NAEA continued to support the development of literacy in Uganda by conducting training workshops for instructors, and publishing brochures for novice readers in English and three local languages on the subject of health and rural development. Learning materials were developed and subsequently revised in a workshop for a distance training course leading to a certificate in adult education. The Association also conducted various training measures in environmental education and took steps to set up a demonstration farm to teach ecologically compatible farming methods.
The Kiira Adult Education Association (KIIRA) is a regional adult education association with a total of twenty-five centres and more than 400 members in eight districts of the country. Its headquarters are located in Iganga. The Association publishes a newsletter for novice readers in rural areas to foster information exchange among centres and members. Local centres publish the newsletter on a monthly basis and KIIRA headquarters publishes a quarterly issue. Besides its work in the dissemination and exchange of information, KIIRA also runs its own literacy programme with more than 700 participants during the different phases. It conducts training seminars for literacy instructors. Within the framework of its post-literacy work, it organizes other workshops around topics such as poultry raising. In the interest of improving the standard of living of its members, it has organized savings cooperatives. In addition, it provides training in the methods of beekeeping, and operates two corn mills, one of which was built during 1998.
Collaboration with the Directorate of Community Development (DCD), the government partner of the IIZ/DVV at the Ministry of Gender and Community Development, continued to focus on the functional literacy programme in twenty-six of the country’s forty-five administrative districts. The programme also receives the support of UNICEF and UNDP. To date, it has trained 172 literacy supervisors and 1,660 instructors. During 1997, 1,920 literacy classes were held for nearly 88,000 participants, 82% of whom were women. In 1998, there were 2,999 classes and 137,000 participants, 77% women. IIZ/DVV helps to finance training workshops for the programme’s supervisors and more than 700 instructors. Close to 15,000 copies of primers and teaching manuals have been printed in different languages. A workshop for participants from both government and non-government organizations was held in 1997 for the purpose of evaluatingüand revising the programme. In 1998, a study was conducted to analyze needs with respect to reading materials for post-literacy training. The UNESCO video film “Mina Smiles” was translated into the local language, Luganda. DCD received international r5cognition as the winner of a UNESCO literacy award.
Functional literacy is also the chief focus of the Kamuli Adult Education Association (KAEA), which works within the limits of the Kamuli district. The organization serves approximately fifty village learning centres where the learning groups also participate in other development-oriented measures. During 1997, sixty new literacy instructors were trained, and further training seminars were held both for trainers and instructors; fifty-two literacy workers received training and equipment in 1998. Bicycles were purchased for five instructors. In the meantime, 247 literacy classes are being taught by 319 instructors for approximately 6,500 participants. In 1998, one of the vocational training centres was outfitted with a carpentry workshop.
In 1996, the project of cooperation was expanded to include the Tororo Community Initiated Development Association (TOCIDA), a network of more than 500 rural community development groups in the Tororo district, which provides education opportunities for its members in various fields including the sustainable use of natural resources. Part of the Association’s agenda in 1997, as a measure to ease the burden of rural women, was to introduce donkeys as beasts of burden and help rural farmers learn how to care for and work with the animals. Models for donkey carts were produced. Efforts continued to encourage organic farming, and approximately 200 members were trained in 1998 in the methods of organic farming. The Association conducts seminars on community and rural development. It also has a very successful theatrical group that writes its own scripts around development-oriented issues and holds performances in rural settings. Assistance has been channelled into the implementation of workshops and courses on the elaboration of primers in various languages and an instructor’s manual for use in the literacy programme on organic farming and environmental protection. In 1997, research was conducted on the design and construction of energy-saving stoves. In 1998, plans were developed for ecology tourism and eight members of TOCIDA were trained as tour guides. The organization continues to support functional literacy, and in 1998 held a course in that connection for nine supervisors and twenty-eight instructors.
The National Women’s Association for Social and Educational Advancement (NWASEA), is UJAFAE’s newest member. In 1997, it had a membership of thirty-five groups representing approximately 900 women in the Iganga region. By the end of 1998, the membership had increased to 100 local groups. In the meantime, it works together with fifteen conservation networks. It conducts literacy classes and development-oriented courses dealing with problems of health-care, family planning, and child-raising. Moreover, it provides legal counselling for women, and also offers courses on legal issues. In addition, it works closely with the “Women’s Bank” to negotiate favourable savings and credit opportunities for the members. Project funds were used by NWASEA in 1997 to hold three workshops for women around themes including management of self-help organizations, leadership methods, capacity building, and self-reliance. In 1998, the Association conducted sixty-five literacy classes and numerous development-oriented functions.
Partner organizations in Uganda seek to build up the self esteem and individual responsibility of the people they serve – for the most part poor subsistence farmers. Notable progress has been made in the direction of staff development, and the organizational capacity of Ugandan partner organizations has been increased. Their approach to planning has become more realistic and their programmes and activities are more closely geared to their focus groups, with better results as a consequence.
Basic and Further Training of Adult Educators from Developing Countries
Since the beginning of the 1960s, IIZ/DVV has been conducting a special project to foster basic and further training of adult educators in theory and practice through advisory services and financial assistance. Within the framework of this project, it maintains an extensive scholarship programme particularly in Africa.
In each of the years 1997 and 1998, approximately 500 students received scholarships and financial assistance to participate in one or two-year certificate and diploma courses at institutes of higher learning in English-speaking Africa. An evaluation of the various courses in respect of their organization and impact was concluded in 1996. During the course of 1997, discussions were held with IIZ/DVV’s various partner organizations to analyze the results of the evaluation and adjust the scholarship programme accordingly in western, eastern, and southern Africa. The programme was streamlined with a resulting decline in scholarship figures. In accordance with the recommendations of the evaluation, numerous textbooks were purchased for the institutions collaborating in the scholarship programme to update their libraries and accordingly improve their academic groundwork for both students and teaching staff.
In French-speaking Africa, the IIZ/DVV continued to provide support for practice and development oriented training courses for adult educators, “Training for Trainers”, at the Institut Panafricain pour le Développement (IPD) in Cameroon. Adult educators from ten French-speaking African countries received scholarships to participate in the programme (thirty in 1997 and thirty-one in 1998). All courses for which assistance was given were geared to preparing participants who hold, or aspire to hold, particularly important middle-level positions as adult educators, counsellors, and administrators in government as well as non-government organizations.
A scheme of special projects is conducted within the framework of the budget for “Basic and Further Training of Adult Educators”. This scheme permits IIZ/DVV to assist individual partner organizations in select areas by financing small-scale projects that are less complex and comprehensive than the extensive country projects. Such projects include the funding of single educational measures, elaborating teaching materials, or improving the material infrastructure of partner organizations. Assistance is aýso channelled into the purchase of books and equipment. Such projects, which are normally financed for a limited period of time on a restricted budget, are often the first step toward the initiation of a country-wide programme. Conversely, the special Õrojects under the basic and further training budget also allow country programmes to continue functioning on a smaller scale or to be phased out on a gradual basis. A number of such projects are described below:
Chad: IIZ/DVV continues to collaborate with the Université Populaireý(UP) in the capital city of N`Djamena. UP receives assistance for a training programme geared to supporting self-help groups on the road to independence. In 1998, the programme lent support to twelve self-help organizations for women (groups engaged in raising and selling produce) and eight committees of men (engaged in waste disposal and distribution of water in the capital city of N’Djamena. The members of the groups receive training in areas including bookkeeping, motivation techniques, meeting strategies, and the solving of conflicts. Small credits are provided to help the groups implement micro-projects. As literacy training forms part of the programme, an instructor’s manual based on UP activities was published in two local languages. Ongoing evaluation and internal measures to further qualify UP staff ensure continued improvement of the programme.
Cameroon: Building on the programme of assistance provided in 1996, IIZ/DVV financed a project in Cameroon to coordinate activities between the Service d’Appui aux Initiatives Locales de Développement (SAILD) and a farmers’ organization. A campaign was organized to motivate the rural population, and on-going training seminars were conducted for local advisors. Supplementary measures included the development and purchase of didactic material and the purchase of bicycles for the so-called “animators”. Exchange visits were arranged for farming groups enabling them to share their experiences in fish farming and the cultivation of vegetables. More than a hundred praxis-oriented books and pamphlets on specialized fields were procured for the SAILD library.
Ghana: Using a practice-oriented approach, the Institute of Adult Education at the University of Ghana has initiated projects throughout the country catering to the needs of the people. The Institute provides education designed to foster development and help people acquire income-generating skills in such areas as agriculture, fishing, handicrafts, health care, and marketing. To raise the standards of living in village communities, and to develop the inhabitants’ capacity for self-help, learning sessions are organized around marketing, the organization and management of credit cooperatives and community-run businesses, improvements in the water supply, and the construction of sanitation facilities. In 1998, the Institute celebrated its 50th anniversary with a conference for 400 adult educators from all over the country and a number of leading national politicians.
Kenya: The Kenya Adult Education Association (KAEA) receives continued financial support for its praxis-oriented adult education periodicals Kenya Adult Educator and Newsletter of the Kenya Adult Education Association. These publications serve to promote experience exchange among members, communities, networks, literacy workers, and adult education practitioners, and strive to build awareness on the part of the public with respect to the significance of adult education so as to gain greater support for work in the field.
Lesotho: With assistance from IIZ/DVV, the Lesotho Association of Non-Formal Education (LANFE) provides numerous training measures for its members including continuing education functions in six different regions of the country as well as central workshops on the financial management of self-help organizations and environmental problems. The Association continued to publish its newsletter on a semi-annual basis, and produced a booklet on soil erosion in Lesotho, the local language. With additional support from UNICEF, LANFE provides training for literacy workers and monitors the corresponding literacy programme. Through a revolving fund, small credits are issued to members for income-generating investments. The project’s budget continues to cover the operating costs for LANFE headquarters.
Mention is also made to material and equipment that is acquired within the framework of the Basic and Further Training Programme. Books on topics related to adult education are purchased in larger quantities and distributed in development countries to interested partners and other persons working in the adult education sector. In addition, the new adult education department at the University of Namibia has been equipped with audio visual and other equipment to assist them with the tasks of instruction and administration.
Scholarships in Africa 1997/1998
| Country | Number of Scholars | Description | |
| 1997 | 1998 | ||
| Botswana | 8 | 6 | Diploma Course |
| Botswana | 1 | Bachelor’s Degree Course (third country) | |
| Ghana | 70 | 65 | Certificate/Diploma Course |
| Lesotho | 61 | 86 | Certificate/Diploma Course (part time) |
| Kenya | 10 | 20 | Diploma Course |
| Sierra Leone | 70 | 34 | Certificate/Diploma Course |
| South Africa, CACE | 108 | 100 | Certificate/Diploma Course (Distance Education Course) |
| South Africa, CAE | 28 | 62 | Certificate/Diploma Course |
| South Africa, PENTEC | 21 | Diploma Course (part time) | |
| Swaziland | 34 | Certificate/Diploma Course (part time) | |
| Tanzania | 2 | Diploma Course | |
| Zambia | 7 | 10 | Certificate/Diploma Course |
| Zimbabwe | 38 | 46 | Diploma Course (part time – Distance Education) |
| Subtotal (English-speaking Africa) | 479 | 450 | |
| Cameroon (French-speaking Africa) | 30 | 31 | various courses |
| Total | 509 | 481 | |