Stories

The new Taliban-led de-facto government in Afghanistan stopped secondary school education for girls from grade 7 to grade 12. They also introduced strict gender segregation in all education programmes and institutions. In addition, the key funding for the education system, which was heavily dependent on international support, is now on hold. ALE courses remain open for women.

Recent research from the past few years does not show very encouraging results regarding the inclusion of gender approaches in the education sector in Latin America. Differences in rates of enrolment for men and women and permanence in the educational system persist, especially in rural areas, with peasant and indigenous groups. Curricular contents reinforce gender stereotypes; power relations within the classroom and in educational spaces are structured in ways that discriminate against female participants. That is why the Gender Toolkit is so important.

Malawi, a country in Southern Africa sharing borders with Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania, has approved its first ever National Adult Literacy and Education Strategic Plan (2022-2027). The Strategic Plan aims at strengthening the implementation of the National Adult Literacy and Education Policy (NALEP) which was approved in 2020. This positive development comes at a time when stakeholders in the country have intensified their efforts to promote Adult Learning and Education (ALE) through various interventions such as Integrated Adult Education (IAE), Adult Education in Prisons, ALE through Community Learning Centres, and Inclusive Adult Education which targets people with disabilities.

The regional conference "Professionalisation of Adult Education: Chances and Challenges in the Post-Confintea VII Time" was held at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 14 and 15 September 2022. There were more than 100 guests from the 3 partner countries in the East/Horn of Africa region (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda), including representatives from government, academia and civil society organisations.

The Urban X-Change Network project, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, aims to build up cooperation between German Adult Education Centres (Volkshochschulen) and adult learning and education (ALE) institutions in Ukraine, Great Britain and – starting in December 2022 – in the USA. The focus of the project is on cross-border cultural and educational activities of the centres and institutions within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the global community.