ARGuidebook AlidouGlanz

Action research
to improve youth and

adult literacy
Empowering learners in a
multilingual world
Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz (eds)
United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
Action research
to improve youth and
adult literacy
Empowering learners in a
multilingual world
Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz (eds)
United Nations
Published by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and

UNESCO Multi-sectoral Regional Office in Abuja
2015 UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL)
Some rights reserved.
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is a policy-driven international
research, training, information and documentation centre of UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Active in all regions
of the world, it focuses on adult and continuing education, literacy and nonformal basic education in the perspective of lifelong learning. Its publications
are a valuable resource for educational researchers, planners, policymakers and
practitioners.
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Head of Publication, UIL, Feldbrunnenstrasse 58, 20148 Hamburg, Germany
(e-mail: [email protected])
The choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this book and the
opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of UNESCO and represent
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and the presentation of materials throughout this publication do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the UNESCO concerning
the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Graphic design by Christiane Marwecki
Copy-edited by Natasha Hogarth
Script designs and descriptions were taken from www.decodeunicode.org
ISBN 978-92-820-1192-8
Table of contents
Acronyms and abbreviations
Foreword
Acknowledgements
11
Author biographies
12
1 Introduction

The purpose of this guidebook

How to use the book

How and by whom the guidebook was produced

Point for reflection 1
14
2 Action research from a theoretical perspective

What is action research?

Using action research to improve the quality of adult literacy
education

Common criteria for good action research

28
3 Conducting action research three examples from

practice

Case study 1: Action research in Niger to promote a

multilingual literate environment

Nigers sociolinguistic and educational context

Publishing for formal and non-formal bilingual education: the

2PEB programme (19972003)
19
24
25
27
31
39
42
47
48
51
51
57

Action research for the development of a multilingual and

multicultural literate environment

Resolved and unresolved obstacles to promoting a multilingual

literate environment


Case study 2: Action research for curriculum development: an

example from Ethiopia
Country profile with a focus on literacy and language
Action research in order to embed literacy and numeracy in the
coffee value chain in the Oromiya Region

Case study 3: Action research for the training of trainers:

an example from Senegal
Sociolinguistic context of AREDs work
Enriching the multilingual and multicultural environment by
training resource persons
Action research applied to develop training modules for trainers
Criteria for quality action research that emerge from our experience
60
71
73
74
75
81
102
103
104
106
112
117
120
121
Conclusion from the three case studies
4 A frame of reference for good quality youth and adult literacy

provision in multilingual contexts

Five basic guiding principles

123
124
130
141
Central fields of quality analysis
142
149
From theory to practice: an application of quality

principles and criteria
150
Participatory action research: a quality criterion

Creating and reinforcing a multilingual literate environment
153
157
168
169
Curriculum development
179
180
Training of trainers
191
6 Summary of the main messages
192
198
Glossary
199
Bibliography

A) Chapters 12, 46, Chapter 3
(parts written by Alidou and Glanz), and Glossary

B) Case study from Niger

C) Case study from Ethiopia

D) Case study from Senegal
209
209
217
218
219
Acronyms and abbreviations
2PEB

ACALAN
ANFEAE
APENF

ARED
ANSD
CONFINTEA VI
CFCA

CSA
DA
EFA
ESDP
et al.
ETP
ff.
FAL
FDRE
FTC
GMR
GoE
GVEN
IFAL
IFAL-CVC
IIED

IIEDH

LIFE
Projet Education de Base/ Promotion de lEnseignement

Bilingue (Basic Education Project/ Promotion of Bilingual
Education)
African Academy of Languages
Adult and Non-formal Education Association
Association pour la promotion de l'ducation non formelle
(Association for the Promotion of Non-formal Education)
Associates in Research and Education for Development
Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Dmographie
Sixth International Conference on Adult Education
Centre de Formation des Cadres de lAlphabtisation (Centre
for Training Personnel in Adult Literacy Education) in Niger
Central Statistics Authority
Development Agent
Education for All
Education Sector Development Programme
et alii (in Latin), and others (in English)
Education and Training Policy
and the following (pages, paragraphs, etc.)
Functional Adult Literacy
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Farmers Training Centres
Global Monitoring Report
Government of Ethiopia
Gestion Villageoise des Espaces Naturels
Integrated Functional Adult Literacy
Integrated Functional Adult Literacy Coffee Value Chain
Institut International pour lEnvironnement et le
Dveloppement
Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics and Human Rights
(Institut interdisciplinaire d'thique et droits de l'homme)
Literacy Initiative for Empowerment
MARD
MARP

MLC
MoARD
MoE
MoYSC
n. p.
NGO
p. or pp.
PRA
PROGRES

SHG
UIL
UNESCO

UNLD
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Mthode Active de Recherche et de Planification
Participative
Minimum Learning Competencies
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture
no page numbers indicated
Non-governmental Organization
page or pages
Participatory Rapid Appraisal
Programme Rgional de Gestion conjointe des Ressources
Agro-sylvo-pastorales
Self Help Group
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
United Nations Literacy Decade
Foreword
With this guidebook we would like to highlight the importance of multilingual

and multicultural contexts for youth and adult literacy. Research and practice are
leading the way, and the Post-2015 Agenda to follow the global Education for All
initiative emphasizes the importance of culture. Culture gives languages, oral or
written, a prominent place as a key means of communication and voice.
UNESCO perceives literacy as the foundation for lifelong learning. It is grounded
in multilingual and multicultural practices in societies. In recent decades,
research and practise has embedded youth and adult education in its linguistic
and cultural context. Theory and good practice in literacy has helped improve
the quality of learning outcomes and thereby improving lives of learners and
enhancing their skills for participation in democratic developments of society. It
has also helped to promote respect for diversity.
The present action research has identified five guiding principles for youth
and adult literacy programmes: (1) inclusion; (2) lifelong learning; (3) literacy
perceived from a multilingual and multicultural perspective and as an essential
aspect of the human right to education; (4) a multilingual and multicultural
ethos; and (5) sustainability. These guiding principles are the pillars of the quality
framework for youth and adult literacy education and learning which is proposed
in this book.
Youth and adult literacy programmes improve their quality substantially when
applying participatory and collaborative action research. Action research is an
inclusive way to expand knowledge that is at the direct and immediate service
of practice. In action research, the knowledge of professionals, facilitators and
learners is treated as equally important. It promotes a democratic and equitable
approach to learning and helps to develop learning environments that empower
adult learners to take part in shaping their education and learning. Good
participatory action research benefits and connects people working at all levels
in the learning and educational process, including services and policies.
10
With this guidebook we pay tribute to action research initiatives that anchor
youth and adult literacy programmes in multilingual and multicultural social
environments. We encourage UNESCO entities, partners, training and research
institutions to use this guidebook to improve the quality of literacy and nonformal education policies and practices (programme management, teaching
and learning, monitoring and evaluation, promotion of literate environments,
resource mobilisation and networking).
Arne Carlsen
Director
UNESCO Institute
for Lifelong Learning
Hamburg, Germany
Hassana Alidou
Director
UNESCO Multi-sectoral Regional Office
Abuja, Nigeria
Acknowledgements
Many people and institutions have been involved in the process of producing this
guidebook. We thank all of them. The project was initiated by the former Director
of UIL, Adama Ouane, and received continuing support from his successor, Arne
Carlsen, as well as from the Director of the UNESCO Office in Dakar, Ann Therese
Ndong-Jatta.
Specifically, we would like to thank our co-authors Alemayehu Hailu Gebre,
Mamadou Amadou Ly, and Maman Mallam Garba, the LIFE focal points, and
the following UNESCO colleagues and specialists from 14 countries with whom
we launched the project in 2009: Mohamed Abdi Guedi, Hassan Abdi Keynan,
Samad A.O.M. Abdus, Mebratu Berhan, Bensalem Ait Bouljaoui, Takele Alemu,
Ismael Ali Gardo, Seydou Ciss, Cheick Oumar Coulibaly, Julien Dabou,
Gouro Diall, Issa Djarangar Djita, Awol Endris, Temechegn Engida, Aklilu Gebre
Michael, Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, Emmanuel Winson Goabaga, Rmy Habou,
Willie Emmanuel Jonduo, Shalini Joshi, Fary Silate Ka, Sakarepe Kamene,
Marie Clmence Kielwasser/ Zio, Laouali Malam Moussa, Veronica McKay, Paul
Mpayimana, Agneta Lind, Norbert Nikima, Mara Pilar Ponce Velasco, Amadou
Sadou Yacouba, Bernd Sandhaas, Souleymane Sangare, Saffiatou Savage-Sidibeh,
Kilma Saultidigue, Donald Mamberam Sock, Enanu Hussein W/Agne, Sara W/
Yohannes, Etefa Merga Woyessa, Yao Ydo, and Agatha Van Ginkel with whom
we continued to work on the first outline and presentation of good practices.
We also thank Thomas Bttner, Abdou Diarra, Sidia Jatta, Mamadou Amadou Ly,
Maman Mallam Garba, and Moustapha Mountaga Diarra for their feedback on the
first draft. We thank our peer reviewers and external specialists Abdel Rahamane
Baba-Moussa, Jennifer Birkett, Bernard Hagnonnou and Robert Jjuuko. We thank
the Nigerian specialists for their feedback and for piloting the first version of the
guidebook: Elizabeth Abama, Hauwa Abubakar Balewa, Omobola Adelore, Edwin
Agbionu, Abubakar Muhammad Alkammu, Rose Alugbere, Chinwe Anibeze,
Samuel Aziba, Hassana Batagarawa, Musa Hassan Gusau, Rosemary Igbo, Pat
Ngwu, Stella Nwizu, Nuaton P. Nwanikpo, Yemisi Obashoro-John, M. U. Ojuah,
Carolynn Omene, John Edeh Onimisi, Matthew Onu, Kester Osegha Ojokheta,
Jibrin Y. Paiko, Uchena Mary Udoji, Hadiza Usman Isa, Gana Balami Yusufu,
Musa M. Yakubu and Caroline Yawon. Finally, we thank our colleagues at the
UNESCO Office in Abuja and at UIL, particularly, Ulrike Hanemann, Ngozi Amanze
Onyedikachi, Olushola Macaulay, Alice Ateh-Abang, Sylvia Iwuchukwu, Safiya
Muhammad, Saidou Sireh Jallow and Osu Inya Otu.
11
Author biographies
(in alphabetical order)
12
Project coordinators:
Hassana Alidou ([email protected]) and Christine Glanz ([email protected])
Alidou, Hassana
Prof. Dr. Hassana Alidou is Director of the UNESCO Multi-sectoral Regional
Office for West Africa, covering Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cte DIvoire, Sierra
Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. She is Professor of International Teacher
Education and Cross-cultural Studies at Alliant International University and has
published numerous journal articles and books in the fields of multilingualism
and multicultural education, language planning and policy, educational
policy and planning, curriculum and gender, transformative leadership,
and international development. She has served as a technical advisor and
consultant to several ministries of education and international organizations.
Gebre, Alemayehu Hailu
Alemayehu Hailu Gebre is currently leading the Ubuntu Leadership Institute
in Ethiopia. He has over 20 years of experience working in both the NGO and
public sector in the fields of community development, adult education and
literacy, human resource and organizational development and management,
project design, monitoring and evaluation. He has worked in the NGO sector
in different capacities as development agent, supervisor, project coordinator,
project manager, deputy director and director. From 2005 to 2009 he was
Managing Director of the NGO Adult and Non-formal Education Association in
Ethiopia (ANFEAE).
Glanz, Christine
Dr. Christine Glanz has worked as a Programme Specialist at the UNESCO
Institute for Lifelong Learning since 2003, specialising in youth and adult
education in multilingual and multicultural contexts and with a special focus on
Africa. She has conducted field research on literacy practices and obtained her
doctoral degree with a dissertation on literacy practices in sexuality counselling
by Sengas in Central Southern Uganda. She has published qualitative research
on the social uses of literacy, on language in education in multilingual and
multicultural contexts, on the creation of literate environments, on UNESCOs
work from the perspective of social justice, and on educational management
with a sector-wide approach.
Ly, Mamadou Amadou
Mamadou Amadou Ly is Director General of the NGO Associates in Research
and Education for Development (ARED) based in Dakar, Senegal. His initial
training was in mechanical engineering but he moved quickly into social work
and education. He began his career in education in 1987 as a volunteer literacy
trainer for the Association pour la Renaissance du Pulaar (ARP) in Senegal, and
became a language teacher, trainer and supervisor for youth and adult literacy,
including with the NGO Culture for African Development. Since the creation of
ARED in 1991, he has worked as a trainer of trainers, curriculum developer for
training modules and managed the research and training unit.
Mallam Garba, Maman
Dr. Maman Mallam Garba is the Director General of the Dept. of Reform,
Promotion of National Languages and Civic Education at the Ministry of Primary
Education, Literacy, the Promotion of National Languages and Civic Education
in Niger. He is also a lecturer in linguistics and bilingual education at Abdou
Moumouni University in Niamey, Niger, and an associate professor at the
University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso in the Department for Education
and the Development of Adults. In addition, he is one of the founders of the
publishing house ditions Gashingo. His work focuses on research, policies and
practice for the promotion of African languages, and high-quality bi-/multilingual
formal and non-formal education in Niger and the West African region.
13
1
14
Introduction
By Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz
15
Tagbanwa is one of four

Philippine languages:
Tagalog, Hanunoo, Buhid
and Tagbanwa.
The Tagbanwa script was
used in the Philippines until
the 17th century. Closely
related to Baybayin, it is
believed to have come from
the Kawi script of Java, Bali
and Sumatra, which in turn,
descended from the Pallava
script, one of the southern
Indian scripts derived from
Brahmi.
16

fter more than 60 years of reflecting on peace, conflict prevention
and empowerment by UNESCO and its member states, how are we going
to use this knowledge about diverse people and their needs? How are we
going to use the opportunity of the technological revolution through which
we learned more about each others suffering and triumphs and what
affects people in our contemporary world? How do we use education in a
transformative11manner to change our reality for the betterment of us all?
A lot of emphasis has been put on universal primary education and children.
Yet we know that if young people and adults are not educated, the chance
that children will be is low. Who are the teachers and models for the
young generation? Who shapes the current world that is the foundation
for tomorrow? Adults. Adult education is an integral part of the equation.
Young people want to take part in the processes of democratization and
decision-making for their future, and written language is an important
means of communication in these processes. If they do not have access to
literacy2,2how will they contribute? Literacy for youth33and adults has to be
seen as a response to the quest for peace, democracy4,4emancipation and
sustainable development.
The centrality of culture and language in inclusive and sustainable
education
Our focus in this book is on adult and youth literacy in multilingual and
multicultural contexts. We aim to re-open the discussion on what constitutes
inclusive and sustainable education. In the debates about the international
1 See the Glossary for a definition of transformative learning.

2 See the Glossary for a definition of literacy.
3 By youth we mean young adults (not adolescents) at an age where they are already initiated
into adulthood and able to take part in productive activities. Youth usually take part in adult
education and literacy programmes.
4 See the Glossary for a definition of democracy.
The reality of linguistic diversity and cultural difference requires people

to be competent in several languages so that they can communicate
appropriately in different domains of life and at different geographical levels:
locally, regionally, nationally and across borders. It is therefore no surprise
that research evidence suggests that the choice and use of languages in
education have a major impact on the overall quality of learning processes and
outcomes. Responding appropriately to these multilingual and multicultural
contexts is therefore an integral part of initiatives to: (a) include and empower
people; (b) develop relevant curricula; (c) train trainers; and (d) create literate
environments so that people can make use of their literacy skills and fulfil the
promise of literacy being relevant for human rights and social justice.
International recognition for multilingual approaches in education
Education and learning in multilingual contexts is one of the major themes
of the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) and UNESCOs Literacy
Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE). The topic has been discussed on a
global level at, for example, the Regional Conferences in Global Support of
Literacy (20072008); the Regional Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE)
meetings of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Arab States, and Latin America
5 The concept of culture is today discussed as something that is complex, not closed, reflects
its historical development, and the influences from other cultures. On the one hand, it serves
to describe a groups beliefs, values and practices, and on the other hand, it accommodates the
diversity of identities and practices of its individual members. When we speak of culture we do
not mean only what is subsumed under 'arts' or 'folklore', we speak about the beliefs, values and
practices that shape all relationships and areas of life, be it economic, spiritual, educational, or political. The values, beliefs and practices inherent in all domains of livelihood which are an essential
part of adulthood. Ensuring and improving ones livelihood is a key task and central motivation for
youth and adults learning and an important area of applying of what has been learnt (see also the
Glossary for a definition of 'culture').
17
Introduction
post-2015 agenda after the current international initiative for Education for
All (EFA) has ended, culture55re-emerges as a central theme. Already in 1996,
the World Commission on Culture and Development, mandated by UNESCO,
recommended that culture should become an integral part in policymaking for
social and economic development and for the well-being of people. Culture
shapes our thinking, imagining and behaviour yet its importance has been
neglected by education (Prez de Cullar et al., 1995, p. 7ff.). In many ways
culture constitutes the contextual factor with the deepest historical roots and
greatest continuity; culture is also an arena of potential deep-level conflict
(Hayhoe, 2007, p. 189). The global post-2015 agenda will help us talk about
the centrality of culture in all our actions and interactions. In this agenda,
education, development and culture will be intertwined in order to cater for
the diverse learning and development needs of all people.
and the Caribbean (20072008); the Sixth International Conference on

Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI, 20082009); and the International Forum
on Multilingualism (2009). The outcome documents of these high-level
international meetings reflect the fact that mother-tongue-based, multilingual
education is increasingly being accepted as a necessary element for (i) quality
education6,6(ii) the development of literate environments, and (iii) social
development that strengthens the potential of all citizens in a democratic
society.
18
The new humanism: emancipation and empowerment of youth and

adult learners
All in all, the search for a new humanism is based on the ability of states
and communities to provide inclusive and sustainable lifelong learning for
all. Lifelong learning allows individuals to acquire the capacity to transform
their own reality, to know about themselves and others and to make
important decisions which contribute to respect, tolerance and appreciation
of human and ecological diversity. In this respect, the principles of learning
as articulated in the Delors report (see Delors et al., 1996) prepare learners to
become more peaceful and inclusive.
Social projects that promote inclusive and sustainable lifelong learning for all
contribute to the enactment of the new humanism articulated by Irina Bokova,
the Director-General of UNESCO, in 2010. Human beings are social beings,
Bokova asserts: we are free and proud shapers of our own being. As such,
it is up to every one of us to bind the community of humanity together, to
build a common space that excludes no one, regardless of continent, origin,
age or gender (Bokova, 2010, p. 3). This vision of human beings calls for
a work of self-fashioning in the spirit of lifelong learning. The Russian
philosopher Mustafa Nizami Mamedov urges us, when putting this philosophy
into practice, to take into consideration all aspects of human nature including
its aggressive and violent dimensions, and to view culture from a sociohistorical perspective, remembering that what exists today has evolved in
reaction to the natural and social environment and the interconnectedness
of all human societies (Mamedov, 2012). Suzy Halimi raised the question
What humanism for the 21st century? (Halimi, 2014). It is discussed from
different angles, such as from its pluricultural nature (Ouane, 2014), from its
connection with sustainable development (Vauge, 2014), and from a call for
reshaping our economies (Zaalouk, 2014).
6 See the Glossary for a definition of quality in adult learning and education.
The purpose of this guide book

This guidebook is about the quest for quality, which is a lifelong pursuit linked
to social justice. As we move in time and space new challenges emerge,
but our vision is that no one should be left behind in the quest for self- and
collective realization. We have to consider all possible means for enabling
the active participation of all citizens in education. We must look at both
challenges and opportunities, such as those that technology offers us for
making linkages and improving access to information, knowledge and skills.
We must seek out possibilities for retaining positive values and acquiring
new ones which foster deeper appreciation for human, linguistic, cultural and
ecological diversity.
Action research for ownership and transformative learning
We perceive action research as an approach (not a fixed and closed
model) through which control over the development and implementation
of educational policies and programmes is given to the people concerned.
They have the right to define their own problems, find their own solutions,
have their own experiences, make their own mistakes, and create their
own successes. We see quality as a process of becoming better, advancing
and improving, rather than as an ideal state of perfection. Quality education
does not mean importing a template or model, applying it wholesale, and
watching it fail or remain alien to the social context. Such an approach is a
waste of time for the people concerned. Action research7,7by contrast, is an
empowering and emancipatory approach which uses dialogue and reflection
to offer tremendous opportunities for individual and collective empowerment
and transformation through learning.
7 See the Glossary for a definition of action research.
19
Introduction
Understanding that an education system is an evolving cultural product with

its own history allows us to step back from what we think of as normal and
take a broader perspective. The history of what is called education today is
in many parts of the world interwoven with a recent history of colonization,
power struggles, and resistance. We need to acknowledge this fact. From our
perspective, the ultimate goal is to reshape education and lifelong learning so
that they are conducive to the building of more productive, democratic, just
and peaceful societies. All the contributions to this book reflect in one way or
another on policies and programmes that contribute to the emancipation and
empowerment of youth and adult learners.
20
Action research for developing a culture of critical reflection on practice

Action research has been conceived as a means for practitioners and
researchers to improve their practice. It is a process of systematic reflection,
inquiry and testing which investigates what is being done and suggests how it
might be improved by the reflective practitioner. Many good quality adult
literacy programmes in multilingual contexts and other initiatives which create
a multilingual literate environment88 share a common feature: they use action
research to work systematically and continuously on improving their practice.
They do not use the same methods, but we can observe them using common
principles. In this book, we therefore focus on these principles and not on
specific methods. If you are interested in reading about specific methods,
we have listed some guidebooks on action research in the bibliography. We
understand this book as complementary to them.
Conducting action research is not without risks because there is no change
without risk-taking. Conducting action research is a learning process in which
we learn about self-reflection, ethics, and critical approaches to research
itself, as well as discovering ways of dealing with conflicts, hurdles and
frustration.
The target group of this book
This book provides guidance for those who train people in the field of youth
and adult education and who manage the implementation of non-formal
education and curriculum99development programmes for youth and adult
literacy. It is also aimed at those who work in the literary world (publishers,
authors, etc.). Most of the people for whom this book is intended are
based in universities, ministries, education districts and non-governmental
organizations and have a bachelors degree. The tasks and professional roles
we have in mind are:

training future personnel for youth and adult education in higher education
institutions
improving the quality of adult literacy and non-formal education
programmes (a task often assigned to middle-level managers and
technical advisors)
training trainers for adult literacy and non-formal education programmes
providing opportunities to use literacy in everyday life in different
languages
8 See the Glossary for a definition of multilingual literate environment.

9 See the Glossary for a definition of curriculum.
developing curricula for adult literacy programmes

training trainers, publishers, authors, and content and application
developers for digital media
Building on theory and practice

This book links theory and practice, which are often treated separately.
Adult literacy personnel often receive only practice-based training, but we
believe that a dose of theory is beneficial for broadening our reflection base.
The focus of the book is on building your understanding of action research
and how it can be used to improve education and learning in the field of
youth and adult literacy in multilingual and multicultural contexts. We see
this book as extending UNESCOs capacity-building publications such as the
series African Perspectives on Adult Learning. Through this book we share
knowledge on how collaborative and participatory action research can be used
to continuously develop good quality adult literacy programmes by integrating
the multilingual and multicultural social context as a resource. The challenge
for education today is to adapt and respond to the complex realities of a
linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social disintegration
and discrimination. We can use action research to reflect on this, moving from
theory to practice and from practice to theory.
Interplay between bottom-up and top-down
The advantage of action research is that it does not preconceive solutions
from the top down. Rather, it gives practitioners the power to decide, and
encourages them to root their services in the realities of their social context.
Conducting action research requires understanding the logic of systematic
reflective practice and adapting it to ones needs. This book attempts to
clarify both of these steps.
We begin by discussing the theory of what action research is. Three case
studies show how it was applied in an African context to provide cultural and
linguistic grounding for programmes and initiatives. Each case study is written
by a specialist from the country concerned who was involved in the case.
The first case is about establishing multilingual publishing in Niger. Action
research is used to serve multilingual education and a multilingual reading
and writing culture that responds to local readers interests. The action
research in this case entailed developing the capacities of the whole book
chain. The second case describes a participatory literacy and numeracy
curriculum development process for the capacity development of smallholder
coffee producers in Ethiopia. The curriculum is context-specific and genderresponsive, and is based on prior knowledge as well as local practices. The
third case is about an emancipated community in Senegal that needed help
in researching some of the challenges they face. The involvement of action
21
Introduction
research in the process led to an effective adaptation of the research method

and capacity development of the local community, which was then able to
apply the research tools independently. New training tools were devised
which also proved relevant for other communities in the sub-region that share
socio-cultural features.
22
A frame of reference for good quality youth and adult literacy in

multilingual contexts
We also address the question of how quality in education is conceptualized
from macro to micro level. Our frame of reference for good quality youth
and adult literacy in multilingual contexts builds on the fundamental guiding
principles1010of social justice and rights-based education. We are inspired
by the critical questions posed by Leon Tikly on education and social justice
(2010, 2011) and by the Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics and Human Rights
(IIEDH) and the Association for the Promotion of Non-formal Education in
Burkina Faso (APENF) on the right to basic education (Friboulet et al., 2006).
We recommend scrutinizing the processes of policymaking and planning,
resource mobilization, implementation, monitoring and evaluation from macro
to micro level in order to ensure that enabling environments for education
and learning are created and seamlessly linked to each other so as to serve
learners interests and needs. Only then can we talk about education for
inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Voices from three adult education specialists and our peer reviewers
We close this section on the purpose of the guidebook by sharing the views
of three specialists in adult literacy and of peer reviewers on the quality and
relevance of this guidebook. They shared these views with us after our first
testing and training workshop in Nigeria.
Jennifer Birkett (South Africa) says
I think that this guidebook can be a useful entry point into the concepts and
practices involved in action research, and a basis from which people in the
field can experiment with new and constructive ways of approaching the
issues that emerge for them.
She observes that bureaucratic constraints with regard to practitioner
implementation of action research can emerge in some contexts and should
be addressed. In South Africa, I think the guidebook would be useful in
conjunction with other training guides and approaches, such as REFLECT
(Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques).
10 See the Glossary for a definition of the term 'guiding principles'.
The latter offers specific skills and facilitator training; the UNESCO guidebook
could support such training, as it offers more depth through exploration of
relevant concepts and cases of action research in practice. The guidebook
would also be useful in universities, as a resource in adult education curricula.
Bernard Hagnonnou (Benin) states

Many books on youth and adult education develop unilateral, rigid models. By
contrast, this guidebook details a systematic and participatory action research
process whereby all stakeholders are involved in assessing, reflecting and
strategizing collectively, thereby ensuring ownership. Rather than follow
a one size fits all approach, the guidebook recognizes that a relevant,
customized solution can be collectively devised and applied only after the
actual situation is assessed. This makes the action research developed in this
guidebook relevant to any context in which it is applied.
As regards quality, the purpose of the approach is to improve intervention
in programmes and to ensure greater effectiveness and efficiency. In this
regard, the book highlights linkages between theory and practice, and
between content and final use. Case studies provide background and specific
challenges that contextualize the approach and its principles. All these factors
underline the practicability and quality of this guidebook.
Francophone Africa has sizeable experience with action research, but there is
as yet no guidebook available. This UNESCO action research guidebook can
therefore serve as an action research mother manual, providing a framework
for building upon existing experience to improve literacy education and
lifelong learning. An action research training guide specifically for francophone
practitioners could then be developed from this guidebook.
23
Introduction
Robert Jjuuko (Uganda) thinks

The guidebook is a very valuable tool for building the capabilities of personnel
at the meso-level. There is emerging consensus that adult literacy personnel
need to shift their approach so as to implement more relevant and lifechanging youth and adult literacy interventions. The guidebook is prepared
in a manner that helps adult literacy personnel to understand and respond
appropriately to the literacy needs of youth and adult learners and readers.
I suggest that we recommend this guidebook to lecturers in university
departments that offer bachelor and diploma courses in adult education. For
instance, in East Africa we could explore innovative ways of organizing a
regional conference for such personnel from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South
Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. We could start by carrying out online
discussions with interested people, who could begin using the guidebook at
their own discretion as supplementary resource material.
How to use the book

This book proposes action research for an iterative process back and forth
between theory and practice in order to further quality in education and the
creation of literate environments that support youth and adults in multilingual
and multicultural contexts.
24
What this book offers

The books chapters build on each other, relating the two major themes:
action research and quality education for youth and adult literacy in
multilingual and multicultural contexts. It aims to inspire and prepare you
to try out action research. This book does not explain specific research
methods as other guidebooks do. Action research is an approach that can
accommodate many methods and is open to expansion. In this guidebook we
look at action research from a meta-perspective, focusing on the essential
steps. The aim is to help people understand why action research is used and
how to use it to define and solve a problem. We therefore perceive this book
as complementary to other guidebooks on action research. You will find some
examples of these in the first part of the reference section.
In chapter two, we introduce you to the purpose and key features of action
research. We outline its origins and how it has been applied in different
cultural contexts. We address the question of what is good action research
by introducing you to the quality principles that emerge from practice and
theory.
In chapter three, three case studies from Niger, Ethiopia and Senegal illustrate
how the principles of action research have been applied in practice to foster
the creation of a multilingual literate environment and to support curriculum
development and the training of trainers. In this chapter we aim to enhance
your understanding of action research and guide you into reflecting on what
kind of action research could be useful in your context.
The fourth chapter suggests a framework1111that emerges for us from theory
and practice, and that may help you ask questions about the quality of youth
and adult literacy education and learning. This frame of reference is meant as
a source of inspiration that is open for discussion and revision, because what
matters ultimately is that an activity is adequate in a particular context. The
realities, and thus what means and measures are appropriate, differ from one
context to another. Our approach to quality builds on UNESCOs core
11 See the Glossary for a definition of framework.
values, social justice and peace, and takes into account the diversity of the
social conditions under which youth and adults live. The frame of reference
underlines the importance of looking at how conducive these conditions are
to effective learning.
In order to give you some ideas on how the basic principles are reflected
in concrete programmes and what quality criteria emerged, we provide
examples from Asia and Africa in chapter five.
How and by whom the guidebook was produced

The production process of this guidebook can be described as reflective
action. It started in 2009 with UNESCO and partners1212during a crossregional dialogue on Adult Literacy in Multilingual Contexts in Asia,
sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States. The meeting was attended by specialists
on the training of trainers and curriculum development for the creation of
a literate environment, and by researchers with longstanding practical and
research experience relating to bi-/multilingual approaches; and the national
focal points of UNESCOs Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) from
countries with practical experience of bi-/multilingual adult literacy and the
development of multilingual environments. The participants came from
fourteen countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Gambia, India, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Senegal,
and South Africa. Successful programmes were analysed for their quality
principles and criteria13 with regard to three areas: curriculum development,
training of trainers and the creation of a multilingual literate environment.
12 UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), UNESCO Field Office Addis Ababa, UNESCO
Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (BREDA), UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for
Education / Asia-Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL), dvv international East
Africa, Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Swedish
International Development Authority (SIDA).
13 See the Glossary for a definition of criteria.
Introduction
25
At the end of each chapter we propose that you stop reading and take time
at a Point for reflection, so that you can digest what you have read and think
about action research that could be meaningful in your own literacy work.
The book includes a bibliography. The glossary explains the technical terms
that we use.
The result of this work laid the foundation for the frame of reference for adult
literacy in multilingual and multicultural contexts which we present to you in
chapter four. Agatha van Ginkel of SIL worked with us on an outline and on
compiling summaries of case studies.
26
This book has undergone an extensive peer review process prior to

publication. We received feedback from many specialists at different stages
and from different countries. Thomas Bttner (Niger), Abdou Diarra (Mali),
Sidia Jatta (Gambia), Mamadou Amadou Ly (Senegal), Maman Mallam
Garba (Niger), and Moustapha Mountaga Diarra (Mali) gave their feedback
on the first outline. Jennifer Lyn Birkett (South Africa) and Robert Jjuuko
(Uganda) carried out a thorough peer review of the first draft and provided
further feedback later on. Ulrike Hanemann (UIL) also commented on the
draft. The participants in our session at the 10th International Language and
Development Conference (1417 October 2013, Cape Town, South Africa)
gave feedback on the frame of reference. The final draft of the guidebook
was reviewed by a critical mass of specialists in adult education from
federal and local governments, representatives of mass education projects
and universities in Nigeria, and international specialists in the first training
workshop based on this guidebook (1618 April 2014, Abuja, Nigeria). We
integrated Bernard Hagnonnous (Benin) presentation and plaidoyer for using
action research for quality assurance (see chapter five).
Point for your reflection 1
At the end of each chapter we invite you, a reflective practitioner,

to think about some questions that take you through a reflection
process about possible action research in your own context. We
recommend that you reserve a notebook for your interaction and
learning process as you go through this book, in which you can
27
As you are now at the beginning of the book, we would like

to invite you to become aware of how you start. We ask you
therefore to think about the following questions and, if possible,
exchange your ideas and responses with co-learners:
1. Why are you interested in learning about action research in
the context of adult literacy in multilingual and multicultural
contexts?
2. Do you have any questions at this point about action
research and how it could be used to improve the quality
of youth and adult literacy in your multilingual and
multicultural context? If yes, please write them down so that
you can refer to them later on and check whether this book
could answer them.
3. Do your questions point to a concrete recurrent problem? If
yes, please write it down. It could be the theme for your own
action research.
Introduction
keep all your notes, ideas, questions etc.
2
28
Action research
from a theoretical
perspective

Action research from a theoretical perspective
29
The word Ilm meaning

Knowledge in two different
arabic styles: Naskh and
Nasaleeq
The Arabic Script evolved from
the Nabataean Aramaic script
and has been used since the
4th century. In the 7th century
new characters were created
by adding dots to existing
characters because Aramaic
has less consonants than
Arabic. Diacritics indicating
short vowels were also added,
mainly to ensure the correct
loud reading of the Quran.
30
Focus of the chapter

to understand the main features, purposes and principles of

participatory action research that emerge from studies of the topic
to understand that action research differs from purely academic

research
to understand that an action research process is a learning

experience in itself
n recent years, there has been a shift in the field of adult literacy away
from a top-down methodology (developing non-formal literacy programmes
at the central level for different communities) towards a more inclusive
approach which recognizes the diverse learning needs of individuals and
communities. It is increasingly recognized that adult learners and communities
should be involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of their
own programmes; indeed, this involvement is now considered one of the
main aspects of quality. The use of methodologies that allow individuals and
communities to reflect on challenges and solutions is critical. This is aligned
to the concept of literacy for empowerment advocated by seminal Brazilian
emancipatory educator Paulo Freire and UNESCO. Action research plays an
integral part in these participatory and reflective practices, promoting literacy
for the sake of empowerment and freedom.
In this chapter, we explain what action research is and describe why and
how it can be used to improve the quality of adult literacy in multilingual and
multicultural contexts. We first look at action research theory, its origins
and main principles, and how it relates to adult education and professional
development processes. In the following chapter, we move to practice.

Three specialists from Niger, Ethiopia and Senegal share with you a concrete
example from their practice. They demonstrate how action research has been
used in three central areas of youth and adult literacy: (1) the creation of a
multilingual literate environment; (2) curriculum development; and (3) the
training of trainers.
Action research is a special way of doing and using research; it is not a

method or a research instrument like observation, interviews, mapping, etc.
As the term suggests, action research is about researching action through
action. Action research takes a systematic approach, as opposed to the
more random learning by doing. In action research, we define the problem
and question to be addressed, reflect on how to address it, plan a new way
of dealing with it, monitor our alternative approach, evaluate our action,
communicate the results, and, if they are satisfactory, change the practice.
Action research was invented to democratize research and knowledge
generation (Coghlan and Brydon-Miller, 2014). Action research abolishes
the elitist tradition whereby only the systematic knowledge generation of
university-trained scientists is accepted as research (see for example Millot,
Neubauer and Storup, 2013). In action research, practitioners can work as
a team with researchers or conduct their own action research with other
key stakeholders. Many community organizations, NGOs and educational
institutions use action research to find their own solutions to questions that
arise from their practice. They thereby improve their practice and further
their professional development (Bourassa, Blair and Chevalier, 2007). The
REFLECT approach is a popular kind of action research in adult literacy work,
and Participatory Rural Appraisal a popular methodology (Fagerberg-Diallo,
2007). In this section, we introduce you to the historical foundations of action
research, its main features and its use in different cultural contexts.
The historical and philosophical foundations of action research can be traced
back to the beginning of the 20th century (Masters, 1995), or even further
as the Encyclopaedia of Action Research attempts to capture the often
unrecognized history of action research going back as far as Aristotle and
Confucius, among many others (Coghlan and Brydon-Miller 2014, p. xxv).
However, it was not until the 1940s that the term action research was
introduced. Promoting the view that research needs to be contextualized and
ought to serve groups and communities by improving the quality of peoples
lives, the social psychologist Kurt Lewin coined the term action research
31
What is action research?
(Lewin, 1946). Lewin was a social psychologist who emigrated in the 1930s
from Germany to the USA to escape Hitlers fascist regime. He wanted
to involve people as actors in their own research, and encourage them
to support each others learning processes (Somekh and Zeichner, 2009).
Traditional research methodologies were criticized for their lack of support for
improving practice. Action research made this link by inviting practitioners to
participate in or conduct research relevant to their concerns.
32
Two main strands of action research emerged. The first strand focuses on
the individual reflective practitioner who takes responsibility for his or her
own practice, is self-critical and evaluates and improves her or his action
as a means of professional development. The second strand pursues a
collaborative approach by inviting concerned stakeholders to participate.
Collaborative and participatory action research involves the people who can
inform on the issue at stake and who will be involved in implementing the
solution envisaged. According to the action researcher Jean McNiff, the
following principles are inherent in all forms of action research: justice and
democracy, the right of all people to speak and be heard, the right of each
individual to show how and why they have given extra attention to their
learning (McNiff, 2002, p. 5). These principles correspond to a rights-based,
participatory approach to learning which is also promoted by UNESCO.
Critical research as part of democratic practice
Social and political concerns have shaped the philosophy and methodology
of action research (Somekh and Zeichner, 2009). The concern that the
research design should be open to change so that it remains sensitive to
the context is an example of this (Corey, 1949). Critical educational science
sees collaborative and participatory action research as a means to expose
oppression and to promote democracy141and social justice (Carr and Kemmis,
1986). Critical educational science privileges practice over theory. It holds a
self-critical stance towards educational theory and practice in order to realize
equal rights in practice (Wulf, 2003). It analyses the interdependence of the
education system with ideologies and historical and social conditions, and
proposes concrete and constructive interventions for change.
The reflective teacher-researcher
The positioning of the teacher as researcher is typical in action research
(Stenhouse, 1985, Elliott, 2007). The teacher is reconceptualized as a
facilitator of learning and dialogue, supporting students to explore and
conduct research in the classroom in order to inform practice and policy.
In Elliotts multi-level model the teacher-researcher is supported by the

second-level research of a university-based researcher (Elliott, 2007). In
Namibias educational reform since independence in the 1990s, for example,
teachers learn to engage critically with learning and education in order
to empower themselves as professionals and to build a local educational
knowledge base (Somekh and Zeichner, 2009).
An approach for developing contextualised adult education and learning

As part of the peer review process, Bernard Hagnonnou (Benin) described
the relevance of action research for adult literacy education in francophone
Africa from a historical perspective. Adult literacy practice was introduced in a
context where little theoretical research was available to nourish the academic
training of trainers at the outset (Blanger, 1993; Baba-Moussa, Moussa
and Rakotozafy, 2014; Par Kabor and Bakyono-Nabaloum, 2014). In this
context, action research has been the main approach for developing quality
adult education services in many countries. Literacy practitioners and NGOs
have engaged in action research in order to design and evaluate projects and
programmes. Measures have been implemented based on their findings,
including the short term training of facilitators who were then exposed to
innovative approaches such as the REFLECT approach (see for example De
Broqueville and Sibomana, 2011 and Duffy, Fransman and Pearce, 2008) and
the Pedagogy of Text approach (see for example Faundez, Mugrabi and Lagier,
2012). Over the past two decades, a sizeable body of experience in action
research has built up.
A cyclic process of professional inquiry
Action research methodology builds on basic problem-solving processes and
turns them into systematic, conscious action to improve practice. Figure 2.1
below synthesizes the main processes of the various approaches to action
research (Waters-Adams, 2006; Koshy, 2005; McNiff, 2002; Liu, 1992). The
process usually starts with the question of how to improve work being done.
By reflecting on current practice, a problem is identified for investigation.
This problem is studied and a solution determined and planned. The solution
33
Paulo Freire described his attitude towards the role of teacher-researcher

tellingly:
There is no such thing as teaching without research and research without
teaching. One inhabits the body of the other. As I teach, I continue to search
and re-search. I teach because I search, because I question, and because
I submit myself to questioning. I research because I notice things, take
cognizance of them. And in so doing, I intervene. And intervening, I educate
and educate myself. I do research so as to know what I do not yet know and
to communicate and proclaim what I discover (Freire, 1998, p. 35).
34
is then tried out and the results monitored and evaluated in order to see
whether it has improved practice. The findings are shared and practice
modified according to the results. If the proposed solution fails to improve
practice satisfactorily, an alternative solution is tried out. In practice, the
sequence of these processes might be changed and repeated before a
satisfactory solution for a particular issue is found. Some researchers choose
a single research question; others choose several questions. The involvement
of academic researchers and the extent to which scientific research methods
are used to construct theory from practice vary.
Figure 2.1 The six main reiterative processes of action research
Reflection
Planning
Modifying
Practice if Results
Satisfactory
Communicating
Results
Testing and
Monitoring
Evaluating
Action:

Reflection:
Action:

Reflection:

Action:

Reflection:

Action:

Reflection:
Action:
Establish relationships and common agenda with all

stakeholders
Collaboratively decide on issues
On research design, ethics, knowledge and accountability
Build relationships
Identify roles and responsibilities
Collectively design research processes and tools
Discuss potential outcomes
On research questions, design, working relationships and
information required
Work together to implement research and collect data
Enable participation of all members
Collaboratively analyse findings
Collaboratively plan future actions
On working together
Has participation worked?
What else do we need to do?
Begin to work on feeding research back to all participants and
plan for feedback on process and findings
Evaluate the action and reflection processes as a whole
Collectively identify future research and impacts
etc. (Pain et al., n.d, p. 3.)

Action research in different cultural contexts
Action research is a response to the positivist approach to research
which does not recognize the importance of specificity and subjectivity
in understanding natural and social phenomena and how these impact on
peoples lives. In particular, the positivist approach neglects the role played
by power and historicity in shaping individuals and communities lives. Action
35
We emphasize that the cycle presented in Figure 2.1 does not suggest that
there is a standard process. It visualizes the main processes in an abstract
way. The cycle can be repeated many times, and does not have to include all
processes if they are not appropriate. The three case studies in chapter three
illustrate how differently the principles and processes of action research can
be applied for different purposes and in different contexts. Nevertheless, in
each case you will find each of the processes feeding into the others. The
guides in our bibliography on how to use action research give you many
examples. The guide on participatory action research by Pain et al. (n.d.)
describes the recurrent stages of action and reflection that they observed and
which we share with you to illustrate the process:
researchers understand the importance of relying on both subjectivity and

objectivity in accounting for situations and in seeking productive collective
solutions. Dialogic engagement helps both the researcher and the participant
community of learners to develop a common understanding of problems
and culturally responsive solutions. Action research is therefore a culturally
sensitive strategy which can be applied in different ways depending on the
socio-cultural context.
36
Eight key aspects of action research

The action researchers Somekh and Zeichner (2009) give insights into the
use of action research in education in different world regions and describe
how the concept and methodology have been adapted to different cultural
and institutional contexts. They found that the following eight points are
helpful when we want to compare approaches to action research in different
contexts. Consider these key points to help you shape your awareness about
action research and to explain your approach to others:
1. the purpose for which action research is conducted
2. the contexts in which it takes place
3. the philosophy about teachers/trainers/facilitators and their learning that
guides the action research
4. the initiator and sponsor of the action research
5. whether and which incentives are provided to the action researchers
6. the forms of inquiry that are used
7. the relationship to other research (e.g. is other research used as a starting
point, as a resource, or not?)
8. the way in which what is learned during the action research is presented
to others
For each of these points we need to acknowledge the political purposes of
action research, its shaping by epistemological152traditions, and the need for
action researchers to position themselves strategically to have local impact
(Somekh and Zeichner, 2009, p. 19).
From their analysis of action research in different cultural and political
contexts, Somekh and Zeichner conclude that action research is being adapted
by local actors in a process that can be termed globalization from below.
The attractiveness of action research lies in its potential for educational
15 Epistemology is the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge, especially
with reference to its limits and validity (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epistemology
(Accessed 19 November 2014).
Action research as a tool for resistance and building agency163

In the African region, participatory emancipatory action research has a tradition
as a postcolonial response to problems that are rooted in the exclusion
and oppression of local communities (Chilisa and Preece, 2005, p. 195ff.).
The reason for this is that development models that came after political
independence in Africa largely followed colonial administration methods,
which had already dismantled indigenous community institutions in favour
of centralisation (Chilisa and Preece, 2005, p. 197). Feminist movements
have also drawn on emancipatory action research for overcoming patriarchal
domination and demanding equal rights and opportunities for women in all
spaces in private and public domains.
The formal and non-formal education that is today perceived as standard
emerged from European history (see for example Daff, 2014 and Elliott and
Grigorenko, 2007). It is a cultural import that was brought by force to many
societies in the world, yet it is often incompatible with local educational
cultures. Mainstreaming the European education culture as part of colonization
and globalization has contributed to the devaluing of local educational cultures,
knowledge, and in many cases the languages that people use in their everyday
lives. We should also not forget that the European style of education has its
own problems for which countries are seeking answers: for example the
16 See the Glossary for a definition of agency.
37
reform because its core principle of combining action with research

inevitably challenges the routines of the status quo (Somekh and Zeichner,
2009, p. 19). Somekh and Zeichner report that, in the 1990s, action research
received a lot of attention in East Asia with regard to reforming schools. Its
adaptation to the Singaporean culture, for instance, has been described in
detail by Salleh (2006). Two cultural values made the process challenging
because they touched on two main principles of action research. Firstly, the
Singaporean culture did not encourage taking initiative from the bottom of the
hierarchy, which made it difficult for teachers to develop agency. Secondly,
high value was placed on being productive and efficient, which precluded the
view that exploring and making mistakes is professional and productive for
improving practice. The introduction of action research (remodelled to suit the
culture) softened these positions and led to relevant innovations. The adult
literacy programmes from Africa and Asia that are introduced to you in this
book employ action research in different ways and give you further insights
into how it could be used.
strong emphasis on cognitive aspects of learning (including literacy), the

monolingual and monocultural stance, etc. We need therefore to understand
what it means for other societies to create ownership of education, and to
acknowledge that this process is an important feature of good quality. Action
research has helped people to ask questions and find answers in this quest,
for example in relation to curriculum development and the training of trainers.
38
Building agency through a multitude of participatory methods

The aim of emancipatory action research is for the community or social group
concerned to have ownership and control over the processes, ideas and
knowledge that affect it. A central principle of participatory emancipatory
action research is acknowledging and balancing power differences. One
consequence of this approach is that the affected group becomes researchers
and shapers instead of being the objects (the consumers and followers)
of top-down research. Through their hands-on experiences they gain new
knowledge and skills. Participatory methodologies such as Participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA)174and the more inclusive Participatory Learning and Action
(PLA) (Chilisa and Preece, 2005, p. 198ff.; Chambers, 2007) are typical of
participatory emancipatory action research. The main pioneers were not
academic intellectuals but workers and staff in NGOs in the South, especially
India, and a few from research institutes in the North, all of them learning
through engagement in the field. And the detail of the methods came from
the creativity and inventiveness of local people, once they had the idea of
what they could do, as well as from the outside facilitators (Chambers, 2007,
p. 11). Robert Chambers referred to a new pluralism of methodologies in this
field where people borrow from each other and develop new approaches to fit
their purpose.
The case study from Senegal in chapter three describes how PRA was
critically received by the community and adapted in order to become truly
participatory. Indeed, the challenge for participatory and collaborative
approaches is making them live up to what they claim to be. Practitioners
observed that PRA processes and outcomes often remain donor-driven and
imposed, the required training for practitioners does not always take place,
and methods are used to extract information from people rather than to
empower them.185Good practice has moved towards an eclectic pluralism in
which branding, labels, ownership and ego give way to sharing, borrowing,
improvisation, creativity and diversity, all these complemented by mutual and
critical reflective learning and personal responsibility (Chambers, 2007, p. 3).
17 See the Glossary for a definition of 'PRA'
18 We thank Robert Jjuuko for this point.
Using action research to improve the quality of adult literacy

education
Individual and collective learning of reflective practice

The action research process supports individual and collective learning as a
basic condition for improving quality in whatever we do, hence also in adult
education. This style of learning provides space to reflect on practice, both
individually and collectively. In action research, adult education personnel
and learners learn together with and from each other. They may work jointly
on improving curricula, on producing reading materials that motivate people
to read and write, on including literacy in community practices, etc. These
examples are illustrated in the case studies presented in chapter three.
All stakeholders involved in action research are viewed as both knowers (of
the practices under scrutiny) and learners. An important principle of action
research is that the power relationship between knowers and learners is equal
(Bucci, 2011). The communication process is characterized by a dialogue
about the practice in which participants recognize each others knowledge
and experience. As a result of this collective and participatory process, a
learning community is built. The learning community is empowered through
the positive reinforcement of improved practice and shared ownership, which
is also cost-effective.
Linking action research and training
It can be beneficial to embed training in action research processes. Stakeholders may need to expand their knowledge and skills as a result of findings,
to implement ideas for new solutions, or to implement the action research
process itself. The benefit of integrating training in action research is that
it offers a context where the knowledge gained can directly serve practice,
benefitting both the individual and collective learning processes. An action
research process is not a one-shot training session, workshop or crash
course. It is part of ongoing practice, with the aim of changing it for the better
for everybody involved. The action research process offers a different learning
environment from that of modern training approaches where the trainer is
seen as a facilitator or coach, because the facilitator or coach still has a higher
status as the knower and as the person who guides. The learners come to
39
A study on outstanding practice in adult basic education and training in South

Africa concluded that outstanding practice is a complex mix of institutional,
organizational, professional, contextual and personal factors. However, all
participants in this research, across a wide range of education and training
sites, identified reflective practice as the one constant feature of outstanding
practice (Kerfoot and Winberg, 1997).
learn from her/him. The people who are recruited to play a role in action
research can be from the community or the adult training institution; they can
be the researchers, other stakeholders, or all of the above. Some participants
may need additional training for their role in the action research. In short,
training and action research are different types of learning spaces. As such, it
can be a good idea to link them to improve the quality of practice.
40
Table 2.1 Features of traditional training and participatory action research

as learning process (based on McNiff, 2002)
Features of action research as a

learning process
Features of traditional training/

capacity building/crash course
The participants in the action research

process are all knowers and learners.
They build a learning community.
The facilitator/trainer is the expert/

knower vs. the practitioner who is the
trainee/learner.
Equal power relation based on dialogue

about practice and recognition of each
others contribution.
Unequal relation of power between

facilitator/trainer and trainee/learner.
The learning is practice-based and

contextualized and supports individual
and collective learning.
The learning content is subject-based

and can be decontextualized from
practice if not carefully planned.
The transfer to practice is embedded

in an ongoing process. The people who
will make use of the solutions developed
through action research understand
their importance and have developed
the required competences during the
process.
Learners need to find ways to transfer

what is taught into practice.
The action researchers are empowered

through positive reinforcement and
improved practice.
Contact with the facilitator/trainer is

short-term and not always revisited to
assess whether problems identified have
been solved.
Ownership of the process by

practitioners - which is cost-effective.
Possibly no ownership of the process by

practitioners, although modern training
approaches give space for learners to
influence the process.
Embedding literacy education and training in peoples lifelong learning

processes
In addition to using action research to improve the quality of youth and adult
literacy programmes, we suggest that literacy education and training be
conceived as one element of the services embedded in the learning process
of the people they address. Learners know how to shape the course they
need so that they can face the problems they encounter. The case studies in
this chapter illustrate this point. In recent years, there has been an observable
shift in the approaches and methods used to improve adult literacy in Africa.
As more countries are embarking on their own democratization processes,
adult literacy and non-formal education are viewed as means to empower
people who have not attended school or developed basic literacy. Adult
literacy and non-formal education programmes are developed to address
different types of development challenges: for example health, agriculture,
citizenship, sustainable development, and economic development. The role
of the adult learner has also shifted from someone who is simply taught how
to read and write to someone who should be empowered to make informed
decisions about their own lives and those of their family, community and
country. To this end, more participatory and reflective approaches to adult
literacy and non-formal education are being used in various programmes.
Some of them are showcased in this book in order to illustrate what is
happening.
To sum up, the action research philosophy promotes professional learning and
tailor-made, contextualized solutions that emerge from democratic processes
which recognize the contributions and responsibility of all stakeholders and
thus promote broad ownership for a change for the better. Action research is
linked to the fundamental principles of quality adult education. Through the
involvement of stakeholders at the levels of policy, programmes and practice,
education and learning can be improved in an integrated way.
41
All stakeholders need to learn

For the creation of a quality-culture we have to strengthen the capacities
of all stakeholders so that they learn to define, analyse and solve problems
as they arise. In this respect, the issue is not traditional training versus
action research, but how we use both in an optimal manner in order to
improve practice. For training to be more effective, it should be integrated
within action research processes. A quality-culture establishes processes
to ensure that all aspects of quality (such as access, equity, effectiveness,
efficiency and relevance) are taken into account. This is increasingly important
for programmes tailored to under-served and marginalized populations,
particularly youth and adults living in poverty in multilingual and multicultural
contexts.
Common criteria for good action research
42
We close the theoretical discussion of action research by addressing the

question of whether there are standards or common criteria for good
quality action research. As we have seen from the sections above, action
research has a philosophical standpoint that is critical and open to diversity.
Furthermore, there is general consensus that there are many ways of
conducting and using action research because it has to fit the people involved,
the question to be addressed, etc. The experienced action researcher Herbert
Altrichter reconfirms that: What we need to look for is NOT whose version
of action research is THE correct one, but rather, what it is that needs
to be done, and how action research can further those aims (Noffke in
Hollingsworth, 1997, p. 312; quoted in Altrichter, 1999, pp. 12).
The question of what makes a particular action research study a good one
requires us to consider that studys values and aims and the conditions under
which it is implemented. In action research, practices and the people who
shape them are the central concern. Synthesizing the explanations of the
previous section with a focus on values, purpose and aims, action research is,
in a nutshell, a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing
practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes. . . . It seeks
to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation
with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern
to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their
communities (Reason and Bradbury, 2001a, p. 1; quoted in Reason, 2006,
p. 189). This definition encapsulates the key principles for good quality action
research. The experienced action researchers Peter Reason (2006) and
Herbert Altrichter (1999) point to a feature of action research that we would
like to highlight: the fact that action research leaves a lot of room for choices.
Action researchers should be aware of choices and their consequences, and
make them clear and transparent, orally and in writing, to everybody involved.
Good choices are those which are important for the process at a certain
moment in time.
Action research is about empowerment, changes in relationships and changes
in ways of doing, which constitute a learning process for everybody involved.
As such, it brings with it various challenges. Good quality principles allow
room for choices and guide the process of finding out what can and needs to
be done. The following criteria for good quality action research are distilled
from practice and research.
Adaptation to emergent changes resulting from the process

The value of action research is as much in the process as in the specific
new practices that result. The process anchors the new practices in the
community of inquiry. Improving practice means learning and changing. It is
therefore essential that action research practitioners be open to the changes
that emerge from deepened understandings, new skills learnt during the
process, and the development of the community of inquiry. Peter Reason
opens up a wide range of possible emerging changes when he says that
emergence means that the questions may change, the relationships may
change, the purposes may change, and what is important may change. This
means action research cannot be programmatic and cannot be defined in
terms of hard and fast methods (Reason, 2006, p. 197).
Building ethical, democratic and participatory communities of inquiry
Action research is a highly collaborative way of conducting research and
aims to bring about social change in an emancipatory way. The vision for
action research therefore sets a frame for building ethical, democratic and
participatory communities of inquiry. Caroline Kerfoot underlines that, in
order for participatory approaches to be successful, it is necessary to adopt a
power-conscious perspective that does not overestimate the transformative
power of the local but that involves multi-scale strategies that include
institutional and structural issues (Kerfoot, 2009, n. p.). Transformative
political agendas constitute an enabling environment for such processes.
43
Conducting action research in line with the available resources

Action researchers face all sorts of constraints with regard to available
resources, such as time and materials. These constraints cannot be ignored.
They may overwhelm people with over-ambitious plans and thus make
them feel sceptical about embarking on action research, even though they
might otherwise have felt positive about the approach. One crucial criterion
for quality is therefore pragmatism. Altrichter calls it pragmatic quality,
by which he means that the research strategy and instruments need to be
compatible with the actors available resources. He gives the example of
teachers involved in action research, who must be able to use the research
strategy and instruments without too much additional training and in such
a way that they fit to the economics of time and resources
(Altrichter, 1999, p. 4).
Some examples of ethical values of democratic dialogue and participation are:

an egalitarian approach
accepting diversity of opinions and ideas
accepting dissent
transparency and consensual research (people are not researched against
their will)
(Altrichter, 1999; Reason, 2006).
44
Building such communities and communicative spaces poses challenges but

worthwhile ones (see for example Gay Wicks and Reason, 2009). Ethical
codes should be established at the beginning of the action research and
renegotiated if clarification is needed during the process. These values are the
foundation for a safe communication space in which people can be confident
that sharing their views will not have negative consequences for them:
In order to facilitate sufficient openness, a safe space is needed in which
the participants can be confident that their utterances will not be used against
them and that they will not suffer any disadvantages if they express critical or
dissenting opinions. It is not a question of creating a conflict-free space, but
rather of ensuring that the conflicts that are revealed can be jointly discussed;
that they can either be solved or, at least, accepted as different positions;
and that a certain level of conflict tolerance is achieved (Bergold and Thomas,
2012, n. p.).
An important argument for building such communities is that creating and
maintaining new and better communicative spaces can in some cases be
more significant than finding a practical solution (Reason, 2006).
Furthermore, ethical quality includes understanding ethical issues involved
in the purpose of the research and making coherent choices during its
implementation so that people are not subject to contradictory values.
For example, data collection by performance tests based on individualistic
competition will be incompatible with a classroom which aims to develop
students cooperation (Altrichter, 1999, p. 3).
Developing an understanding of worthwhile purposes and knowledge
Both authors, Reason and Altrichter, emphasize that the process of inquiry in
action research needs to take into account that people hold different views
of what is real, of what happens, and of what are worthwhile purposes and
knowledge. An ethical, democratic and participatory community of inquiry
stimulates open discussion to scrutinize the choices available. This requires

each participant to be ready to scrutinize his/her own views. Quality criteria
for this process are:

whether
whether
whether
whether
the choices and purposes are interrogated and made transparent

there is a reflection on values
the data is confronted from different perspectives
individual findings form part of critical professional discussion
45
Valuing and developing practical knowing

Generating know-how and knowledge that is useful to actors in particular
situations is one of the key aims of action research. Frank de Jong (2012)
explains: Practice-oriented research is much more about understanding
the practice by intervening than by explaining. Practical knowing in action
research differs from knowing-about-action in empirical academic research.
Valuing practical knowing is therefore a precondition for conducting action
research. Practical knowing with regard to the conduct of the action research
cycle means deciding how many cycles are needed, balancing reflection
and action, deciding whether to reflect longer on one issue or to move on to
another question, etc. (Reason, 2006).
The figure below expands on Figure 2.1 and integrates the quality criteria (in
the star) in action research that we described above. The criteria relate to
the whole action research process. (Nb. it is not realistic to expect that each
action research process will fully address all these dimensions.)
46
Figure 2.2 Process-oriented quality criteria in action research

(based on Altrichter, 1999 and Reason, 2006)
Reflection
Planning
Quality Criteria:
Modifying
Practice
Be in line with available resources

Adapt to emergent changes
Build an ethical, democratic and
participatory community of inquiry
Develop understanding of worthwhile
purposes and knowledge
Develop practical knowing
Communicating
Results
Evaluating
Testing and
Monitoring
Before you immerse yourself in the action research in Niger,

Ethiopia and Senegal described in the next chapter, please
prepare yourself by thinking about (or better still, discussing) the
notebook:
47
1. Have you come across action research as it is introduced
following questions and then writing down your answers in your
here?
a. If so, please reflect on the following questions:

- What are the most important lessons that you have learnt
so far about action research?
- Did you learn something new in this chapter?
- Did it inspire you to reflect on what you know about action
research?
- What are your open questions about the chapter?
b. - If not, please reflect on the following questions:

- What were your immediate reactions while reading about

action research?
- Are you inspired to conduct action research in your
setting?

- What are your open questions about this chapter?
3
48
Conducting
action research
three examples
from practice
By Hassana Alidou, Christine Glanz, Maman Mallam Garba,
Alemayehu Hailu Gebre and Mamadou Amadou Ly
Conducting action research three examples from practice
49
The Ethiopic script (Geez)

developed out of an older
version of Arabic, the himjar
script. It is written from left
to right. It is used in Ethiopia
and Eritrea to write not
only Amharic, the working
ethiopian language, but also
Gurage, Tigre and Tigrinya.
50

to understand that there is no one standard for action research
to understand how action research could be useful for
(i) the creation of a multilingual literate environment
(ii) curriculum development
(iii) the training of trainers
to reflect on your own questions and ideas on using action research

to improve the quality of your practice
here is no one standard for doing action research. In order to give you an
idea about its use in practice to advance youth and adult literacy services in
multilingual and multicultural contexts, we present to you three case studies
which illustrate how action research has been used in Ethiopia, Niger and
Senegal. Each case is described by a local specialist with many years of
practical and theoretical experience in the field of adult literacy in multilingual
contexts, and who worked or works in the project or organization concerned.
Moreover, each case study has a thematic focus that is crucial for adult
literacy. The first case focuses on the creation of a multilingual educational
literate environment for non-formal and formal education in Niger. The second
case describes how action research has been used to develop a curriculum
for people working in a coffee chain in Ethiopia. The third case illustrates how
the principles of participatory action research are applied in order to develop
modules for the training of trainers in Senegal and neighbouring countries.
Case study 1:
Action research in Niger to promote a multilingual literate environment
By Maman Mallam Garba
Nigers sociolinguistic and educational context

Niger is a vast sub-Saharan country of 1,267,000 km. A multitude of
ethnic groups and languages co-exist throughout its territory. About twenty
languages are spoken, ten of which have the legal status of national
languages20,1as conferred by Law 2001-037. These languages are: Arabic,
Buduma, Fulfulde, Gulmancema, Hausa, Kanuri, Songai-Zarma, Tamajaq,
Tasawaq and Toubou. French, a legacy of colonization, is the only official
language212of the country. All other languages not mentioned above are
considered to be the languages of foreign communities living in Niger and
remain without defined legal status.
The most striking feature of Nigerien linguistics is that none of the national
languages are spoken in Niger alone, and that inside the national territory,
linguistic boundaries are permeable. In general, urban centres are multilingual
and rural areas monolingual. Each language possesses one or more
strongholds where it is the dominant language, spoken by the majority. Thus,
although they are spatially diversified, the linguistic areas all overlap, whether
10 See the Glossary for a definition of national language.
21 See the Glossary for a definition of official language.
51
Books have always held an essential position in formal education and

training systems. To this day, we still find it hard to imagine modern teaching
and learning without the use of books, in whatever form they might exist.
Consequently, since the first literacy centres opened in Niger in 1963, various
publications have been produced to support the efforts of those working
in adult education. However, a coherent programme for the development
of the literate environment, based on the regular endowment of books to
formal and non-formal educational structures, was not implemented until
the establishment of a Niger-Germany bilateral cooperation project called
Basic Education Project / Promotion of Bilingual Education19 (2PEB). Running
from 1997 to 2003, 2PEB took an education system-wide approach. After
describing the context in which this initiative came about, we discuss the
actions and accomplishments it produced. We then reflect on what lessons
can be drawn from this experience.
they are compact or discontinuous. The languages used at school and in

government administration are foreign languages22,3whereas the overwhelming
majority of the population only speak the local languages that are dominant in
all aspects of national life but remain neglected in written activities.
52
Despite their ethical and linguistic diversity, local populations share a common
Negro-African cultural background, dominated today by Arab-Islamic culture.
Thus, over 98% of Nigeriens declare themselves Muslims and more or less
regularly practice the Islamic religion, while the other 2% are Christians and
animists. Nevertheless, under the provisions of its constitution, Niger is a
secular state.
The general census of population and housing (2001) reports the distribution
of the total population by ethnic group and first language as follows:
Table 3.1

Use of national languages according to domain

(Mallam Garba and Seydou Hanafiou, 2010)
Language
Percentage of
first language
speakers
Vehicular Transcribed Used in School use

language
writing and type
Hausa
52%
Yes
Zarma
20.7%
Fulfulde
10.4%
Tamajaq
10.6%
Kanuri
3.4%
Gulmancema
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Subject and
medium in
formal and
non-formal
schooling.
Available
educational
material
Manuals and
guides for all
disciplines from
at least 1st to
3rd year.
Yes
Training
modules are
2.9%
No
Arabic

Yes
produced for
dialect of
No
non-formal
Niger

schooling in
Buduma
No
these languages
except for
Tasawaq
No
Arabic and
Tasawaq.
While this table gives an idea of the demographic weight of languages
in Niger,
Toubou
Yes
Subject and
medium in
non-formal
schooling.
it obscures their sociolinguistic dynamics. For example, Hausa and Songai22 See the Glossary for a definition of foreign language.
Zarma, the two major vehicular languages, are respectively spoken by more
than 80% and 30% of the Nigerien population.
Hybridized traditional lifestyles, behaviours and customs are now confronted
with Western culture, communicated at school through books and in the media
(radio, television, newspapers, internet, etc.). More than ever, African individuals,
languages and cultures are in a state of constant change as a result of the
shrinking of distances between regions, peoples and civilizations.
53
The written tradition in non-European languages in sub-Saharan West Africa in

general, and in Niger in particular, dates back to the Islamization of this part of
the continent around the seventh century AD. It intensified following European
colonization and the introduction of the colonizers languages. External
methods have documented writing practices in some localities, whether
original or derived from imported alphabets. At present, the attested writing
forms in Niger are as follows:4 5 6
Table 3.2
Scripts used in writing national languages
Script
Language
Sources
Greco-Latin
French
Greco-Latin
Arabic
Arabic
Arabic
Boko
NL
Greco-Latin
Ajami
NL
Arabic
Tifinagh
Tamajaq
Original
Geomancy
Gulmancema
Original (esoteric)23
Other
Hausa/ dialectal
Other
Arabic of Niger
Hybrid25
24
Zarma/dialectal
Hybrid
The two imported languages, the result

of of
Islamization
and colonization of the
Arabic
Niger
country, each gave rise to a type of alphabet, originally used only by scholars
23 Esoteric because it is a sacred script reserved to the initiated.

24 Dialectal Arabic of Niger considered NL by law.
25 These are writings without known names that are hybrids of Latin and Arabic characters.
Different scripts
but now in wide use. These are Ajami and Boko (from the English word
book), which are adapted to the phonetic characteristics of various African
languages.
Overview of the Nigerien education system
54
The Nigerien education system is divided into four components, whose foci
are explicitly defined in Law 9812 under Title III (Republic of Niger, 1998,
articles 16 to 43): formal education, non-formal education, informal learning
and specialized education.
Formal education, which encompasses special education, is a mode of
acquiring education and vocational training in a school setting. It is broken
down into different levels, from preschool to university. Its target group is
children from the age of six upwards.
Non-formal education is dispensed in a non-school setting. It is aimed at outof-school adolescents aged nine to fourteen or teenagers and adults who left
school prematurely. Non-formal education encompasses adult literacy and
vocational education and training for adolescents.
Informal learning is defined in Niger as the process whereby persons acquire
knowledge, skills and attitudes through everyday experience and interaction
with their environment in the course of their life (Republic of Niger, 1998,
article 16). Informal learning falls within the non-conventional sphere, where
training and learning occur on the job. It takes on various forms, depending on
the ethno-linguistic communities and social groups concerned: learning within
the family; learning from peers or on the street; learning from association and
union structures, etc.
Finally, special education concerns the education and training of physically or
mentally handicapped persons.
The system is disjointed due to the disparities (between regions, social
backgrounds and genders) that characterize it. Indicators on access to
schooling are steadily progressing, but the quality of teaching and learning
is still worrisome. In 2002, more than forty years after independence,
the enrolment rate was 41.7 per cent at primary level and 13 per cent at
secondary level. The literacy rate was 19.9 per cent.
Practices and uses of written languages

The study of language practices in Niger reveals that the use of written
language is conditioned less by the languages legal status than by its
sociolinguistic dynamics, determined by the demographic importance of its
speakers and the historical prestige associated with it.
Table 3.3
Written use of languages in formal education

Languages
Levels
Types
Teaching medium
1
Pre-school
Kindergartens
NL
Subject
1
Duration
Arabic
Arabic
NL
NL
3 years
Nursery schools
Traditional
Primary
Madrasa
Bilingual
Lower
Traditional
secondary
Franco-Arabic
Upper
Traditional
secondary
Franco-Arabic
French
French
English Arabic
English
6 years
4 years
3 years
Arabic
Arabic
In non-formal education, due to the high level of illiteracy in the population,

French is of limited importance. In fact, over 99% of literacy centres use local
languages. French is only used sporadically or accidentally. Centres which
operate exclusively in French are virtually non-existent. They are located only
in the capital and in the mining town of Arlit. However, in training centres that
accept adolescents, all the innovative approaches that have been developed
are bilingual. The learners begin their education in the languages of their own
communities. French is then gradually introduced, first as a subject and only later
as the medium of instruction. This configuration can be summarized as follows:
55
In the governance and education system

As the official language, French is the sole language of government, both
written and oral. It is thus taught in all formal education and training structures
of all types and at all levels, whether alone or in combination with one or two
other local or foreign languages. The table below shows the use of French as
both a subject and medium of instruction in the Nigerien educational system.
Table 3.4
Written use of languages in non-formal education

Languages
Structures
Programmes
Teaching medium
Literacy
Literacy
NL/
1
Post-literacy
56
French
Subject
1
Duration
2
NL/
French
1 year
Second chance
Non-formal schools
Education
4 years
Centres
passerelles
(bridging centres)
Alternative
Education Centre
NL
French
NL
3 to 9
French
months
4 years
Print media
Works published in national languages in Niger fall into the following
categories: teaching and educational materials; monolingual or multilingual
newspapers; and supplementary reading books that constitute literary
products (DGENF/PRODENF, 2004; Mallam Garba and Malam Abdou, 2004).
The dominant languages for the production of texts for supplementary reading
are the major languages (Hausa and Zarma). Themes tend to be somewhat
predictable, revolving around the lives of rural learners. However, literary
production has focused on fiction since 2000 and more nuanced political and
social themes have begun to emerge. The minor languages (Arabic, Buduma
and Tasawaq), being undeveloped and rarely used in formal or non-formal
education, are virtually absent from the table.
The study of language use in print mass media reveals a flagrant imbalance
in favour of French. The first newspaper published in Niger, Cahiers du Niger,
is an official monthly dating back to 1933. It is the ancestor of the current
government newspaper, Le Sahel / Dimanche. The different versions of this
official newspaper have been periodically published mostly or exclusively in
French. Depending on the political juncture, texts written in Hausa and Zarma
do appear in Le Sahel. However, the leading national language newspaper is
a Hausa monthly, Sabon raayi, published since 1964 in Madaoua with a run
of up to 3,000 copies per issue (Mallam Garba and Malam Abdou, 2004). In
general, the Nigerien press in national (African) languages disappear as quickly
as they appear, lasting only a few issues and rarely beyond one year. To date,
we can assert that apart from Ganga, the official newspaper published on the
occasion of International Literacy Day as photocopied sheets and in several
national languages, there is no national language newspaper in Niger.
Publishing for formal and non-formal bilingual education: the 2PEB

programme (19972003)
The project was initially forecast to run for nine years, but ultimately it
lasted only six (19972003). The main objective was to help improve the
internal and external efficiency of the Nigerien education system through
the implementation of basic bilingual instruction for formal and non-formal
education. The intention was to teach students basic skills (reading, writing
and mathematics) in their mother tongue27,8and to introduce French gradually
as a foreign language. In order to achieve this goal, the following areas of
action were identified:

Evaluation of 25 years of experimentation with bilingual education.

Reinforcement of the legal and institutional framework for the
implementation of bilingual instruction.
Development of a bilingual instruction curriculum and production of
teaching and educational materials for this curriculum.
26 See the Glossary for the definition of language of instruction.

27 See the Glossary for a definition of mother tongue or first language.
57
Several studies and assessments undertaken by both national and

international experts show that the curriculum in national (African) languages
that was initiated in 1973 liberates students creative abilities, enables a
better development of their intelligence and favours their academic success
and social integration. Among these studies, Niger tude sectorielle sur
lducation de base (Bergmann and Yahouza, 1992) shows that the use of
French as the sole language of instruction267leads to countless numbers
of school dropouts. Subsequent to this research, in 1997 the government
requested and obtained the support of the Federal Republic of Germany to
create the Basic Education Project / Promotion of Bilingual Education (2PEB).
Placed under the direct supervision of the General Secretariat of the Ministry
of Education, the mission of the 2PEB project was to support both national
structures responsible for the implementation of bilingual education and
private entities active in the field.
58
Training of educators and partners in charge of the implementation of the

bilingual programme.
Publication of books with supplementary texts by establishing a system to
develop a bilingual literate environment using national languages.
Implementation of a communication scheme to develop bilingual
education, taking into account regional and local specificities.
These different areas were designed to overlap harmoniously and bring about
a synergy of action in order to implement the educational reform programme
effectively and efficiently. The promotion of a literate environment was thus
positioned in an overall framework that is favourable and consistent.
New publishing institutions resulting from 2PEB
One of the structures created by 2PEB that unquestionably achieved the
goal of promoting a multilingual and multicultural literate environment
is the publishing project Albasa. The name means onion in most local
national languages and evokes the vegetables multiple layers. Following
the termination of the project, this publishing entity, formerly managed by
2PEB on behalf of the Ministry of Education, was transferred to Soutba,
an education support programme with bilingual components which opened
in 2004. After nearly four years of existence, Soutba symbolically returned
the publishing unit to the ministry. In practice and even legally, Albasa no
longer exists today. Nonetheless, it helped shape the publishing landscape
in national languages through its production, as well as through the private
publishing structure that was born from its ashes. Albasas publishing
activities focused on the production of texts and the development of teaching
and supplementary materials for the consolidation of learning. In just four
years of existence, Albasa yielded impressive results, as outlined below.
Teaching and educational materials:
Translation of maths and social studies books for 3rd year level into the
five national languages used in education.
Writing of five social studies glossaries.
Review and reproduction of 2nd year level maths books.
Reproduction of maths, reading/writing and language manuals for 1st and
2nd year levels in the five national languages used in education.
Creation of five illustrated bilingual national language/French dictionaries,
followed by national language/French glossaries for use in Basic Cycle 1,
printed and distributed in 2004.
Production of five national language/French comparative grammar
manuals, designed for teacher trainers and authors of bilingual textbooks,
copied and distributed in 2003.
A publishing structure called ditions Gashingo

In 2006, people who had contributed to the creation and development of
the Albasa publishing unit created ditions Gashingo, a private company
publishing books in African and European languages. Gashingos products
are published in monolingual or multilingual versions, sometimes combining
different African languages or African and European languages that have
become official languages of African states. It has also branched into
selling the books it produces or acquires from its local and foreign partners.
The goal of ditions Gashingo is to provide teachers, their students, and
literate children and adults with a range of high quality reading and training
materials that are tailored to their respective needs, thus helping to foster the
emergence of an educative society in Africa.
The twin foundations of the companys credo are: 1) to uphold quality
standards by offering interesting and attractive books; and 2) to keep the
books affordable in line with the purchasing power of the readership.
Business is now booming for ditions Gashingo. It has established itself as
the heir to Albasa, having completely subsumed the latters activities, its
59
Additional activities:
Development of a strategic framework for the creation of a bilingual
literate environment, particularly through the publication of a reference
brochure in July 1999, in partnership with UNICEF.
Creation of the publishing unit Albasa, organized around twelve
collections targeting different categories of readers.
Establishment of a national reading committee for books in national
languages, responsible for evaluating the quality and integrity of literary
production intended for primary students and neo-literates (Decrees No.
0105/MEN/SG of 5 April 2001 and No. 0050/MEB/SG of 23 May 2002).
Publication of 71 bilingual (French and national languages) or monolingual
supplementary titles for young learners, literate adults and education
researchers, in partnership with UNICEF, CONCERN and AIDE & ACTION.
Establishment of a national writing competition in national languages in
collaboration with UNICEF, open to all persuasions and all literary genres.
This competition is in its third edition and has received close to 400
manuscripts.
Trial-run of three privately-owned newspapers reporting on the issue of
bilingual education as well as general news: Sauyi, a monolingual Hausa
bi-monthly with a circulation of 3,000 copies; Ingawarai, a Hausa-French
bilingual monthly with a circulation of 5,000 copies; and Intrt public-Amfanin jamaa--Laabiizey nafa, a Hausa-Zarma-French trilingual monthly
with a circulation of 3,500 copies.
partners and even some of its products, to the point where it is difficult for an
uninformed person to see the difference between the two structures.
Action research for the development of a multilingual

and multicultural literate environment
60
Learning a language, any language, cannot be an end in itself. Experience has

shown that students in bilingual schools and literacy centres often have little
to read once they have left the learning environment. In these conditions,
the skills acquired fade over time and most of the learners fall back into a
second state of illiteracy tinted with frustration and remorse. Knowledge that
is not used is lost and languages that are not practised die. Any acquired skill
must therefore be oriented to a practical goal and a social purpose. This is the
idea behind the measures taken through the 2PEB project by the Ministry of
Education in collaboration with other partners, which aim to create a literate
environment in national languages. Creating a literate environment means
bringing about the emergence of a context in which any educated or literate
person possesses something to read and write, not only to fulfil vital needs
but also (and especially) for enjoyment.
Many publications for raising awareness existed at the time that 2PEB was
started, but readers were easily tired of them, either because they were
always the same or because they had to compete with other media such
as radio or television. Similarly, knowledge of writing cannot be limited
to counting (addition, multiplication, etc.) or to the writing or reading of a
hypothetical letter. People need to read or write to share their knowledge and
experiences, to relax, and to seek personal pleasure that can be shared with
others.
An action research process in five steps (19992003)
The action research conducted in the context of 2PEB was performed in
order to find solutions to two problems: 1) the production of materials
in national languages was not profitable; and 2) the publications were
of low quality. Both issues were addressed by working on the quality of
publications throughout the book chain. The implementation of this action
research took three years (19992003) and ranged from an assessment of
the countrys publishing situation to an evaluation of the publishing process.
It was essential that each actor in the publishing chain (see Figure 3.1
below) exchange ideas and results with his/her pairs and actors both up- and
downstream of the chain. This way, a knowledge community was created
involving the whole publishing chain.
Figure 3.1 The actors and processes of the book chain by Mallam Maman

Garba [free translation by the editors]
Author
internal editors
Reading/Validation
of the manuscript
external editors
Interesting in publishing
No
Yes
Revision
illustrations
Desktop publishing
dummy (proofs)
data entry,
proof reading
layout,
proof reading
Printer
No
Ozalid process proof

in colour
computer to
plate processing
binding
Yes
bonding
stapling
Printing
cutting
cartage
compilation
Publisher
Retailer, bookseller
Reader
packing
61
Publisher
62
Although the chain looks vertical in the figure, the relationship between
the actors is to be perceived as horizontal too: they are all depending on
each other. Each actor is considered an expert in his/her own domain.
The strengths and weaknesses of each element in the chain and the links
between them were analysed and their capacities reinforced. Self-evaluation,
pair evaluation and mixed evaluation were part of the action research to
enhance learning for high quality services and products. This demonstrates
the importance of working with all actors in the book chain. With regard to the
six main processes of action research, the following steps were taken:

Reflection through the organization of workshops and diagnostic studies.
Planning in order to identify appropriate approaches and training for each
actor in the book chain.
Evaluation through self-evaluation, pair and mixed evaluation and impact
assessment.
Modification of practices by immediate remediation. The qualitative
difference of the products before and after the intervention was palpable,
in form as well as content.
Networking among the actors in order to encourage interaction, exchange
and defence of their interests.
The first step in the process of developing a literate environment was to carry
out studies to assess the circumstances governing the production of texts
and to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to target specific
actions. The original idea in the design of the 2PEB project was to support the
establishment of a private book production unit, either by creating one from
scratch or by revitalizing an existing one. The goal was to supply bilingual
schools and centres with teaching and learning materials of good quality, but
also in sufficient quantities and on time. Initial queries revealed the existence
of private individuals who were motivated and active in the field of bilingual
education: authors, researchers, teachers and educational leaders who were
ready to invest their time and energy. However, these people did not possess
the technical knowledge and fundraising skills to set up a competent and
competitive business.
The following figure does not necessarily reproduce the chronology of events.
Rather, it is a systematized written description that can serve as a guideline to
replicate this action research.
Figure 3.2 Action research process for the development of a multilingual

2. Evaluation
of readerships'
publishing needs
3. Reinforcement
of capacities of
stakeholders in
the book chain
4. Establishment
of a permanent
system of
processing
manuscripts
5. Support for the

distribution of
books
Who does what in the sector? By

what means? Is the institutional, legal,
technical and social context favourable
to the development of a viable publishing
industry? Strengths and weaknesses of
the different stakeholders? What role for
national languages?
Do the books produced meet readers'

expectations? Is the production
diversified? What is the quality of
the materials used? What types of
writing should production be oriented
towards? What are the readers' financial
capacities?
What support can be provided to the

various stakeholders in the book chain
to make them more competitive and
better able to develop products that
meet quality standards?
How to harness existing production

and attract people to the publishing
profession? How to ensure the
production of individual or private
publishing projects?
How to improve the accessibility of

books in all geographical areas and
across social classes?
63
Periodic
evaluations of
the process
What are
the means
of sustaining
acquired skills
and addressing
observed
weaknesses?
How to ensure
the financial
autonomy of
stakeholders
in the book
chain?
1.Assessment of
publishing sector
in context
Step 1: Assessing the state of publishing in national languages
64
This step is essential in order to understand the situation of publishing in

general and of publishing in national languages in particular, in view of the
imbalance between the written use of these languages and French. The
objective of this step is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the
various stakeholders in the book chain, to identify their respective needs, and
to involve them and sector authorities in discussing what actions can be taken
to develop bilingual education as adopted under Law 9812. At this stage, it
is therefore important to take into account the implicit or explicit frameworks
of the countrys educational, cultural and publishing policies. Ad hoc studies
should be conducted along the same lines.
In Niger, the areas selected for investigation were the publication of books
of all kinds and public and private print media. To that end, one study was
commissioned to assess the presence of and the prospects for national
languages in the countrys written press (Alidou and Mallam Garba, 1997), and
another on publishing in African languages and the private sector (Bttner,
1998). The studies yielded edifying results. While there is a relatively good
supply of educational and reading materials available in French, production
in local languages is stuttering and networks for their written use are limited
if not embryonic. Access to books and newspapers is clearly hampered by
multiple and varied factors: high rates of illiteracy, absence of a reading
culture or national book policy, poor diversity of products, failure to consider
readers wishes, low financial and technical capacity of stakeholders in the
book or press chain, widespread poverty, lack of marketing and distribution
structures, etc.
The production of books in national languages was carried out mainly by
government structures and the lack of any competition led to very poor
product quality. In all languages, the books are produced abroad and published
at random intervals. Newspapers have experienced phenomenal growth due
to their liberalization in the context of a nascent democracy. However, the
space reserved for national languages in the press is limited to the occasional
stilted proverb or expression to back up a statement, or a one- or half-page
comic strip. The few listed newspapers are supported by development
projects that fully cover the cost of their purchase and free distribution. At
the time of the study, the price of a book or newspaper was prohibitive and
the survival of the publishing company could not indefinitely depend on such
development projects, which are essentially temporary structures.
Step 2: Evaluation of readers needs
Step 3: Training of stakeholders in the book chain

An examination was made of both the training and output of those involved
in the book production chain, including publishers, authors and illustrators
(whether working alone or together), thus combining theory and practice. The
same applied to all stakeholders. Two types of workshops (described below)
served as a reference.
Text production workshops
A series of writing workshops was initiated, either in national languages or in a
bilingual format, with a view to producing supplementary reading texts. Aimed
at already literate people, each workshop brought together twenty-four to thirty
participants selected from all regions by the decentralized literacy services.
Workshops were organized in each of the five national languages taught in
bilingual schools. Participants, who were tasked with a writing project, included
neo-literates, civil servants, farmers, activity leaders and homemakers. In
principle, no subject was excluded and all genres were welcome.
Each language group met three times a year at three- to four-month intervals
for a working period of seven to ten days. For each subsequent session
the location was changed, so as to take the participants out of their familiar
context. The first session involved starting, presenting and critically analysing
the writing projects in a collective and participatory framework under the
supervision of experienced authors and researchers in national languages.
65
Independently of the low purchasing power of the national readership,

particularly in rural areas, the aim was to identify the factors that impede
access to existing books, whether purchased or acquired for free. Why
are books not read even when they are distributed free of charge? During
two reading workshops held in 1999 to evaluate existing products, one in
Tillabry and the other in Maradi, readers with different skill levels and social
backgrounds met to discuss books, brochures and other writings in national
languages. The aim was to make recommendations for improving the quality
and presentation of subsequent works to be produced. These readers (who
were drawn from literacy centres) confirmed the abundance of works produced
by government structures, especially the Directorate of Literacy and Adult
Education, but also highlighted many sources of dissatisfaction, including lack
of thematic diversity, content that was ill-suited to the needs and expectations
of the neo-literate, poor quality media, and a bewildering variety of writing
systems and dialects. A list of complaints and recommendations was drawn up
to guide future production.
The second session was devoted to reviewing the progress of individual work
and making various recommendations regarding both the form and the content
of the works in progress. The third session focused on the completion of the
work and the finishing touches, as well as on publishing and copyright issues
prior to publication.
66
The training format borrows from the study De lide au texte : guide des
auteurs by Bttner and Frings (2000), whose latest version was tested and
enhanced during these workshops. This manual thus serves as a handbook for
author trainers, even though the course is always built around the participants
natural inclinations. Only people who want to become a writer do so. Any
dropouts from the workshop are a case in point.
Training workshops for authors and illustrators
These are designed according to the same philosophy, but each book project
pairs up a writer and an illustrator. Pairs then work together under supervision
from experts in the two fields involved. This approach is suitable for the
production of short texts for young readers that require a profusion of images.
The co-authors work in close harmony and cultural biases are corrected on
the spot. The works produced in these workshops, later known as childrens
albums, are always bilingual, apart from exceptional cases. Texts in both
languages are laid out side by side.
Step 4: Establishment of a permanent system of processing manuscripts
4a) Acquiring manuscripts
The establishment of a stock of documents for the regular production of
reading materials requires encouraging literary creation in national languages
and acquiring existing and unpublished texts whenever available. The collected
manuscripts are then submitted to accredited experts, proofreaders and
specialists in specific areas to correct form and content, rule out plagiarism and
ensure the plausibility of the content and its compliance with accepted norms.
Publication is always subject to the signing of a contract between the author
and the project on behalf of the ministry.
Spontaneous inventory of productions
As soon as the project was inaugurated and its goals were made public, many
people spontaneously proposed their manuscripts for publication, some of
them very old. These were received with no guarantee of publication and on
condition that only copies and not originals were accepted. Manuscripts not
approved by the selection committee were returned to their authors; those that
were selected remained in the publication circuit.
This influx of submissions yielded some good quality works, many of which
had remained at the manuscript stage because of the climate of fear that
persisted during the long period of emergency rule (19741989). Topics
considered taboo at that time could not be brought to public attention, let
alone published. The democratization of regimes in Niger created a context
that was more favourable to rich, varied and relevant literary production.
The literary contest was a wide-reaching national annual event. It received

many applications: an average of 120 per edition for all languages. Juries were
formed according to language to select the best candidates, based on the
contest rules and an accepted rating guide. The first prize was initially set at
300,000 CFA francs and subsequently raised to 1,000,000 CFA francs, which
generated stronger interest. Prizes were also awarded for the best work in
each language. In a context where the average wage of civil servants hardly
exceeded 50,000 CFA francs, the effort of applying was well worth it for many
candidates. Winning, or being selected for a contribution of merit, paved the
way for publication in one or more languages, based on a publishing contract
where the rights of each author were respected. This activity continued to
yield important literary works even after the closing date of the competition.
4b) Establishment of a desktop publishing unit
Faced with a lack of credible private publishers, the programme opted
to set up a small desktop publishing (DTP) unit on its own premises. In
conjunction with private partners and individuals, its mission was to oversee
the processing of incoming manuscripts to make them into publication-ready
documents (prepress). The unit comprised an experienced DTP officer and
typists, who were either full-time employees of the programme or contractual
workers. Equipment was kept to a strict minimum but was of good quality:
desktop Mac G2, monochrome and colour printers, scanner, specialized
67
Organization of literary competitions

The parallel use of text and images is central to the vision of a dynamic and
active learner-centred pedagogy. With this in mind, national competitions
were organized to identify and promote new talent in the areas of writing
and illustration. The aim was also to identify collaborators for the planned
publishing projects with regard to both teaching materials and supplementary
reading. A cartoon contest and three literary competitions were held in the
period from 1999 to 2002. From the twenty candidates, three illustrators
were selected and kept on as strategic collaborators, including one from the
countrys rural central area. In addition to the prizes they were awarded, their
works were also published in several public and private newspapers that
helped to establish their reputations.
software (Quark Express, PageMaker, Adobe Photoshop, etc.), office supplies

and other publishing materials. In countries where credible, professional
structures exist, such an initiative would not be necessary: strengthening
the countrys capacities and generating awareness about the benefits of
diversifying high quality production would suffice. In Niger, however, more
needed to be done.
68
Once the publishing unit was set up, anyone with a mono- or bilingual
manuscript in or about the national languages could contact the project
office or a private publisher to inquire about procedures for submitting the
manuscript for publication. Technical committees were set up to select
high-quality works, and a network of partnerships was developed around
this technical core via contracts with various stakeholders in the book chain,
avoiding the necessity of hiring someone specifically assigned to publishing.
All the people involved were paid by the job. Once the mock-ups were sent to
the printers, the production was monitored by Albasa (in a private publishing
house, the process of transforming a manuscript into a book must be
supervised).
Step 5: Supporting the dissemination of books developed strategies
Throughout this process, several initially unforeseen strategies were deployed
in reaction to situations or opportunities that arose. We can only mention the
most prominent ones here those considered problematic in debates about
the promotion of national languages.
Development of orientation documents
A brochure entitled Les stratgies pour la cration dun environnement lettr
en langues nationales (Strategies for the Creation of a Literate Environment
in National Languages) was developed in 1999 in collaboration with UNICEF
and with the support of a team of consultants. It was published in French
and distributed in thousands of copies in schools and other educational
institutions. In the clearest and most objective manner possible, it dealt with
all aspects of creating a literate environment in Niger.
To facilitate the convergence of language use, the programme supported
the organization of a workshop to harmonize national language spellings,
covering seven of the ten recognized national languages. Numerous and
significant differences were noted with respect to how the national languages
are written. Some occur through ignorance, others through laziness. Many
people do not have the notion that spelling mistakes in national languages
are possible. Everyone continues to use their own system, even though
standardized spellings have been adopted or proposed for each of these
languages. This situation cannot be allowed to continue, since writing and

reading a language in a similar fashion and according to the same norms is
one of the objectives for the consolidation of written literature.
Table 3.5
Monolingual and bilingual publications by Albasa
Names
Content
Language(s)
Hirondelle
Illustrated childrens album
Bilingual
Papillon
Short stories for children, age twelve
Bilingual
Niger, pays des contes
Modern tales or tales from oral
Bilingual
tradition
4
Histoire(s) du Niger
Texts on the history of Niger and its
Bilingual and
regions
monolingual
Duniyar Hausa
Anthology of short texts
Hausa
Ay ne ha
Anthology of short texts
Songai-Zarma
Rfrences Albasa
Dictionaries, glossaries and grammars
Bilingual
Textes touareg
Text in Latin and Ajami alphabet
Tamajaq-French
Rikicin soyayya
Love and adventure story
Hausa-French
10
Bine patay
Love and adventure story
Songai-Zarma-French
11
Les paroles qui font
Poetry
Bilingual
mouvoir
12
Bd Albasa
Childrens comic
Bilingual
13
Traditions et sagesses
Philosophy, traditional knowledge,
Bilingual
du Sahel
customs
14
Nos artistes populaires
Life and works of popular artists
Bilingual
15
ducation en Afrique
Analysis of educational systems
French
16
La caravane
Biannual journal
Bilingual
69
Publishing of catalogues
Albasa catalogues listing published works and books to be released in each
collection were published from 2002 onwards. Covers and summaries of the
works were presented in a colourful layout, complete with information on how
to publish a text with Albasa. Albasa was particularly known for the diversity of
its publications and the quality of its production in terms of choice of format, ink
and paper quality, number of illustrations, compliance with spelling norms, etc. In
order to make these achievements available to publishers and the general public,
collections were created and supervised by literary or artistic publishers.
70
Cross-translations of works
The multiplicity of African languages has always been cited as an
insurmountable obstacle to their promotion in writing. Apart from issues of
dialectal differences, which are usually resolved in daily usage, there is the
technical and economic problem. The project was therefore obliged to come
up with operational responses to these concerns. Two options were chosen:
1) simultaneous and parallel production of texts in all relevant languages; or
2) translation and adaptation of texts from one language to another, either
directly or indirectly by passing through a third language. The former option
was consistently applied in the creation of teaching materials; the latter
served to harmonize and balance literary production in different languages.
This is particularly true of childrens albums which are bilingual by design. In
many cases it was simply a matter of translating material from one national
language to another in order to produce a print-ready version, since the
cultural content and graphic design did not change. Training workshops were
organized on many occasions for authors of textbooks and illustrators who
had to adjust books to cultural differences when going from one language to
another (for example in the case of clothing fashions, foods or sedentary vs.
nomadic lifestyles).
A method was devised for adapting texts to suit different school levels or
age groups. An example is the production of three different versions (comic
book, simplified version and full version) of the Law on the orientation of the
Nigerien educational system, a benchmark document for the promotion of
awareness about bilingual education among school stakeholders and partners.
The full version has yet to be published because the government organization
has been unable to honour its portion of the allocated tasks.
The strategy for making the programmes activities sustainable is based partly
on the strong involvement of private publishing entities and civic organizations
active in education (cultural associations and national and international NGOs),
and partly on diversifying funding sources by lobbying the technical and
financial partners of the government. For example, competitions and some
publications were financed by organizations such as UNICEF, Aide et Action
and Concern. Hence, an all-out communication drive is required.
Resolved and unresolved obstacles to promoting a multilingual

As a result of the action research with actors of the whole book chain, the
literate environment has become lively and multilingual. Cost-efficiently
produced, varied and high quality publications that correspond to the
personal and collective wishes of readers have been made available for
both educational and recreational purposes. Both the demand for literacy
programmes and the rate of success of learners have increased. Bilingual
education classes, literacy centres and non-formal education have helped
to develop a reading culture. Some graduates of literacy centres have even
become acknowledged authors. Publications by graduates of alternative
education centres now serve as recommended texts for the training of
adolescents.
Several authors have become widely known and popular through their
involvement in the action research process. The trained illustrators have
established an association in order to make themselves more accessible.
The publishers have also established a national association that promotes
public publishing and defends their interests. They are now collaborating
with other publishers in the sub-region regarding training, co-productions,
co-development and distribution of materials in the shared cross-border
languages.
Despite these significant positive developments, however, major obstacles to
the promotion of a multilingual literate environment remain. The most serious
problems concern the distribution and dissemination of books, the nonapplication of international or regional taxes on cultural products, and the lack
of a book policy. The remainder of this chapter will discuss these problems in
more detail.
The weakest link in the book chain in Niger is undoubtedly distribution.
Access to books, even when supply exists, is hampered by a lack of
information and official sales points. This situation is aggravated by the
immensity of the national territory, the poor writing culture among the
71
A number of obstacles to promoting a multilingual literate environment

have already been resolved. These include issues relating to the specific
characteristics of national languages, which have been resolved by innovations
such as the development and dissemination of several Unicode fonts, the
development of book chain capacities, and the creation of a directory of
available national language books (for the period 19642004). Today language
diversity is controlled through parallel translation.
population, and the existence of a free distribution system set up by NGOs

that usually benefits neo-literates, depending on what the NGOs are able to
acquire. Attempts to encourage the creation of press distributors have been
unsuccessful. This is an unattractive business because books are produced in
small quantities and rarely read.
72
Creating a book policy has proved difficult due to the fragmentation of the
sector, despite the fact that issues related to books and reading are of interest
to the ministers of culture, commerce and finance, as well as those in charge
of education and training. It is necessary to distinguish between a book
policy per se and a school policy or even a book policy in national languages.
Technical documents have been developed for each of these issues, but the
measures they recommend have yet to be implemented. Niger therefore
continues to lack a book policy; and its absence causes the array of obstacles
already identified. Moreover, creating such a policy would require the
harmonization of various national and transnational laws.
The development of a multilingual and multicultural literate environment is a
dialectical and dynamic process. Texts are not produced in a vacuum. Rather,
their production is influenced by the simultaneous presence of numerous
educational, cultural and economic factors. Developing a multilingual and
multicultural literate environment therefore requires an explicit political
commitment through the adoption of a coherent and consistent book policy.
Think about, if possible discuss, and then write responses to the

following questions, which are designed to guide your reflection
on your own practice in relation to the case study you have just
read:
73
impacts on the literate environment in which you are

working?
2. Which languages are important in peoples everyday lives but
underrepresented in your literate environment? Why do you
think this is the case?
3. In what ways has action research been useful for advancing
the creation of a multilingual literate environment in the case
presented by Maman Mallam Garba?
1. What is the sociolinguistic and educational context that
Case study 2:
Action research for curriculum development: an example from Ethiopia
By Alemayehu Hailu Gebre
74
Figure 3.3 Picture from a literacy manual developed by ANFEAE
This case study shares practical experience on how action research can
be used to develop a literacy curriculum to improve existing adult literacy
programmes in multilingual and multicultural societies. The case concerns
the Adult and Non-formal Education Association in Ethiopia (ANFEAE), a
legally registered NGO working exclusively on education. ANFEAE operates
under the conviction that education opens doors of opportunity for all people
in all societies, enabling them to develop livelihoods and to realize their full
potential. ANFEAE therefore puts education at the centre of development
activities in order to bring sustained change to the lives of people and
communities. ANFEAE implements activities in the following areas:

development of training guides, manuals, instructional materials and

reading materials suitable for primary school children as well as neoliterate adults;
provision of education and training opportunities for children and adults,

particularly those from marginalized and under-served social groups;
training of government personnel and literacy facilitators on the purpose
and provision of basic education programmes and post-literacy activities.
ANFEAE won the World Banks Development Market Place competition in

2003 and the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy in 2008. ANFEAE has also
been awarded a certificate of appreciation in 2009 by the Federal Ministry of
Education (MoE) in recognition of its contributions.
This case study begins by introducing Ethiopias educational and cultural
policies, and to the literacy and language issues that shape the development
of adult literacy curricula in the country. This is followed by a discussion of
the processes involved in the development of a literacy curriculum using
action research. The chapter concludes by analysing the quality criteria and
lessons that emerged as a result of the implementation of these processes in
Ethiopia.
Country profile with a focus on literacy and language

The second most populous nation in Africa, Ethiopia, is a federal state with
a federal government, nine regional states, two city administrations and
over 800 districts. The central statistics authority of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) reported that the population of Ethiopia in 2011
was 84,320,987 (FDRE CSA, 2011).
Ethiopian society is multilingual and ethnically and culturally diverse. Different
sources show that the country comprises over 80 ethnic groups with distinct
languages and/or dialects and cultural features. A wide variety of languages
are therefore used in a wide range of contexts. Multilingualism is promoted by
the state and has constitutional support. Article five of the constitution (FDRE,
1995) reads:
1. All Ethiopian languages shall enjoy equal recognition.
2. Amharic shall be the working language of the Federal Government.
3. Members of the Federation are entitled by law to determine their
respective working languages.
On the basis of these decrees, the Ethiopian government is encouraging the
use of local languages for administrative, judiciary and educational purposes.
This is demonstrated by the fact that the regional states have chosen local
languages as their official languages for various purposes. As well as being
75
76
the working language of the federal government, Amharic is the official

language of four regional states (the South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples
Region (SNNPR), Gambella, Benishangul Gumuz and Afar) and two city
administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa). Other regions have also made
their own decisions as to which languages to adopt as their official language.
Examples include Oromia (official language: Afan Oromo), Tigray (official
language: Tigrigna), Harari (official languages: Harari (Aderi) and Afan Oromo)
and the Somali Region (official language: Somali). English is a foreign language
for most Ethiopians and is used only by the educated elite. Nevertheless,
its use is widespread in secondary and higher education and in international
communication.
The education sector is one of the areas in which Ethiopias sociolinguistic
dynamism is most apparent. Section 3.5.1 of the 1994 Education and Training
Policy (ETP) (Transitional Government of Ethiopia, 1994) states:
In recognition of the pedagogical advantages of learning in ones mother
tongue, and of the rights of nationalities to promote the use of their
languages, primary education will be given in nationality languages.
In accordance with this policy framework, strong emphasis is placed on the
use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary schools.
Although the ETP states that English is taught as a subject starting from
grade one (ETP, 3.5.7), in practice it is not introduced until grades five,
seven or nine, at the discretion of the regional states. Amharic is taught as
a subject to non-Amharic speakers in some regions. The ETP clearly states
that Amharic shall be taught as a language of countrywide communication
(Transitional Government of Ethiopia, 1994). This means that most students
are encouraged to be trilingual (or multilingual): beginning to learn in their
mother tongue but also learning Amharic as a federal government language
and English as a foreign/international language. Twenty-one languages are
currently used as media of instruction at primary school level (Heugh et al.,
2007), all of which are also taught as subjects. Some of these languages,
such as Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrigna, are studied in higher education
institutions up to postgraduate level. Afan Oromo, Tigrigna, Wolayita, Gamo,
Sidama and Kafa are used in teacher training colleges to train primary school
teachers (FDRE, MoE, ESDP IV, 2009).
As well as its educational policy, Ethiopias cultural policy (FDRE, MoYSC,
2003) also encourages linguistic diversity and growth. The cultural policy of
Ethiopia states the following aims:
1. to give [all] the languages [and] literature of the nations, nationalities,

and peoples of Ethiopia equal recognition, respect and opportunities for
development.
2. to create a favourable situation for scientific research and an inventory
of the languages [and] oral literature. of the nations, nationalities, and
peoples of Ethiopia for the promotion of sustainable development.
3. to provide the necessary professional assistance to help the various
nations, nationalities and peoples choose their official language.
Language choice often has significant political implications. After the current
government took power in 1991, Ethiopias regional states were entrusted
with the task of deciding on their official languages and the languages of
instruction at primary level. Following these decisions, some regions decided
to change the script they use for writing their local languages. The Amharic
script that people were used to was replaced by the Latin alphabet. This
meant that adults residing in Amharic-speaking regions who had writing
and reading skills in the Amharic script were suddenly labelled functionally
illiterate because they could not read and write in the Latin script. This
example shows that, in a context where several scripts are in use, classifying
people as literate or illiterate is often difficult and controversial.
Overview of adult literacy education in Ethiopia
Like many countries in Africa, Ethiopia has a low literacy rate. The national
adult literacy rate is 39 per cent (49 per cent for males and 29 per cent for
females), which means that there are about 26,847,000 illiterate adults
(15,839,730 males and 11,007,270 females) (UNESCO, 2012). The Federal
Government of Ethiopia has started taking action to tackle this by promoting
adult education, particularly functional adult literacy (FAL). Under the
Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) IV, the government has
pledged to put more efforts into mobilizing resources and developing the
necessary partnerships for a sustained adult literacy campaign (FDRE, MoE,
ESDP IV, 2009). The programme will focus on tapping the potential of adult
education and adult literacy to boost social and economic development, with
particular emphasis on women.
77
The aforementioned facts demonstrate the significance of language issues in

education at all levels, from primary through to tertiary and adult education.
It goes without saying that the promotion of local languages as the media of
instruction in literacy programmes carries great socio-cultural significance.
Research indicates that, although multilingual adults are able to express their
views in any language, they are most confident when using their mother
tongue.
The Ministry of Education issued and officially launched the National Adult
Education Strategy in February 2008. Since then, a series of other essential
documents have been produced, including the Curriculum Framework
for Integrated Functional Adult Literacy (IFAL) (FDRE, MoE, 2010c), an
IFAL Implementation Guideline (FDRE, MoE, 2010b), Minimum Learning
Competencies (MLC) for the IFAL programme (FDRE, MoE, 2012) and FAL
Benchmarks (FDRE, MoE, 2010d).
78
The largest literacy provider in Ethiopia is the government. Other institutions,

including NGOs and faith-based organizations, are also engaged in adult
literacy education and are designing and implementing their own programmes
based on these national frameworks. Literacy programmes are provided in the
shade of trees, in primary school classrooms and in other community settings,
including purpose-built non-formal education centres.
According to the National IFAL Implementation Guideline, the main categories
of participants of the IFAL programme are:
people over 15 years old who have never been enrolled in formal schools
drop-outs from first cycle primary schools
prisoners
marginalized and under-served women
pastoralists and semi-pastoralists
fishermen
people with disabilities
people from low-income households in both urban and rural areas
The guideline explains to literacy facilitators how to pre-assess applicants
literacy in order to assign them to the appropriate course level. IFAL
programme facilitators include formal school teachers, agriculture
development agents, health extension workers, alternative basic education
facilitators and community volunteers. However, where the necessary
resources are available, literacy facilitators are recruited exclusively for the
task. According to the guideline, those interested in working as literacy
facilitators should be educated to at least grade 10 level and must complete
a two-month initial training programme. The duration of the IFAL programme
is officially set at two years, although the frequency and number of actual
contact hours is left to the discretion of learners and facilitators, since it
depends on various contextual factors.
Developing and distributing literacy primers is the mandate of the regional
states. Regional states prepare literacy texts based on the national curriculum
framework which was developed and printed in September 2010. The
framework clearly states the principles that regional states should adhere to
when preparing literacy primers. It covers:
what constitutes IFAL
programme content
programme duration
the roles of different stakeholders
expected results
how to teach literacy and numeracy
The framework also explains the general approaches to be taken to teaching

literacy. It favours the whole language approach over the phonetic approach,
and the integrated literacy approach over the stand-alone approach. In other
words, literacy should not start with letter recognition and progress to word
and sentence construction. Instead, adults should be encouraged to read
words and sentences which give meaning to their daily life and allow them
to discuss and internalize concepts. Moreover, literacy and numeracy skills
should be integrated and treated as one rather than two subjects.
Another essential document is the national IFAL Minimum Learning
Competencies (MLC), which was prepared and put into use in February 2012.
The MLC presents the expected profile of an adult learner after completing
the IFAL programme. In doing so, it identifies the ways in which improved
literacy skills can help learners overcome problems related to livelihood
and life in general. Expected competencies are divided into seven broad
categories: farming, health, income generation, civics and ethics, environment
protection, gender and social life. These categories are the foundations of all
literacy-related programmes in Ethiopia.
Literacy programmes in Ethiopia are beset by a number of challenges. Low
levels of human, financial and material resources constitute the greatest
challenge at present. Although the budget allocated for adult education under
ESDP IV is significantly higher than under ESDP III28 (FDRE MoE, 2005), there
remains a significant budget gap that needs to be filled through aid. If aid is
not available, the resources for adult education are often the first to be cut
off. Moreover, human resources and structure at both federal and regional
levels are currently insufficient to realise the governments ambitious plan to
enrol over 17 million adults within the planning period. At district and kebele
(locality) levels, the situation is graver still.
28 According to the ESDP III document, the allocated budget share for the whole period of
ESDP III was only 0.5% of the total education budget, whereas the planned budget share for
ESDP IV is 8.8%.
79
80
In spite of the very well-designed and articulated policy framework at federal

level, existing experience and expertise at regional level is insufficient for
the development of learning materials in accordance with the basic principles
articulated in the national framework. Another challenge that should not be
overlooked is the lack of appropriate training programmes for IFAL facilitators.
It is clear that well-organized, relevant and regular training programmes
must be put in place if primary school teachers (whose experience is more
concerned with formal child teaching and learning) are to be engaged in
literacy facilitation. Formal school teachers will tend to lack the knowledge
and skills necessary to make literacy lessons relevant to students daily lives;
development agents and health extension workers may lack the skills to
incorporate literacy into the work that they are already doing.
In a nutshell, although Ethiopia is on the right track, it needs to address the
outstanding challenges in a timely manner if it is to achieve its objective of
improving adult literacy levels.
Panorama of the different scripts used in Ethiopia
Many of Ethiopias languages have no script, whilst others have several. The
extensively used Amharic script, sometimes called the Saba script, claims its
origin from the ancient language Geez. The Amharic script has 245 characters
with 35 root letters, each with seven forms. In addition to these 245
characters or letters, the Amharic script has its own distinct way of notating
numbers which differs from the widely used Arabic and Roman numerals. As
well as the Amharic script, the Latin and Arabic scripts are also used in written
communication in Ethiopia. More than half a dozen different languages in
Ethiopia use the Latin script. A hybrid script which merges Amharic with Latin
and others is also used for various purposes.
The most important questions to be posed here are:

What are the implications of this multitude of scripts as regards literacy

programmes?
Why and when do people prefer to use one script rather than another?
Which of these scripts are used for formal and which for informal
purposes?
Which texts exclude what sort of people and why?
Those who want to promote literacy should seek answers to these and other
relevant questions in order better to understand the situation of the local
people at whom literacy programmes are aimed. These people are already
confronted with a great variety of scripts and many different types of written
and oral communication.
Having a good knowledge of the scripts that are used for written
communication in Ethiopia would help literacy programme implementers
design relevant and useful curricula. It is also worth noting that new
technologies are giving rise to new types of scripts which we cannot afford to
ignore, such as scripts for text messaging on mobile phones.
Action research in order to embed literacy and numeracy in the

coffee value chain in the Oromiya Region
In the sections that follow, we share with you how ANFEAE used action
research for the development of relevant FAL curriculum materials in the
Limu Seka, Limmu Kossa and Chora Boter districts, all of which are within
the Jimma zone of the Oromiya Region. The project is operational in eight
kebeles (lower administrative units). In Ethiopia, both NGOs and government
education offices may develop FAL curricular materials, as long as they are
in line with the national FAL curriculum framework developed by the Ministry
of Education. Practitioners, including government education offices and
NGOs like ANFEAE, develop context-based FAL learning materials which they
then test, enrich and print, either for their own use or for sharing with other
implementers working in the area.
If you visit rural districts of Ethiopia where the livelihood of the overwhelming
majority of the population relies on coffee production, you will learn that one
of the most widely known international organizations, Oxfam GB, together
with the Regional Agriculture Output Marketing Agency, is putting a lot of
effort into improving the quality of the coffee value chain, with the aim of
benefiting rural coffee growers and their households.
81
As well as scripts and text, symbols and signs also play an important role
in conveying messages. Symbols and signs augment text communication
in most rural and urban areas in Ethiopia. During ethnographic field
observation, we noticed that many advertisements, messages and notices
were multimodal, combining signs, symbols, pictures and text (often in more
than one language and more than one script). Road signs often featured
both words and symbols and advertisements almost always had pictures.
Messages were repeated on several occasions by combining words from
Amharic, English and other languages to make a hybrid language (Gebre et al.,
2009).
Coffee is a very important cash crop in Ethiopia. It provides livelihood

to more than 10 million people and contributes sustainably to the
countrys annual revenue. Coffee is a crop that requires intensive
labour with the involvement of all family members. Women participate
in virtually all of the activities of the coffee value chain, although they
are denied equal access to and control over the benefits. Women are
often the ones who suffer the most when there is a bad harvest and/
or price failure.
(Source: FDRE, MoARD, 2010)
82
The ANFEAE three-year pilot project was entitled Empowering Smallholder

Coffee Producers through an Alternative Coffee Marketing Initiative in Limmu
Kossa District. Its aims were:

to develop the value chain of organic coffee

to develop community organizations and enterprises
to promote womens leadership
to establish and develop private sector linkages
to promote product improvement, diversification, adaptation and value
addition
to enable service provision
At the outset of the project, poor literacy skills were preventing smallholders
from reaping the benefits of the coffee market. Literacy programme
facilitators wondered how to integrate relevant literacy and numeracy lessons
into the coffee value chain, from coffee seedling production to coffee
marketing. It was at this point that ANFEAEs intervention was found to be
essential.
There was no ready-made curriculum suitable for this specific context.
Besides, ANFEAEs experience has shown that one-size-fits-all teaching and
learning materials do not benefit adult learners. ANFEAE therefore decided to
learn more about the coffee growers situation before attempting to resolve
their problems. Action research was found to be the best way of doing
this. Action research is about learning from practice while practising. It is
therefore a deep learning experience which combines cognitive, affective and
psychomotor aspects.
The action research started in September 2010 and ended in December 2012.
It was characterized by the following stages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Figure 3.4 The cycle and nine stages of our action research
7.
Testing (2)
6.
Analysing
feedback,
enriching
materials etc.
8.
Analysing
feedback,
enriching
materials etc.
5.
Testing (1)
1.
Initial
questions
4.
Elaborating
the teaching
and learning
materials
3.
Proposing
and agreeing
on learning
contents
2.
Understanding
the context
9.
Implementing
modified learning
programme
widely
Continuation
of reflection
and action
83
Posing initial questions

Understanding the context (1 month)
Proposing and agreeing on the content of learning materials (1 month)
Elaborating the teaching and learning materials (1.5 months)
Testing (phase 1) in practice (6 months)
Analysing feedback from practice; enriching teaching and learning
materials, environment and approaches (0.5 months)
7. Testing (phase 2) in practice (6 months)
8. Analysing feedback; enriching teaching and learning materials,
environment and approaches (3 months)
9. Implementing the modified learning programme widely (a new cycle of
action research can then follow)
Stage 1: Posing initial questions
84
The initial questions that called for action research were:

Is it possible to design relevant learning content based on an analysis of the
tasks and livelihoods of the target community?
What linguistic and cultural issues impact on adults motivation to learn to
read and write in the target community?
What testing and enriching processes would help to develop quality
materials for a literacy curriculum?
During this first stage, we reflect on our initial reasons for carrying out action
research and identify the issues or puzzles that we wanted to use action
research to solve. Without asking these questions, we could not begin to
conduct action research.
Stage 2: Understanding the context
Understanding the context means identifying what knowledge exists and
pinpointing its limitations. This step also involves asking key questions. Our
approach differs from so-called needs assessment because traditional needs
assessment is a deficit-based approach which asks what is lacking. We start
from what is already there.
Relevant questions at this stage include:
What are the specific strengths and limitations of the current situation?
What solutions can be proposed?
How might the proposed solutions be tested and evaluated?
How can the proposed solutions be implemented? What roles should the
government and the community play in their implementation?
What steps should be taken to involve and respect the language and culture
of the community?
The following pages address these practical questions in greater detail.
What are the specific strengths and limitations of the current situation?
Understanding the context can be summarized by a single word: learning. The
specific objectives of ANFEAEs assessment were:

to learn about the major life activities linked to the coffee value chain;
to identify what farmers already know and practise regarding coffee
production, processing and marketing;
to identify gaps in the farmers knowledge and ways they could improve
their practice;
to identify the felt and unfelt needs directly related to the coffee value chain;
and
to understand the sociolinguistic and cultural context of the local people.
The approach adopted was to start from the strengths and then progress to the
limitations in order to avoid a deficit-based approach.
ANFEAE chose to adopt this hybrid method of PRA and ethnography because
ethnographic research is a powerful tool for recognizing diversity and for learning
what is already there through the eyes of the local community. For example,
one exercise merged the transect walk of PRA with ethnographic participant
observation by asking a group of local people (women and men) to walk across
the village with ANFEAE specialists who made thorough observations of what
was going on in the area, who was doing what, who had what sort of skills,
etc. all the while continuing to pose questions and challenge assumptions.
Through this process ANFEAE was able to identify both the villagers existing
skills and the additional skills they required to improve their coffee production
and marketing. It was not an experts view; rather, it was a joint analysis by the
specialist and the local community. ANFEAE started from where the farmers
were and designed learning materials on that basis (see 3rd column of table 3.7)
whilst also introducing new knowledge that would be useful for them (see 4th
column of the same table).
The groups in the community that were involved in the study
There are two main types of finance groups in the project district: multipurpose
cooperatives and saving and credit groups. Most women are involved in saving
and credit groups, while most men are members of multipurpose cooperatives.
The need for basic literacy skills seemed less pressing when the groups were
first formed, but this changed in due course when their capital increased and
additional requirements appeared. When a saving and credit group matures, the
money must be deposited in the bank. This requires the executive members
who run the group to be able to read and write.
85
The methodology adopted was a combination of ethnographic study and

Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) (Bauer and Hoffman, 1995), which includes
field observation, thorough discussion, semi-structured interviews, and checklist
and focus group discussions. Cooperative leaders, womens saving and credit
group members, and male members of cooperatives were consulted separately.
Prior to the field visits, key technical terms like value chain and female-owned
enterprise were contextualized by finding equivalent terms in local languages.
Based on this framework, field observation and discussions were conducted by
repeatedly posing the exploratory question Why? to the local people.
86
Focusing on the womens groups, the study found out that there are three
learner profiles within each group: (i) those who are unable to read and write
Afan Oromo using either the Amharic or the Latin script (often elderly women);
(ii) those who can partially read and write Afan Oromo in the Amharic script but
not in the Latin script (they were participants in the famous Ethiopian National
Literacy Campaign that took place during the military regime); and (iii) those
who are able to read and write Afan Oromo using only the Latin script (these are
young women who have recently been enrolled in and dropped out of formal
schools).
The majority of the members of the saving and credit groups required literacy to
carry out their daily tasks, including:

recording the dates of credit and repayment

reading land certificates
reading scales in shops
reading tax receipts
reading books
reading saving and credit records
reading labels on packages
writing letters
signing their name
Apart from these skills, many of the women expressed a strong desire to be
able to operate mobile phones and rent them out for the purpose of income
generation. They identified the ability to calculate incomings and outgoings from
mobile phone rental as a skill that they would like to learn.
Development agents from the Ministry of Agriculture told the assessment team
that the womens lack of reading and writing skills affected their training and
the use of technology in agriculture. Many client farmers were unable to take
notes during training in Farmers Training Centres (FTCs). Health Extension
Workers also said that lack of reading and writing skills impedes the efficient
communication of health messages and thus adversely affects community
health.
Although the study resulted in a number of helpful findings, there were also
some challenges. One of the main difficulties that ANFEAE faced was that
the context assessment had to take place during the peak farm season, which
meant that the farmers (especially the women) had very little patience for long
discussions. This difficulty was overcome by focusing only on core points and by
complementing the discussion with observation.
Some of the findings regarding the context:
Stage 3: Proposing and agreeing on the content of learning materials

One might ask what processes were involved in developing a quality curriculum,
who the main actors were, how these actors collaborated and what mechanisms
they adopted to implement and evaluate the action research. The following few
pages will describe the kind of collaboration that was created between the NGO
and the government, the process undergone and the results obtained.
Collaboration between ANFEAE, community organizations and other
relevant actors, including government offices
At the outset of the project, ANFEAE organized a consultative workshop
involving relevant government organizations such as the district education,
agriculture and health offices, as well as community organizations such as
coffee growers cooperatives, saving and credit associations, and coffee market
cooperatives. In that workshop, the findings of the context assessment (stage
87
Almost all the respondents are able to communicate in two languages:

Amharic and Afan Oromo. Many of them can read and write the
Amharic script, but still call themselves illiterate as a result of the
way others perceive them.
The farmers homes and villages contain several types of reading
materials. However, there are insufficient links between agricultural
and literacy skills. Agricultural skills are passed on without the
integration of literacy skills, and there is little creativity as regards the
use of the available literacy materials at home. Literacy materials do
not feature enough agricultural content.
Because they lack the ability to perform written calculations, women
group leaders are obliged to pay external people to help them with
bookkeeping.
Government-assigned agricultural development agents confirmed that
most farmers in the area cannot use the planning format provided
to each farmer by the Ministry of Agriculture because they lack the
ability to read and write in the regions official language (Afan Oromo
written in Latin script).
Respondent farmers believe that their inability to read and write
jeopardizes mutual trust among the saving and credit groups. They
fear that mistrust could increase as savings grow and business
streams expand further.
1) were presented for enrichment and validation. Experts representing the three
district government offices were entrusted with the task of identifying the
main problems and appropriate learning contents for their sector. Afterwards, a
small group established with the consensus of all stakeholders consolidated the
contributions.
It was agreed that each organization should play a role in the implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the action research as follows:
88
The agriculture office agreed to assign its development agents to take part
in curriculum development; the health office followed suit.
As a centre of excellence in adult learning and literacy curriculum
development, ANFEAE took responsibility for coordinating the entire effort.
The local community was involved in all the stages of the process, from
context assessment to evaluation of the results. Language and culture
issues were handled mainly by the local community.
What processes were followed in developing the curriculum materials?
Step 1: Define the specific learning themes and objectives
The first step was to determine learning objectives with the active involvement
of all stakeholders. ANFEAE found that improving the livelihood of the rural
community was the primary and common concern of both learners and
providers. There was unanimous agreement that the main aim of integrating
functional literacy into the coffee value chain was not to teach literacy as an
autonomous skill, but rather to enable farmers to use literacy skills in their dayto-day activities. Based on this, the following overall and specific objectives were
identified:
Overall Objective: Improving the livelihoods of the farmers and their families by
integrating functional adult literacy into the coffee value chain.
Specific Objectives:
To enable members of market groups to read, write and understand words
of generic relevance to their lives.
To enable learners to record and communicate information in writing.
To enable farmers to build practical knowledge and skills related to the
coffee value chain, thereby boosting their income.
Stages of the coffee value chain:

The coffee value chain involves several stages from planting to
marketing. We identified four main stages of the chain, namely:
Any attempt to improve the skills of the farmers, who are the main
actors in the value chain, should place equal emphasis on each of these
stages. The starting point is to understand each stage and to be able
to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the farmers dealing with
them.
Step 2: Determining learning content

The content of learning was devised based on the lives and livelihoods of the
learners. ANFEAE took lists of tasks within the coffee value chain and decided
to develop the contents of the literacy curriculum around them. A number
of community members were consulted on the proposed learning contents.
ANFEAE also made a critical exploration of existing literacy practices and priority
learning needs in the community, using the combination of participatory and
ethnographic methodology described above. The advantage of ethnographic
research is that the researcher does not depend exclusively on the farmers
(possibly selective or flawed) memory of their experiences. ANFEAE conducted
ethnographic-style research in the farmers everyday environments watching
and recording while they cultivate and take care of their coffee farm, sell
their products and buy the agricultural inputs they need. In other words, the
researchers went about observing how the farmers conduct their everyday lives,
seeing and hearing who they are and what they value. Nothing was missed
neither the special ways agricultural input is used and the mistakes farmers
make with it, nor the way a product or service impacts on their lives. The
ANFEAE team wrote detailed accounts and vignettes of the actual processes,
incorporating the voices of participants themselves. The following methods and
tools were adopted:
89
1. coffee planting
2. coffee production
3. coffee processing
4. coffee marketing
Table 3.6
Research methods and tools used by ANFEAE
Methods
Tools
Observation (ongoing)
of general environment, of materials, of ways

of communication (transect walk, mapping,
90
etc.)
Participant observation
Informal discussion
Interview
Interview guide, probing
Focus group discussions (eight participants in
Checklist of semi-structured questions
each group)
Audio-visual documentation
Photography, videotaping, audio

documentation
The following table depicts both the available skills identified and the new skills
that needed to be acquired.
Table 3.7

Major tasks
Existing skills and learning needs of women in the coffee

agronomic activity chain: FAL Coffee Value Chain
Specific tasks
Existing skills
Skills lacking for

value adding FAL
in coffee value
development
Backyard
coffee
nursery
Site selection
Clearing
Layout preparation
Sewing the seed/

planting
Knowledge of proper soil type;

Use of small farm tools
Selective clearing (saving
shades)
Seed bed preparation;
Estimating seed-bed area
Selecting viable seed;
Preparing seed bed and shade
Energy saving techniques;

Use of modern tools
Calculating the precise
seedbed size vis--vis the
required seedlings
Determining the precise
depth for sowing;
Recording planting data
Major tasks
Specific tasks
Existing skills
Skills lacking for

value adding FAL
in coffee value
development
Planting
Harvesting
Watering
Watering skills
Weeding
Selective weeding skills;

Knowledge of local weeds
Permanent field
preparation;
Clearing, digging,
planting pits
Use of small farm tools;

Digging planting pits using
household labour
Shading
Preliminary shading skills
Coffee tree/bush
management
Removal of dry branches;

Traditional pruning
Coffee protection
Identification of affected
tree
Picking the coffee

and transporting it
home
Identification of matured
coffee bean to be picked
Timing of watering (setting

watering calendar);
Water saving and watering
technologies;
Calculating the amount and
cost of water
Knowledge of new harmful
weeds;
Cost/benefit analysis of
using or not using herbicide
Measuring the correct
space between pits;
Determining/measuring
correct pit size (30x50cm)
Layout and preparation of
coffee seeding pit
Recording of dates
Shade management and
timing (coffee should be
shaded only 25%);
Permanent and temporary
shading; identification of
shade tree variety
Timing of branch removal;
Pruning techniques and
timing
Disease types and
symptoms;
Procedures and measures
to be taken in removing
affected tree;
Field sanitation skills
Proper handling of coffee
cherries;
Sanitation and uniformity;
Avoiding production
wastage;
Avoiding abortion/
deflowering
91
Backyard
coffee
nursery
Major Tasks
Specific tasks
Existing skills
Skills lacking for

value adding FAL
in coffee value
development
Processing
92
Drying
Drying skills
Pulping
Manual skills
Hulling
Manual hulling (removal of

the hull)
Basic skills of packing
Packing
Marketing
Transporting
Selling
Income
management
Local means of transport

(women carry to market
while husbands wait at
home)
Market days, market
collectors and bad prices
Handling and use of small

income
Sanitation;
Appropriate drying bed
preparation skills
Proper pulping technology
selection;
Economic analysis of
pulping
Simple hulling machine
operation and maintenance
Proper material
identification;
Weighing packages and
labelling techniques.
Decision making power;
Access to and control over
income
Market information
gathering and analysing
techniques;
Market assessment, chain
and cost analysis, and
profit making
Saving and credit skills;
Budgeting, budget
recording;
Bargaining power,
leadership skills;
Business planning,
diversifying income stream;
Knowledge of legal rights;
Assertiveness
In addition to the aforementioned felt needs, ANFEAE also identified other

lessons that might benefit the learners. In some cases, learners did not
immediately recognize the relevance of certain actions to their day-to-day
lives, and therefore did not spontaneously identify them as needs. However,
researchers endeavoured to engage them with these issues and to explain how
they could be meaningful and relevant to the learners lives. Among the content
areas added were:
family and the roles of family members
resource distribution
the coffee ceremony
the importance and functioning of cooperatives and unions
micro-finance and banking
coffee branding
Stage 4: Elaborating the learning and teaching materials

Having identified the content of the curriculum, the next step was to structure
it in such a way as to imply a logical flow from the familiar to the unfamiliar (not
necessarily from simple to more complex material). The best principle ANFEAE
employed in this regard was to start with what the farmers know already and
slowly progress to what they need to know. Existing literacy materials were
identified and used as supplementary reading materials where and when
necessary. Efforts were made to include in the learning materials the various
types of texts which are to be found in the learners literate environment, such
as election posters, health/family planning posters, posters on coffee quality
keeping and processing, posters on womens rights, tagged coffee and fertilizer
sacks, village office notice boards and sign posts, and advertisement billboards.
Other important documents that could be found in the farmers homes, such
as land certificates, personal savings and credit books, health/vaccination
certificates, religious books, etc. were also considered in the preparation of
learning materials. The writing of the learning materials started by developing
a flow chart based on the findings of the context assessment. Then, based on
the flow chart, a syllabus was developed outlining key learning topics, generic
words and learning objectives. Key questions for discussion, approach/method
and materials to be used were also prepared.
A notable feature of the learning material is that each subject integrates literacy
and numeracy skills. Participants photos were included in the printed learning
material, as this was found to have a strong motivating effect.
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94
Another important feature of the learning material is that it is prepared in two

languages (Amharic and Afan Oromo) using two different scripts (Amharic and
Latin). Virtually all of the participants in the programme are members of the
Oromo ethnic group whose first language2910is Afan Oromo. There are also a
few Amharas whose first language is Amharic. The majority of the participants
are bilingual in Amharic and Afan Oromo. All learning materials are therefore
prepared in both languages and each learner has the chance to compare and
contrast concepts introduced in both. It was found that learners prefer to have
materials presented in both languages, as opposed to only in their first language.
In addition to the learning materials, a facilitators guide (also prepared in both
languages) gives detailed information on principles of learning, facilitation
techniques, and assessment. This guide is a crucial tool for newly-assigned
agriculture development agents who have never facilitated literacy lessons
before.
Lessons learnt from testing phases (1) and (2) and analysis of the
respective feedback (stages 5 to 8)
The pilot programme lasted 15.5 months overall, including two testing phases
lasting six months each. It took this long because adult education involves far
fewer contact hours than formal education, and because the project involved
addressing the problems of coffee growers. In each of the piloting phases, wide
ranges of experience were captured via pre-designed data collection formats.
Different aspects of the implementation were regularly assessed through these
data collection formats as well as quarterly stakeholders review meetings.
Factors that were assessed include:

the relevance and appropriateness of the contents of learning materials and

the facilitators' guide
the appropriateness of the learning timetable
the effectiveness of the learning process
the contribution of newly acquired literacy skills to livelihood improvement
ANFEAE envisaged scaling up the literacy programme using the enriched literacy
materials from the two pilot stages in collaboration with Oxfam GB. Action
research influenced the testing not only of the draft learning materials, but also
of appropriate grouping of learners (mixed sex or same sex), as well as the
choice of facilitators for integrated FAL programmes (agriculture workers, school
teachers or health workers).
29 See the Glossary for a definition of mother tongue and first language.
Day-to-day teaching and learning is carried out by the development agents

(DAs) of the Ministry of Agriculture, who receive a top-up payment. The DAs
have received and are still receiving regular training on how to facilitate literacy
classes. Topics covered include how to handle adults, learning and teaching
methods, facilitation skills, and lesson planning. Training is delivered in places
like Farmers Training Centres, Health Posts and public and individually owned
shelters, depending on the decision of the learners groups.
Mixed or single sex literacy circles?
There is one literacy circle in each of the eight kebele. A circle is a group of adult
learners consisting of 20 to 28 members. Members of all circles except one are
farmers. However, during the course of the action research, ANFEAE learnt that
a cultural barrier prevents the participation of women. To remedy this problem,
ANFEAE initiated three more literacy circles exclusively for women. The previous
eight circles, which promote literacy in and for the coffee value chain, are mixed
sex groups despite the cultural barrier, although the proportion of women is
very low. The three women-only circles, which did much to increase womens
participation, were engaged in literacy-integrated activities regarding saving and
credit. The total number of beneficiaries of the literacy circles therefore stands
at 412 (143 women).
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Choice of appropriate facilitators

Deciding on appropriate facilitators was a serious issue in the action research.
Conditions for the commencement of a FAL programme appear favourable since
there are agriculture development agents, health extension workers, formal
school teachers, cooperative promoters, and educated youth all living in the rural
villages. The major question to be answered was which group would make the
best facilitators of the envisaged FAL within the coffee value chain. Some people
believe that adult education is solely the duty of the Ministry of Education.
Others believe that education should not be confined to classrooms and is
thus the duty of other ministries as well, such as the Ministry of Agriculture.
Most stakeholders believe that agriculture development agents are the people
best suited to the task of facilitating literacy learning among coffee producers,
given their closeness to and knowledge of the occupation that the farmers are
engaged in. It was therefore agreed to try the agriculture development agents as
facilitators of the FAL programme on top of their routine agricultural extension
activities. Nonetheless, stakeholders also expressed a strong conviction that
the facilitators should be equipped with knowledge and skills resulting from
experience of good facilitation, in order to attract different learner groups within
a specific learning time.
Brief summary: lessons learned from the two pilot phases

What follows is a brief summary of the lessons documented during the piloting
(testing and analysis) phases of the educational programme.
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First pilot phase:

At the outset, there were mixed sex groups. The assumption was that
illiterate adults are homogenous in terms of learning needs and should begin
with reading and writing skills (literacy first, then application). In the course
of action, however, it was realized that this assumption was wrong and that
adults learning needs differ based on age, social roles/responsibilities and
livelihood patterns. While the majority of the adults involved in the project
needed literacy skills for immediate income generation, others needed them
for written communication or other reasons.

Women need to have their own land in order to participate in the coffee
value chain learning. Unfortunately, however, most of the women in this
project had no land of their own, despite the fact that Ethiopias constitution
and family laws grant women and men equal rights regarding ownership of
resources. Lack of land ownership by women reflects traditional religious
and cultural practices. The learning modules that focus on coffee production
and processing were irrelevant for women who had no land. This, coupled
with cultural and religious pressure, resulted in a decline in the number
of women participating in the programme. It was understood that this
challenge could only be addressed by customizing the learning materials to
the womens needs, for example by including off-farm learning activities, and
by establishing separate literacy circles exclusively for women.

Another serious pitfall was the problem of dialect, which we learned
to take seriously. In the first round, the original learning material was
developed in Amharic and then translated into Afan Oromo. During the
process of translation, some important concepts were missed out or
rendered meaningless. Moreover, some of the words used in the translation
were in different dialects from those that the learners use. For instance
dimshaashatti means generally in the south-eastern parts of the country,
but is meaningless to people in the south-west (including the Limu region).
The equivalent term in these areas is hundumatti. The existence of one
meaningless word in a sentence makes it very difficult for the learner to
comprehend the sentence as a whole.

The assumption that adults lack awareness of the value of literacy is simply
wrong. The adults who were involved in the pilot programme were well
aware of the value of literacy in general. However, the legitimate question
they were raising is how literacy might fit into and serve their value systems.
Here it is worth noting that it is the learners themselves who should decide
what to learn and not the providers, as their value system may differ from
that of outsiders. Almost all of the adults consulted had a strong interest in
learning provided that the content was practically relevant and immediately
applicable to solve their life problems. Adults are not interested in learning
that is simply labelled good by outsiders in an abstract manner. The findings
of the study indicate that the rigid approaches and techniques employed in
teaching FAL classes contributed to an increasing lack of interest.
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Another difficulty observed was the limited involvement of the facilitators in

improving the learning materials. Facilitators were not sufficiently aware of
the importance of collecting feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of
the learning materials and facilitation guide. Although they did collect some
useful feedback, it was not done regularly or systematically. Several studies
have shown that literacy facilitators are most effective as researchers if they
are encouraged to capture the day-to-day successes and challenges that
they encounter.
Before the commencement of the second phase, all of these lessons and
others were taken into consideration and corrective measures devised. Both
the learning materials and the facilitators guide were revised by ANFEAEs and
subsequently redeveloped through a consultative workshop specially organized
for the purpose.
Second pilot phase:
The second pilot phase revealed a few shortcomings that need to be
addressed before scaling up the usage of the curriculum. During the
implementation of the second test, the programme started to focus more
on quality issues and relevant life skills, as well as on identifying workable
lessons and documenting them for further upscaling. The importance
of including more skills for people who lack important assets like land,
particularly women, was duly recognized. Researchers learned that it is
important to teach skills for generating income from diversified streams
when there are no start-up assets.

The significance of linking the literacy circles with important institutions
(government institutions, financial institutions, etc.) was recognized during
the second phase. Farmers often seek the support of both governmental and
non-governmental agencies in order to secure credit, legal status and other
technical support. It is therefore useful to link the literacy circles, which after
all are composed of groups of farmers, with such institutions.

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The second phase also drew attention to the need for the facilitators to be
role models with regard to saving, doing business, learning, etc. Although
FAL facilitators advise learners on such matters as the importance of saving,
how to establish and run a business, and the importance of continuing to
learn, they do not always do the same themselves. A good facilitator should
do more than just talk the talk; yet it was found that almost none of the
facilitators are involved in either saving or business, nor do they participate
in any kind of further learning activities.
It is crucial to recognize that adults have already acquired high levels of
computing skills and lack only the skill to represent numbers symbolically.
Ignoring this fact and starting numeracy lessons from scratch with basic
counting, as one would when educating children, is nave and betrays
an ignorance of the needs of adult learners. Strong emphasis should be
placed on identifying the appropriate starting level for teaching numeracy
and mathematics to adults, and on devising lessons that are sufficiently
challenging. By obliging learners to dwell on lessons they have already
mastered, we risk making them lose interest.
Another lesson learned during the two pilot stages is that the commitment
levels of development agents (FAL facilitators) vary. It appears that
female facilitators are much more committed and efficient than their male
counterparts. The reasons behind this require further investigation before
any conclusions can be drawn.
Emerging quality criteria and lessons learned regarding the development of

literacy curriculum materials
The quality criteria and lessons learned listed below shaped the next round of
curriculum and material development.

The use of multimodal literacies in learning texts. Day-to-day

communication and interaction uses not only text but also numbers, symbols
and signs of various kinds. In most parts of Africa, including Ethiopia, people
use a variety of symbols to represent many things. Even people who cannot
read formal literacy texts can easily understand the messages conveyed via
symbols and signs. In the third phase of the action research carried out by
ANFEAE, it was realized that it is essential to include widely known symbols
and signs in literacy curriculum materials alongside the corresponding texts.
The most important symbols and signs and their meanings can be explored
through ethnographic research (see e.g. Gebre et al., 2009) which takes a
thorough look into the everyday life of a community.
The importance of integrating literacy and numeracy lessons. In this

particular endeavour as well as in its previous experiences, ANFEAE has
learnt that literacy learning materials should integrate literacy with numeracy.
In real life, literacy is often integrated with numeracy in order to convey a
particular meaning. Merely counting, adding or subtracting numbers has
no meaning for an adult unless it involves something real, such as monthly
income and expenses, or the number of quintals of coffee produced and
the amount of money that can be earned from their sale. Literacy learning
materials should therefore reflect real life situations and should integrate
texts, numbers and symbols.
The importance of including in literacy learning materials every kind
of written material that adults are confronted with in their day-to-day
lives, for example savings or credit pass books, credit agreement forms,
government office formats, marriage certificates, tax receipts, childrens
vaccination cards, etc. Like numeracy, literacy is not learned for its own
sake; it is learned to be used. One of the most significant lessons drawn
from this project was the importance of identifying the prevailing literacyrelated tasks and practices in learners lives before developing learning
materials. Adults are more than happy to learn literacy that would help them
to discharge their multiple responsibilities as parents, as farmers (or key
agents of the coffee value chain), as members of the community, as leaders
of community organizations, etc.
The principle first learn then apply does not work in the case of
functional literacy programmes. Adults learn while they are doing
something important for their daily life, such as reading savings books,
writing or reading credit contracts, identifying expired medicine or food
products, etc. Including such lessons in literacy learning materials motivates
adults and gives them tangible reasons why they should learn to read and
write.
The importance of developing learning materials in local languages
rather than translating them from other languages. During the pilot
stage, we learned that there are several dialects within a single language.
The way we express ideas reflects our culture, our context and the dialect
we are using. Materials prepared in one language and translated into another
inevitably lose something in the process. It is therefore advisable to prepare
learning materials in local languages, rather than preparing them in other
languages and then translating them into local languages.
99
100
The importance of widening the lessons beyond the immediate

surroundings and needs of the learners, for example by addressing
diverse issues like technology (mobile phones, calculators, the internet),
banking, civic and ethical values, branding and cross-border trading, and
methods of diversifying businesses. It should be noted that the current
generation of adult learners is very much influenced by and dependent on
technologies. Information technology now plays a crucial role in almost
every development sector. It is impossible to ignore this important issue in
designing learning materials, whether for adults, youth or children.
The importance of developing bilingual/multilingual learning materials.
During this pilot project, we witnessed how adults learn to sort expired from
non-expired products even though the captions are often written in English,
not in local languages. It does not matter which language we are using and
how complex it is; what matters is whether the issue is relevant to the adult
or not. Adults are capable of learning highly complex things as long as they
perceive them as relevant to their lives.
The importance of starting from what the learners already know and
do. This is perhaps the most stated but least practised principle in adult
learning. The difficulty that many adult educators point out in this regard is
how to find out what the learners know. It is clear that we cannot do this
by conducting a so-called needs assessment, since a needs assessment
focuses on what is not there. Should we focus on identifying what adults
lack before trying to find out what they know and what they can do? The
lessons learned in this pilot project indicate that adults are more motivated
to learn when we start from their strengths and build on them to fill any
skills gaps, rather than focusing first on what they lack.
The importance of taking literacy out of the classroom. Confining
learning to classrooms is the prevailing model for childrens schooling, and
even that is contested in the present era. If adult literacy is to be used to
improve the livelihood of learners, it must be liberated from the four walls of
the classroom. Adult learning should be carried out in learners workplaces
and lessons should reflect and contribute to their current and future
occupations.
Based on the lessons learned during the two pilot implementation phases,
ANFEAE was able to develop and enrich appropriate learning materials. The
materials developed through the action research process are used not only by
ANFEAE but also by other organizations, such as local NGOs, Oxfam, and the
ministries of education and health in other coffee growing areas of Ethiopia. The
teaching and learning materials discussed here were used for over two years
until 2014. Additional modules on the benefits and organization of cooperatives
were then introduced by ANFEAE and Oxfam.
How the key actors were empowered with new skills and competences
through their experience with action research
101
Who learns from an action research project depends on the purpose of the
research. In the action research described here, which had the intention of
developing appropriate learning materials for a particular group of adults, the
main learners were the education providers themselves. However, this does
not mean that the intended beneficiaries of the educational programme have
not benefited or been empowered. On the contrary, they were empowered in
a number of ways: by being involved in the process, by making their choices
heard, by influencing learning programmes, and by determining what to learn
and what not to learn. The fact that ANFEAE adopted an ethnographic style of
research complemented by participatory data collection methods meant that
learners were able to define their own problems, find their own solutions, and
make their own voices heard.
Please think about and if possible discuss the following questions, then
make notes in your notebook:
1. Illiterate adults usually have knowledge about literacy and are not
102
homogenous. What have you learnt from the case presented by

Alemayehu Hailu Gebre about the diversity of learners profiles with
regard to:

prior knowledge
learning needs
requirements for learning environment (learning place and time,

learning materials, composition of group, etc.)?
2. In what regards has action research been useful for advancing

curriculum development in the case presented by Alemayehu Hailu
Gebre?

3. Do you have any practical ideas about how the capacity of the
facilitators in this case study as reflective practitioners/researchers
could be further developed?
Case study 3:
Action research for the training of trainers: an example from Senegal
By Mamadou Amadou Ly
ARED has the good fortune to work in contexts where the community sees
and appreciates the value of being taught in its own language. Moreover, we
bring people something new by demonstrating how far a new literate can go
after only a few hundred hours of training and by finding ways for communities
to be actively involved in shaping their own learning. We take a holistic and
integrated approach to community education, forging a link between education
and cultural identity which we believe is the key to our success. We therefore
emphasize the importance of culturally appropriate (not just functional)
learning materials.
Dozens of people trained by ARED have subsequently been able to find paid
employment with local organizations, thanks to recognition of their skills which
we also certify. Some are directly recruited as agents; others are awarded wellpaid service contracts. ARED works with local organizations and recommends
them to partners when the opportunity arises. At the local level, a number of
partner associations have human resources fully capable of conducting training
courses featuring some of our modules without supervision from ARED.
Indeed, ARED no longer needs to train literacy trainers; for more than seven
years now, literacy courses have been run by resource persons from partner
associations.
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Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED), an NGO

based in Senegal, was established in 1990 to develop programmes for (i) the
production, publication and distribution of books in national languages and
(ii) training in the field of non-formal adult education, such as literacy. Since
its foundation, ARED has specialized in the basic and continuing training of
potential facilitators of non-formal education, particularly in the Pulaar language.
From the beginning, literacy training has been considered as a measure for
Senegalese people to work on endogenous development issues in a selfdirected manner. This vision of non-formal education can only be realised if it
is grounded in a literate environment in harmony with the interests of the
target population. Providing quality publications in national languages is an
essential prerequisite for this. ARED is one of the few publishers in West
Africa that publishes books that encourage reading for pleasure, so that new
readers can identify with a story and its characters, rather than just seeing
reading as a way of learning something new.
Sociolinguistic context of AREDs work
104
Senegal is a country of about 13,508,715 inhabitants (ANSD et ICF, 2012)

from more than 20 ethnic groups. Over 90 per cent of the population belong
to the following five dominant ethnic groups: Wolof (43 per cent), Pulaar
(24 per cent), Serer (15 per cent), Diola (5 per cent) and Mandingo (4 per cent).
The remaining 9 per cent is made up of other ethnic groups and foreigners.
Senegals population is predominantly Muslim (94 per cent). There are also
Christians (4 per cent); animists and others account for the remaining
2 per cent (ibid.). The literacy rate is 45.4 per cent: 53.7 per cent for men
and 37.7 per cent for women (ANSD et ICF International, 2012; Rpublique
du Sngal, 2013).
Senegal has applied a careful policy of gradual language legislation since 1963,
but nevertheless continues to lack a clear and coherent language policy. As
Fary Silate Ka puts it30,1six national languages have already been identified
in addition to the official language of French, but their adoption as formal
languages in education has never been effective or successful. However, the
six languages in question, particularly Pulaar, have been systematically used in
literacy training since the early years of independence.
The official writing system of all Senegalese languages is based on the Latin
alphabet (Decree 71566 of 21 May 1971). This is the spelling system used for
national languages in both non-formal and formal education. Although residual
use of Arabic transliteration persists (the Ajami system in Pulaar or Wolofal in
Wolof), official spelling and book publishing remain predominately in the Latin
script. This greatly facilitates the correlation between national languages and
French.
From 1963 onwards Senegal undertook a massive literacy programme,
focusing particularly on rural populations. Until then, literacy-related
activities were mainly conducted by the non-formal sector: NGOs, cultural
associations, village development associations, religious organizations, and
large development projects or companies such as SODEFITEX and SAED. The
state has always acted in the capacity of institutional partner to literacy-related
projects, either through framework agreements supporting functional literacy
or through the faire-faire strategy (see below), with most funding provided
by external donors such as the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA), the World Bank, the German development agency GIZ, and UNESCO.
30 Paper given at Festival des Langues dAfrique (FESTILA) (3rd edition, Kinshasa, R.D.C.,
1416 June 2010). Symposium on the theme of Linguistic policies in French-speaking Africa from
independence to the present: assessment and perspectives.
Thanks to continued efforts over two decades (19932012), important

advances have been made. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven listed languages
have, for example, been codified and elevated to the rank of national
languages.
ARED draws on the achievements of a major cultural association, the

Association for the Renaissance of Pulaar (ARP), backed by the strong
commitment of the Pulaar-speaking community. In all regions of Senegal,
Pulaar coexists closely with the countrys other languages, giving rise to many
intercultural inferences. Of these other languages, only Wolof (a vehicular
language nationally which is also found in Fouta, our zone of intervention)
and Mandinka can truly be described as cross-border languages. As a crossborder, vehicular language, Pulaar (called Fulfulde in other African countries)
has a wide sub-regional reach as it is spoken in twenty Western and Central
African countries. It is currently estimated to have more than 60 million
speakers, stretching from the banks of the Senegal River to those of the Nile.
Furthermore, Pulaar allows for continuous comprehension between its various
speakers despite its vast geographic spread and wide variety of dialects. It
has a unified spelling, which the Fulfulde Vehicular Cross-Border Language
Commission of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) proposes
to standardize so that Pulaar can be used as a language of integration and
eventually a working language in the countries of the African Union (AU).
ARED primarily uses Pulaar as its language of study and training. Our work in
Senegal is concentrated in the north, due to the many initiatives developed to
promote teaching through Pulaar. ARED designed all of its tools in Pulaar from
the outset, to better evaluate the suitability of these tools for the needs
and levels of new literates. Once the material is developed in Pulaar, ARED
often adapts it to other Fulani dialects and other African languages.
Occasionally the tools may be translated and adapted into French. This work
generally requires a process of action research. Below, we describe such a
process.
105
However, three major challenges have always plagued the development of

literacy: a) poor funding and dependence on external donors; b) the variety
of training methods (each structure generally trains its own trainers, designs
and develops its own tools, etc.); and c) lack of certification of the skills and
capacities of the people running the training (facilitators, trainers of trainers,
etc.).
Enriching the multilingual and multicultural environment

by training resource persons
106
ARED acts as a support structure for other organizations such as NGOs and
local associations, providing them with educational materials and training
modules. This partnership between NGOs who share the same goals and
ambitions is known as the faire-faire strategy. We respond to requests for
assistance from local associations, NGOs and bilateral projects in Senegal,
Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. In these multilingual and multicultural
environments, it is possible to promote each language and mutual enrichment
through research, education and learning. We have noticed the importance of
encouraging applied linguistic research so that each local language can fulfil
its potential to convey both local and new knowledge, all the while fostering
mutual enrichment between the various languages and cultures of a given
environment.
The training modules we design take an active, participatory and learnercentred approach, interweaving the known with the new in a spiral of
knowledge acquisition. In order to achieve this we go beyond the idea of
basic education and concentrate on the competences and information that
people already have and those they need to learn. Our courses focus on the
development of basic educational skills and leadership and organizational
abilities, whilst also providing information on citizenship and civil society so
that people can make informed choices which enable them to achieve their
own goals. In order to promote literacy and create a multilingual literate
environment in a predominantly oral civilization where there is a scarcity
of reading materials in local languages, it is necessary to provide culturally
appropriate books that people will read for pleasure. Figure 3.5 depicts the
four key content areas mentioned above.
Serving communities by training resource persons
Our training modules aim to empower learners to become certified trainers
or facilitators who in turn empower the communities they train. As the
learners are employees of NGOs and bilateral projects and members of local
associations, they are already in a good position to do this. Employees of
NGOs and bilateral projects are recruited on the basis of their academic level,
field experience and ability to speak the local language fluently. They are
generally not literate in local languages. The organizations they work for are
involved in several development areas, usually covering vast geographical
zones and several local languages. They are responsible for carrying out
planned activities relating to literacy, leadership and training, monitoring onsite progress and reporting back.
Figure 3.5 Broadening the scope of adult basic education
Reading for
pleasure
Basic
educational
skills
Leadership and
organisational
capacities
Information on
citizenship and civil
society
Members of local associations are usually community resource persons

who are selected on a voluntary basis. The majority are literate only in local
languages and have at least two years experience of literacy classes. Some
aspire to a career working on projects for NGOs and want to become trainers
of trainers with this purpose in mind.
Women are often very poorly represented or not represented at all in the
context of AREDs operations, especially in rural areas and where the
work involves themes such as pastoralism, livestock trade and conflict
management. Even when they are present, womens skill levels tend to be
lower and their educational and career plans less certain. In the past, girls
received little or no schooling because their training to lead a household
started at around the age of seven. Girls as young as 12 could be forced
107
to marry in order to avoid the shame and insecurity of a pregnancy outside

wedlock. Today, the government promotes the education of girls and women
through various programmes and the creation of an appropriate infrastructure.
When groups are being formed, parity (50 per cent women) is therefore
encouraged and often required.
108
Certification for recognition and empowerment of professionals in the

field of training adults
Certification is an important means of empowerment as it expresses
recognition and validation of competences acquired. In addition to certificates
of attendance, ARED issues certificates to approve the qualification of
trainers. ARED is continuously working to build its network of certified
external trainers who are capable of co-running sessions with AREDs trainers
and even replacing them for certain programmes. During the courses it runs
for NGOs and local associations, ARED identifies participants who have the
potential to become effective trainers and steers them into a process of
continuing education. These resource persons then undergo upgrading
training to build their reading, writing and numeracy capacities in national
languages, as well as a course and various training modules on adult
education. Every time a new module is created, ARED organizes training
for its resource persons. Resource persons from the same area are linked
during the training courses for associations, so they can learn by co-teaching
the module. Following an observation checklist, ARED trainers review the
resource persons performance and abilities relative to the module.
In collaboration with the Saint-Louis-based Association for the Renaissance
of Pulaar (ARP) and the School Inspectorate (IA), ARED has supported the
development of a certified five-level training programme that responds to
the staffing needs of organizations providing literacy training. To become a
literacy teacher one must complete the first two steps (upgrading training
and educational training). To become a community facilitator, it is necessary
to complete step four (consisting of Accelerated Method of Participative
Research / MARP) modular training courses on topics such as organizational
and financial management, conflict management, literacy methods for specific
groups, pastoralism, climate change adaptation, etc. To become a trainer or
supervisor one must also complete step five (training of trainers). In order
to certify these professional qualifications, the ARP conducts field visits
with the IA to observe facilitators in the field. The certificates issued are
recognized regionally and often enable the holders to exercise their training
professionally.
A certificate of proficiency in teaching a module on pastoralism was issued by

ARED and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
in the context of a training programme for three pastoral associations. Twentyfour instructors were trained over a three-year period for the communities
of these associations. Below we describe how action research was used to
develop the modules for training on pastoralism together with the IIED and
communities.
Figure 3.6 The three-level training process of AREDs training the trainers

modules
Level 3: In-service support training
Level 2: Pre-service teaching and learning

methodologies training
Level 1: Pre-service content-oriented training
109
A systematized progressive approach to training trainers

Based on AREDs experience in the fields of basic literacy and modular
training in Senegal and the sub-region, we progressively systematized a threestep approach for all training modules. Each module comprises pre-service
training, training in teaching and learning methodologies, and in-service
support training.
110
Level 1: Pre-service content-oriented training

Pre-service training can last thirty to ninety hours and is designed to ground
the future trainers basic skills. To be able to teach someone to read, one must
be able to read fluently oneself and understand the underlying mechanisms
of reading. Similarly, to make people see the merits of pastoral mobility, one
must understand oneself how it works and be convinced of its importance.
For this kind of training, it is not necessary for all participants to have received
formal education. We try to group together future facilitators (in general,
literate and relatively young men and women) and adults aged between thirty
and seventy who generally cannot read or write but have extensive experience
in the targeted field. Since the training is learner-centred, it depends on the
participants knowledge and exchanges. The mix of participants is crucial for
the sharing of experiences and pooling of information.
Pre-service training is delivered in a language understood by all participants
(either a local language or French), allowing for moments of exchange
concerning key concepts between the different languages involved,
particularly those which will subsequently be used to replicate the training.
For example, the concept of mobility is defined differently depending on
whether one is in a nomadic Fulani area or a sedentary Hausa agro-pastoral
area; the terms used and their meanings and nuances vary from one group to
another. Ideally, each future facilitator has the opportunity to think in his/her
working language and culture, but also to share with others.
Level 2: Pre-service training in teaching and learning methodologies
One can understand something well without being able to make others
understand it easily. This training focuses on the techniques required to
carry out teaching and learning activities, reviewing methodologies and
building participants capacities. It ranges in length from thirty to forty-two
hours, during which participants are familiarized with specialized educational
materials. Group activities and classroom simulations are used throughout the
training course as opportunities to exchange approaches, plan sessions and
gather feedback from trainees on the basis of an observation checklist. A field
test (i.e. outside the classroom) is generally carried out during the course so
that participants can appreciate the initial difficulties of putting the training
into practice and think about possible solutions.
At this stage, it is important that the participants use their own working
languages. Where educational tools (e.g. guides) exist only in a common
language (French or a local language), it is important to discuss the common
aspects during classroom plenary sessions. However, it is even more
important to highlight the specific issues that arise for each linguistic group
and to allow each group to work on them at length.
ARED
Figure 3.7 Teacher trainee in the process of applying his training while

being supervised by his trainers, Diffa, Niger, 2005.
Peer groups of trained individuals: a measure that can accompany every

type of training
To ensure that initiatives are followed up, trained individuals generally form a
network of ARED trainers or a peer group. Meetings are held on weekends
to perform training simulations, initially just between trained individuals and
subsequently with people they know. At the end of each meeting, participants
identify points of progress and difficulties encountered. These difficulties are
brought to the attention of other trained individuals who did not take part in
the meeting.
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Level 3: In-service support training

This phase of the training is carried out on an individual basis, while the
programme for which the learner has been trained is being implemented. It
requires close coordination between the tutor, the trainee and the beneficiary
population. The primary purpose of this training is to empower the trainee.
The duration depends on the trainees level of proficiency and on how much
support s/he needs. The tutor assists in planning the sessions and observes
the trainee in practice. After having reviewed the trainees strengths,
weaknesses and progress with him/her, the tutor then helps the trainee to
apply the required remedial measures.
Action research applied to develop training modules for trainers
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ARED applies the principles of action research to develop modules for training
trainers. We subscribe to Michel Lius definition of action research as a
fundamental research method in the human sciences that arises from the
meeting between a desire for change and a research intention. It pursues a
sustainable goal that consists in establishing a project designed to bring about
change and thereby contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the
human sciences. It is based on the joint effort of all the people involved. It is
developed within an ethical framework that is negotiated and accepted by all
(Liu, 1997, p. 87, free translation by the editors).
In a multilingual and multicultural environment, educational work always
benefits from being carried out in the language of the learners themselves
and within their cultural, historical and sociological environment. This
safeguards against cultural alienation and ensures the motivation of the
participants. Such contexts favour the development of innovations in the
training of trainers, because the learners are predisposed to accept and to get
involved in the learning process, whose results are not guaranteed in advance.
The ethical framework, the transparency of the actions and the recognition
of the value added by each participant creates a climate of trust. It also
provides the opportunity to re-test new solutions in order to draw lessons from
them and jointly take on other adventures. Education and learning through
action and in action is a powerful factor in capacity building. This is what our
experience of using action research as a learning tool has proven to us.
In responding to requests from partners, ARED often deals with two types
of situation that prompt action research for the training of trainers: (1) the
training module does not exist and must be created; (2) the module exists but
must be adapted to the needs of the request.
An example of an action research process to develop a new training
module
In the following example, a training module about managing natural resources
did not yet exist and the needs and profile of the learners had to be
established. ARED therefore conducted a study in 1994 on land use practices
in northern Senegal with the Universit Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis and
partners in the field. Two preliminary phases were implemented. First, ARED
trained teachers and some students in the MARP method. The trained teams
were then sent to rural villages to study the local land use practices. Thanks
to the positive reaction of the community concerned, several cycles of action
research evolved from this project.
As these criticisms were impossible to ignore, we decided to make the MARP

available to grassroots communities. The process began with translating the
main MARP tools into Pulaar, which took us two months. We then spent
fifteen days training sixteen community resource persons from the Dental
Bamtaare Tooro association to use the tools, which they immediately began
to put to use in their village. The initial applications of this training in the field
quickly generated a lot of enthusiasm in the community. For many community
members it was their first experience of having their own children help them
define and discuss their problems without the mandatory presence of an
outsider (an external facilitator).
Despite the initial enthusiasm, however, the shortcomings of this approach
were quickly exposed. As soon as we checked in during a monitoring mission,
we found facilitators overcome by panic. Community members were coming
to them every day with very serious problems that they were unable to cope
with. They explained their difficulty to our team as follows: As soon as we
started putting the first tools into practice, many problems that had been
latent or unknown to the majority of the community came out into the open,
and others continued to emerge: for example, disputes with our neighbours
over land boundaries, and within our own community over who will be the
next chief. We dont know what to do and we are worried. It was then that
we appreciated the complexity of knowledge transmission and realised that it
requires a methodological approach. We turned to a partner NGO that knew
more than we did about dealing with these kinds of issues: the International
Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
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First attempt to respond and difficulties encountered

The first cycle of action research, which took place from June 1994 to March
1995, was initiated by a challenge launched to ARED by a rural community. At
the end of the 1994 study on land use practices, the local resource persons
mentoring the teams, who were members of the Dental Bamtaare Tooro
association, appreciated the results but were unhappy about the way they
had been treated. They felt that they had been taken for a ride. They made
their dissatisfaction known to ARED in the most virulent manner. A stream
of questions was unleashed, eventually leading to this crucial question:
What can you do to give meaning to the skills you helped us acquire? In
other words, how can you help us to take charge of our studies by ourselves
and for ourselves? These questions highlight the importance of involving
stakeholders at all levels, from design to evaluation, and making use of the
benefits. After all, what value is there in pre-service training that does not
raise questions and challenges?
Response to challenges: contextualized, emancipatory and participatory

action research
It was immediately clear that all stakeholders must be involved in the
process. However, the related question of who is to be involved and how
immediately arose. Many criteria must be taken into account when making
this decision: gender, age, social role, literacy level, priority concerns, etc.
Participatory research methods have proven very useful in this regard.
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From the initial interactions with IIED and the various participants, we realised
that merely translating the MARP tools is not enough. They must be adapted
to suit the community concerned, whilst also paying particular attention to the
key points that are important for action research:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The stakeholders problem, needs and capacities

Working hypotheses
The system used to involve local resource persons
The process and its various stages
Evaluation and making use of the benefits
Each of these points is explained in more detail below.

1. Articulating a problem; needs and capacity analysis
IIED, which has proven expertise in the use of participatory approaches
and natural resource management, assisted in defining the communitys
needs. The Dental Bamtaare Tooro association wanted to be able to conduct
diagnostic analyses and endogenous participatory planning independently.
The village resource persons to be trained for this association had relatively
good knowledge of their environment compared to the external researchers.
They were literate in their own language and had solid experience of working
with associations. However, for the most part, they had little or no formal
education. They therefore had very limited knowledge of the approaches and
tools they could use to implement a research process in their communities
while maintaining a critical distance. They asked the following question:
What skills should be passed on to literate resource persons in their own
language so that they are able to operate independently of the participatory
research and planning processes in their communities?
3. Resource mobilization
Resource mobilization is a key factor in these preliminary steps. In order to
run the action research process effectively, it is necessary to reflect on the
purpose of the action to be taken and the learning group that is to be created
to achieve the desired changes. The following system was put in place with
roles and responsibilities clearly defined:

IIED carried out scientific validation of the process.

ARED was responsible for andragogy and development of tools in the
national language.
The village communities, through the Dental Bamtaare Tooro association,
worked on social mobilization.
The Village Management of Podor Natural Areas project (GVEP), set up
by the NGO Union pour la Solidarit et lEntraide (USE/PIP) and funded by
the Austrian Development Cooperation Agency, acted as a partner for the
management of the process and the implementation of the plans.
In our case, this group of partners worked in a perfect triangular relationship

(see figure 3.8) where each entity held one of the key roles: IIED (expert),
ARED (teachers and specialists in national languages), GVEP and the
communities (beneficiaries, users). It is helpful if the community participants
are literate (so that they can take notes, read instructions, etc.), but illiterate
people can also participate.
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2. Development of working hypotheses

We always start from a contextualized working hypothesis that considers the
need(s) for change and the processes involved. Brainstorming sessions with
community leaders highlight the importance of linking training to an objective
for change. The idea of experimenting with a training process came about
whilst developing a plan for natural resource management (PGRN). In practical
terms, the main purpose of the brainstorming is to jointly identify the steps
to be followed and, for each step, the knowledge, know-how and life skills to
be integrated by the resource persons. These steps usually include diagnosis
(lets get better acquainted with our environment), analysis (lets analyse the
problems and choose adapted solutions), and planning (lets get organized
and plan our actions) (Gueye and Ly, 1996). It is important to start from the
stakeholders real needs, motivation and literacy level.
Figure 3.8 The triangular relationship of the key actors
Expert(s)
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Teacher(s)
User(s)
4. Implementation of each step in the process

The process took place over several months. For each step, the following
activities were implemented:

Design and adaptation of an approach and tools (IIED, ARED in

consultation with the communities)
Training of community resource persons in the use of these tools (ARED)
Application of training in the village with the support of community
leaders
Mentoring by local NGO (GVEP)
Supervision by the management structures (IIED, ARED)
The timing of these actions was as follows. Preparations of the new action
research approach with IIED and the communities took three months. A
document detailing the financing of the project was then developed and
negotiated with IIED and its partners. This took another seven months. In
January 1996, ARED and IIED started to work out the methodology and
5. Integrated evaluation and applying lessons learnt

At the end of each step, all members of the learning group gathered for
evaluation sessions to report what worked well, express concerns and draw
lessons from their experience. In our case, we identified a need to develop
the resource persons ability to use the training tools. The exchanges among
all stakeholders steered the planning of the process and the development of
training tools.
The outputs of the action research in 1997
A management plan for the natural resources available was developed by
the communities themselves with the assistance of ARED and IIED. This
plan was put into practice under the framework of the GVEP project.
A training module for resource persons was developed using an adapted
version of MARP in Pulaar. The module is composed of three manuals
with the following goals:

1. Lets get to know our environment in greater depth.

2. Lets analyse the problems and choose solutions.

3. Lets plan our activities.
Criteria for quality action research that emerge from

our experience
Facilitation and supervision skills, field experience, and a good level of
formal and/or non-formal education are major assets in the action research
process. However, commitment, enthusiasm, oral and written knowledge of
local languages and an ability to adapt projects to suit the local culture and
community are no less important. Three key criteria for high quality action
research emerged from our case study. These are:
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tools. The first 15-day training of resource persons took place in March 1996
and involved training community resource persons to conduct a diagnostic
study of their situation. In the second training, which took place four months
later, resource persons were trained to use the analysis tools and to choose
appropriate actions. A third training focusing on the planning tools took
place four months later. In between the trainings, the communities worked
at their own rhythm. Two GVEP resource persons assisted the village
resource persons throughout in applying the tools and ensuring constant
close monitoring. Every two months, ARED and IIED met with the respective
communities in order to discuss progress, offer assistance, and hold
meetings with the resource persons. The final products (see below) were
available in 1997.
training participants in the use of literacy in the action research process

contextualization of the methodology used
community ownership of the action research process
The following section describes these criteria in more detail.

Integration of literacy training in the action research process
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When running the village sessions with the twofold purpose of training
people to use tools and performing a diagnostic analysis of the situation, we
distributed different roles to the members of the community group as follows:
a team of two people to chair the discussions, a subgroup to take notes and
another to observe the dynamics and to give feedback. This operational triptych
is often necessary for the process to run smoothly. After a few sessions, we
realised that a lot of interesting information was getting lost simply because the
resource persons were struggling to take notes quickly enough.
We responded to this problem by providing already literate people with a
training module to build their instrumental capacities. This upgrade module
was specially designed for future literacy trainers. In fact, it is often necessary
to train the learners before starting the process of action research itself.
The goal is that after 90 hours of training they should be able to read any
text in Pulaar fluently and write legibly with correct spelling. In the upgrade
training provided to village facilitators, we focused on the legibility, accuracy
and conciseness of their writing and the speed of their note-taking. We
also devoted time to discussions so as to enable participants to appropriate
certain concepts in the national language. We reinforced participants ability to
formulate open and closed questions, to visualize, and to organize work in a
team. These skills enhance communicative competence and are applicable in
other aspects of work.
In order to awaken a general interest in reading among all the participants
in our training courses, we chose extracts from books (novels, translations,
research studies, etc.) that corresponded to their interests. We read aloud to
them in order to encourage their curiosity and love of reading. The fact that
many people subsequently bought or ordered the books demonstrates that
these techniques were effective.
Ownership and contextualization
Ultimately, the participants took full ownership of the action research process.
They named it LOHU (Laawol Oorgirgol Humpito) in Pulaar, meaning method
of exploiting and optimizing local knowledge and experience. They felt
valued due to their new position as researchers in their own communities

and in their own language. The result of this process was a contextualized
training module in MARP that empowers resource persons and communities.
The positive reaction of the local community in this case shows that the
contextualization and appropriation of the action research method was
successful, which in turn confirms the importance of grounding learning in the
local language and culture.
The fundamental principles for teaching the module were participation,

self-discovery and visualization. The participatory and inclusive teaching
and learning approach awakened participants desire to become literate in
their own language. A French version of the module was introduced to the
public via various education and research institutions in Senegal and NGOs
and associations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger (Niger Association for the
Revitalisation of Livestock / AREN and CARE International). Again, crossinstitutional cooperation played a major role in unifying and energizing the
project. Institutions such as CARE Denmark and CARE International in Niger,
pastoral associations and NGOs and government officials in Senegal, Niger,
Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Chad expressed interest in appropriating the
module. The good quality and cross-country relevance of the training module
fully justifies the time invested in developing it.
How the key actors were empowered in terms of new skills and
competences through their experience with action research
The participants in the action research processes described above learnt
how to reflect and work together on complex and conflictual issues that
are important for peoples lives. They acquired new attitudes and capacities
by working in a collaborative way. The resource persons who steered this
process learnt how to mobilize and involve people from the local community
with different profiles and abilities. These new capacities were subsequently
used in the communities to work on other issues such as climate change.
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Building on lessons learned

The lessons learned from the LOHU process fed into the development of
another training module on pastoralism in the Sahel, conducted by IIED
and ARED in collaboration with pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in
Mali and Senegal. The development of this training module involved several
action research cycles over three years. The main challenge was to make the
contents of the module available to groups who were mostly illiterate.
Please think about and give your opinion in writing on the following
questions:
1. How do you think action research has been useful for training
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trainers in the case presented by Mamadou Amadou Ly?

2. Why does it matter which language or languages are chosen in
action research?

3. In what ways has the action research presented by Ly been
empowering for the people affected?
Conclusion from the three case studies
In each of the case studies presented above, the action research drew on
the contributions of literate stakeholders who were capable not only of
fluently reading any text in the working language, but also of taking notes,
summarizing, doing reports, creating graphic charts, and reading maps, plans,
diagrams, etc. The use of written language as a tool in practical activities, as
well as in the design and application of the training by stakeholders, reinforced
the latters confidence in themselves and their self-teaching abilities and
opened the way to empowerment, the ultimate goal of any learning process.
Moreover, participants who did not yet have these skills were motivated to
learn them in the language of their own social context.
The cultural and linguistic grounding of projects is a foundational factor in any
teaching-learning process. Education and training in local languages should,
as far as possible, be introduced into a community in such a way that the
community actively defines the form, role and value of the education. The
key factor in the processes we have presented is that the education was
delivered in Pulaar and Afan Oromo, and was thus met with a favourable
cultural reaction. This way, pursuing an education does not result in cultural
alienation (as is often the case with formal education in French in Western
Africa). Instead, education becomes something that can contribute to local
development initiatives while preserving culture and language and integrating
new ideas into existing social and intellectual systems as a result.
We would like to share one more observation, which is that AREDs training
system highlights the importance of certifying the skills acquired during
training so that they can be validated. This not only motivates and empowers
stakeholders, but also offers them employment opportunities, thus helping to
fight poverty.
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Unlike formal education where courses are predefined, high quality non-formal
education based on action research involves constructing both the questions
and the curricula to bring about the professionalization of stakeholders in
the areas of their choice. Action research can be used to enhance learners
learning skills and to ensure their ownership of the process. Action research
can also be used in a participatory way by literacy providers and learners to
improve the quality of training programmes. In these ways and others, action
research can support the development of a multilingual and multicultural
literate environment.
From each case study a few themes emerge that are crucial for implementing
good quality adult literacy programmes in multilingual contexts. We can work
on these themes using action research as a methodology for understanding,
defining and problem solving in order to advance in our quest for quality.
The themes that emerge from the case studies in this chapter apply to the
specific situations encountered during those studies. In other contexts similar
or new themes may arise and need to be dealt with by the stakeholders
concerned.
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In the first case study, the critical prerequisite for the creation of a
multilingual literate environment in Niger was the implementation of efficient
bilingual formal and non-formal basic education. This, in turn, required
consistent and good quality local publishing in the national languages that
responds to peoples desire to read and write for both educational and
recreational purposes. In the second case study on curriculum development
in Ethiopia, the central theme was improving smallholder coffee producers
literacy and numeracy skills in the Afan Oromo language (written in the
Latin script), in order to promote their professional development and the
expansion of their businesses. In support of this, the second theme was the
development of a context-specific, gender-responsive curriculum which is
relevant for smallholder coffee producers, i.e. based on their prior knowledge,
local practices and sociolinguistic and cultural context. The third case study
on training for community development in Senegal addressed the theme of
adapting research and training tools to the socio-cultural and linguistic context
at hand, so that the local community has ownership of the action research
process.
In order to deepen and apply your understanding of the material

discussed so far, we would like you to reflect now on your own
practice and context. The following questions will guide your
reflection:
123
2. Have you worked on a case related to these themes before? If

yes, please describe it in one to two paragraphs.
3. If you have worked on such a case, did you do so with

colleagues and/or learners?
a. If so, what were the main steps involved in the process?
Can you see any similarities with the main principles of action
research?

b. If not, what kinds of problems do you think could emerge in
your context?
1. What themes are applicable in your own context?
4
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A frame of reference
for good quality
youth and adult
literacy provision in
multilingual contexts
Sinhala is used to write

Sinhala or Sinhalese, a
language that belongs to
the Indoaryan subgroup of
the Indoeuropen languages.
There are about 16 million
native speakers, most
of them in Sri Lanka, but
there are also some living
in Singapore and Thailand.
Sinhala and Tamil became
official languages of Sri
Lanka in 1956, Sinhala is the
first official language.
A frame of reference for good quality youth and adult literacy provision in multilingual contexts
125
126
to understand and reflect on the proposed guiding principles that

shape the quality of youth and adult literacy education and learning
in multilingual and multicultural contexts
to understand and reflect on the overall context-led frame of

reference
n this chapter, we propose a frame of reference in order to share a vision

based on practice and theory about quality education in multilingual and
multicultural contexts, with a particular focus on youth and adult literacy
education. Our intention in doing this is to inspire you to improve the quality
of your own practice.
A frame of reference or framework is not a finished, static tool. In general,
a framework consists of a set of beliefs, ideas or rules that are used as the
basis for making judgments and decisions. As we evolve in our understanding
and make use of action research, we identify further principles and quality
criteria. Building a frame of reference is a dialogical process to which adult
learners can contribute.
The frame of reference we propose builds on the foundational statements
of UNESCOs mandate and on basic principles emerging from research on
education and literacy. It elaborates on these values and their implementation.
Firstly, we introduce you to the broader cross-cutting principles and
foundational statements. We then outline central fields of quality analysis
which are based on these transversal principles.
UNESCOs vision and mission is to promote justice and peace in a culturally

and linguistically diverse world. All modern concepts of justice share a
common norm, which is that all human beings are equal and should therefore
be treated with the same respect and regard. UNESCOs work with regard to
justice (Ouane and Glanz, 2006) has two dimensions that correspond to the
definition of social justice given by Nancy Fraser (2000):
The core principles of social justice are parity of participation and equality.
Participation in this context means social freedom as an aspect of human
development. It refers to the capability to participate in the life of the
community, to join in public discussion, to participate in political decisionmaking and even the elementary ability to appear in public without shame
(UNDP, 2000, p. 1920). Leon Tikly and Angeline Barrett underline the
importance of this kind of participation in view of social justice that is related
to quality education. They state that education quality is a political issue
and as such participation in deciding about what are the valued outcomes
of education and valued processes to support these should be a matter
of debate (Tikly and Barrett, 2011, p. 6). This takes us to the democratic
dimension of participatory social justice and the question of whether
peoples voices are heard from local to transnational levels; whether they
feel themselves to be responsible agents, makers and shapers as Caroline
Kerfoot puts it (2009, n. p.), instead of mere users and choosers.
Education enhances participation in a democratic way
Democracy31 is a never-ending negotiation process which involves not only
fair policies, but also community building and healthy relationships with
other human beings and with nature (Schugurensky, 2013, p. xi). Democratic
actions entail sharing power and resources based on a critical discussion of
differences in power and voice, and legitimate patterns of resistance on the
part of marginalized people, as George Sefa Dei underlines (Dei, 2013, p. 53).
Democratic participation should lead to practices and spaces for education and
learning that differ from the old practices which created the problem under
scrutiny in the first place. There is no one-size-fits-all, quick fix single model
of democracy that suits all societies and cultures. Paul Carr emphasizes that:
127
1. Recognition of diversity and non-discrimination, a difference-friendly

world, where assimilation to majority or dominant cultural norms is no
longer the price of equal respect (Fraser, 2000, p. 48).
2. Egalitarian redistribution of resources and goods.
there is no one thing, proposal, reform or issue that can democratize society
in and through education. However, a number of small and large, nuanced and
straight-forward, complex and simple, costly and budget-neutral, and other
diverse measures can be imagined to democratize education. Reconsidering
what democracy is outside of the normative hegemonic interpretation would
be fundamental to this process (Carr, 2013, p. 40).
128
According to Daniel Schugurensky (2013), we need to look at education for

democracy and democracy in education. He perceives the following five
implications:
1. Education should support the development of democratic consciousness,
which requires that people have experience of democratic practices in a
variety of social institutions.
2. Education and learning need to be thought of in terms of how they can
contribute positively to gender equality, peace, intercultural understanding,
environmental friendliness, and citizenship.
3. Educational institutions should be understood as places that support
people to change society for the better.
4. Democracy needs to be taught, discussed and practised in teacher
training.
5. Educational institutions need to be democratized.
There is no way around working with cultural diversity
The World Commission on Culture and Development mandated by UNESCO
published its landmark report Our Creative Diversity in 1995 (Prez de Cullar
et al., 1995). The report highlights the importance of culture and explores
why and how cultural pluralism could become an integral part of policymaking
to achieve social and economic development and well-being. The authors
argue that this is possible because culture shapes our thinking, imagination
and behaviour (p. 7ff.). The Commission sees a liberal, tolerant attitude and
pleasure in a multiplicity of points of view as preconditions for living together
in a multicultural world. Ethnic identification is considered a normal and
healthy response to the pressures of globalization (p. 73). Dialogue and
negotiation therefore have an important bridging role to play in understanding
and discovering the shared values of all ethnic groups when nations build a
civic community. The President of the Commission encourages innovation:
The challenge of humanity is to adopt new ways of thinking, new ways of
acting, new ways of organizing itself in society, in short, new ways of living.
The challenge is also to promote different paths of development, informed
by a recognition of how cultural factors shape the way in which societies
conceive their own futures and choose the means to attain these futures
(Prez de Cullar et al., 1995, p. 11).
The findings of the International Commission on Education for the TwentyFirst Century (Delors et al., 1996) mandated by UNESCO correspond to those
of the World Commission on Culture. They suggest that education policies and
programmes take a constructive and curious attitude towards multilingualism
and cultural diversity because they are a normality which should be treated
as a resource for enhancing learning and social cohesion (Carneiro, 1996;
Geremek, 1996; Stavenhagen, 1996).
It is important to acknowledge that all youth and adults have the right to
learning opportunities which recognize the diversity of their interests, needs
and possibilities. In this context, we might well ask to what extent the rights
of women, linguistic and cultural minorities, school dropouts, and people
with disabilities are recognized by current legislation from central to local
government. It is also important to acknowledge that youth and adult learners
have the right to decide what is pertinent for them, and to note that learning
can take place anywhere and at any time: space and time should not be a
limitation.
Where there is a national curriculum framework, it has to take into account the
sociolinguistic and cultural profile of learners in all segments of society and
cover all forms of education (formal, non-formal and informal) from bottom-up
to top-down and from central to local level. The concept of cross-fertilization is
useful in this regard. The curriculum framework, as an instrument to organize
learning, has to be flexible so that it meets youth and adult learners interests
and needs. The adult is not a passive learner but a knower with her/his own
history and aspirations, who is capable of knowing and reflecting on what is
important in her/his learning. A transformative and emancipatory approach
to education (what Paulo Freire called education for freedom, Freire, 1973),
is the preferred choice. Action research is a tool that can help integrate all
stakeholders, from policymakers to programme managers, trainers of trainers,
facilitators and learners, and encourage them to think in a complex way about
how to improve the learning environment.
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This kind of tolerant, liberal thinking could give rise to new intercultural
educational practices that are in tune with the diverse cultural contexts that
they serve. Konai Helu Thaman proposes such a concept of education for the
Pacific Island nations (Thaman, 2008). She would like to see one particular
core value of Pacific Island culture integrated into the education systems of
other cultures. This core value is acting well and responsibly in interpersonal
and inter-group relationships. A highly important component of education and
learning in the Pacific Island Nations, this principle is also applicable in other
contexts, particularly Africa, Asia and Latin America where the boundaries
between personal and communal life are blurred.
Five basic guiding principles

In this section, we introduce you to five basic guiding principles or values
which emerge from theory and practice. We consider them crucial, but they
are not exhaustive; there could be other important principles in your context.
The basic guiding principles of good quality youth and adult literacy education
in multilingual and multicultural contexts that we suggest are:
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1. Inclusion, with a special focus on gender equality as one of the current

global priorities of UNESCO;
2. Lifelong learning;
3. Literacy in a multilingual and multicultural perspective as an essential
aspect of the human right to education;
4. Multilingual ethos33 ;
5. Sustainability.
Principle: Inclusion
Who attends adult literacy programmes?
In most contexts, whether in developed or developing countries, the youth
and adults who attend literacy programmes are members of linguistic or
cultural minorities, people with disabilities, people with low social-economic
backgrounds, and women. In other words, they tend to be the most vulnerable,
underprivileged and marginalized members of society. Contextually rooted
adult literacy programmes can offer these people an opportunity to develop
new attitudes, skills and competences that enable them to overcome some
of their challenges. It is therefore important to regard quality adult and youth
programmes as learning opportunities which integrate strategies related to
learners motivation, engagement and persistence (Lesgold and Welch-Ross,
2012, pp. 130132). Persistence is built by taking into account learners
motivation, interests and needs.
Three factors are crucial for the creation of an enabling learning environment
that motivates, engages and allows for persistence:
1. Motivation, which is enhanced by engaging learners through responsive

learning programmes based on their interests and needs.
2. An engaging context of learning which uses texts and tasks relevant to the
youth and adult learners.
3. Systems and structures that support persistence and resilience. This
means, for example, institutional and organizational arrangements that
allow learners to attend educational programmes while they are carrying
out other productive activities. In addition, the system and structures need
to support learners in applying and developing their newly acquired skills.
These three factors are best achieved through action research, which allows
learners to build their own capacities and make decisions related to their lives
and environment. Cultivating persistence and self-efficacy among youth and
adult learners leads to their own emancipation and transformation.
The term gender refers to the culturally defined social roles that are
considered appropriate for men and women in a particular culture, and which
shape their behaviours, activities, and attributes (UNESCO Bureau of Strategic
Planning, 2003, p. 17). These arrangements can be modified because they
are the result of social negotiation, perception, knowledge and possibilities.
This flexibility is illustrated by the fact that women and men live differently
in different cultural settings, and by the changes we see when we take a
historical perspective. UNESCO was created to further universal respect
for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental
freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction
of race, sex, language or religion (UNESCO, 2012, p. 6). For UNESCO, gender
equality therefore means respecting the human rights of both women and men
regardless of their ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity.322 It means
creating equal opportunities for the self-realization and well-being of all people.
Gender inequality is addressed by gender equity measures that react to and
compensate for social and historical disadvantages and unequal opportunities,
and guarantee fairness. Often the compensatory measures are geared towards
women because in patriarchal societies their access to resources is more
32 The respect of human rights includes homosexual, bisexual and transgender people. The United
Nations Secretary-General and UNESCO condemn homophobia, as is shown for example
in the following speech by the United Nations Secretary-General: www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2013/05/fight-against-homophobia-is-fight-for-human-rights-ban-ki-moon/ (accessed 19
November 2014.). Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, announced on the International
Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), 17 May 2013, that "UNESCO launched a global
initiative in 2011 to prevent and combat homophobic and transphobic bullying in education to
ensure that educational settings are safe places, free of discrimination and violence against LGBT
students and educators, where all students have internalized the principle that all human beings,
regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, are equal in dignity and rights".
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Gender equality, a UNESCO priority

One prominent example of efforts towards inclusion is the work on gender
equality, which aims to create an enabling environment for all women and men.
Gender equality is one of UNESCOs two current global priorities. The principle
states that women and men shall have equal conditions for realizing their full
human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social,
cultural and political development.
limited (for case studies in relation to women and literacy see Eldred, 2013
and UIL, 2013b). However, the group or groups that suffer from gender
inequality differ in each context.
Principle: Lifelong Learning
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Reading and writing competences in one or in several languages and scripts

are acquired through a lifelong learning process in the domains of life where
literacy matters. Good quality literacy education therefore teaches literacy so
that it relates to the ways reading and writing are used in everyday life outside
the educational realm.
Two core principles for an education that unfolds the treasure within
people
The influential report Learning: the Treasure Within by the International
Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century (Delors et al., 1996)
sets out two principles for an education that supports the unfolding of the
treasure within each person:
(i) assisting people in learning throughout life
(ii) offering education which is composed of four foundational pillars:
learning to know, that is acquiring the instruments of understanding;
learning to do, so as to be able to act creatively on ones environment;
learning to live together, so as to participate and co-operate with other
people in all human activities; and learning to be, so as to develop ones
personality and be able to act with ever greater autonomy, judgement and
personal responsibility (ibid., p. 86 and 97, italics added by the authors).
These pillars intersect, influence each other and form a whole. Each
educational programme therefore needs to deal with all of them. The
two principles of the Commission on Education are also acknowledged
in adult education. They are central aspects of the international Hamburg
Declaration on Adult Learning (UIE, 1997) adopted in 1997 at the end of the
Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V). At the
international level, the Declaration made a major shift in the understanding
of quality visible. This broadened the scope from basic eduction to lifelong
learning:
Though the content of adult learning and of education for children and
adolescents will vary according to the economic, social, environmental and
cultural context, and the needs of the people in the societies in which they
take place, both are necessary elements of a new vision of education in
which learning becomes truly lifelong. The perspective of learning throughout
life commands such complementarity and continuity (UNESCO Institute for

Education, 1997, 4).
Principle: Literacy from a multilingual and multicultural perspective as

an essential aspect of the human right to education
Literacy education is inherent in the human right to education for two reasons.
Firstly, the acquisition of literacy (and numeracy) skills and competences33 3
is a key learning objective in formal and non-formal education in all subjects
and at all levels. Secondly, literacy is itself a primary teaching and learning
tool. Literacy is also essential for lifelong learning from childhood to old
age because people can benefit from their reading and writing skills in their
informal learning and knowledge sharing activities as well as in formal and
non-formal educational settings.
Written language carries meaning and speaks for its authors
Like any other medium of communication, written language is not a neutral
tool but a carrier of symbolic meaning in graphic form (Street, 1995). Each
language that we use in writing has its own literacy history that has been
influenced by contact with other literate cultures. Written language also
carries the social value that is attached to the language concerned and the
people who use it. People use reading and writing in order to communicate.
This means that the written language represents the author, his/her social
position and habitus34.4Written language carries both the meaning that the
author wants to express, and the meaning that those who read it attach to it.
33 See the Glossary for a definition of literacy skills, competences, capabilities and
practices.
34 See the Glossary for a definition of habitus.
133
The term lifelong learning (rather than education) indicates that the learners
and their demands are moved to centre stage and the educational institution
is at their service. Their learning, concerns and what they consider relevant
and satisfying are the yardstick by which the quality of educational provision
is judged (Torres, 2002). The Declaration also promotes inclusion and diversity
as important principles because learners are not autonomous units but social
beings whose societies shape their lives considerably. This vision of adult
learning goes beyond a human rights approach that promotes universal,
individual human rights only: it is sensitive to the diversity of contexts that
shape the environments in which adults live.
In a multilingual and multicultural world, the way we use literacy is influenced

by more than one culture. For example, if an Amharic woman from Ethiopia
writes in Japanese, her writing carries both of these cultures, and maybe even
other cultures as well, depending on the circumstances. She may be aware of
this, but probably is not. Literacy can thus only be fully understood from the
perspective of its users, taking into account the particular socio-cultural and
historical context in which it evolved.
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A critical view of literacy with a focus on cultural fluency

The use of literacy can have both positive and negative effects on people
depending on the purpose it is used for, how well its meaning is understood,
and many other factors. Ingrid Jung and Adama Ouane advocate a critical view
of literacy because:
the analysis of the history of literacy as a socio-historical tool reveals it to be
often a tool of control and oppression [rather than] a means of democratizing
knowledge and power. Consequently, we can no longer simply treat literacy as
an input into the development process, producing as an output an increase in
production, equality, democracy, and justice. [] we must see literacy from the
perspective of the user, how literacy enables persons and groups to achieve
their own rights and goals. [] Literacy is also part of cultural development. In
every case we should analyse the role literacy may play in reflection on and the
development of the indigenous cultural resources of a given community
(Ouane and Jung, 2001, pp. 333334).
This perspective is reflected in the work of the New Literacy Studies
movement, which help us demystify literacy by looking at how literacy is
embedded in other human activity, its embeddedness in social life and in
thought, and its position in history, language, and learning [] in a way which
allows change. [] studying literacy as a set of social practices associated
with particular symbol systems and their related technologies (Barton, 2007,
p. 32). When we talk about literacy as a widely used symbolic carrier of social
meanings from a multilingual and multicultural perspective, we are talking
about it as a resource for communication, for exercising power, for participation
and building identity. Therefore, instead of looking primarily at language fluency
in youth and adult literacy, we need to focus on cultural fluency 35,5of which
written language fluency is a component, as we try to show in this book.
35 We thank Alison Lazarus from South Africa for highlighting this issue. For a definition of
cultural fluency see the Glossary.
Principle: Multilingual ethos (as part of a multicultural ethos)

In all countries of the world, we find ourselves today in an era of multilingual
and multimedia communication where written language is widely used.
Literacy, its uses and its social meanings depend on a number of contextual
factors, including culture, language, and technological means, as the three
case studies in the previous chapter illustrate.
Despite this, too often only literacy in the dominant language receives
attention. Either, it is perceived as the key to upward social mobility, or
provision is only made for basic literacy in the mother tongue/local language.
This neglects more advanced uses of literacy in that language and of literacy
in other languages that could act as a gateway to participation in society and
access to resources. Caroline Kerfoot (2009) summarizes what is at stake
regarding adult education and training beyond the basics in multilingual and
multicultural contexts:
The challenge for those concerned with conceptualizing ABET [adult basic
education and training] provision for development is to investigate which kind
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A human right has to be contextualized

Literacy education as a human right is concerned with the development
of individuals to fulfil their potential and be involved in all levels of society
as equal human beings (Eldred, 2013, p. 11). As everybody has the right
to learning opportunities, the diversity of peoples interests, needs and
possibilities are a central concern for good quality education. National
curriculum frameworks for youth and adult literacy, for example, have to
integrate all segments of the population and all forms of education, taking into
account that adult learners have the right to decide what is pertinent to them.
Literacy education cannot be the same everywhere in the world, because
we live in different societies, have different potentials, and use different
languages at different levels of society. Good quality literacy education is
rooted in the particular socio-cultural and linguistic context of the society it
serves. Such cultural grounding cannot happen without valorizing the local
communication culture that may include reading and writing in local languages
(as described for example by Fagerberg-Diallo, 2001 and Gebre et al., 2009).
Research and practice show that adult literacy education that alienates people
and is detached from their lives meets at best with healthy resistance. In
places where education is developed from the bottom-up and where people
valorize their language and culture, youth and adult literacy education can
make a positive contribution to society, provided that it widens the capabilities
of individuals while respecting their dignity (Olson and Torrance, 2001; Ouane
and Glanz, 2011; Skutnabb-Kangas and Heugh, 2012).
of semiotic resources36 6might be important for whom, in what contexts, and

in which languages or combinations of languages, and to use these findings to
reshape policy and pedagogical practices. If the goal of adult basic education
is to expand capabilities and enable increased citizenship agency, then
really useful knowledge will include language, literacies and other semiotic
resources that allow learners to traverse multiple spaces and to engage with
the discourses and processes engendered by new forms of governance and
state/society/economy relations (Kerfoot, 2009, p. 40).
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Ignoring linguistic diversity and discriminating on the grounds of language can

be considered a form of violence, because it violates a persons integrity and
identity and contravenes Article 2397of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The spectrum of violence is very broad and the resulting anxiety and
loss of self-worth has a profoundly negative effect on learning (for resources
and exchange see www.learningandviolence.net). Within the context of
learning, for example in schools and learning centres, it is increasingly
recognized that language is often used to inflict psychological violence on the
learner. To create a climate for learning it is important to create a space that
is free of judgement of the self and the other (Strategic Support, SAQA, p. 18).
Resistance to linguistic assimilation
Adopting a multilingual ethos, instead of the assimilationist nation-building
one-language-one-culture-one-nation principle that has influenced education
systems everywhere in the world, will help us reposition ourselves, ask
new questions and find new strategies for many of the problems that we
face. We know now that the solution proposed by the liberal-assimilationist
36 The term semiotic resource refers to a tool that we can use in our communication to convey
what we mean. A semiotic resource can make use of oral language, written language, and all other kinds of signs. The researcher Van Leeuwen defines the term as follows: Semiotic resources
are the actions, materials and artifacts we use for communicative purposes, whether produced
physiologically for example, with our vocal apparatus, the muscles we use to make facial expressions and gestures or technologically for example, with pen and ink, or computer hardware and
software together with the ways in which these resources can be organized. Semiotic resources
have a meaning potential, based on their past uses, and a set of affordances based on their
possible uses, and these will be actualized in concrete social contexts where their use is subject
to some form of semiotic regime (van Leeuwen, 2004, p. 285) http://multimodalityglossary.wordpress.com/semiotic-resources/, (Accessed on 23 May 2013). Reference: Van Leeuwen, T. 2004.
Introducing Social Semiotics: An Introductory Textbook. London, Routledge.
37 Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be
made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to
which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other
limitation of sovereignty. Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the United Nations
General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948.
Accepting multilingualism as normality

Our understanding of a multilingual ethos is that it accepts complexity and is
open to learning:
The multilingual ethos advocates for the acceptance and recognition
of linguistic diversity in order to ensure social cohesion and avoid the
disintegration of societies (Ouane, 2009, p. 168). It takes into account the
intermeshing of languages within multilingual individuals and in communities,
across social domains and communicative practices. The multilingual ethos
stresses the commonalities and the complementariness of languages, and
heteroglossia388across but also within communities and in a given situation.
From this perspective, language ownership or fixed language boundaries
cannot be claimed by any social group (Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 65).
A multilingual ethos in education means:
[not to] separate languages from each other but [to] support learners in
developing language awareness, learning several languages and about the
respective cultures simultaneously, understanding the complementarities
which exist among languages in contact (Alidou, Glanz and Nikima, 2011,
pp. 530531).
Adopting a multilingual ethos challenges todays prevailing social systems
and pedagogical approaches. Nevertheless, there is an exciting recent trend
towards it in policy, practice and research. The good results of those who
have so far dared to put a multilingual ethos into practice are encouraging, and
recent research on multilingualism, education and learning lend them further
support (Shoba and Chimbutane, 2013; Martin-Jones, Blackledge and Creese,
2012; Alidou, Glanz and Nikima, 2011; Cenoz and Gorter, 2011; Stroud and
Heugh, 2011; Agnihotry, 2007).
38 See the Glossary for a definition of heteroglossia.
137
ideology, to build nations with culturally diverse populations by asking people

to surrender their ethnic and cultural attachment (Banks, 2009, p. 11), is not
socially just. The groups who have to surrender are the groups whose cultures
are different from the dominant one. The assimilationist ideology inflicts
psychological and spiritual violence and forces the structural exclusion of
everything and everybody that differs from what is considered the mainstream
language and culture. Already in the 1960s and 1970s, ethnic groups around
the world, such as the African Americans in the United States and the
Canadian First Nations, contested this ideology.
138
The multilingual ethos as part of a multicultural ethos

We foreground language and the multilingual ethos here because literacy is
a particular form of linguistic expression. Nevertheless, a multilingual ethos
forms part of a deeper appreciation of cultural difference399because language
is a vehicle of culture and one of its means of expression. For this reason,
we cannot speak about linguistic diversity without speaking about cultural
diversity and we cannot speak about language fluency without speaking
about cultural fluency. In short, the multilingual ethos is part of a multicultural
ethos. Deeply appreciating cultural difference means searching for additive
approaches which do not view one culture and language as naturally superior
to others, but which ask instead what might constitute helpful new ideas for
people in a specific context. For example, multicultural education tries to
provide students with educational experiences that enable them to maintain
commitments to their community cultures as well as acquire the knowledge,
skills, and cultural capital needed to function in the national civic culture and
community (Banks, 2009, p. 14).
Cultures are heterogeneous and flexible
We underline that a culture is not static and homogenous but flexible and
heterogeneous. It is not a realm where people just coexist peacefully. It is a
space of agreement and disagreement within and between generations, and
where people form sub-cultures. The interplay of autonomy and closeness
is normal in all human relationships and every individual and group needs
both. People can identify with ideas or memes from different cultures
simultaneously, belong to several subgroups, and agree with certain elements
of a culture and reject others.
The concept of culture is today understood as something that is complex,
not closed, and that reflects both its own historical development and the
influences of other cultures. It describes a groups beliefs, values and
practices that shape all relationships and areas of life (economic, spiritual,
educational, etc.), but also accommodates the diversity of identities and
practices of its individual members (May, 2009).
39 The term cultural difference has a different focus than the term cultural diversity. It expresses the idea that we should look at a gathering of cultures not as a group of distinct objects
(which is the connotation of cultural diversity), but rather as a group of different ways of knowing
and living (May, 2009, p. 44).
Principle: sustainability
Sustainability is a multidimensional value. In the context of evaluating
the quality of education, sustainability concerns whether what learners
have learned is quickly forgotten or put to use and retained. The notion of
sustainable learning is therefore tightly linked to the principle of lifelong
learning. Where there is no institutional structure or social space to apply
what has been learned and to continue learning, lifelong learning is obstructed
and sustainability is not possible. The second meaning of sustainability in
the context of education has to do with whether educational programmes
are seen as a collective social investment and are managed and financed
in a sustainable, long-term manner. Thirdly, sustainability refers to the broad
philosophy of sustainable development, in which education should enhance
an ethical understanding of life that respects the limits of our ecosystem and
fosters the well-being of all people. Adult learning must be closely tied to the
preservation and enhancement of the community and environment in order to
ensure the livelihood of present and future generations. Quality adult literacy
programmes integrate local indigenous knowledge with new technologies in
ways that foster sustainable development and inclusive growth. Their mission
is not just to alleviate poverty. It is also to encourage the revalorization
of indigenous cultures, languages and people, and to open them up to
technology and modernity in a way that is additive and sustainable.
40 See the Glossary for a definition of essentialism.
139
Looking at multiculturalism from a critical perspective

We concur with Stephen May when he says that we need to understand
multiculturalism from a critical perspective. The critical perspective
acknowledges that people are subject to unequal power relations, advantages
and options, and varying degrees of stigma. People cannot choose their
identities freely because external social reality channels identity choices,
for example through class, ethnic, and gender stratification, objective
constraints, and historical determination (May, 2009, p. 43). Yet these social
pressures can be and are contested. On the subject of ethnicity and group
identity, for example, May states that: a positive conception of ethnicity
must begin with a recognition that all speak from a particular place, out
of a particular history, out of a particular experience, a particular culture,
without being contained by that position (May, 2009, p. 44; quoting Hall,
1992, p. 258). If we apply this critical, appreciative and reflective perspective
on our own culture and identity and those of others, then withdrawal into
fundamentalism, essentialism4010or traditionalism becomes unnecessary.
Conclusion
In this section, we have outlined the broader philosophical foundation of a
frame of reference for youth and adult literacy in multilingual and multicultural
contexts. Our frame of reference rests on the global commitment to
social justice and peace of all UNESCO Member States and the five
guiding principles emerging from theory and practice that respond to this
commitment.
140
The frame of reference should inspire reflection on practices and solutions.

Quality as individual, collective and systemic improvement entails the
involvement of all stakeholders in collective and individual learning processes.
The improvement of the quality of education systems (policies, learning
environments and programmes) should be a shared and democratic process
linking both bottom-up and top-down approaches.
In the next section, we extend the frame of reference further, relating the
guiding principles to central fields of quality analysis of youth and adult
literacy education and learning in multilingual and multicultural contexts.
Please write your reflections in your notebook after considering

the following questions:
1. In your opinion, which of the five guiding principles should
be prioritized in order to improve the quality of the youth and
adult literacy work that you are involved in?
2. What are the reasons for your selection with regard to current

literacy education and learning?
3. What are the reasons for your selection with regard to the

way people use or do not use literacy in their everyday lives?
141
Central fields of quality analysis
142
The five principles that guide our framework underline the importance of
contextual factors. In 2010, Leon Tikly of the Research Programme on
Implementing Education Quality in Low Income Countries proposed a practical
context-led model for the analysis of the quality of school education. Tiklys
model has social justice as a central concern and looks at how well education
lifts institutional and wider structural barriers that can stand in the way of
realizing human capabilities in the context of globalization (Tikly, 2010, p.
12). The main principles for evaluation in this model are the inclusiveness
of education, its relevance for learners livelihoods and well-being, and a
democratic approach to determining learning outcomes via public debate and
process accountability. As the models guiding principles correspond to essential
ones in our own frame of reference and we do not believe in reinventing the
wheel, we build our approach on Tiklys, adapting it to non-formal education for
youth and adults in multilingual and multicultural contexts. We view our frame
of reference as an approach rather than a model because a model is a closed
concept, whereas an approach leaves room for adaptation to changing realities
and contextual differences.
Striving to create enabling environments for education and learning
Tikly (2010) identifies three social environments as crucial for good quality
school education: the policy, school and home/community environments. For the
purposes of our framework we need to adapt this to reflect the environments of
youth and adult education in multilingual and multicultural contexts:

First of all, the multilingual and multicultural context is present in all

social fields or environments at all levels. Therefore, no environment can
be considered without analysing and working with the multilingual and
multicultural social context and its specifics.
The educational and policy environment of adults cuts across social sectors.
Education and training is offered to adults in many sectors such as the
education sector, the economic sector, the health sector, the cultural sector,
and the religious sector. We therefore adopt a multi-sectoral4111perspective
on the educational and policy environment.
An environment that is crucial in adulthood in addition to the home and the
community is the work environment. This cannot be left out of a framework
that concerns youth and adult education. The work, home and community
environments overlap in many instances and reinforce each other. It is
therefore useful to consider them together.
41 See the Glossary for a definition of multi-sectoral.
The literate environment, an integral part

The literate environment is an integral part of the multilingual and multicultural
social context, and is visible in each social environment where literacy is
used. It is not isolated and separated; rather, it is the material reflection of
the reading and writing culture in society at large. The integration of literacy
in a societys communicative practices is something that evolves and changes
over time and does not follow a predetermined path. Sonja Fagerberg-Diallo
(2001) describes how the Pulaar people in Senegal created their own dynamic
literacy movement in response to both external factors (such as increased
responsibilities due to decentralization which required complex literacy skills)
and internal ones (such as wanting to make use of education for their own
collective cultural and psychological advancement and integration). Although
literacy in Pulaar in the Ajami script has a more than 200-year-old tradition,
literacy classes and publishing for a broad public only started at the end of
the 20th century. The striking thing about the Pulaar literacy movement is
that it demonstrates the ability to integrate new skills and information into
a culturally grounded worldview, both contributing to a dynamic and creative
process marked by dialogue (Fagerberg-Diallo, 2001, p. 155). The term
constructive interdependence describes this attitude to creating collective
ownership of literacy (Fagerberg-Diallo, 2001).
Without a motivation to make use of literacy at the societal level, literacy
training is confined to the educational environment and lacks relevance to
everyday life. In her review of good practices in non-formal literacy education,
Fagerberg-Diallo states that education should grow out of the culture and
values of the community. Educational programmes should therefore seek
to create a literate environment based on the principle of lifelong learning and
the creation of learning societies (Fagerberg-Diallo, 2007, pp. 3233).
When is an environment enabling?
Each environment becomes an enabling environment when appropriate
inputs are used in appropriate processes, policy formulation, governance and
programme implementation. Appropriate inputs and processes result in lifting
143
From local to international level

For many people in todays globalized world these environments encompass
a large geographical space, with family, friends and colleagues scattered
in different parts of the world. The scope of the home and community
environments can therefore reach from the local to the international level.
The same holds true for the educational and policy environments when we
consider distance education, relocation for educational purposes, and the
interlinked nature of educational policy, research and practice across the
globe. All of these merge in the environment that surrounds us.
barriers and creating a flow in individual and collective learning processes

within and across environments. In order to achieve this, the interplay
between the environments and the multilingual and multicultural context has
an important role to play. Synergy and coherence increase the flow between
them because their contributions do not hinder but strengthen each other.
How well the interplay works can be analysed by asking questions such as the
following:
144
In what regard and how well does each environment and their interplay
address the basic guiding principles (inclusion, lifelong learning, literacy
from a multilingual and multicultural perspective as part of the human
right to education, multilingual ethos and sustainability)? (Nb. the
prioritization of the five guiding principles depends on the context. The
principles propose values for working constructively and productively
with multilingual and multicultural societies. They thus connect the
multicultural and multilingual context and all environments.)
How well are the typical barriers for participation in adult education
addressed? These barriers are: situational barriers that arise from
an individuals situation in life; institutional barriers that arise from
institutional procedures and practices; informational barriers that arise
from lack of information on learning opportunities and benefits; and
dispositional barriers that arise from peoples attitudes towards and
readiness for learning (UIL, 2013a).
Is the learning that takes place in the educational environment appreciated
and applied in the home/community/work environment?
Is there an implementation gap between environments, for example
between educational policies and practices, or the educational
environment and the work and home/community environment? Do the
different environments reinforce each other because they are conceived
in a multi-sectoral way?
Is there an innovation gap between practice, research and policies?
The search for quality is a process in which many factors contribute to turning
an environment into an enabling one. These factors feed into each other.
We assume that we do not live in an ideal world where all environments
are fully enabling at the same time. Giving our best in striving to make each
environment more enabling is the way that offers the best education and
learning opportunities. Transformative political agendas create an enabling
environment for action research processes.
Figure 4.1 draws on the context-led model by Tikly and includes our
adaptations in order to visualize the approach we suggest. The star around
the basic guiding principles in the middle and the surrounding multilingual
and multicultural context have the same colour in order to illustrate their
connection. The frames in dashes around the environments symbolize that
the environments are not separate, but are parts of the multilingual and
multicultural context in which people live. Even the border of the outer circle
of the multilingual and multicultural context is not fixed but permeable,
because all societies influence each other from the local to the international
level. The shadow represents the connection of the present to the past. Every
human being and society embodies its past and present.
Figure 4.1 Context-led approach to the analysis of the quality of adult and

youth literacy provision in multilingual and multicultural

contexts (adapted from Tikly, 2010)
Enabling multisectoral policy

environment
Multilingual
and
multicultural
context
Cross-cutting
basic guiding
principles
Enabling
multi-sectoral
educational
environment
Enabling home/
community
and work
environment
145
146
Dimensions of international analysis frameworks of educational quality

A literature review of internationally used analytical frameworks of educational
quality revealed five prominent dimensions of inquiry, namely: effectiveness,
efficiency, equality, relevance, and sustainability (Barrett et al., 2006). These
are compared with actual inputs, processes, outputs, and results of education
at the levels of policy, governance and programmes. When we look at how
we can relate these dimensions to the approach illustrated above, we find
that they all apply to each environment individually and to the interplay of the
environments:

Effectiveness concerns whether the objectives set for the education

system (policies) or particular educational programmes are met. There
is a difference between internal and external effectiveness. External
effectiveness is concerned with the question of whether the needs
of learners and society, for example in the home/community/work
environment, are met by educational services. External effectiveness
relates to relevance, equality and sustainability. Internal effectiveness
focuses on the objectives internal to the education system or particular
educational programme. Internal effectiveness therefore concerns the
interplay of policy and educational environments.
The following is an example of an innovative research method to investigate

the effectiveness of the human right to education:
The Systemic Ethical Method for the Evaluation of a Human Right, developed
by the Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics and Human Rights (IIEHD) /
Association for the Promotion of Non-formal Education (APENF)
In order to know to what extent the population benefits from the right to
education, it is essential that the people concerned are able to express
themselves with respect to the quality of education (Friboulet et al., 2006,
p. 17).
The guiding questions of this method are related to the two dimensions of
social justice: respecting diversity and egalitarian redistribution of resources.
They look at the relations between all relevant actors in formal and non-formal
education (sectoral perspective) and four key capacities which enable the
system to fulfil its functions.
(i) Two systemic capacities related to rights:
-
Is the educational system accepted by the populations concerned: are

they in agreement with the form of education? This question is about
the acceptability/relevance of peoples rights in relation to the goals of

education.
- Is education accessible to all? This question is concerned with the
accessibility/ coherence of peoples rights in relation to the means of
providing for them.
(ii) Two systemic capacities related to resources:
The so-called four As (acceptable, available, accessible, adaptable) were

developed in 2001 by the first UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education, Katarina Tomaevski, and adopted by the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 13 on the right to education
( 6) (see www.right-to-education.org/page/understanding-education-right).

Efficiency concerns the relationship of the amount and availability of

monetary and non-monetary resources (inputs) from both inside and
outside the education system that were required to obtain the output. It
assesses, for example, whether a reasonable number of resources have
been used to obtain the output, or how much quality is achievable with
the resources available.
The equality dimension is a guiding principle that is concerned with

education as a human right. It asks why disadvantaged groups and
individuals are disadvantaged, whether equality measures were or are
being taken, and how successful they are. The questions of the Systemic
Ethical Method for the Evaluation of a Human Right are all concerned with
equality.

Relevance in adult education concerns whether education responds to

the prior knowledge, concerns, needs and motivations of learners in their
particular context.
The dimension of sustainability concerns whether what learners have

learned is quickly forgotten or put to use and retained, and whether the
147
Is education adaptable to the different needs and circumstances of

students and learners? This question addresses the adaptability/
effectiveness of the goals of education in relation to its results.
- Is education available in terms of human resources and equipment
in a way that corresponds to real needs? This question looks at the
availability/efficiency of the means used for education in relation to its
results.
(Friboulet et al., 2006, pp. 2930 and 33)
-
educational programme is managed in a sustainable way in terms of

available resources etc. Sustainability refers also to the broad philosophy
of sustainable development, according to which education should enhance
an ethical understanding of life that respects the limits of our ecosystem
and aims at the well-being of all people.
148
These five dimensions are often in tension with each other so that actions
to improve one may have negative effects on another. In particular, attempts
to increase the equity of a system may be in tension with concerns over
efficiency (Barrett et al., 2006, p. 13).
In the process of developing enabling environments and their interplay,
policymakers, practitioners, the community and learners can make use of
action research. Action research is a tool to integrate all stakeholders in a
complex way to improve the learning environment, from policy to programme
management and the training of trainers, facilitators, and learners.
The following questions build on your answers to Point for

reflection 7. Think about these questions and write your
responses in your notebook:
What barriers could be lifted, in your view, by observing the basic
149
the quality of youth and adult literacy in your multilingual and

multicultural context? Consider this question with regard to:
a. The home/community/work environment;
b. The multisectoral educational environment;
c. The multisectoral policy environment and
d. The synergies between the environments.
guiding principle that you identified as a lever for improving
5
150
From theory
to practice: an
application of quality
principles and criteria
By Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz42
42 We thank Agatha van Ginkel of the Summer Institute of Linguistics for her contribution to the
case studies in this section. We also thank Bernard Hagnonnou for his permission to include his
presentation on participatory action.
Cherokee is the Native

American Indian Iroquoian
language spoken by the
Cherokee people. Cherokee
is a polysynthetic language
and uses a unique syllabary
writing system.
From theory to practice: an application of quality principles and criteria
151
152

to understand and reflect on quality criteria that emerge from

practice and how they relate to the proposed frame of reference
to refine your idea for an action research process in your own

context, if possible in collaboration with the people who would
participate in your action research
his chapter illustrates how the basic guiding principles introduced in the
previous chapter are reflected in practice and lead to innovation and good
results in the different environments. The chapter is opened by a reflection on
the benefits of action research for quality assurance by Bernard Hagnonnou,
a specialist in adult education, literacy and action research from Benin. Based
on experiences in Benin, he outlines how action research promotes quality
in youth and adult literacy provision at the macro (policy) and the micro
(programme) level. In the sections that follow, we go into more detail with
nine case studies of good practice. These examples were chosen because
they made significant contributions to good quality youth and adult literacy
in multilingual contexts. The frame of reference that we proposed in the
previous chapter stems largely from the analysis of similar good practices. All
of them make use of the principles of action research in order to find ways to
improve the quality of their services.
The nine case studies below are from 2009. In the context of UNESCOs
Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), guiding principles and quality
criteria for quality youth and adult literacy in multilingual contexts were
identified by specialists in educational practice and research. The specialists
came from fourteen countries in Africa and Asia: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso,
Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, India, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New
Guinea, Senegal and South Africa. The discussion focused on three spheres
of action which are crucial for high quality youth and adult literacy education:
the creation or reinforcement of a multilingual literate environment; curriculum
development; and the training of trainers.
We underline that the examples in the following sections are not idealized,
perfect models that we ask you to imitate. They are innovative examples
in their context which had some good results and became a source of
encouragement and inspiration for others.
Participatory action research: a quality criterion431

By Bernard Hagnonnou, adult education expert and director of the Institute
Alphadev (Benin)
Quality assurance applies to all dimensions of education and learning, from
policy framework definition to assessment of learning needs, definition of
learning content, design of literacy programmes and projects, implementation
of these, and impact evaluation. In this section, we look at quality from a
macro and a micro perspective and identify participatory action research as a
key to it.
Quality from a macro perspective
The macro level refers here to the strategic and long-term policy framework
that provides the national vision and orientation to the education sector (more
precisely, the non-formal education sub-sector).
43 Based on Bernard Hagnonnou. 2014. Quality youth and adult literacy provision in multilingual
contexts: quality criteria. Unpublished paper presented at Preparing for testing an action research
guidebook for youth and adult literacy in multilingual contexts, workshop 1618 April 2014, Abuja,
Nigeria, organized by UNESCO Abuja and UIL.
153
The examples of educational programmes and other initiatives which we

showcase illustrate the interdependence of the basic guiding principles and
the kind of quality criteria they can relate to in practice. The quality criteria
refer to concrete elements of the interventions which are crucial for judging
whether an intervention leads to advancing youth and adult literacy in a way
that is meaningful, socially just and empowering in the specific context.
Quality criteria at this level concern the process and modalities that preside
over a policy definition. We would want to know, for example, whether the
policy was defined by a group of experts behind closed doors or devised
through an inclusive process; whether it captures the national aspirations of all
stakeholders; and whether the latter were properly interacted with.
154
Example: Preparing national education policies in Benin

During the preparations for a national forum on education in March 2013,
Benins four education ministries were tasked with preparing guidelines and
a draft diagnosis of the education sector. Task groups were set up to prepare
and submit a draft analysis. When government summoned them to present
the draft, it became clear that many stakeholders had not been consulted.
The task group was therefore requested to go back to all six provinces of
the country and collect feedback from representatives of all categories of
stakeholders involved in the provision and use of education, in order to
ensure that the national vision for Benins education sector was shaped by
an inclusive and representative input. The forum was initially scheduled for
September 2013 but has not yet taken place as the report was not written
until July 2014.
The same approach was applied when defining the national policy for youth
and adult literacy in Benin. At the outset, a single resource person was
asked to submit a policy draft, which he duly did; but unsurprisingly, little
could be retrieved from that single input. Another similar attempt was made
to no avail. In February 1999, a policy task group (including representatives
of state agencies, NGOs and development partners) was set up to conduct
a participatory process. We travelled across all six provinces, meeting
all categories of stakeholders, collecting their views and aspirations, and
capturing a vision as large and inclusive as possible. A first draft was then
prepared and presented back to the same stakeholders in all six provinces in
order to collect their feedback, on whose basis the draft was modified and
submitted to a national workshop for validation. Each stage was therefore
shaped by collective diagnosis and reflection in order to arrive at a truly
national policy vision. At the final stage, the government provided its own
feedback before signing the policy into a national framework and reference
document in March 2001. We can see that action research, meaning collective
reflection, ownership and inclusiveness, was a crucial methodology for quality
assurance during this process.
Guiding principle at macro level: inclusion of the social groups concerned
From the example above, we can extract some criteria for quality assurance
at the macro level regarding the shaping of a national vision and policy
framework for youth and adult literacy. At this level, quality requires an
inclusive process which captures the aspirations and needs of all categories of
stakeholders. No groups in the target population should be left out, especially
women, who represent more than 50 per cent of the population in most
African countries. The resulting policy framework document should be a true
reflection of the aspirations of all stakeholders.
a) Training and capacity building of human resources

Quality assurance for human resources requires the following:
A participatory assessment of training needs for all facilitators and
programme staff
Training content which is relevant to each category of human resources
Initial and continuous training of facilitators
A balance between theoretical knowledge and practical teaching/
facilitation skills
b) Development of a curriculum and learning materials
Quality criteria for these activities include:
Participatory needs assessment and understanding of the context prior to
the definition of curriculum and learning content
Customization of learning content to the needs of the target group
(the content and end products should be usable in their socioeconomic
activities)
At the end of the educational process, the beneficiaries should possess
the basic and/or professional skills they need to attend to their daily
activities.
c) Teaching and learning processes
Quality criteria for andragogy are for example:
an interactive methodology
a facilitation process that starts with what learners know
a constructive approach to the knowledge acquisition process which
assumes that facilitators and participants are all knowers and learners
155
Guiding principle at micro level: respecting learners as knowers

The provision of good quality youth and adult literacy education and learning
services at the field level requires input in terms of human resources,
curriculum and learning material development, and teaching and learning
processes. Key quality criteria for each area, according to our experience, are
as follows:
How does action research fit into these sketched requirements for quality
assurance, both at the macro level of policy framework definition and at the
micro level of the actual facilitation and learning processes?
Participatory action research for quality assurance
156
All of the examples above point to a need for action research at various
stages. Action research is relevant to all processes where people are the
target and the end users of a project, a programme, or an education scheme.
Given the conventional and elitist approaches that have been applied in so
many developmental endeavours with mixed fortunes, would it be excessive
to claim that action research is a more effective, efficient and impact-oriented
development tool? Experience in Benin strongly suggests that it would not.
The preparation process for the national education forum in Benin is an
excellent example of a case where action research was needed at the macro
level. The project aimed at nothing less than the definition of a national vision
and orientation for Benins education sector. It was therefore imperative
that the process was inclusive and involve all stakeholders from around
the country. Without action research, the national policy would not have
been inclusive and would not have captured the aspirations of all categories
of stakeholders. It is not possible for a group of experts to express the
aspirations of all stakeholders without interacting with them.
At the micro level, learning content can only be relevant where it is contextsensitive, needs-oriented and customized to beneficiaries actual professional
profiles. This can only be achieved through a participatory process in which
stakeholders are involved at each stage, from assessment of needs through
definition of content to evaluation of the outcome and impact assessment. To
do otherwise is to be like a medical doctor who thinks himself so expert that
he does not need to ask a patient how he feels or where he feels pain. Even
clinical and laboratory tests can only provide data that must still be analysed
by a human being.
A call to use action research
The case study from Benin establishes beyond doubt that action research
is a crucial tool for quality assurance at both macro and micro level. In the
past, vast amounts of effort, energy and investment have been devoted to
implementing literacy projects and campaigns that have brought forth only
a limited yield because they failed to take this into account. We therefore
believe that there is a need for advocacy to promote action research as a
major approach to quality assurance. An advocacy action plan might include
provision for a campaign or forum to promote action research as part of
existing youth and adult literacy projects.
Creating and reinforcing a multilingual literate environment
In this section, we look at the creation of a multilingual and multicultural

literate environment. Our understanding of a multilingual and multicultural
literate environment includes a number of different aspects which we will
explain. The literate environment442is a reflection of the reading and writing
cultures in all social domains. It therefore encompasses all the environments
in the frame of reference we described above.
What is a multilingual literate environment and why is it important?
A multilingual literate environment is characterized by the use of written texts
as a means of expression, exchange and learning in at least two languages.
Different scripts may be used to represent one or several languages (AlidouNgame, 2000). Many written texts are visible in our environment. They are
used, for example:

to share a message widely independent of place and time via signposts,

certificates, SMS, cards, contracts, product labels, etc.
to communicate to oneself, for example by writing a memory aid or diary
in face-to-face communication, for example during a training session, in a
meeting when issues in a document are discussed, when friends read a
newspaper together, etc.
We know that a literate environment is very important for the motivation

to become and remain literate. It offers newly literate people multiple
opportunities for using and enhancing their recently acquired knowledge.
Experience with literacy campaigns, programmes and projects over the last
few decades have demonstrated that the quality of the literate environment
is a major determinant of knowledge and skill retention among literacy or nonformal education students, as well as of the ultimate impact of the training
(Easton, 2006, p. 7). In a multilingual context, the motivation to read and write
in different languages varies, depending on the possibilities, opportunities, and
44 See also Peter Easton (2014).
157
In the following three sections of this chapter, we focus on three areas of

action that are crucial for good quality youth and adult literacy. These are: (i)
the creation of a literate environment; (ii) curriculum development; and (iii) the
training of trainers. Each topic is presented in a distinct section which begins
by clarifying our understanding of each field. We then describe concrete
examples of effective and innovative practices, and conclude with an overview
of the guiding principles and quality criteria.
constraints that come with literacy in each language. In multilingual contexts,

it usually makes sense to become literate in more than one language.
As a result of the analysis of good practice and research carried out in 2009,
several quality criteria were identified with regard to literacy programmes
promoting the creation of an inclusive multilingual and multicultural literate
environment. These criteria are illustrated by three concrete examples from
Asia and Africa and summarized in the table that follows them.
158
Example 1: Nirantar, India45
The first example is from the non-governmental organization Nirantar in

India, which received the King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2009 for its project
Khabar Lahariya news waves that started in the Bundeli language
in 2002.464Nirantar is located in New Delhi and in three districts of Uttar
Pradesh, Northern India. Its goal is to empower women from poor, rural and
marginalized communities through education and access to information.
The socio-linguistic and cultural context in which Nirantar works is diverse.
In Northern India, where Nirantar carries out some of its projects, Hindi is
the dominant language of wider communication47.5Most women, however,
are native speakers of local languages and do not master Hindi. In India,
local languages are considered of lower value than the official languages
such as Hindi. While Nirantar responds to the desire of local language
speakers to learn the official language, it also helps women understand that
the appropriate response to the multilingual context is not to devalue local
languages but to make good use of them. Otherwise, the speakers of these
languages devalue their own knowledge and possibilities.
Literacy for empowerment
We seek to promote transformatory (sic) formal and non-formal learning
processes which enable the marginalised to better understand and address
their realities. Our focus on gender interlinks strongly with other social
dimensions, in particular those of caste, sexuality and religion. (www.nirantar.net)
45 The following explanations are based on: Shalini Joshi. 2009. Creating a Literate Environment
in a Multilingual Context: Nirantar, Centre for Gender and Education, New Delhi. Presentation.
Cross-regional Workshop on Capacity-building for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Arab
States: Adult (15+) Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia. And: www.nirantar.net/, (Accessed on 27.1.2015).
46 See the website www.khabarlahariya.org (accessed 14 January 2015). A programme
description is also at www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/ (Accessed 19 November 2014).
47 See the Glossary for a definition of language of wider communication.
In the literacy classes that Nirantar facilitates, women share their life stories.
They write their own narratives and learn from each other by sharing their
perspectives on different aspects of their personal and community lives.
Through reading and discussions they are also informed about the world
beyond their community.
Yashas Chandra
Figure 5.1 Suneeta, a reporter from Banda district, getting news from a

group of rural women
Poor women contributing to the creation of a multilingual literate

environment
One of Nirantars strategies has been to help poor and marginalized women
in Uttar Pradesh to set up and produce a newspaper in local languages.
Nirantar has trained the women to become journalists and to record stories
of interest to their lives and contexts, with the aim of helping them to
maintain their literacy skills. The women, some of whom were neo-literates
when they started to work for the newspaper, received extensive training
in literacy, reporting, writing and editing. In 2014, the eight-page newspaper
159
Poor women see literacy as being very important to them, that literacy
enables access to information and power (sic). Nirantar believes that
literacy is critical for autonomy, self-expression, accessing entitlements and
challenging exploitation. (www.nirantar.net/index.php/page/view/8)
160
had five editions in five local languages. In 2015, the print run is 6,000 copies
with a readership of 80,000 across 600 villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
per week. In most of these places, it is the only newspaper available and
thus constitutes local peoples only source of information on local, regional,
national and international issues. It is also a source of information about
government schemes, laws and rights. The women themselves distribute and
sell the newspaper which has content on local development, womens issues,
local self-governance, local history and culture, stories and editorials and
letters to the editor. The newspaper thus enables the women to participate
directly in creating and maintaining a multilingual literate environment.
The impact of a newspaper produced by women in a local language
The newspaper has had a diverse and powerful impact. The marginalized
women now feel empowered to address their own concerns and have
become confident in expressing them and demanding attention. Moreover, the
newspaper has created a platform for women to express their (gender) issues
in a language they understand. It thus brings gender concerns into the news,
whilst at the same time opening up a space for rural women in journalism,
an area that has traditionally been dominated by men. It has generated
awareness of rights and entitlements, and functions as a source of income for
the women.
The content of the newspaper covers not only issues that are important to
the women, but issues that are important to the community at large. This
is reflected in the fact that demand has been consistently high since the
newspapers inception. It has successfully linked the literacy class to real
life issues, as well as developing a sense of ownership and identity among
readers with regard to the local language. It has thus become a mass medium
for engaging community members in reading and writing and helping them
to maintain their literacy skills in the local language, as well as being a useful
source of information for their daily lives.
Example 2: The Zia Community Learning Centre, Papua New Guinea486
Our second example of an innovative project to create a multilingual literate
environment comes from Papua New Guinea in Asia. Papua New Guinea is a
multilingual and multicultural country with more than 850 languages, each
48 The following explanations are based on: Sakarepe Keosai Kamene. 2009. Adult Literacy in
a Multilingual Context: De-contextualizing literacy experience: The Case of Papua New Guinea.
Presentation. Cross-regional Workshop on Capacity-building for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa
and Arab States: Adult (15+) Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In 1997, the Zia community established the Zia Community Learning Centre
as a non-governmental organization, with the support and assistance of the
University of Papua New Guinea language and literature department. The
main objective of the Zia Community Learning Centre is to undertake and
encourage village-based research on the traditional knowledge and skills
of the elderly members of the community, so that their cultural heritage is
revalued and passed on to the younger generation. Another objective is to
help rural communities learn new skills which allow them to participate in
socio-economic activities. The Zia Community Learning Centre provides a
link between the local heritage and culture of the community and the rapidly
changing environment in which the Zia find themselves.
The multilingual writers workshop
Soon after its inception, the Zia Community Learning Centre organized a
conference on the Zia language, culture and knowledge systems. A couple of
years later, they organized the Zia writers workshop. The writers workshop
aimed to motivate people in the community to write stories about themselves
so that local knowledge and skills would be set down in print. The workshop
also wanted to help the Zia people to appreciate and treasure their own
values and principles. In their changing environment, there was a tendency
to appreciate modern knowledge, values and principles and to disregard
local indigenous ones. The week-long writers workshop was facilitated by
Sakarepe Kamene, a Zia language speaker and lecturer at the University of
Papua New Guinea. He advocates conducting a critical assessment of the use
of literacy in Papua New Guinea and making it a cultural resource.
Zia people of all different ages and levels of schooling participated in the
workshop. This intergenerational participation fostered a culture of sharing and
listening to each other. The participants started by writing stories about their
own local cultural heritage. They wrote autobiographies, biographies, histories,
and stories about the Zia culture. Multilingual participants were encouraged
to write in any language of their choice. As the writers had different levels
of literacy skills, the strategy was to prioritize creativity over accuracy and
161
of which has an average of only 2,000 speakers. About 420 of the languages
have a writing system. The official languages are English, Tokpisin, and Hiri
Motu. The majority of the people live in rural areas. Literacy practices began in
Papua New Guinea about 130 years ago, led mainly by churches and missions.
They produced literature primarily on the subject of religion, which meant that
a large part of peoples lives, cultures and interests were not represented in
writing. The literate environment for communities like the Zia has been limited
as they did not create ownership of a reading culture. Instead, literacy was
used to oppress local values and structures.
correctness, in order to keep the focus on the joy of writing and the pride of
sharing ones story through it. The editors of the stories dealt carefully with
the texts to ensure that basic rules were followed. The end product of this
workshop was an 80-page book of Zia stories in the Zia language, Tokpisin
and English. The book was entitled Raitim Stori Bilong Laip (Writing Stories
about Life): Zia Writers of Waria, and was first published in 2004 by UPNGs
Melanesian and Pacific Studies (MAPS) Centre.
162
The impact of the writers workshop

The Zia writers workshop provided the Zia people with a learning environment
where they could apply and expand their literacy skills in meaningful and
enjoyable ways. The resulting Zia story book enriched the literate environment
and made Zia stories visible as texts that could be read for different purposes
by both Zia and non-Zia people. The book is therefore a symbol of the
enduring value of Zia culture. The collaboration between the university and
the Zia writers was instrumental, since there is no publishing house or literary
tradition for Zia fiction productions.
Example 3: Gidan Dabino Publishers, Nigeria49
Our third example concerns the creation of a multimedia literate environment
in Nigeria, West Africa, by Gidan Dabino Publishers International, a multimedia
and marketing company in Kano, Northern Nigeria. The linguistic landscape
in Nigeria is highly diverse, with several languages of wider communication
and cross-border languages as well as many local languages. In Northern
Nigeria where Gidan Dabino is based, Arabic, Hausa and English are important
languages of wider communication. After independence in the early 1960s,
the publishing industry was dominated by foreign publishers, but in 1978 the
government instigated a policy stating that at least 60 per cent of books must
be published by Nigerian nationals. This policy accelerated the production of
locally produced reading materials.
Different languages and different scripts
When Gidan Dabino started his publishing enterprise in 1990, he decided to
publish using Hausa, Fulfulde, Kanuri and English. Dabinos multilingual ethos
pertains not only to languages but also to scripts. The house has published
materials in both the Latin and the Ajami scripts (the latter is based on the
49 The following explanations are based on: Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino. 2009. Languages and
Literary Development in Multilingual Publishing in Northern Nigeria. Presentation. Cross-regional
Workshop on Capacity-building for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States: Adult (15+)
Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Arabic script used to write African languages). Literature in Hausa, Fulfulde

and Kanuri in the Ajami script has a long tradition that goes back to the 7th
century, the time of Islamization.
Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino
Figure 5.2 Novels in Hausa that were made into movies
163
A broad variety of content and mass media

Dabino publishes drama, poetry, prose, academic books, newspapers, and
magazines. His publications have a multilingual readership, especially in
African languages. Recognizing the potential of new information technologies,
in 2000 Dabino changed his company from a straightforward publishing
house to a multimedia enterprise producing DVDs and running radio
programmes. Popular novels are transformed into videotaped dramas and
vice versa. Women in particular benefit from the radio programmes because
most Nigerian women are based at home and do not engage as much with
the outside world as men do. Programmes such as the womens forum
and cookery programmes are of interest to many Muslim Hausa women.
Moreover, Dabinos use of social media on the internet provides opportunities
for self-expression in the Hausa language. Dabino has a blog where readers,
publishers, researchers and writers from Africa and abroad interact (www.
gidandabino.blogspot.de/, accessed on 27.1.2015). He also maintains a page
on Facebook and shares video productions on Youtube (www.youtube.com/
user/adoahmad, accessed on 27.1.2015). In this way, he promotes the idea
that multimedia productions in African languages are as normal as those in any
other language. Dabinos multimedia approach sets an example for the use of
African languages in any media that are socially and economically valued.
164
Reading and writing clubs

Dabino has been instrumental in encouraging reading clubs. In urban areas,
fee-paying borrowing facilities such as libraries and clubs are very common.
These facilities are particularly popular with women, who are the predominant
consumers of the materials, especially of prose fiction. There is also a crossfertilization with schools which use literature produced by Dabino. Dabino
encourages writers and readers to get together and interact through writers
associations. Women are active in these associations as writers, readers,
distributors, and actresses, something which was not envisaged one or two
decades ago. Dabino has therefore helped to bring about a social and cultural
transformation in Nigeria through the creation of a vibrant and dynamic literate
environment.
Synthesis of guiding principles and quality criteria emerging from
practice
The three examples above show that the inclusion of non-official languages in
literacy projects benefits the whole country in which they are in use.
The cases of Nirantar, Zia Community Learning Centre and Gidan Dabino show
that adult literacy education and learning takes place multisectorally in the
educational, home, community and work environments. The examples show
how a literate environment benefits from local agency that can engender the
creation of new institutions such as readers and writers clubs, community
centres, multimedia publishing houses and online communities, where anyone
who is interested can be supported and trained to contribute to the reading
and writing culture in the language(s) they understand.
Table 5.1 summarizes the quality criteria that emerge from these cases along
the lines of the basic guiding principles set out above. It also includes the
quality criteria that emerged from the other cases analysed during the 2009
cross-regional dialogue on Adult Literacy in Multilingual Contexts in Asia, subSaharan Africa and Arab States.
Table 5.1

Overview of guiding principles and quality criteria identified for

the creation of a literate environment for adult literacy in
multilingual and multicultural contexts
Sphere of action: Creating a multilingual literate environment

Quality criteria
Inclusion
Gender equality
Widening the scope of
democratic participation
Social domains where gender is the source of discrimination

are identified and addressed.
Women from marginalized sections of society, neo-literates,
and people who have not completed formal schooling
take active roles in the creation of the multilingual literate
environment.
Readers can access and use information on local, national and
international political, social and economic processes in the
language they understand well and use locally.
Lifelong learning
The strategies and activities implemented create social

spaces for youth and adults to make use of literacy, learn
without age limits, and discover new motivations for using
literacy and learning.
The strategies and activities reflect the four pillars of
education that help unfold the treasure within people
(learning to be, to know, to do, to live together).
Literacy from a multilingual

and multicultural perspective
as an essential aspect of the
human right to education
People read and write in their languages in a way that

is meaningful to them.
Good quality educational materials are available for teachers
and students in both the languages of instruction and
languages taught as subjects.
Training for authors, illustrators and editors is available in
various languages.
Orientation documents for education providers on how to
develop and sustain a multilingual literate environment are
developed and used.
Multilingual ethos
Recognition of the importance of all languages and
of being multilingual
Valorization of minority
languages

The population is sensitized about the importance of their first

language(s) and of being multilingual.
Linguistic minorities and speakers of non-official language(s)
are valorized and recognize their languages as tools for
intellectual growth.
All languages have a written form.
165
Guiding principles
Sphere of action: Creating a multilingual literate environment
166
Guiding principles
Quality criteria
Good uses of local languages are recognized, for example with

awards.
Courses and materials are available for blind and hearingimpaired people in the Braille script and relevant sign
languages.
Sustainability
Valorization and creation
of a multilingual and
multicultural literate
environment
Literacy in various languages is valued as an economic,

cultural, social and symbolic resource.
Local languages are used in writing in a variety of domains in
urban, semi-urban and rural areas, in such a way that reading
and writing is useful, interesting, relevant and entertaining in
everyday life. For example:
Local languages are used in all media. Publishing takes
place in local languages; TV programmes have local
language subtitles.
Access to mass media/ICT is available and affordable for all
nationwide.
Official documents (e.g. marriage and birth certificates) are
issued in the languages that the population understands.
The interests of newly literate populations with regard to
reading materials are met.
Users of materials in various languages are engaged in their
production.
A coherent and consistent book and ICT policy is in place,
with a multilingual ethos that promotes national mass media
institutions.
The mass media have the capacity, in terms of competences,
financing and dissemination mechanisms, to produce
programmes in the languages of their audience.
Youth and adult literacy classes are linked to real life issues.
Learners practice what they have learned outside the classroom
and encounter interest from community members.
Learners and multimedia institutions take an active role in
enhancing the reading and writing culture by creating new
institutions such as clubs and newspapers, using a broad range
of media that are accessible to the linguistic community from
local to diaspora level.
Literary competitions are organized and authors invited to
submit their texts.
Literature is cross-translated.
Catalogues on available literature in all languages are easily
accessible.
Visualizations are useful in action research processes to enhance our own and
the participants understanding and reflection processes. Going back to figure
4.1, we can see which enabling environment(s) the identified quality criteria
and principles help to establish. Figure 5.3 below shows that quality criteria
and principles refer to more than one environment, which means that the
action research process needs to include stakeholders from more than one
environment.
Figure 5.3 Examples: Quality criteria and principles connect different

social environments
Intersection of
education/policy
environment:
Sources of gender
discrimination in
education identified
and addressed
Enabling multisectoral policy

environment
Enabling multisectoral educational

environment
Intersection of
education/work
environment:
Training for authors,
illustrators and
editors
Intersection of all
three environments:
Recognition of
the importance of
all languages for
intellectual growth;
valorization of
multilingualism
Enabling home/
community/work
environment
167
Please respond to the following questions by making notes in

your notebook:
1. Do you recognize any quality criteria that match with the
168
literate environment in your own context?
Building on your findings in the previous point for your reflection

(the last question in chapter 4), consider the following:
2. What kind of change in practice could help remove one of

the barriers to the creation of a multilingual and multicultural
literate environment that you identified?
3. If you could use participatory action research to do this, who

would need to participate?
4. What quality criterion would indicate an improvement in

practice?
Curriculum development
We believe that a curriculum should create a strong link between the policy,
home/community and educational environments. The UNESCO International
Bureau of Education explains this link and the difference between narrower
and broader understandings of what a curriculum is:
Using educational concepts, we can say that the curriculum defines the
educational foundations and contents, their sequencing in relation to the
amount of time available for the learning experiences, the characteristics of
the teaching institutions, the characteristics of the learning experiences, in
particular from the point of view of methods to be used, the resources for
learning and teaching (e.g. textbooks and new technologies), evaluation and
teachers profiles. []
Increasingly, theorists of education recognize the political component of
the curriculumthe fact that the curriculum is a field of ideological and
political struggle that takes place in each society in order to give meaning
to education. It is recognized that this meaning not only originates among
experts, following professional criteria, but also through complex cultural
processes. (Braslavsky, 2012, n. p.)
The new, broader understanding of what a curriculum should do corresponds
to a systematic articulation of the values of a society and of peoples needs
and motivations regarding learning and training. The curriculum constitutes
a framework of orientation for the whole learning and training process. A
curriculum for any educational intervention, including for the training of
trainers, therefore extends beyond the syllabus. It encompasses (i) policy, (ii)
guiding principles, (iii) course contents, and (iv) pedagogical approaches from
macro to micro level. At the macro level, we look at the policy orientations
provided for curricula that synthesize political intentions and values. At the
meso level, we look at the management and planning which result in the
ensemble of educational programmes, their organization, evaluation and
certification, and didactical materials. At the micro level, we look at teaching
and learning activities (Jonnaert, Ettayabi and Defise, 2009).
169
In fact, the term curriculum is mostly used to refer to the existing contract
between society, the State and educational professionals with regard to the
educational experiences that learners should undergo during a certain phase
of their lives. For the majority of authors and experts, the curriculum defines:
(i) why; (ii) what; (iii) when; (iv) where; (v) how; and (vi) with whom to learn.
As a result of the analysis of good practice and research in 2009, several

quality criteria emerged with regard to curriculum development. These are
illustrated by three concrete examples from Africa and summarized in the
table that follows.
Example 1: A curriculum for the Afar pastoralist people, Ethiopia50
170
The first example comes from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a multilingual and

multicultural country in East Africa where about 80 languages are spoken.
The national language is Amharic, which has its own unique script and a long
literary history. The Afar are around 1.4 million people. They live in the North
East of the country and share the Afar language and culture and the Muslim
religion. Only about 10 per cent of them live in urban settings. The other
90 per cent are nomadic pastoralists and live in an arid environment. Mobility
is a crucial part of their lifestyle. Although the government provides primary
education in the Afar region, certain obstacles prevent the Afar people from
benefiting from this provision. Firstly, the schools are not adapted to the
nomadic lifestyle, because they are located in towns and villages where only
a minority of the Afar live. Secondly, despite the fact that the national policy
for education allows use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction, the
language of instruction in government schools is Amharic, which many Afar
do not understand.
Adaptation to a nomadic lifestyle and use of the Afar language
Against this background, the Afar Pastoralist Development Association
(APDA) has initiated different educational programmes to help the Afar people
to cope better with their living conditions and to improve their standard of
living. APDA facilitated the development of the Afar language for use in
education by establishing an orthography using the Latin script and developing
the vocabulary necessary to accommodate concepts that have not yet been
expressed in the Afar language. Until 2009, APDA had 84,000 learners and
estimates that the Afars literacy rate was 17 per cent. On APDAs initiative,
community development committees take responsibility for constructing
mobile shelters for learning. These committees also identify a facilitator for
the educational programme, decide the time and place of classes, and guide
the daily activities of the teacher.
50 The following explanations are based on: Ismael Ali Gardo. 2009. Literacy among the Afar
pastoralists, Eastern Ethiopia. Presentation. Cross-regional Workshop on Capacity-building for
LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States: Adult (15+) Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 29
September2 October 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Integrating literacy in the Afar language and in Afar everyday

communication
Prior to the initiation of the project, literacy was rarely put to use in the
daily life of the Afar. As a community-based organization run by and for Afar
people, APDA understands the context in which the Afar live and could
envision how literacy and education could be useful. APDAs Afar literacy
programme promotes the development of a literate environment in Afar
communities. Before starting a literacy programme, APDA conducts a fourmonth literacy campaign to mobilize the community. During that period, they
set up community bookshops selling Afar literature and use music and drama
to raise awareness about literacy for empowerment. Women are a particular
target group of the campaign. Literacy is used in all activities conducted in the
community, such as health education, income generation projects, and HIV
prevention. By promoting literacy in this way, ADPA ensures that it is useful in
everyday life.
Creating bridges between educational programmes and access to learning
of the national language
ADPA works closely with the local government and has adapted its curriculum
so that participants can enter non-formal education where they can learn
Amharic. Through the non-formal education programme, participants are then
able to enter formal education. Creating bridges between different sub-sectors
of the education system in this way is important for the promotion of lifelong
learning.
171
Afar Pastoralist Development Association
Figure 5.4 Class in Afar
172
Cultural rooting of teaching content and practices

In 1996, when APDA started its first literacy programme, the curriculum
consisted of a Teachers Emergency Package in the Afar language. This
package included an alphabet chart, a teachers manual, and five literacy
primers developed in the 1970s. Since then, the curriculum has been modified
by adding a REFLECT approach component. REFLECT is a participatory
approach to literacy and development which encourages participants
to take an active role in developing learning materials that are culturally
rooted, so as to generate new knowledge that is perceived as relevant. For
the development of learning materials, APDA employs three permanent
Afar writers and runs regular writers workshops. The topics for the new
materials are based on APDAs development sectors and the demands of the
community itself, such as primary health, womens issues (including stopping
harmful practices), community economic development, HIV and AIDS-related
issues, and the use of the environment and land. The books are distributed
to community bookshops to ensure that they are available in the community.
The facilitators understand the language and culture of the Afar people, have
basic literacy and numeracy skills, and travel with the people when they
move from one place to another. APDA provides the facilitator with an initial
training of two months, repeated each year, and portable equipment such as a
blackboard, chalk, register book, lesson plan book, and exercise books for the
learners.
The programme is jointly monitored by the community, APDA and the local
government. Facilitators meet monthly in teams with their coordinator, who
collects their monthly reports on participation and learning achievements.
These reports are presented in a quarterly field office meeting where progress
is assessed and the coming three months are planned. Every six months, a
household assessment is conducted to monitor progress.
The impact of the programme
APDA asserts that the beneficiaries of the literacy programme appreciate their
language more and integrate literacy in their communication. Graduates of
the programme have gone on to continue their education, become involved
in local governance and train as community health and womens extension
workers. After participating in the programme, they were ready to give up
harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation. Women gained
the self-confidence to speak up about their rights in marriage and to get
involved in income generating activities. A journal in the Afar language has
been set up where Afar people can exchange their ideas.
Example 2: A curriculum with an intergenerational approach by the

Institute for Popular Education, Mali51
Programme design and curriculum

IEP started in 1994 by facilitating a womens literacy class in a small town
near the capital Bamako. They used an action research approach to involve the
learners in developing their own learning materials based on local knowledge.
The materials reflected peoples experiences and related to critical issues in
the community. The curriculum focused on education, development, human
rights, leadership, identity, change, organization, economics, gender and
health. By involving women in doing action research, IEP empowered them
to take part in development and to become co-visionaries for social change.
As a direct result, the women realized that the education they received was
much more effective than what their children received in the formal system.
They therefore asked IEP to develop a similar education programme for their
children. In response, IEP developed a curriculum with an intergenerational
approach.
The intergenerational approach
The women worked together with IEP to start a community pre-school with
parents on its staff. The curriculum and reading materials were developed
by all generations (parents, young people and children) and by people with
51 The following explanations are based on: Cheick Oumar COULIBALY. 2009. KALANKE
MALI YE Le Service Apprentissage : Une stratgie mobilisante pour llaboration du curriculum.
Presentation. Cross-regional Workshop on Capacity-building for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa
and Arab States: Adult (15+) Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And: Maria Diarra Keita. 2006. Processes, Approaches and Pedagogies in
Literacy Programs. Case study on the experience of the Institute for Popular Education (IEP) in
Mali. Working Document. ADEA Biennale on Education in Africa, Libreville, Gabon, March 27-31,
2006.
173
The second example of effective curriculum development comes from Mali

in West Africa. At least 30 languages are spoken in Mali, with 13 recognized
as national languages. Bambara is the language of wider communication
spoken by about 80 per cent of people, while French is the official language.
Mali shares with many West African countries a tradition of French-oriented
schooling which creates a linguistic barrier between language use at home
and at school, and fails to appreciate the cultural heritage of the population.
The Institute for Popular Education (IEP) has developed an alternative
education system that recognizes indigenous knowledge and local languages.
The underlying principles of this system are based on Paulo Freires ideas
about participatory learning and empowerment.
different status in the community (farmers, learners, parents and

researchers). Learning content is culturally rooted and the medium of
instruction is the local language.
174
A curriculum that empowers learners and cherishes African teaching and

learning methodologies
As a next step, the pre-school developed into a community school with
multiple grades. The overarching objective of the curriculum is capacity
development in leadership. This is reflected in four pillars: identity, activism,
justice and competence. The curriculum is theme-based, using history/
geography and science as a core. Mathematics, reading, writing, and the
visual and performing arts are perceived as cross-cutting competencies. By
using the local language as a medium of instruction, the learners acquire
high competences in African languages as well as French. Storytelling, music
and art play a key role, since these have always been ways of transferring
knowledge in many African traditions. Special attention is given to making the
curriculum attractive to girls.
The innovative approach of these educational programmes resulted in
positive learning outcomes for adults and children alike. People developed
the skills and knowledge to be actively involved in expanding possibilities for
themselves and their children. Leadership skills were enhanced through this
process. By recognizing the importance of the first language of the learners
for cognitive and personal growth, learning outcomes improved. IEP has thus
successfully set up an education system that recognizes the importance
of African language, culture and values, but at the same time prepares the
participants to fully interact with society at the local, national and international
level.
Example 3: A method for African language based learning of French,
Burkina Faso
The third example of an effective curriculum comes from Burkina Faso and
concerns a method for teaching French as a foreign language to speakers
of African languages. In Burkina Faso about 60 languages are spoken, all of
which are recognized as national languages and three of which are languages
of wider communication. French is the official language, but only a minority
of people have a high level of competence in it. As in other African countries,
todays school education system was introduced by the former European
colonial power which used its own language as medium of instruction.
As early as the 1970s the government of Burkina Faso realized that adult
literacy programmes in French were not successful, and decided to use
The ALFAA method

The ALFAA method aims to make national languages media for self-learning
and support to access new knowledge. It also aims to democratize learning
of the official language, French. If these objectives are attained and people
become bilingual and literate in both French and the national languages, the
conflictual relationship between these linguistic domains will be modified.
Moreover, the linguistic barrier between the two subsystems of education,
non-formal and formal, is bridged. The ALFAA curriculum teaches French as
a foreign language, mathematical skills and other subject matter required to
transition successfully into the formal system.
The ALFAA method builds on learners existing knowledge and skills in their
first language. Learners therefore have to have passed a literacy programme in
their first language before starting to learn with the method. The method uses
the learners first language as a reference and builds on it by using contrastive
linguistic analysis, introducing first the structures that are common in both
languages and later structures specific to French. Both the first languages and
French are written in the Latin script.
Non-formal education following the ALFAA method for adults and youth (age
914) has three levels, each of which comprises 500 teaching hours. The
number of daily teaching hours can be chosen (8, 6 or 4 hours per day). At
level one learners learn the rules of pronunciation, initial oral expression,
comprehension, basic literacy rules (symbol-sound correspondence and
52 La mthode dapprentissage du franais partir des acquis de lalphabtisation (ALFAA).

The following explanation of the ALFAA method is based on an unpublished workshop paper:
Norbert Nikima. 2009. La mthode ALFAA dans le programme dducation multilingue au Burkina
Faso. Communication. Atelier interrgional de renforcement des capacits pour LIFE en Asie,
Afrique sub-saharienne et dans les Etats arabes: alphabtisation des adultes dans des contextes
multilingues, 29 septembre2 octobre 2009, Addis Abeba.
53 See the Glossary for a definition of second language.
175
the African national languages for adult literacy. In the early 1990s a village
association had a group of adult neo-literates who wanted to learn French in
order to continue their education in the formal system. The only possibility for
learning French, however, was at primary school. The ALFAA method5210was
developed in response to this situation in collaboration with the University of
Ouagadougou. Its aim was to teach French based on the learning outcomes
of adult literacy education. The development of the ALFAA method preceded
a critical analysis of prevailing second language5311teaching methods in the
region.
176
some relevant aspects of orthography) in French that are similar to their

first language. They are also introduced to basic mathematical concepts in
French that correspond to those acquired in the first language. Level two of
the training aims to strengthen the learners French comprehension, reading,
speaking, listening and writing skills and mathematics. Learners discover the
structure and organization of the French language and learn the vocabulary
that is used in teaching different subjects. They also learn practical language
skills such as how to use a dictionary, write a letter, read a newspaper, write
a cheque, etc. At level three all skills are further strengthened. Mathematics
teaching focuses on the practical uses of mathematics for solving problems in
everyday life. At this level general knowledge is taught in French. This
includes practical knowledge, cultural knowledge and topics based on the
expressed needs of the learners. Successful ALFAA students can present
themselves as candidates for the primary school leaving examination.
ALFAA has been instrumental in developing sector-wide bilingual education
in Burkina Faso. Bilingual schools are using it in conjunction with an intensive
literacy programme for youth, AFI-D. AFI-D is a four-year non-formal education
programme which finishes with the primary leaving exam, thus opening
access to secondary education. These bilingual education programmes have
had much better results than monolingual French schools. Their success has
also inspired other countries.
The ALFAA method takes account of the prevailing linguistic situation. It
is adapted to the learners first language, recognizing that each language
is different and that French is a foreign or second language to the learner.
In 2009 the adult and youth version of ALFAA was adapted to four first
languages and the childrens version to eight. Every year adult literacy
providers organize training sessions for trainers to learn the ALFAA method.
Synthesis of guiding principles and quality criteria emerging from
practice
These three examples demonstrate how policies and curricula can correspond
to the linguistic and cultural profile of the learners and their home, community
and work environment. The table below summarizes the quality criteria that
emerge from these cases along the lines of the basic guiding principles. It
also includes the quality criteria that emerged from the other cases analysed
during the 2009 cross-regional dialogue on Adult Literacy in Multilingual
Contexts in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States.
Table 5.2

Overview of guiding principles and quality criteria identified for

curriculum development for adult literacy in multilingual and
multicultural contexts
Sphere of action: Curriculum Development

Quality criteria
Inclusion
Effective inclusion of
communities in curriculum
development
Gender equality
Empowerment of learners
Beneficiaries participate in curriculum development in a conscious and effective way through action research and participatory analysis of communities existing knowledge and needs.
A pragmatic modus operandi of negotiation and mutual
comprehension is employed.
Unequal social conditions vis--vis women are balanced. Measures are taken to encourage and provide incentives for women
and girls. Content and images valorize the role and status of
women. Content that reinforces sexist stereotypes is avoided.
Content, images, techniques and learning situations provoke
critical thinking and analysis of the living conditions of girls,
boys, women and men, promoting social change in the direction
of greater equality and peace.
Profiles are defined for adult learners to work towards based on
the following competences: communication, analysis, reason,
teaching others, searching for information, problem-solving,
using new technologies, leadership and empowerment skills,
critical spirit, and socio-professional competences.
Lifelong learning
The identification of learning content starts with understanding

the context and what learners do and know and how they
live together in which language/s by using an ethnographic
approach. Based on this, it can be identified what learning
contents and skills are beneficial for the target group.
Subject matter goes beyond learners immediate needs and
includes activities that are relevant to their lives, such as using
technology (mobile phones, calculators etc.) and banking.
Linkages are created between different non-formal educational
programmes and with formal education so that people can
progress. These linkages include bridging linguistic barriers.
Curriculum development is intergenerational and involves
children, youth and adults.
The curriculum is based on the four foundational pillars of
education: identity, activism, justice and competence.
177
Guiding principles
Sphere of action: Curriculum Development

Guiding principles
Quality criteria

Forums for discussion and mobilization are created in areas

where there has been no literacy tradition.
Learners develop the language and literacy skills they need to
attain a profile that is attractive and motivating to them.
Written materials that adults are confronted with in their
everyday lives are identified and included as learning
materials.
Literacy is first acquired in the learners first language.
Literacy in a second/foreign language is taught with second
language teaching methodologies that take into account the
first language of the learner and the aims of the curriculum.
Bi-/multilingual materials are available as part of effective
literacy teaching and learning methodologies.
Multilingual ethos
Working with the
linguistic profile of the
target community

Policies promote a multilingual ethos and multi-sectoral

perspective for curricula.
The use of literacy, numeracy and other widely known
symbols and signs in the language/s of the community are
researched and embedded in the curricula.
If a language does not have an orthography or certain
vocabulary, it is developed.
The main medium of instruction is the learners first language,
which is recognized as being important for cognitive and
personal growth.
Teaching and learning methodologies are developed that
enhance a multilingual ethos: for example, foreign language
teaching methods are developed for official languages
that speakers of local and national languages have not yet
mastered.
The learning of the official language is democratized.
Sustainability
Teaching and learning
is practice-oriented
The curriculum aims to make learners highly proficient in both

their mother tongues and the official language.
Learning spaces are adapted to the living conditions of the
community and maintained by the community itself.
Teaching and learning is also carried out in places where the
learning content will be applied, such as the workplace.
The teaching of numeracy, literacy and other symbols reflects
real life situations and is meaningful to the learners.
Reading materials of interest to the community are produced
and made accessible through various structures.
Literacy in the relevant language is used in community
activities.
178
Use the following questions to help you clarify your ideas about
this section of the book:
1. Do you recognize any quality criteria mentioned here that
match with curriculum development in your own context?
Answer these questions by building on your findings in the last

point for your reflection in chapter 4:
2. What kind of change in curriculum development practice

could help lift one of the barriers you identified previously?

4. What quality criterion would indicate this improvement in

practice?
179
Training of Trainers
It is essential to the success of every learning programme that the trainer does
a good job. As a result of the analysis of good practice and research in 2009,
several guiding principles and quality criteria emerged for an effective training
of trainers programme for adult literacy in multilingual contexts. These are
illustrated by three concrete examples from Africa and Asia and summarized in
the table that follows.
180
Example 1: A training of trainers system for a community-based

programme by ASHRAI, Bangladesh5412
Bangladesh is a country with about 73 indigenous communities, in which
65 languages and 8 scripts are used in written communication. The largest
community are the Bangalee; their language, Bangla (Bengali), is spoken by the
majority of people and is used as medium of instruction in both schools and
adult education. Most of the languages spoken by the 2% of the population
known as the Small Ethnic Groups (SEG) do not have a written form. The SEGs
face social, political and economic exclusion, lack of recognition, fear and
insecurity. These communities live in poverty and most of their members are
non-literate. Mother-tongue education for both children and adults is therefore
one of the major quality measures for education and learning in Bangladesh.
The local NGO ASHRAI (www.ashraibd.org/) has worked for the inclusion of
small ethnic communities since 1990, in particular involving women, using the
learners mother tongue. Based on the experience of the programme, this is
clearly a strength.
The literacy programme
The adult literacy programme that ASHRAI has run since 2002 is called
Lahanti, the Santali word for totally developed. ASHRAIs Lahanti programme
is village-based and brings together about 20 women to form a Lahanti circle
for one year (about 23 hours in the evening on about 190 to 200 days per
year). At the end of the year, two to three circles form a community-based
organization with a community resource centre. The organizations function
is to facilitate getting information for the community, identifying problems,
seeking solutions, networking, organizing cultural events, and undertaking
advocacy at local level to protect and/or achieve rights and social justice.
54 The following explanation of the Lahanti programme of the NGO ASHRAI is based on an
unpublished workshop paper: Samad A.O.M. Abdus, Training of Trainers: The case of ASHRAI in
Bangladesh. Cross-regional Workshop on Capacity-building for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and
Arab States: Adult (15+) Literacy in Multilingual Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
The facilitators
ASHRAI has selection criteria for facilitators. As the Lahanti circle participants
are mostly women, it is important that the facilitator is a woman. The
facilitator must come from the same community as the participants and speak
both the local language and Bangla. This criterion ensures that the facilitator
has knowledge of local culture and communication methods, and is aware
of the difficulties people face. Other selection criteria for facilitators are a
secondary school qualification, acceptance by the community, and an ability
to motivate people. Facilitators may not be involved in the making or drinking
of alcohol. The facilitator is hired on a part-time basis and receives a small
remuneration (in the year 2009 this was 1,500 Bangladeshi Taka per month).
The organization is aware that this remuneration is low and perceives it as a
weakness. Finding facilitators with the required academic qualifications is a
challenge, because as a result of their exclusion not many adults from ethnic
minorities are suitably educated.
ASHRAI has developed a system to train the facilitators which includes
residential trainings, peer group meetings, and on-site feedback and
demonstration. The trainers of the facilitators are experienced in Lahanti
programme implementation and preferably bilingual in Bangla and the
language of the trainees. The training programme uses a variety of learning
methods such as role play, practical exercises, group work, lecture,
discussion, games, etc., which the trainees will also apply in the Lahanti
circle. The residential trainings are sensitive to the living conditions of women:
mothers can come with their babies and a nanny. Childcare costs are taken
over by the organization.
181
The Lahanti circle participants learn about communication (including literacy

and numeracy), social issues (e.g. child marriage, poverty), natural disaster and
common diseases, organizational development (financing, management), and
empowerment (rights, advocacy and culture). The Lahanti literacy programme
uses a customized REFLECT method in the local language. At the initial
stage the group identifies an issue and develops an action plan. This is then
discussed with the spouse forum linked to the programme so that spouses
are involved in the learning and implementation of the action points. The
programme has made communities more aware of their socio-cultural and
economic conditions and empowered them to change them, showing that
literacy learning is an integral part of development and empowerment.
Figure 5.5 Training of trainers class by Ashrai
A.O.M. Abdus Samad
182
Residential training of trainers

The selected facilitators are introduced to the work through an initial four-day
residential training on the methodology of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
in the Ashrai training centre. The aim of the training is to ensure that the
facilitators fully understand the objectives and usefulness of the programme
and the processes involved. Facilitators learn how to set up a Lahanti circle,
including a spouse forum and a circle support committee composed of
community members, so that the circles activities can run effectively and
benefit the whole community.
When the circle is set up the facilitators receive a second residential training
of 14 days where they learn to be trainers/facilitators for the group. The
curriculum includes modules on the importance of education, Freirean
philosophy and literacy education using the REFLECT method, the status of
indigenous communities, and pedagogical methods to facilitate learning and
implement the circles activities. The facilitators learn to work with different
media, from paper to film.
After a few months of work with the Lahanti circle, the trainers undergo
a third residential training for five days on gender and human rights. The
fourth residential training takes three days and teaches the facilitator how
to facilitate the sessions in which participants determine the competencies
they want to acquire at the end of the programme. In these sessions, each
individual member expresses her own individual expectations and the group
determines the scope and level of competencies. These are then planned as
the target of the circle.
At the end of each month, a half-day refresher training for a group of ten
facilitators takes place in the Ashrai branch office. The aim is to discuss
and prepare for the next months activities. Role plays are used to simulate
situations. Solutions are developed for literacy learning issues and action
points implemented. At the end of the training the facilitators submit monthly
reports and have the opportunity to raise and solve management issues
and receive their remuneration. It was observed that, generally speaking,
women are better at facilitating the learning process and men are better at
networking with local government and non-governmental organizations.
Example 2: Institutionalizing professional training for adult literacy
educators, Niger5513
Niger is one of the few countries in Africa that offers an academic
qualification for adult educators and inspectors. The Centre de Formation
des Cadres de lAlphabtisation (CFCA, Centre for Training Personnel in
Adult Literacy Education)5614was established by the government in 1977 as
55 The following explanation of CFCA is based on an unpublished presentation: Laouali Malam

Moussa. Centre de formation des cadres de lalphabtisation. Cross-regional Workshop on
Capacity-building for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States: Adult (15+) Literacy in
Multilingual Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
56 The CFCA is today called Institut de formation en alphabtisation et education non formelle
(IFAENF).
183
Peer group exchange and on-site feedback for trainers

Each facilitator works under the supervision of a programme officer who
makes regular visits to the circle, provides feedback to the facilitator and
occasionally facilitates a meeting of the circle. Every two weeks, facilitators
of neighbouring circles meet to discuss problems and possible solutions, etc.
This cluster meeting is chaired by the supervising programme officer. The
facilitators thus develop a common understanding, learn from each other,
receive advice from the supervisor and prepare themselves for upcoming
activities.
a professional training institute for literacy and adult education. It became

autonomous in 2009. The institute provides initial and continuing training
to professionals working in the field of adult education. It provides a solid
foundation in adult education and literacy in particular. The centre also trains
French-speaking adult educators from other African countries.
An important linguistic challenge is the low level of French competence

and multicultural understanding among trainers, which makes it difficult for
them to transfer knowledge between the national languages and French. A
further challenge is that despite the higher linguistic competence in national
languages, there is a lack of reading materials in these languages.
Figure 5.6 Library on the campus of the IFAENF
IFAENF
184
In Niger about twenty local languages are spoken, of which ten have
the status of national languages and two are used as languages of wider
communication. French is the official language of the country. The CFCA
recognizes the importance of responding to the multilingual context. It
therefore requires trainees to master literacy in their first language and a
second language of their choice. Trainees also learn how to teach French. As
well as writing in the Latin script, the trainees learn how to write the national
languages in the Arabic script which is also used in Niger. Ideally, trainees will
learn to work with all ten national languages.
The training of trainers programme takes account of gender equality issues.

There is a quota for recruitment and the curriculum encompasses learning about
human rights, womens rights and childrens rights as well as the link between
gender and development issues.
Example 3: Training trainers for the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign,
South Africa5715
In 2008 the Government of South Africa (Department of Basic Education)
launched a multilingual mass literacy campaign to enable about 4.7 million
adults (15 years and over) to become literate in one of the eleven official
languages of South Africa. The government wanted to fulfil its commitment
made at Dakar in 2000 to reduce illiteracy by 50 per cent. The name of the
campaign is Kha Ri Gude, which means let us learn58.16The campaign has an
inclusive approach and is particularly targeted at women, youth, and disabled
(deaf and blind) people over the age of 15. All materials are available in braille
in the eleven languages. The campaign has won several awards. By the end of
2009, the programme had assisted about one million learners (380,000 in 2008
and 620,000 in 2009) to acquire basic literacy skills and spoken English. It has
opened up work opportunities for 40,000 volunteers in poor communities,
while offering blind and deaf matriculants the opportunity to learn to teach in
braille and sign language respectively.
57 The following explanation of Kha Ri Gude is based on (i) an unpublished presentation by Veronica
McKay: The Kha Ri Gude Literacy Campaign South Africa: Cross-regional Workshop on Capacitybuilding for LIFE in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Arab States: Adult (15+) Literacy in Multilingual
Contexts, 29 September2 October 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), and (ii) on the case study on the
Kha Ri Gude programme available at UILs Effective Literacy Programmes Database www.unesco.
org/uil/litbase/?menu=13&country=ZA&programme=69 (last update 1 August 2011), (Accessed 19
November 2014).
58 For further information see also www.kharigude.co.za/ (Accessed 19 November 2014.) and
www.unesco.org/uil/litbase
185
The training programme

The training centre provides initial and in-service training. In 2009 it offered a
three-year middle level course of four years of post-primary education and a
superior level course of two years for pedagogical advisors and one year for
inspectors. The middle level course provides trainers with a solid foundation
in literacy, adult education and administrative skills, and assists the learners
in identifying development priorities. All programmes are centred on current
techniques and methods. Pedagogical advisors also learn about research
methodologies and inspectors about educational management issues. In addition
to the theoretical content, the course offers practical internships of one month
per year, which ensure that knowledge is applied in real life situations.
Guiding principles of the literacy campaign

The campaign follows the following key principles:

186
learning is offered in all official languages

there is no cost to learners
the teacher-student ratio is 1:18 and smaller for learners with special
needs
volunteer educators are paid a small stipend
there is a focus on literacy for disabled people
The campaign assesses each provinces literacy needs per language by

mapping the levels of illiteracy and determining the number of learners per
province. In order to effectively address the particular and diverse learning
needs of different groups of learners, the programme employs an integrated
and multilingual approach to literacy skills training. Accordingly, the curriculum
integrates basic literacy skills training in learners mother tongue with life
skills training. The life skills component of the programme focuses on
themes that are central to the learners socio-economic context and everyday
experience, such as health, civic education (e.g. human rights, conflict
resolution and management, peace building and gender and racial relations),
environmental management and conservation, income generation and
livelihood development. In addition, the programme provides instruction in
English as a second language in order to enable learners to conduct ordinary
tasks such as filling in forms, for which English, as the official language of the
country, is generally required.
The materials were developed by a writing team for each language and an
editorial, artistic, photographic and design team. The materials follow an
integrated, whole word approach to literacy acquisition, drawing on learners
existing language experience while taking seriously the findings of recent
neuro-cognitive research. The thematic approach ensures that the content is
the same in all eleven languages.
Recruitment and training of volunteer personnel (coordinators,
supervisors and educators)
In order to facilitate the effective implementation of the programme, until
2011 the Department of Basic Education (DoBE) recruited and trained about
75,000 community-based volunteer coordinators, supervisors and educators
or literacy training facilitators, including 100 blind and 150 deaf educators
who provide specialized instruction to their illiterate compatriots with
disabilities. Of these, about 66 per cent are under 35; 80 per cent are women;
85 per cent were previously unemployed and all were recruited from the same
communities as the learners they serve. As a rule, only matriculants with a
minimum of Grade 12 qualifications and qualified professionals are recruited

to serve as programme facilitators. 51% of the volunteers (coordinators,
supervisors and educators) have one or more tertiary qualifications.
Programme facilitators are provided with basic training in various aspects of
adult education, including:
adult-appropriate teaching and learning methods

classroom management
how to use teaching modules to conduct lessons and how to moderate
the learning process
how to conduct the assessment activities in the Learner Assessment
Portfolios (LAPS).
187
Facilitators receive an initial training of four days and in-service training of

one day per month. The lessons and learning materials are tightly structured
with in-built sequenced activities to teach, because the campaign relies on
volunteers who work in less than ideal circumstances. Training videos present
the steps for teaching the lessons. Each facilitator receives a step-by-step
guideline for each lesson. They also receive action research instruments with
questions that help them assess their own performance and discuss critical
incidents.
The campaign has instituted an extensive, action-oriented internal monitoring
and evaluation system carried out by supervisors who each monitor ten
educators/facilitators and coordinators who each monitor twenty supervisors.
John Aitchison
Figure 5.7 Teaching and learning wherever you are
188
The monitoring and evaluation process includes monthly class visits by

supervisors to monitor and assess the teaching/learning process and the
learners progress, and spot checks carried out by a team of external monitors
and line coordinators. This ongoing monitoring and evaluation system
enables supervisors to advise facilitators on how to improve their teaching
strategies in order to enable learners to acquire literacy skills more effectively.
Furthermore, the system enables programme supervisors and coordinators to
solve many problems on site and thus to maintain programme standards.
Each trained educator/facilitator is responsible for between 15 and 18
learners. Volunteers are paid a monthly stipend (about R 1,200) which
is contingent on their meeting a number of pre-defined criteria such as
submitting LAPs. This outcomes-based payment is necessary for reasons
of accountability and motivation and to ensure that the learners are not
compromised. It is also essential in ensuring the integrity of the campaigns
payment system. Experience has shown that the provision of adequate
training opportunities and payment of stipends to facilitators is central to the
success of adult literacy campaigns.
Synthesis of guiding principles and quality criteria
The three successful cases of training of trainers described above
demonstrate how the policy, education and community environments can
be interlinked in an enabling and empowering way. The table below
summarizes the quality criteria that emerge from these cases along the
lines of the basic guiding principles. It also includes the quality criteria that
emerged from the other cases analysed during the 2009 cross-regional
dialogue on Adult Literacy in Multilingual Contexts in Asia, sub-Saharan
Africa and Arab States.
Table 5.3 Overview on guiding principles and quality criteria identified for

the training of trainers for adult literacy in multilingual contexts
Sphere of action: Training of trainers

Quality criteria
Inclusion
Participatory and
decentralized approach
Equality (Gender, disabled
people)
Partnership with the State, provinces and locally elected

representatives and non-governmental organizations.
The training of trainers is contextualized and adapted to the
trainers living conditions.
Vulnerable groups such as women and blind people are trained
as trainers and provision is made to accommodate their special
needs, such as childcare.
The learning programme and materials are audited with regard
to gender equality.
Key actors are sensitized on the importance of gender equality
for the development of society.
Lifelong learning
Development of a
relevant curriculum for
trainers and trainees
with their support
Trainers needs are identified in a participatory way.

The training is adaptable and flexible with regard to the
changing realities of the trainees lives.
The training facilitates learning in practice (as opposed to just
providing information).
The training accompanies the trainers professional development
through a process consisting of pre-service training, in-service
training, peer learning and learning from specialized trainers.
A profile is defined for the trainee and facilitator to work
towards. The profile includes skills that relate to the four
foundational pillars of lifelong learning. The following skill sets
are proposed:
Linguistic skills: mastering both first and second languages
orally and in writing.
Pedagogical and technical skills: understanding of the
curriculum; knowledge of literacy acquisition pedagogy;
communication, listening and facilitation skills; awareness
that learning is a continuous process; capacity to conduct
action research; good comprehension of gender issues,
continuous up-date on the respective subject matter.
Trainers use participatory action research to develop training
modules with specialists in the subject matter, in adult
education pedagogy and in the development of local language
learning materials.
189
Guiding principles
Sphere of action: Training of trainers
190
Guiding principles
Quality criteria

Trainers value the local reading and writing culture and use it
in their everyday lives.
Trainers are trained to use the scripts associated with the
language(s) they teach.
Trainers learn how to make use of literacy with different media
relevant to the community.
Multilingual ethos
Trainers recruitment,
curriculum and profile
follow a multilingual
ethos
Linguistic and cultural diversity is taken into account by

choosing trainers from the specific community who also master
the official language of the country.
Trainees and facilitators profiles have a multilingual ethos.
Sustainability
Suitability to the context
Ownership of the process
Effective and efficient
management
The local language is used as a medium of instruction so that

the trainers become capable actors in defining the form, role
and value of education that contributes to local development
initiatives.
The trainees have ownership of the training process.
Trainers are recruited who possess the minimum required
educational qualification in addition to language competences,
knowledge of the relevant culture and teamwork skills.
Recruiters are aware that trainers and facilitators are seen as
role models and should therefore have experience in what
they teach.
A career plan for the trainees is put in place, covering financial
remuneration, job opportunities, training and officially
recognized certificates.
A training and guidance system is in place, covering initial
training, regular monthly in-service training and regular
monitoring and evaluation (quantity and quality), including
action research.
Training and teaching materials are readily available and
provide the guidance required with respect to the circumstances
in which the trainers teach.
Adequate financing is available.
Training is technically and financially sustainable.
Please think about the following questions and write your

responses in your notebook:
1. Do you recognize any quality criteria that match the
training of trainers in your own context?
Building on your findings in the last point for your reflection,

please consider:
2. What kind of change in training of trainer practice could help

lift one of the barriers you identified in your context?

4. What quality criteria would indicate this improvement in

practice?
191
6
192
Summary of the
main messages
Summary of the main messages
193
The Osmanya script

was created in 1922 and
sporadically used to write
Somali until 1972. It is
also known as the "Somali
alphabet" or "Somali writing".
The Latin alphabet was
adopted for Somali in 1973.
194

ll the successful cases of adult literacy programmes we discussed
above have one important aspect in common: they emerged in a context
where peoples literacy skills in the languages and for the purposes that
matter to them are not promoted. Official spaces and institutions of power
use literacy in a script or a language that these people cannot read or do not
master. This linguistic exclusion and exclusion from literacy as medium of
communication is used in these contexts to exert social power, particularly in
formal domains, such as in government and administration, the mass media,
the formal economy, and formal education. The literacy researchers Hamilton
and Pitt underline that this is a manifestation of inequality as much as a
cause of it (2011, p. 604). Their research shows that simple cause and effect
models with literacy skills taught in isolation cannot make a difference to such
inequalities. The educational programmes we introduced to you, by contrast,
are based on the understanding that literacy is not a stand-alone cognitive
skill, but gains its significance and social meaning from the particular sociocultural context in which it is used for communication.
In this guidebook, our aim has been to propose a frame of reference which
could inspire you to ask questions for your own action research in the field
of youth and adult literacy. The frame of reference is concrete, and is based
on the broader guiding principles and values that frame visions and practices
in youth and adult education. These basic guiding principles are essential for
promoting peace and social justice in a linguistically and culturally diverse
world. The frame of reference proposes to assess whether youth and adult
education takes place in enabling environments. We identified the policy
environment, the multisectoral educational environment, and the home,
community and work environments as crucial for youth and adult education.
The case studies enabled us to see that the interplay of these environments
is an important factor for quality. The frame of reference therefore analyses
them in multiple dimensions.
The frame of reference we propose in chapter four is flexible with regard to
the concrete strategies and quality criteria employed in each case, recognizing
that understanding and practices evolve and contexts differ. Nevertheless,
we have illustrated in concrete terms what it means to apply the same
All along, our work has been inspired and reinforced by calls for greater
social justice, gender equality, social inclusion, sustainable development
and inclusive growth, summed up by what Bokova (2010) calls the new
humanism. These themes have been addressed in various forums, particularly
the post-2015 debates on the international Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and Education for All (EFA). The fundamental questions are: what type
of education policies and programmes should we promote in order to achieve
MDGs and EFA goals? How do we accelerate progress, particularly with
regard to EFA goal 4 (literacy, basic and continuing education for adults) and
MDG goals 1 and 7 (eliminating extreme poverty and achieving environmental
sustainability)? Are we taking peoples cultures and needs as the starting
point and key factor for motivating and mobilizing all people - children, youth
and adults to become lifelong learners in formal, non-formal and informal
educational settings?
The promotion of good quality education is a social project which requires
the active participation of all members of society. To ensure this involvement,
certain principles should be upheld. The role and importance of peoples
cultures and languages are recognized by UNESCO in its various policy
documents (e.g. UNESCO, 1960, 2001, 2003, 2005) and more recently
during the global debate on MDGs and post-2015 goals, which include
respecting diversity, gender equality, and social inclusion. We believe that
the multicultural and multilingual ethos should be applied as one of the
foundational principles in promoting literacy, education and lifelong learning in
multilingual and multicultural contexts.
In order to develop the frame of reference for the improvement of adult
and youth education that we presented to you, we engaged in a review of
theories on quality education (Friboulet et al., 2006; Barrett et al., 2006; Tikly,
195
basic guiding principles in different contexts for the creation of a literate

environment, curriculum development and the training of trainers. These
initiatives show that applying a multilingual ethos can sometimes mean
working with a multi-/bilingual approach, and at other times concentrating
first and foremost on developing the reading and writing culture in the
previously neglected local language. The inclusion of people with different
lifestyles (such as nomads), different social roles (women and men) or special
communication needs (such as blind and hearing impaired people) had in each
case an empowering effect that made the society stronger, because formerly
weak and inactive members became able to contribute to it. Peoples agency
was strengthened and their communicative competences (including literacy)
expanded through culturally rooted and enabling environments which make
education and learning sustainable.
2010 and 2011; Tikly and Barrett, 2011; Lesgold and Welch-Ross, 2012) and
action research (e.g. Altrichter, 1999; McNiff, 2002; Chilisa and Preece, 2005;
Reason, 2006; Quigley, 2006; Kerfoot, 2009; Somekh and Zeichner, 2009).
We also carried out an analysis of case studies related to the development
of literate environments, curriculum development and training of trainers in
multilingual and multicultural contexts. This research enabled us to identify
five guiding principles for the promotion of good quality adult and youth
literacy in multilingual and multicultural contexts.
196
We learned that action research allows policymakers, practitioners,

learners, civil society organizations and all stakeholders to work together
democratically to define challenges, identify strategies or solutions, test the
application of these solutions and learn from the process. Action research
allows for both bottom-up and top-down approaches, ensuring the ownership
and sustainability of policies and programmes at both local and national levels.
The end goals are the emancipation and empowerment of all learners and
stakeholders and the promotion of good quality adult and youth education
to help people overcome exclusion, improve their livelihoods and promote
sustainable development and inclusive growth.
Action research teaches us that each case is different. The principles and
criteria applied to improve the quality of a particular system may be adapted
to suit another, or new principles and criteria can be determined. This implies
that the five basic guiding principles for good quality adult and youth literacy
in multilingual and multicultural contexts are not exhaustive. Nevertheless,
they should be considered critical and foundational. We invite policymakers,
practitioners, adult and youth learners, civil society organizations, researchers
and private sector members to work together at local and national levels
to identify solutions that can further elucidate the issues at stake, enabling
us to revise the proposed framework and to consider new dimensions. The
reflections by the various authors and editors of this guidebook represent our
contribution to the task of improving the quality of adult and youth literacy and
education within EFA and the MDGs, in 2015 and beyond.
Internationally, adult (literacy) education has been inspired by Brazilian
educator Paulo Freires call to make education a source of empowerment,
democracy, peace, freedom, and social and individual transformation. His
reflections and practice as an educator, intellectual and researcher were
informed by his participation in Brazils transformation from a colonial state
to an independent nation. We would like to close this book with some
reflections by Paulo Freire, as we believe that a critical reading of the
evolution of a society is a resource for our understanding as responsible
actors in the present. The dialogue with past experience helps us to put
197
present social and individual conditions into perspective, to understand the

task of the current generation, and to reflect on essential principles of our
common humanity. Looking at social heritage, Freire concluded that since
our [Brazilian] cultural history had not provided us even with habits of political
and social solidarity appropriate to our democratic form of government, we
had to appeal to education as a cultural action by means of which Brazilian
people could learn, in place of old passivity, new attitudes and habits of
participation and intervention (Freire, 1974, pp. 3334). With regard to
literacy it meant that we wanted a literacy program which would be an
introduction to the democratization of culture, a program with men [people]
as its subjects rather than as patient recipients, a program which itself would
be an act of creation, capable of releasing other creative acts, one in which
students would develop the impatience and vivacity which characterize
search and invention (ibid., p. 44). We agree with Freires vision of using
educational settings as a space of compassion and dialogue where we can
learn to express ourselves and to live together creatively: Democracy and
democratic education are founded on faith in men [people], on the belief
that they not only can but should discuss the problems of their country, of
their continent, their world, their work, the problems of democracy itself.
Education is an act of love, and thus an act of courage. It cannot fear the
analysis of reality or, under pain of revealing itself as a farce, avoid creative
discussion (Ibid., p. 34). It is with these words of profound wisdom that we
end this work, hoping that they are a source of inspiration for all of us.
You have reached the last point for your reflection in this book.
It should help you to sum up your ideas and take the first step
towards transferring your ideas to practice. Write your reflections
in your notebook.
198
Please select the most energizing/appealing idea for improving

practice from the last three points for your reflection, either on
the literate environment, curriculum development or training of
trainers. We invite you to take this idea and the related questions
as starting points for an action research study.
In order to test the idea and to transfer from your individual
learning process to a collective one, share your idea and
questions with any, several or all of the people you identified as
partners in the previous points for reflection.
1. Discuss your idea with them, refine it as a worthwhile

purpose and, if it is appealing, establish it as a common
agenda.
2. Together, discuss your views on how an ethical, democratic

and participatory community of inquiry could work for each
partner.
3. Plan together the implementation of the idea on how to

improve practice, with the available resources in mind.
Glossary
Action research is also a form of evaluation for adult literacy programmes (see
below).
Action research aims to help practitioners investigate the connections
between their own theories of education and their own day-to-day educational
practices; it aims to integrate the research act into the educational setting
to that research can play a direct and immediate role in the improvement
of practice; and it aims to overcome the distance between researchers
and practitioners by assisting practitioners to become researchers. []
action research as a form of participatory and collaborative research [is]
aimed at improving educational understandings, practices, and settings,
and at involving those affected in the research process. There are different
approaches to action research and two main schools of thought. One aspires
to improve mainly professional practice at the local level and within the
constraints of the educational institution and another aspires to change
education at a broader social level (Kemmis, 1997, pp. 173179).
Action research is conducted in an iterative cycle. The basic steps of an
action research process constitute an action plan:

We review our current practice,

identify an aspect that we want to investigate,
imagine a way forward,
try it out, and
take stock of what happens.
We modify what we are doing in the light of what we have found, and
continue working in this new way (try another option if the new way of
working is not right),
monitor what we do,
review and evaluate the modified action,
and so on (McNiff, 2012).
199
Glossary
Action research
Action research is a practical approach to professional inquiry in any social
situation (Waters-Adams, 2006).
200
Agency
Agency from a sociological perspective means the capacity for individualized
choice and action as distinguished from acting unconsciously along the
lines of socio-culturally predetermined patterns, no matter whether these
are just or detrimental to the individual or social group. Agency includes
being or becoming aware of ones own social situation, choices and
perceptions. For example, how women can develop agency has been of
central concern in the feminist movement (www.britannica.com/EBchecked/
topic/1541079/feminism-philosophical/284112/Feminist-theories-ofagency?anchor=ref1049944, accessed on 19 November 2014).
Bilingual education / multilingual education
Bilingual education is defined in different ways. The term originally meant
the use of two languages as media of instruction. It included, but was not
restricted to, the learning of two languages as subjects. Today it is most
often meant in the first sense. Increasingly, however, and particularly in
North America, the term denotes using the first language as medium of
instruction for a short time (see early-exit transitional models) followed by a
second language as a medium of instruction for a greater amount of time. In
other words, it has been misused to mean a mainly second language-based
education system. This misuse of the term bilingual education has been
transported to many countries, resulting in the labelling of programmes as
bilingual even though they feature very little use of the first language as
medium of instruction. A definition of the different models used in bilingual
education programmes (subtractive, early-exit, late-exit, and additive) is given
below.
The term multilingual education was adopted in 1999 in UNESCOs General
Conference Resolution 12 to refer to the use of at least three languages in
education, for example, the mother tongue, a regional or national language
and an international language. The resolution supported the view that the
requirements of global and national participation and the specific needs of
culturally and linguistically distinct communities can only be addressed by
multilingual education (UNESCO, 2003; Ouane and Glanz, 2010, pp. 64 and
65).
Types of bilingual education models include:
1. Subtractive education model: The learners are moved out of the
mother tongue and into a second language as a medium of instruction as
early as possible. Sometimes this involves going straight to the second
language as the medium of instruction in the first year.
2. Early-exit (or transitional) model: The objective of this model is

identical to that of the subtractive models: to establish a single target
language in schools, usually the official language. Learners may begin
with the mother tongue and then gradually move to the official language
as the medium of instruction. If the transition to the official/foreign
language takes place within one to four years, it is referred to as the
early-exit transition model.
4. Additive (bilingual) education models: In the additive education model,

the objective is to use the mother tongue as a medium of instruction
throughout (with the official or second language taught as a subject), or
to use the mother tongue plus the official or second language as dual
media of instruction right through to the end of schooling. In the additive
education model, the mother tongue is never removed as a medium of
instruction and never used less than 50 per cent of the day/subject. The
target is a high level of proficiency in both languages. (Adapted from
Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 64.)
Criteria
The specifications or elements against which a judgment is made. (The
International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education/
INQAAHE glossary, www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary, accessed
on 19 November 2014.)
Different from Guiding Principles (see below).
Critical or radical adult education
A lot of adult literacy work is rooted in the philosophy of critical adult
education. The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (1978, 1973, 1971) is one of
its leading figures. He wanted an education that liberates people by creating
awareness of power imbalances and socially unjust living conditions that
marginalize and oppress people, such as the poor peasants in postcolonial
Latin America. The focus of the radical philosophy is on systemic change
with a more critical view of the society we live in, so that learners do not
just feel good about what they have learned but also form a social group that
addresses its problems and is involved in lobbying for the better (Quigley,
201
Glossary
3. Late-exit models: If the transition from the mother tongue as a medium

of instruction to a different target language is delayed to years 56, it is
referred to as the late-exit transition model. An efficient late-exit model
which maintains the mother tongue as a subject beyond years 56 can
lead to additive bilingualism, provided that effective first and second
language pedagogy is used in the classroom in combination with adequate
content area literacy instruction.
2006, p. 98). This approach to education does not place the individual alone
centre stage, but sets her/his life within a specific social system.
202
Culture
Culture is today understood as something that is complex, not closed,
and that reflects both its historical development and influences from
other cultures. Culture refers to a groups beliefs, values and practices,
but also accommodates the diversity of identities and practices of its
individual members. A culture is not static and homogenous but flexible and
heterogeneous. It is not a realm where people just coexist peacefully; it is
a space of agreement and disagreement between and within generations.
The interplay of autonomy and closeness is normal in all human relationships
and every individual and group needs both. People can identify with aspects
of different cultures, belong to several subgroups or sub-cultures, and agree
with certain elements of a culture and reject others (May, 2009).
This definition emphasizes that culture means beliefs, values and practices
in all areas of life, economic, spiritual, educational, political etc. Therefore,
when we speak about culture we also speak about livelihood.
Cultural fluency
Cultural fluency means a deep understanding of cultures: their natures, how
they work, and how they intertwine with our relationships in times of conflict
and harmony. It is about recognizing culture as an important site of struggle in
bringing about social justice. Essentially, cultural fluency is about being able
to put ourselves in someone elses shoes. It is the ability to look critically
at social constructs and to acquire the attitudes, knowledge and skills to
understand them and transform them towards a more humane and inclusive
society (Abeysekara, 2011, p. 7).
Curriculum
A curriculum is a systematic articulation of a societys values and needs
regarding learning, training and competence development. The curriculum
constitutes a framework of orientation for the whole learning, training
and competence development process. It should be noted that different
philosophies of education define curriculum differently. We refer you to
Jonnaert and Therribault (2013, in English) and Jonnaert, Ettayebi and Defise
(2009, in French) regarding the difference between the Franco-European and
the Anglo-Saxon/North American approach. The definition proposed in this
book follows the broader Anglo-Saxon approach.
Increasingly, theorists of education recognize the political component of

the curriculum the fact that the curriculum is a field of ideological and
political struggle that takes place in each society in order to give meaning
to education. It is recognized that this meaning not only originates among
experts, following professional criteria, but also through complex cultural
processes (Braslavsky, n. d).
Democracy
Derived from Greek term demokrata, power or leadership by the populace.
Democracy can be seen as a value and as a way to govern institutions.
Democracy is a political or leadership order in which power is in the hands
of the populace, which rules itself either through (a) direct participation in
all decisions that are of general relevance and interest, or (b) through the
selection and control of representatives who take these decisions on behalf of
the populace (Free translation of Fuchs, 2009, p. 39).
Essentialism
Essentialism is the view that a particular group of people or culture is
a closed, homogeneous entity with fixed boundaries and immutable
characteristics that are not touched by internal or external changes (May,
2009).
Foreign language
A foreign language is a language that a person is unfamiliar with and that she/
he does not master (Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 63).
203
Glossary
A curriculum extends beyond the syllabus to encompass: (i) policy; (ii) course
contents (learning objectives, e.g. what kind of literacy competences are to
be gained in which language(s)?); (iii) guiding principles; and (iv) pedagogical
approaches. In fact, the term curriculum is mostly used to refer to the
existing contract between society, the State and educational professionals
with regard to the educational experiences that learners should undergo
during a certain phase of their lives. For the majority of authors and experts,
the curriculum defines: (i) why; (ii) what; (iii) when; (iv) where; (v) how; and
(vi) with whom to learn. The curriculum defines the foundation and content of
learning materials, their sequencing in relation to the amount of time available
for learning experiences, the characteristics of teaching institutions and
learning experiences (especially as regards methods to be used), resources
for learning and teaching (e.g. textbooks and new technologies), evaluation
and teachers profiles.
Framework
A framework is a set of beliefs, ideas or rules that is used as the basis for
making judgments, decisions, etc. (Oxford Dictionary, 2005, p. 616).
204
Guiding principles
Guiding principles (for example lifelong learning or respect for linguistic and
cultural diversity) articulate the broad philosophy that directs the development
of literacy in multilingual contexts. They direct policies, goals, strategies and
types of work, and are reflected in core quality standards.
Habitus
Coined by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this term refers to an
individuals ways of being in the world, his/her patterns of perception,
thinking and acting, attitudes, physical appearance, habits and lifestyle, which
are shaped by his environment, socialization and personality.
Heteroglossia
Coined by the Russian literary analyst and language philosopher Mikhail
Bakhtin, this term refers to the diversity of variations within a language,
such as those used by people of different ages, professions or regional
backgrounds. Bakhtin also draws attention to the social and political tensions
and conflicts that these variations mirror (Bailey, 2012). In a broader sense,
heteroglossia refers to the diversity of languages, their variations and the
diversity of meanings and affiliations they represent. For example, research
on language biographies shows that a multilingual person associates different
languages and variations with different situations, feelings, activities and
experiences (Busch, Jardine and Tjoutuku, 2006).
Humanist adult education
The humanist philosophy entered adult literacy education at the end of the
20th century. The Canadian literacy specialist Allan Quigley (2006, pp. 9296)
presents key features of the philosophy and explains how it translates into
classroom practice. The humanist conception of human nature holds that all
human beings are essentially good, curious and have an innate motivation to
learn (that can become blocked during the course of life for various reasons).
Quigley introduces the adult educator Malcolm Knowles, who made humanist
adult education popular and who defined adulthood by an attitude (not skills or
knowledge): A person is an adult to the extent that that individual perceives
herself or himself to be essentially responsible for her or his own life
(Knowles, 1980, p. 24). According to Knowles, the task of adult educators is
to help individuals to put this attitude to practice by acquiring self-directed
learning skills and becoming lifelong learners. Knowles coined the term
andragogy (andra is Greek for adult or man; gogy means to teach) as
opposed to pedagogy (peda is Greek for child) in order to point out that
the top-down teaching methods traditionally used to teach children are not
appropriate for adults. In order to give more responsibility for learning to the
adult learner, Knowles gave his learners contracts with which they could
define individually with the facilitator what they want to learn and how they
want to be evaluated. In a humanist approach, the learners prior knowledge,
motivation and interests are at the centre of the teaching and learning process
and the learner is involved in decision-making.
Language of wider communication

A language of wider communication is a language that speakers of different
mother tongues use to communicate with each other. LWC is also called
lingua franca or trade language (Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 63).
Literacy
A universally accepted and valid definition of literacy does not exist. According
to the UNLD International Strategic Framework for Action 2009, literacy
is a plural and dynamic concept. The latest definition by UNESCO, which
also guides the UNESCO International Literacy Decade, defines literacy
[alphabtisme or littratie in French] as the ability to use written language
as a means of communication in a plurality of contexts. Literacy learning and
education [alphabtisation in French] is a process and should be guided by
the communication needs of the learner: Literacy is the ability to identify,
understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed
and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy learning
is a continuum, enabling individuals to achieve their goals, develop their
knowledge and potential and participate fully in the community and wider
society (UNESCO, 2005b, p. 21).
The latest revision of the francophone concept of literacy has emerged
(originally in Quebec) through the terms littratie and, less commonly,
littraties. While the former derives from Anglophone understandings of
literacy championed by OECD (referring to competencies deemed important
for information societies), the latter (employed, for example, by the Centre
de Recherche et de Dveloppement en ducation of the University of
Moncton, New Brunswick) is akin to the anglophone concept of literacies
advanced by the New Literacy Studies movement (UNESCO, 2005c, p. 148).
Glossary
205
Language (or medium) of instruction

The language of instruction is the language that is used for teaching and
learning the subject matter of the curriculum (Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 64).
206
Different schools of thought have evolved as to how we should conceptualize

literacy for education and as a means of communication. Each school of
thought has developed a different way of describing the scope of a literacy
education and the factors that it should consider. Literacy is variously
described as a skill, a competence, a capacity, and a practice. The term
literacy skill emphasises the cognitive and technical aspects of literacy
(Papen, 2005). Literacy competences refer to a persons ability to use literacy
in a specific, defined action. Literacy as capacity denotes a persons ability to
use literacy in order to achieve purposes that are relevant to her/him. Literacy
practices refer to the socio-culturally specific ways of using written language
(Barton, 2007).
Mother tongue, first or home language in multilingual contexts
Mother tongue in the narrow sense is defined as the language that a
child learns first from the person who plays the role of mother or carer. In
multilingual contexts, children may grow up with more than one language.
In order to root the definition in multilingual contexts, we define mother
tongue in a broader sense as the language or languages of the immediate
environment and daily interaction which nurture the child in the first four
years of life. The mother tongue is therefore a language or languages that a
child grows up with and whose grammar he/she learns before starting school
(Adapted from Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 62).
Multilingual ethos
The multilingual ethos advocates the acceptance and recognition of linguistic
diversity in order to ensure social cohesion and avoid the disintegration of
societies (Ouane, 2009, p. 168). It takes into account the intermeshing of
languages within multilingual individuals and in communities, across social
domains and communicative practices. The multilingual ethos stresses the
commonalities and the complementariness of languages and heteroglossia
across but also within communities and in a given situation. From this
perspective, language ownership or fixed language boundaries cannot be
claimed by any social group (Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 65). The multilingual
ethos covers all social domains.
Multilingual literate environment
We are in an era of multilingual and multimedia communication. A multilingual
literate environment can be seen from different angles. It is characterized by
the use of written texts for communication purposes in at least two languages
in a given social environment. Different scripts may be used to represent
one or several languages. The written text could replace face-to-face
communication, such as via signposts, SMS, books, or product packaging.
It can be used as a memory aid for oneself or be integrated in face-to-face

communication events, such as writing on a blackboard during teaching or
reading a newspaper together with a friend.
Multi-sectoral
The term multi-sectoral means that multiple sectors are involved. A sector
is a part of an economy or society, such as the education sector, the health
sector, the agricultural sector etc. The public sector refers to the part that
is controlled by the state. The third sector refers to non-governmental and
non-profit making organizations and associations. The private sector refers
to the part of the economy that is not under direct state control (See for
example www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sector, accessed on
19 November 2014).
National language
Language in widespread and current use throughout a country or in parts of
its territory, and often representative of the identity of its speakers. It may or
may not have the status of an official language (Stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.
asp?ID=5589, accessed on 19 November 2014).
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
A data-collecting technique used in emancipatory action research that involves
the whole community and leads to a community action plan (Chilisa and
Preece, 2005, p. 193).
Official language
An official language has legal status in a particular legally constituted
political entity, such as a state or part of a state, and serves as a language of
administration within that entity (Adapted from stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.
asp?ID=5590, accessed on 6 September 2012).
207
Glossary
A literate environment offers new literates multiple opportunities for using

their recently acquired knowledge, for enhancing it through continuing
education, and for developing solid habits of lifelong learning. Experience with
literacy campaigns, programmes and projects over the last few decades have
conclusively demonstrated that the quality of the literate environment is a
major determinant of knowledge and skill retention among literacy or nonformal education students, as well as of the ultimate impact of the training
that they receive (Easton, 2006, p. 7).
208
Quality in adult learning and education

There are many definitions of this issue. We choose the recent international
agreement of the participants of the Sixth International Conference on Adult
Education (CONFINTEA VI), stated in the Belm Framework for Action:
Quality in learning and education is a holistic, multidimensional concept
and practice that demands constant attention and continuous development.
Fostering a culture of quality in adult learning requires relevant content and
modes of delivery, learner centred needs assessment, the acquisition of
multiple competences and knowledge, the professionalization of educators,
the enrichment of learning environments and the empowerment of individuals
and communities (UIL, 2010, 16).
Second language
The term second language denotes a second language learned at school for
formal educational purposes, and should not be confused with a students
second or other languages learned informally outside of school. The official
languages of many countries are foreign to many students and are often only
learned as a second language (Adapted from Ouane and Glanz, 2010, p. 63).
Transformative learning
Transformative learning is a process of examining, questioning, validating,
and revising our perspectives (Cranton, 2006, p. 23).
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One of the greatest challenges in education today is to adapt and respond

to a linguistically and culturally diverse world, and to combat social
disintegration and discrimination. Participatory and collaborative action
research represents an empowering and emancipatory approach to this
challenge because the target groups become involved as equal partners.
In the words of Stephen Kemmis, action research aims to integrate the
research act into the educational setting so that research can play a direct
and immediate role in the improvement of practice. Participatory action
research has become a common feature of high-quality youth and adult
education services. It opens up opportunities for individual and collective
empowerment and transformation through collective learning.
This book provides guidance for trainers of youth and adult educators
and for those who manage non-formal education and curriculum
development programmes in youth and adult literacy. It is also aimed at
publishers and authors who want to improve their services and products
by collaborating more closely with their respective readerships.
The authors link theory and practice, which have often been treated
separately in the training of adult literacy personnel. They share
knowledge on how collaborative and participatory action research can
be used to develop high-quality adult literacy programmes and other
services in multilingual and multicultural contexts. In addition, they
suggest a frame of reference for high-quality youth and adult literacy
education.
United Nations

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Action research

to improve youth and

Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz (eds)

Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz (eds)

Published by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and

Acronyms and abbreviations

2 Action research from a theoretical perspective

3 Conducting action research three examples from

Case study 2: Action research for curriculum development: an

Point for reflection 4

Case study 3: Action research for the training of trainers:

Point for reflection 5

Conclusion from the three case studies

Point for reflection 6

4 A frame of reference for good quality youth and adult literacy

Central fields of quality analysis

Point for reflection 8

From theory to practice: an application of quality

Participatory action research: a quality criterion

Point for reflection 9

Point for reflection 10

Point for reflection 11

6 Summary of the main messages

Point for reflection 12

Acronyms and abbreviations

Projet Education de Base/ Promotion de lEnseignement

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

With this guidebook we would like to highlight the importance of multilingual

Tagbanwa is one of four

1 See the Glossary for a definition of transformative learning.

The reality of linguistic diversity and cultural difference requires people

and the Caribbean (20072008); the Sixth International Conference on

The new humanism: emancipation and empowerment of youth and

The purpose of this guide book

7 See the Glossary for a definition of action research.

Understanding that an education system is an evolving cultural product with

Action research for developing a culture of critical reflection on practice

8 See the Glossary for a definition of multilingual literate environment.

developing curricula for adult literacy programmes

Building on theory and practice

research in the process led to an effective adaptation of the research method

A frame of reference for good quality youth and adult literacy in

10 See the Glossary for a definition of the term 'guiding principles'.

Bernard Hagnonnou (Benin) states

Robert Jjuuko (Uganda) thinks

How to use the book

What this book offers

11 See the Glossary for a definition of framework.

How and by whom the guidebook was produced

This book has undergone an extensive peer review process prior to

Point for your reflection 1

At the end of each chapter we invite you, a reflective practitioner,

As you are now at the beginning of the book, we would like

keep all your notes, ideas, questions etc.

By Hassana Alidou and Christine Glanz

Action research from a theoretical perspective

The word Ilm meaning

Focus of the chapter

to understand the main features, purposes and principles of