The Evolution and Impact

of Literacy Campaigns and Programmes

2000–2014
Ulrike Hanemann

UIL Research Series: No. 1

United Nations

Cultural Organization
IMPRINT
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Cover photograph: ©NLMA (National Literacy Mission Authority): ‘The Saakshar Bharat Mission
(Literate India) hosts residential camps giving young people a second chance to read and write.’
ISBN: 978-92-820-1198-0

This paper was originally commissioned by the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring
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Contents

Foreword 5

1. Abstract 6

2. Introduction 6

3. Framework for assessing adult literacy campaigns and programmes 9

4. Global trends in literacy campaigns and programmes since 2000 and

analysis of some key national and international factors behind them 15

4.1 Duration, intensity and number of non-literate adults targeted by the

campaign or programme (‘outreach’) 21
4.2 Main funding sources, annual and/or overall cost of the campaign or
programme, and cost per learner 28
4.3 Supporting policies and/or legislative measures,
and strategic or operational plan 31
4.4 Social mobilization/campaigning/advocacy, philosophy/ideology,
link to social-political movement/community ownership and
control of the campaign or programme 34
4.5 Partnerships, collaboration schemes, cooperation agreements,
governance and management structure (in decentralized systems), logistics
(availability and delivery of materials), and accountability 36
4.6 Inclusiveness of the campaign or programme: gender equality, access to
­learning sites, identification and removal of barriers to participation for
­special groups, e.g. people with disabilities, women, youth, rural ­populations
and living in post-conflict contexts 39
4.7 Recruitment, payment and training of educators ­(volunteers, supervision,
pedagogical support) 42
4.8 Pedagogical aspects (content and quality of ­materials, methodology,
languages of instruction, assessment tools and system) 44
4.9 Monitoring and evaluation system, reporting and databasing, impact and
results, retention and pass rates 47
4.10 Continuity of learning opportunities (‘post-literacy’,
adult basic education, equivalence), system development and
institutionalization, recognized certificates 54
Contents
5. Four case studies 56

5.1 Brazil: Literate Brazil Programme (Programa Brasil Alfabetizado) 56

5.2 India: Saakshar Bharat Mission 63
5.3 South Africa: Kha Ri Gude Adult Literacy Programme 68
5.4 Indonesia: The national educational movement AKRAB! 75

6. Conclusions 81

References 87

Appendices 94

Figures and Tables

Figure 1 Framework towards successful literacy campaigns and programme 14

Figure 2 Adult literacy in England 2011 and 2013 52

Table 1 Progress in literacy rates in countries participating in the PIA 18

Table 2 Duration of literacy campaigns or programmes 22
Table 3 Number of non-literate adults targeted by selected campaigns
or programmes when launched 25
Table 4 Financial allocations of NCHD to literacy and education
between 2007 and 2011 30
Table 5 Target population of national literacy campaigns and programmes
as ­expressed explicitly in official documents 39
Table 6 Target population of national literacy campaigns and programmes as ­
expressed explicitly in official documents 61
Table 7 Numbers of learners who enrolled in and completed KRG 2008–2012 74
Table 8 Progress in adult literacy in countries with major campaigns 2000–2011 94
Table 9 Progress in terms of gender equity in adult literacy 102
Foreword

This is the first in a new UIL publication series comprising extended peer-reviewed research
papers. Our aim in launching this series is to provide an additional platform for research that
supports UNESCO’s educational goals, and more specifically the mandate of this Institute:
lifelong learning with a focus on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-formal
basic education.
The current study was commissioned by UNESCO in 2014 as a background paper for
the 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, specifically to inform the chapter
on adult literacy. I decided to make this analysis of major literacy campaigns and pro-
grammes available to a broader range of stakeholders and readers as the first title in the
new UIL Research Series.
Literacy campaigns were a common strategy applied in the 1970s and 1980s to mobilize
people and resources on a large scale. This approach had become less popular by the end of
the last century, but the past decade has seen a resurgence. In many cases literacy campaigns
have succeeded in creating fresh momentum to mobilize political will, resources and people.
This paper analyses adult literacy campaigns and programmes worldwide from 2000 to 2014
based on ten key indicators of success. In addition, four case studies of major literacy cam-
paigns – in Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia – expand on global trends in greater
depth, particularly in terms of features, challenges, success factors and results.
Many campaigns have raised inflated expectations of improved literacy rates. However, the
findings of this analysis paint a more nuanced picture, indicating both progress and setbacks in
achieving sustainable literacy through access to basic and continuing education within lifelong
learning systems. The continuity of learning processes for newly literates and the integration of
short-duration campaigns into national learning systems remain major concerns.
This paper concludes with several recommendations for policymakers. These include
linking large-scale literacy campaigns to processes of social change and development, sup-
porting participation in adult literacy programmes through literate environments and op-
portunities for further learning, more systematic use of ICT to expand coverage of literacy
programmes, and improved availability, reliability and comparability of literacy data to
facilitate improved planning and a more targeted approach.
It is my hope that this publication will not only contribute to increased awareness of the
complexity of designing successful literacy campaigns and programmes, but also to a broad-
er debate on effective strategies to advance literacy within the post-2015 education agenda.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank Christine Glanz and Alexander Grossklags
for the support they provided in the research process for this book.

Arne Carlsen
Director
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning

5
1. Abstract
The paper analyses the status and characteristics of adult literacy campaigns and pro-
grammes since 2000. Global trends are analysed in terms of the ten key aspects of the
suggested framework for successful literacy campaigns and programmes. Four case
studies on major literacy campaigns in Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia are
used to expand on these global trends in greater depth, particularly with regard to
their specific features, challenges, success factors and results. While campaigns have
created fresh momentum to mobilize for literacy, most large-scale campaigns have
set overly ambitious targets and underestimated the complexity of the task. The con-
tinuity of learning processes for newly literates and the integration of short-duration
campaigns into national learning systems are major concerns. Future strategy should
promote literacy as part of lifelong learning after 2015.

2. Introduction
The use of campaigns to mobilize people and resources on a large scale in order to
achieve ambitious objectives within a limited period of time is a long-established
practice. H. S. Bhola traces literacy campaigns back to the Protestant Reformation in
Europe in the early 1500s (Bhola, 1997). Often enough, literacy campaigns supported
social, economic, cultural and political reform or transformation. However, they have
also been linked to existing power structures, contributing either to their consolida-
tion or change.
The effectiveness of large-scale adult literacy campaigns in raising literacy rates
has varied considerably. The campaign approach has been criticized as ‘too often run
without full preparation, too brief to make any real change in the lives of communities,
without follow-up for further education or for transition to work, and ephemeral, with
no institutionalization of the effort’ (Bhola, 1997, p. 27). A review of major literacy
campaigns in the past century, such as those run in the USSR (1919–39), Thailand
(1942–1945; 1983–1987), Vietnam (1945–1958; 1976–78), China (1950s–1980s), Cuba
(1961), Burma/Myanmar (1960s–1980s), Israel (1964–1976), Brazil (1967–1980),
Tanzania (1971–1981), the Philippines (1971–1972), Somalia (1974–1975), Mozambique
(1978–1983), Ethiopia (1979–1989), Nicaragua (1980), Zimbabwe (1983–1987), Eritrea
(1983–1987) and Ecuador (1988–1989), teaches important lessons and shows that it is
impossible simply to characterize all literacy campaigns as successes or failures. Both
short-term and sustained mass literacy campaigns follow a common political approach
of commitment and mobilization. Political will, organizational structure, proper plan-
ning, adequate financial support, volunteerism and a smooth transition into longer-
term advanced literacy programmes can be identified as key success factors.

6
In the 1970s and 80s, mass adult literacy campaigns were commonly initiated by gov-
ernments, often taking the lead following liberation wars with a revolutionary or de-
colonizing agenda (Bhola, 1984; Bhola, 1997; Bhola, 1999; Arnove and Graff, 1987; Lind,
A. and Johnston, A., 1990). During the 1990s, however, the mass campaign approach
became less popular,1 particularly due to a narrow interpretation of the Education for
All (EFA) agenda and the mistaken belief that enrolment in primary education was
a sufficient indicator of educational progress and literacy achievement (Lind, 2008).
Boughton believes that the ‘new literacies’ studies led by Brian Street also contributed
to an abandonment of the mass campaign approach (Boughton, 2010). 2 Alan Rogers,
belonging to the same school, concludes that campaigns to promote adult literacy have
almost everywhere been a failure: ‘increases in national statistics are almost certainly
the result of increased primary schooling, not adult literacy campaigns’ (Rogers, 2003,
p. 52). 3 According to Agneta Lind, it is ‘mostly a mistake to make claims that adult
literacy campaigns or programmes themselves have caused a registered increase in
the national literacy rate of a certain country’ (Lind, 2008, p. 29). The latest available
figures seem to confirm the conclusion that, despite numerous efforts to address the
literacy challenge with large-scale campaigns and programmes, overall progress has
been extremely slow: since 2000 the number of illiterate adults has fallen by just 1%
(UNESCO, 2014).
While there are serious challenges in how literacy is defined and measured (UNESCO
Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2013), the limited impact of major campaigns and pro-
grammes on literacy rates is quite discouraging. Nevertheless, in the last ten years we can
observe an increasing tendency for governments in many countries to launch literacy
campaigns as national mobilization strategies with the aim of ‘eradicating’ illiteracy once
and for all or improving the general educational levels of the population.4 Is the return of
the mass ­literacy campaign and large-scale adult literacy programme in the twenty-first

1
Bhola nevertheless mentions two important literacy initiatives during the 1990s: the Total Literacy-Universal
Elementary Education Campaign of India, and South Africa’s Adult Basic Education and Training initiative,
which was launched in 1996 (Bhola, 1999).
2
While the ‘new literacy’ studies helped to problematize a number of features of mass campaigns, ironically
the main target of the ‘new literacies’ scholarship was not in fact the mass campaign itself, but rather the ­human
­capital-driven theories of neoliberalism, in which literacy was assigned the instrumental role of advancing
­economic development (Boughton, 2010).
3
Wagner also states that nearly all educational progress made over the past half-century was achieved through
the expansion of access to primary schooling rather than through adult literacy programmes (Wagner, 2013).
4
The use of the term ‘eradicate’ in relation to illiteracy is highly problematic. Apart from the analogy with health
issues (eradication of smallpox, for example) it suggests that the problem of illiteracy can be solved with a quick
operation. However, this approach overlooks the challenge of continuously improving skills levels.

7
century an indicator that the EFA movement, the United Nations Literacy Decade, and
initiatives such as UNESCO’s Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), the Ibero-
American Plan for Literacy and Basic Education for Youth and Adults (PIA) and Cuba’s Yo
Sí Puedo campaign model have managed to mobilize political will?
This paper seeks to analyse the status and characteristics of adult literacy campaigns
and programmes implemented between 2000 and 2014. Furthermore, it examines how
these campaigns and programmes have evolved over the years, what has driven these
changes, to what extent they have been successful in raising adult literacy rates, and
the implications for addressing challenges related to a post-2015 education agenda.

A word on literacy data and rates

While substantial progress has been reported towards meeting EFA Goal 4 (UNESCO
Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2013), serious questions remain about the reliability of
literacy data annually reported by UNESCO Member States to the UNESCO Institute for
Statistics (UIS). ‘UNESCO continues to publish comparative statistics that few experts
take seriously as reliable data’ (Wagner, 2013, p. 24; Wagner, 2008). Most countries con-
tinue to use traditional methods such as population censuses, household surveys and edu-
cational attainment to estimate literacy rates, which are still based on the dichotomous
approach of classifying a person as either literate or illiterate. With the Belém Framework
for Action, Member States endorsed an approach that conceives of literacy as a continuum
(UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2010, p. 6), meaning that there is no definite
line between ‘literate’ and ‘non-literate’. Most current statistics, however, are still guided
by the dichotomous approach.
This has serious policy implications, starting with potentially misleading discourse on
the target of ‘eradicating’ illiteracy. While the generation of reliable and comparable liter-
acy data – ideally using the method of direct measurement (testing) – is indispens­able for
evidence-based policy-making, literacy policy should focus primarily on raising literacy
skills levels and developing literacy as part of a broader set of basic key competencies. In
any case, analysis of progress based on literacy data expressed as numbers and rates can
only have a referential value. Without determining specific levels of reading and writing
skills in the context of how these skills are used, it is difficult to establish and meet learn-
ers’ needs. Furthermore, while ‘illiteracy rates’ are declining, absolute numbers of adults
reported as being unable to read or write have increased in a number of countries, mainly
in sub-Saharan Africa. This is mainly due to population growth (UNESCO Institute for
Lifelong Learning, 2013).

8
3. Framework for assessing adult literacy
campaigns and programmes

In order to assess the evolution and impact of literacy campaigns and programmes, it
is necessary to develop an analytical framework that allows us to identify the features
that determine whether a particular adult literacy campaign or programme is more or
less effective. It is also necessary to seek conceptual clarification. H. S. Bhola, who has
worked extensively on the topic of literacy campaigns , 5 has made an attempt to distin-
guish a ‘campaign approach’ from a ‘programme approach’ to literacy.
A campaign is usually conducted by governments and involves a series of intense,
well-organized activities or interventions that are aimed at massive reduction of illiter­
acy. Campaigns are usually national or regional in scope, though sometimes they can be
more localized. Implemented within a fixed time-frame, a campaign normally runs for a
relatively short period. It is characterized by a sense of urgency and fervour and a spirit
of expedition or crusade, and it takes place in an environment of emergence, change,
awareness and commitment. In other words, it has a mass character and is often linked
to a socio-political movement. It involves a considerable mobilization of resources (hu-
man, financial and material) and of people to engage in teaching and learning literacy.
Teaching is often volunteer-based. Justifications for mobilizing societies for mass literacy
campaigns are usually rights-based, often seeking to redress social injustice.
Justifications may also be ideological and political (following political and struc-
tural changes, revolutionary conditions, building new societies, nation-building fol-
lowing independence and war or conflict), economic (increasing productivity), or cul-
tural and educational (literacy as a precondition for participation in a new social order
and for empowerment of previously excluded and marginalized population groups)
(Bhola, 1984; 1997; 1999).
A programme approach is more selective in nature and tends to develop institu-
tional-organizational structures. It has an intensive focus on particular communities,
population groups, gender groups or economic sectors, and is usually part of a na-
tional development plan. Literacy programmes may also be well organized and have a
clear focus on specific objectives. Like mass campaigns, they can be both large-scale
and time-bound. However, programmes lack the urgency and mass appeal of literacy
campaigns. While a campaign is politically ‘hot’, a programme is politically ‘cool’. It is
merely one of the many ‘most important tasks’ on a nation’s to-do list. Campaigns are

5
UNESCO commissioned a study by H. S. Bhola on campaigns, which was discussed at an international seminar
on Campaigning for Literacy in 1982.

9
typically associated with revolutions, while programmes are associated with ‘reformist
societies’ engaged in planned developmental change (Bhola, 1984, 1997, 1999).
According to John Oxenham, the difference between the campaign and programme
approaches is ‘one of style’. While the campaign strategy treats illiteracy ‘as a blight
that requires drastic and dramatic action for its eradication’ and recognizes that liter­
acy needs to be promoted, reinforced and sustained, the programme strategy ‘sets aside
the principle of artificially arousing enthusiasm and moral fervour’. Instead, because
of the long-term nature of learning, ‘it adopts quieter measures of discussion, support,
encouragement and steady expansion’ (all quotations Oxenham, 2008, pp. 60-61).
H. S. Bhola draws the conclusion that a clear-cut distinction between the campaign and
programme models is not possible: ‘In the real world, things are quite mixed up’ (Bhola,
1999, p. 289). Literacy campaigns can subsume literacy programmes, and large-scale pro-
grammes can contain features associated with campaigns, such as mobilizing strategies.
The case of the National Literacy Mission (NLM) launched in 1988 by the Government
of India is used by Bhola to show that both categories are part and parcel of the same
structure. In this initiative, a multiplicity of district-level, community-led literacy ‘micro-
campaigns’ were implemented under the umbrella of a national-scale programme. What
was begun as a campaign could taper off into a programme, as in Zimbabwe in the early
1990s. On the other hand, South Africa’s Ithuteng Initiative started as a programme and
was planned to escalate into a campaign when ready (Bhola, 1997).
Bhola predicts that campaign-style strategies of mobilization will be used more and
more in social and educational marketing. However, the mobilization strategies as-
sociated with campaigns will be joined with institutional-organizational structures
and arrangements associated with programmes. ‘Policy-makers will seek to build fully
functional delivery systems that are professionally solid and administratively effective’
to ensure sustainability and a sense of continuity of literacy initiatives (Bhola, 1999, p.
292). Further developments during the past fifteen years prove that he was partly right
in his predictions. However, there are also cases that point to the opposite conclusion.
At present, policy discourse and official documents reveal a broad range of terms
used in different countries for major literacy interventions, often interchangeably. These
include ‘campaign’, ‘programme’, ‘initiative’, ‘movement’ and ‘mission’. The EFA Global
Monitoring Report 2006 (Literacy for Life) uses the term ‘mobilization for mass literacy’
and distinguishes between two types of mobilization: sustained literacy campaigns over
several years, and short-term or one-off literacy campaigns (UNESCO, 2005, p. 196).
Respected literacy specialists such as Agneta Lind use the combined term ‘adult literacy
campaigns or programmes’ when referring to large-scale government-led national initia-
tives, regardless of whether they are short one-off or longer-term intensive interventions.
She observes a trend of growing convergence of literacy approaches (Lind, 2008).
What is essential to carry out a national literacy campaign or programme success-
fully? Thirty years ago, H. S. Bhola (1984) developed a series of sub-systems which must

10
be addressed in order to effectively implement a fully functioning literacy campaign.
These sub-systems are interdependent, with overlapping responsibilities, and relate to
eight objectives: a) policy and planning, b) administrative and logistical delivery, c)
social mobilization, d) curriculum and materials development, e) teaching-learning, f)
training, and g) monitoring and evaluation. Thirty years later, these are still relevant.
A workshop on literacy campaigns held at the Fifth International Conference on
Adult Education (CONFINTEA V) in Hamburg in 1997 came up with a list of factors
identified as crucial for the achievement of large-scale adult literacy results (UNESCO
Institute for Education, 1999). However, upscaling to reach more adult learners and to
significantly increase the numbers of literates is a complex task, facing multiple chal-
lenges which go beyond the education sector. ‘More of the same will not do. A major
challenge will be to scale-up while encouraging diversity, requiring a balance between
central guidance, decentralized implementation, and community ownership’ (Lind,
2008, p. 124).
Strong political will by the state as the prime mover (but not the sole actor) and
national commitment to scaling up literacy efforts represent a key success factor. This
includes a political vision that puts the individual with his or her needs and rights at
the centre of national concerns (supported by humanistic, egalitarian or democratic
ideals). Political will has to be manifest in reasonable budget allocations and resources
for adult literacy. Without scaling up funding it is not possible to go to scale with
literacy provision. This includes sustained investment in the development of human
resources and institutional and organizational capacity.
A favourable development context is also required to succeed with national literacy
campaigns or programmes. Holistic, comprehensive and inclusive education and lan-
guage policies will help to focus more on quality and learning outcomes in both formal
and non-formal education (‘multiple strategy’). The development of learning environ-
ments encouraging the meaningful use of literacy skills (‘literate environments’) is a
prerequisite for successfully going to scale with literacy. Related efforts have to be geared
towards the development of literate families, communities and societies. This requires
supportive policies and legislative measures beyond literacy and adult education. Large-
scale literacy campaigns or programmes need to be planned strategically and operation-
ally and need to build on available resources and experience. A strategic or operational
plan should include objectives and targets, organizational frameworks and institutional
arrangements for implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and modalities of advo-
cacy and mobilization to sustain commitment and community support.
These literacy policies should be informed by a broad concept of literacy that goes
beyond the instrumentalist approach of skills for work. It should be linked to adult
learners’ life realities, but should not be purely economically driven. It should also in-
clude social, political and cultural aspects and address the diversity of learners’ needs
and aspirations. A successful approach to large-scale literacy interventions requires

11
follow-up efforts (‘post-literacy’) following the acquisition of basic reading, writing
and numeracy skills. This includes the development of a sustainable and adequately
equipped institutional framework that provides further learning opportunities, in-
cluding those that are equivalent to formal education, and mechanisms of recogni-
tion, validation and accreditation of prior learning leading to recognized certificates.
A non-formal or adult education sub-system articulated horizontally and vertically
within the education system seems to be the most promising approach to motivate
learners to take up and create lifelong learning pathways.
The government must take the lead in developing a national consensus for ­l iteracy
and articulating strong partnerships and coalitions leading to committed action.
Collaborative involvement of a wide range of governmental and non-governmental in-
stitutions and services is crucial for nationwide mobilization for literacy. Consequently,
the ability to mobilize the necessary resources and people and to achieve the sustained
participation of potential adult learners is an indicator of successful literacy campaigns
or programmes. This needs to be supported by central coordination of all stakeholders
and actors, good publicity and mass media use by professional communicators to raise
awareness, and sustainable institutional capacity. Lind highlights the importance of
advocacy, social mobilization and commitment at all levels (Lind, 2008).
Good governance facilitates the implementation of literacy campaigns and pro-
grammes in ways which are effective, transparent, accountable and equitable. Good
management and logistics, transparent financial management systems and effe­c t­
ive technical support, as well as the organizational capacity to deliver good quality
teaching and learning, are crucial for successful literacy campaigns or programmes.
However, institutionalization should not lead to an ‘overly bureaucratized’ delivery of
literacy activities, ‘as in some cases where mass campaigns have tended to dwindle and
continue merely as a normal top-down ministerial duty, without any sense of urgency
or community participation’ (Lind, 2008, p. 128).
According to Lind, the most critical issue for scaling up is the choice of facilitators
and how they are selected, motivated, trained, supported and paid. Institutional ar-
rangements for pre-service and in-service training, as well as for continuous pedagogi-
cal support, are required. Some of the key programme design factors include meeting
the diversity of motivations and aspirations among the learners, careful choice of lan-
guages of instruction, provision of access to information through media and ICTs, at-
tention to literacy across the curriculum, relevant content and skills, graded teaching-
learning materials, participatory learner-centred teaching methods, mainstreamed
gender equality, and flexible time, place and duration of instruction (Lind, 2008).
This long – but in no way exhaustive – list of important success factors shows that
the initiation of large-scale literacy campaigns and programmes is a highly complex
endeavour. Figure 1 attempts to render this complexity in visual form and to set a
standard by taking into account the various dimensions (or domains) of organizing

12
successful literacy campaigns and programmes on a large scale. The different ele-
ments, contexts, circumstances, systems, measures and resources are grouped around
the learner in three domains representing the teaching-learning process, the enabling
support structures and the contextual dimension which shapes the broader learning
environment.

Building on this framework, the analysis of the global trends and key factors driving
national literacy campaigns and programmes will focus on the following main aspects:

1) Duration, intensity and number of non-literate adults targeted by the ­

campaign or programme (‘outreach’)
2) Main funding sources, annual and/or overall cost of the campaign or
programme, and cost per learner
3) Supporting policies and/or legislative measures and strategic or operational plan
4) Social mobilization/campaigning/advocacy, philosophy/ideology, link to
social-political movement/community ownership and control of the campaign or
programme
5) Partnerships, collaboration schemes, cooperation agreements, governance and
management structure (in decentralized systems), logistics (availability and
delivery of materials) and accountability
6) Inclusiveness of the campaign or programme: gender equality, access to learning
sites, identification and removal of barriers to participation for special groups
such as disabled people, women, youth, rural populations, inmates, people living
in post-conflict contexts, etc.
7) Recruitment, payment and training of educators (volunteers, supervision,
pedagogical support)
8) Pedagogical aspects (content and quality of materials, methodology, languages of
instruction, assessment tools and system)
9) Monitoring and evaluation system, reporting impact and results, retention and
pass rates
10) Continuity of learning opportunities (‘post-literacy’, adult basic education,
equivalence), system development and institutionalization, recognized certificates

13
 1*
Political will and support

Policies and
strategies 2* Mobilization of funds

Management structure
and operational plan
Social-political Decentralized Community Philosophy
movement governance support
3*
Recruitment of Curriculum Media Partnerships
educators Mobilization Learning campaigns
and retention materials
Gender
sensitivity Equivalency

Benefits
of literacy
Training and
supervision
Equity and
diversity 4* Assessment
tools
Development
and delivery
Enabling context
and literate
(incentives) of materials environments
Inclusiveness Motivation
Special needs Language
Establishment approach Reporting and
and equipment Teaching-learning ICT databasing
of learning sites methodology
Legislative Community
measures ownership

Continuity, further Monitoring and

learning opportunities evaluation system

Institutionalization Language policies

and system development

Public access to results

(accountability, auditing)

1* Enabling Environment
2* Supporting structures
3* Teaching learning process
4* Learner

Figure 1: Framework towards successful literacy campaigns and programmes

Source: Author

14
4. Global trends in literacy campaigns
and programmes since 2000 and analysis of
some key national and international
factors behind them
Delimitation of scope and selection criteria

For the analysis of global trends we consider literacy campaigns and programmes:
> that were conducted between 2000 and 2013
> that have a nationwide coverage
> that pursue a mass approach (targeting the mass of the adult non-literate population)
> that are government-led

These selection criteria exclude three of the E-9 countries for different reasons. 6
China and Nigeria have decentralized implementation systems, and therefore no na-
tional campaigns or programmes. Nevertheless, China has issued an overall target – to
reduce the adult illiteracy rate to below 6% by 2015 – and a strong policy framework,
the Guidance Opinion on Further Enhancing Literacy, jointly issued by the Ministry
of Education and eleven other government departments at the end of 2007, along with
a series of measures and policies to promote literacy and reforms. However, the prov-
inces, autonomous regions and municipalities are expected to formulate their own
objectives and implement programmes tailored to the specific target groups (e.g. eth-
nic minorities) and contexts. In Nigeria, the mandate of the National Commission
for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC), which was established
in the 1990s following a 10-year national mass literacy campaign, passed over to the
thirty-six state agencies due to understaffing and underfunding. A decentralized gov-
ernance scheme was introduced which includes decentralized budgetary allocations.
In Bangladesh, the government plays a minor role in the implementation of adult lit-
eracy programmes. Although Bangladesh has had a National NFE Policy since 2006,
short-term non-formal education projects, which depend heavily on external funding
and mainly target children, adolescents and young people, predominate. Major literacy
programmes are implemented by non-governmental organizations, mainly through
community learning centres, but none of these cover the whole country.

6
The E9 is a forum of nine countries which was formed to achieve the Education For All (EFA) Goals. The E
stands for education and the 9 stands for the following nine countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India,
Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, which represent over half of the world’s population and about 70% of
the world’s illiterate adults.

15
Renewed interest in campaign model

In the 1990s the campaign approach seemed to have lost momentum. However, after
2000 it began to enjoy new popularity, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The initiation of the Cuban Yo Sí Puedo (‘Yes, I can’) literacy campaign model in 2003,
which subsequently spread to the African region and even to Asia and the Pacific 7, is
one indicator of renewed interest in the campaign approach. Other large-scale literacy
programmes also either continued into the twenty-first century or were initiated in
the last ten years in all world regions. The closer the deadline of 2015 for reaching
EFA Goals approaches, the more governments seem to feel the need to launch major
literacy campaigns or programmes with ambitious goals and timelines. For example,
in Bangladesh an operational plan approved in April 2010 by the Ministry of Primary
and Mass Education (MOPNE) strives to reach 37 million illiterates in the 11–45 age
group, with the aim of achieving EFA Goals 3 and 4 by 2015. Brazil set a benchmark
in its National Education Plan 2010 to achieve literacy for 10 million young people
and adults in five years. In Ethiopia, the Functional Adult Literacy Programme, a key
strategy within the Master Plan developed in 2010 (Hanemann, 2012, p. 47) is intended
to reach 36 million adults between 2011 and 2015. The Education Minister of Mexico
recently announced a new ‘crusade against illiteracy’, starting in August 2014 with a
duration of four years, to teach reading, writing and numeracy to 7.5 million of the 32
million adults who are functionally illiterate because they did not conclude primary
or secondary education or lack the opportunity to practice their skills. The target is to
reduce the adult illiteracy rate from the current 6.9% to 3.4% . 8

Impact of international and regional frameworks on achievements in literacy

Have international and regional frameworks and initiatives had any catalytic effect on
this development? The implementation of the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD,
2003–2012), which supports achievement of the literacy goal of EFA, and the launch of
UNESCO’s Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE, 2006–2015), meant that there
were major initiatives and frameworks in place during the past decade that aimed at
renewed commitment to literacy. However, given that these initiatives were devised
for flexible adaptation and interpretation at country level, it is not possible to directly

7
The Cuban government took a proactive approach by offering numerous countries in Africa, Asia and Latin
America the Yo sí Puedo package (consisting of a literacy primer, manual, videos and Cuban consultants to
establish the programme in the countries) as a form of South-South cooperation in response to the strongly felt
negative social effects of neo-liberal education policies. Very little research work has been done on the Cuban
cooperation and its impact on African, Asian and Latin American countries.
8
Excelsior, 05.03.2014 http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/03/05/947147

16
attribute progress in terms of literacy rates to the implementation of these strategic
frameworks. Both UNLD and LIFE were positively evaluated with regard to their mo-
bilizing capacity to reinforce the national and international commitment to literacy
(UNESCO, 2013; Hanemann, 2012).

The Ibero-American Plan for Literacy and Basic Education of Youth and Adults

The Ibero-American Plan for Literacy and Basic Education of Youth and Adults (PIA),
approved in November 2006 during the XVI Ibero-American Summit in Montevideo,
Uruguay, is a regional framework for Latin America. Led by the Organization of
Iberoamerican States (OEI), seventeen Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in
Latin America plus Spain have joined the plan. The ambitious target is for 34 million
illiterates and 110 million people who have not finished primary education to complete
basic education in the period 2007–2015. 9 The PIA has pursued five specific objectives:
a) development of national plans in the countries; b) establishment of a renewed and
expanded concept of adult literacy and basic education in the region; c) secure, suf-
ficient and stable funding for the PIA; d) promotion of cooperation; and e) linking the
plan with strategies to prevent school failure and dropping out.
In 2013 an evaluation of PIA arrived at the conclusion that PIA is one of the great refer-
ences on literacy in the region (OEI, 2013; Toledano Nieto, 2013). While in 2006 seven PIA
countries had adult illiteracy rates greater than 10%, in 2010 only four of them (Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) still reported adult illiteracy rates above
10% (OEI, 2012, p. 2).10 According to the OEI 2012 report, PIA has achieved a 13% reduc-
tion in the illiteracy rate, moving from 34 million illiterates to a total of around 29 ­million
(OEI, 2012, p. 1).11 This would mean that during the period 2006 to 2012 around 5 million
adult illiterates were reached in the countries participating in PIA.
Taking data on adult literacy rates reported to UIS as a basis for analysis (see Table 1),
progress between 2000 and 2011 in PIA countries seems to be rather modest: most countries
only report increases of 1–2 percentage points, two countries (Chile and Venezuela) 3 percent-
age points, and one country (Guatemala) 4 percentage points. One country (Nicaragua) even
records a decrease of 2 percentage points in its adult literacy rate despite having implemented
a national literacy campaign (Campaña Nacional de Martí a Fidel, 2007–2009) and having de-
clared itself a ‘territory free of illiteracy’ with an illiteracy rate of 4.73% in June 2009. 12

9
http://www.oei.org.py/pia/ and http://www.oei.es/alfabetizacion_planesyproyectos.htm
10
The three countries which have managed to decrease their illiteracy rates to below 10% are Bolivia,
Brazil and Peru.
11
http://www.cooperacioniberoamericana.org/es/node/90
12
http://www.tercerainformacion.es/?Nicaragua-Territorio-libre-de

17
However, the more people are literate in a country, the more difficult it becomes to
reach out to the remaining groups of non-literates. In addition, the PIA covers not only
basic literacy, but also adult basic education. What makes the PIA particularly valu-
able is that it deals with literacy as part of basic education, and this in turn is part of
a broader regional education initiative (Metas Educativas 2021) with a lifelong learn-
ing perspective.13 While the PIA is a promising mechanism to promote South-South

Table 1: Progress in literacy rates in countries participating in the PIA

Country Literacy rates 2000–2006 Literacy rates 2005–2008 Literacy rates 2005–2011
Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female
Argentina 98 98 98 98 98 98 98 98 98
Bolivia 90 95 85 91 96 86 91 96 87
Brazil 90 89 90 90 90 90 90 90 91
Colombia 92 92 92 93 93 93 94 93 94
Costa Rica 96 96 96 96 96 96 96 96 96
Chile 96 96 96 99 99 99 99 99 98
Cuba 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Dom. Rep. 89 88 89 88 88 88 90 90 90
Ecuador 92 93 91 84 87 82 92 93 90
El Salvador 84 87 81 84 87 81 84 87 82
Guatemala 72 78 67 74 80 69 76 81 71
Honduras 83 82 83 84 84 83 85 85 85
Mexico 92 94 90 93 95 91 94 95 92
Nicaragua 14 80 79 81 78 78 78 78 78 78
Paraguay 94 94 93 95 96 93 94 95 93
Peru 89 94 83 90 95 85 90 95 85
Uruguay 98 97 98 98 98 98 98 98 98
Venezuela 93 93 93 95 95 95 96 96 95

Sources: UIS data published in the EFA GMR 2009, 2011, 2013/14

13
The regional programme ‘Metas Educativas 2021: la educación que queremos para la generación de los Bicentenarios’
(Educational Goals 2021: the education we want for the bicentennial generation) was adopted at the XX Summit of the
Ibero-American Heads of States and Governments in 2010 (Mar del Plata). The seventh general goal is to offer all persons
lifelong education opportunities. The PIA is seen as a contribution to the achievement of Metas Educativas 2021 (OEI, 2013).
14
Contrary to the overall trend, in Nicaragua the literacy rates have decreased.

18
cooperation, and stakeholders particularly appreciate the flexibility of its implementa-
tion mechanisms, the external evaluation report also concludes that more efforts will
be necessary to create synergies with other adult literacy and education actors in the
region, as well as to mobilize additional funds for making the interventions sustainable
(Toledano Nieto, 2013).

The Cuban Yo Sí Puedo (YSP) literacy campaign model

The Cuban literacy campaign model was developed in 2001 at the Institute of Pedagogy
for Latin America and the Caribbean (IPLAC), based in La Habana, Cuba, which holds
a UNESCO Chair in Education Sciences. Initially it provided mass literacy programmes
via radio, and later through audio-visual programmes delivered via television or DVD.
Between 2003 and 2013, more than 7 million people in thirty countries – mainly in Latin
America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Argentina,
Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Guinea Bissau, Guinea Equatorial, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Mozambique, New Zealand,
Nicaragua, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Timor-Leste, Uruguay and Venezuela – are reported
by IPLAC to have learned to read and to write using the Cuban literacy method Yo Sí
Puedo. 15
According to Enia Rosa Torres, an advisor to the Cuban Minister of Education, 5.8
million people have already learned to read and write using the ‘Yo Sí Puedo’ method
(basic level), while 723,900 others have benefited from a similar Cuban methodology
called Yo sí Puedo Seguir (‘Yes, I Can Continue’), which builds on the basic level and
allows the learner to complete the elementary level, which is equivalent to primary
education. The Yo Sí Puedo method has fourteen versions, eight of them in Spanish,
one in English, another in Portuguese, and one in Creole for Haiti. There are also ver-
sions in Aymara and Quechua for Bolivia, and in Tetum for Timor-Leste. 16
Cuba’s contribution to national literacy campaigns normally consists of the produc-
tion of seventeen videos recorded with the sixty-five programme lessons and support-
ing teaching materials based on the Yo Sí Puedo method. The three-month course is
divided into three phases: training, teaching of reading and writing, and consolida-
tion. Building on the principle that learning should start from what learners know
already (number), each letter of the alphabet is associated with a number (a–w = 1–30),

15
Guzman, 2013. Another source claims that eight million people in 29 countries have benefited from Yo Sí Puedo:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/10/cuba-55-years-of-ideas-and-truth/
16
http://www.jayblessed.com/2012/01/23/cuban-literacy-method-benefits-almost-six-million-people-around-the-
world/ (accessed 31 March 2014)

19
and each letter is introduced in one class session. 17 Artaraz recognizes that data for Cuba’s
contribution to literacy campaigns at the global level is hard to come by (Artaraz, 2012).
The creation of the Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América
(ALBA) in 2004 gave a boost to Cuba’s export of literacy campaigns and sent the Yo Sí
Puedo ­method around the world to around thirty countries. Five of the eight ALBA
member states – Bolivia (2009), Cuba (1961), Ecuador (2009), Nicaragua (2011) and
Venezuela (2002) – have declared themselves ‘illiteracy-free’. The principle of South-
South collaboration among ALBA members, with Cuba as a key player, has not only
supported attempts to address the countries’ literacy challenges, but also advanced an
approach to social change through literacy campaigns (Artaraz, 2012).
José Rivero, who makes a case for a broad literacy concept within a lifelong learning
perspective, criticizes the approach to literacy which consists in teaching elementary
notions of reading and writing, easy to implement, normally through short and intense
campaigns which will help to ‘overcome the problem’ (Rivero, 2011, p. 112). He further
identifies a trend of literacy campaigns launched as part of electoral promises to gov-
ern in favour of the excluded. This has contributed to the discrediting of literacy cam-
paigns, because they have been used to produce visible results within a short time. This
‘triumphalist posture’ to produce ‘political results’ has tended to confuse the number
of learners enrolled with learners made literate (Rivero, 2011, p. 115).
Rivero is particularly critical of the declaration of ‘territories free of illiteracy’
­because it is obvious that basic literacy skills are only a first phase of basic education.
The example of Nicaragua shows that declaring the country officially ‘free of illiteracy’
is problematic, since the root causes of illiteracy (poverty and poor formal basic educa-
tion, among others) have not yet been addressed. The failure to address these causes
also reversed the achievement of the national literacy campaign in 1980 through an
increase in the illiteracy rate from 12% to almost 50%. 18 The examples of Ecuador
and Peru show that the results of the literacy programmes implemented within the
framework of the PIA were exaggerated in presidential messages. While in Ecuador the
Education Minister had to resign after the National Institute of Statistics and Census
reported that the illiteracy rate in 2009 (7.7%) was higher than those registered in pre-
vious years, in Peru the report of an external evaluation could not overcome the lack
of transparency; on the contrary, it was plagued with contradictions and raised doubts
about the veracity of the ‘spectacular figures’ (Rivero, 2011, p. 116).
Many governments see Yo Sí Puedo as ‘a low-cost method of reaching very large num-
bers of people in a fairly short period of time’ (Boughton, 2010, p. 68). Therefore, despite

17
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9todo_de_alfabetizaci%C3%B3n_%22Yo,_s%C3%AD_puedo%22
(accessed 03 June 2014)
18
On the 1980 literacy campaign in Nicaragua see: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001460/146007e.pdf

20
the existence of critical voices and reports,19 governments – in particular ­local govern-
ments – continue to contract the Cuban advisory services to implement Yo Sí Puedo
campaigns (e.g. Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea). However, until now no in-
dependent evaluations have been conducted to determine either the cost-effectiveness
of the method or its capacity to achieve sustainable reading and writing skills among
adult learners on a large scale.
In the following section some global trends in national literacy campaigns and pro-
grammes will be analysed using the ten key aspects of the suggested framework (chap-
ter 3) as the organizing structure.

4.1 Duration, intensity and number of non-literate adults targeted by the

campaign or programme (‘outreach’)

Duration of literacy programmes

Mass literacy campaigns usually apply strategies that aim at broad coverage over a short
period, while the duration of national literacy programmes can vary between a couple
of months and several years if they are part of a more comprehensive programme pack-
age (for example, the MEVyT in Mexico or AKRAB! in Indonesia) considered equiva-
lent to formal primary and secondary education. For Latin America a consensus was
adopted by the governments of the PIA countries that a literacy programme should
have a minimum duration of three years (OEI, 2006). However, the relevant informa-
tion on duration is only available for some of the PIA countries (Rivero, 2011).
Most of the literacy campaigns or programmes analysed (see Table 2 below) have
been implemented for more than six or even more than ten years, and most of them
build on prior literacy interventions. Only in the case of Nicaragua, Bolivia and
Venezuela did the campaigns have a limited duration (2–3 years). However, all of them
are implementing follow-up programmes (Yo Sí Puedo Seguir) for those who complete
the literacy campaigns and those striving to complete basic education.

19
For example, Lind, A., Aksornkool, N. and Heinsohn, N. 2006. Cuba’s literacy methodology ‘Yo sí Puedo’.
Unpublished (on the Mozambique experience); or OREALC. 2006. Study on the effectiveness and the ­feasibility
of the Literacy Training Method Yo Sí Puedo (on the Latin American experience). Available at:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001468/146881e.pdf [accessed 23 April 2014]

21
Table 2: Duration of literacy campaigns or programmes: (*)

< 1 year 1–3 years 3–6 years 6–10 years > 10 years

Equatorial
Nicaragua India Indonesia Brazil
Guinea

Bolivia Burkina Faso South Africa Mexico

Venezuela Ethiopia Ecuador Pakistan

Bangladesh Iraq Peru UK

Egypt Afghanistan Argentina Ghana

Nepal Colombia Chile

China Namibia

Dominican
Republic

El Salvador

Guatemala

Panama

Paraguay

Timor-Leste

(*) This table is organized according to the number of years which have elapsed since the implementation of the
respective campaign or programme. Except for Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela, campaigns are still running
today (2014) in the countries listed.

Sources: Author’s research

22
The duration of literacy course cycles varies from three months up to three years.
However, information on the number of teaching-learning hours is not available for
most of the campaigns and programmes analysed. Research suggests that between 550
and 600 hours of instruction are needed to become fully literate and numerate. 20 The
classes of the Nepalese National Literacy Campaign Programme are only conducted
for three months. Classes are run in three slots each year and only during day time due
to a limited budget for kerosene. However, a recent evaluation of the programme con-
cludes that the duration of the literacy programme needs to be extended by one month
and that participants should be involved in fixing the timing of the class (Government
of Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, p. 14). The curriculum of the National
Literacy Programme 21 in Pakistan is designed to be completed in five months with 210
teaching-learning hours.
The South African Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign is designed for a duration
of six months (240 hours). 22 For vulnerable groups such as older learners and deaf and
blind learners, there are special provisions to continue classes for nine (instead of six)
months, and learners who are unable to complete the course within six months are also
given the option to re-attend the programme the following year. The Brazilian ‘Brasil
Alfabetizado’ Programme has a flexible duration of between six and eight months. 23
The same is true for the AKRAB! programme in Indonesia, which lasts ­between six and
ten months. 24 In the case of the Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan ­programme,
learners are obliged to attend basic and post- or functional literacy classes for six and
three months respectively. 25
Other programmes which have been running for a long time and are well established,
such as the National Literacy Programme in Namibia, are implemented in phases.26 The
literacy phase of the Namibian adult basic education programme comprises three forma-
tive one-year training stages, each averaging about 240 learning or lesson hours: Stage
1: Basic Mother-Tongue Literacy; Stage 2: Intermediate Literacy Learning; and Stage 3:
English for Communication/Communicative English (followed then by the Post-Basic
Literacy Education Programme). The curriculum of the Mexican Education Model for Life
and Work (MEVyT)is modular and allows each learner to progress at his or her own pace.27

20
http://www.qualifax.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=238:adult-literacy-faq&catid=70&Itemid=63
21
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=14&country=PK&programme=66
22
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=13&country=ZA&programme=69
23
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=16&country=BR&programme=50
24
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=14&programme=121
25
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=14&country=AF&programme=143
26
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=13&country=NA&programme=15
27
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?Sources: Author’s research menu=16&programme=39

23
On average, learners need between seven and ten months to complete the basic level;
however, completion of the remaining two levels is dependent on the individual’s
­a bility, the speed at which he or she learns and the time he or she has at his or her
disposal for learning.
The UIS survey results on adult education and literacy programmes in Latin
America and the Caribbean show an inverse relationship between programme dura-
tion and participation rates: the shorter the programme (e.g. in Bolivia and Nicaragua)
the higher the participation (average 24.2%). At the same time, the countries with pro-
grammes shorter than six months display some of the highest illiteracy rates in Latin
America. By contrast, countries that implement programmes of six months or longer
(e.g. Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay) had lower participation rates (aver-
age 5.2%) (UIS, 2013b, p. 16). This trend, however, is normal in countries with literacy
rates approaching 100%. The last 5–10% usually corresponds to the most difficult to
reach population groups who need to be served with diversified and integral strategies.
Another factor that has an impact on the programme duration is the implementa-
tion of programmes in bilingual and/or intercultural contexts. For example, countries
that offer bilingual literacy programmes for indigenous populations, such as Ecuador,
Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru, reported that these programmes need to be
longer than those offered only in Spanish (UIS, 2013b, p.16).

Number of non-literate adults targeted by the campaign or programme

The analysis of the national literacy campaigns or programmes included in Table 3

­below suggests ambitious targets in most cases which will be difficult or even impos­
sible to achieve. In some cases the deadline has already been passed and the programme
concerned has demonstrably failed to reach its target. A number of countries are still
striving for the status of ‘illiteracy-free’, which is not in line with Member States’ com-
mitment to address literacy as a continuum (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning,
2010, p. 6).

24
Table 3: Number of non-literate adults targeted by selected campaigns
or programmes when launched

Country Name of campaign or Year of Number of il­ Target (*)

programme launch literates (aged
15 and above)
National Literacy Action 3,600,000 by 2014
Plan (NLAP) 9,500,000 Increase literacy rate
Afghanistan 2010
(­d ifferent ­programmes (estimate) from 26% to 48% by
­i ncluding ELA) 2014 (60% by 2020)
Argentina Encuentro 2006 730,038 (2006) Illiteracy free in 2010
37,000,000 (11–45 age
National Action Plan 49,036,000
Bangladesh 2010 group) 100% literacy
(different programmes) (2005–2009)
rate by 2014
Programa Nacional de
Bolivia 2006 1,200,000 (2006) Illiteracy free by 2008
Alfabetización Yo Sí Puedo
PBA (Programa Brazil 15,089,000 Illiteracy free in 2010
Brazil 2003
Alfabetizado) (1994–2004) (2,000,000 per year)
PRONAA (Programme 4,000,000
5,646,000
Burkina Faso nationale d’accéleration 2010 Increase from 28.3%
(2005–2009)
de l’alphabétisation) (2007) to 60% in 2015
Campaña de
Chile Alfabetización Contigo 2003 480,865 (2006) 20,000 per year
Aprendo
Guidance Opinion Reduce the adult
64,604,000
China on Further Enhancing 2007 ­i lliteracy rate to below
(2005–2009)
Literacy 6% by 2015
Programa Nacional
de Alfabetización y
Colombia 2007 2,475,000 (2006) Illiteracy free by 2015
Educación Básica de
Jóvenes y Adultos
Dominican Red Nacional de
2005 736,698 (2006) 200,000 in 3 years
Republic Alfabetización
EBJA (Programa Nacional
de Educación Básica para Reduce illiteracy to
Ecuador 2006 672,478 (2006)
Jóvenes y Adultos) – Sub- 2% by 2015
programa ‘Manuela Sáenz’

The dark shaded targets have not been met, while the targets in cells with hatched
shading are impossible to meet by 2015.
25
Table 3: Number of non-literate adults targeted by selected campaigns
or programmes when launched

Country Name of campaign or Year of Number of il­ Target (*)

programme launch literates (aged
15 and above)
National Literacy 17,816,000 Reach a literacy rate of
Egypt 2011
Campaign (2005–2009) less than 10% by 2020
Plan Nacional de
El Salvador 2007 1,006,761 (2006) 360,000 in 3 years
Educación 2021
NFLP (National
2000 5,290,000
Ghana Functional Literacy 1,000,000 by 2006
2nd phase (2000–2004)
Programme)
Estrategia Nacional de
Guatemala Alfabetización Integral 2005 1,817,596 (2006) 862,969 in 3 years
CONALFA
70,000,000 (60,000,000
283,105,000 women) by 2017
India Saakshar Bharat Mission 2009
(2005–2009) 80% literacy rate
by 2017
8,500,000
12,858,000
Indonesia AKRAB! 2006 95.8% adult literacy
(2005–2009)
by 2014
MEVyT (Modelo Reduce illiteracy rate
Mexico Educación para la Vida y 1997 5,942,091 (2006) from 4.7% to 3.5%
el Trabajo) by 2015
Achieve a total youth
National Literacy
Namibia 1992 316,268 (2007) and adult literacy rate
Programme
of 90% by 2015
(NLCP) National
7,604,000 100% literacy rate
Nepal Literacy Campaign 2008
(2005–2009) by 2011
Programme
Campaña Nacional Reduce illiteracy to less
Nicaragua 2007 1,095,765 (2006)
de Martí a Fidel than 3% by 2009

NCHD Literacy 46,625,000 85% literacy rate

Pakistan 2002/03
Programme (1994–2004) by 2015

26
Table 3: Number of non-literate adults targeted by selected campaigns
or programmes when launched

Country Name of campaign Year of Number of il­ Target (*)

or programme launch literates (aged
15 and above)
Proyecto Muévete
Panama 2005 168,140 (2006) 90,000 in 5 years
por Panamá
157.807 overcome
Plan Nacional de
absolute illiteracy and
Paraguay Alfabetización ‘Por un 2005 191,683 (2006)
100.000 functional
Paraguay Alfabetizado’
illiteracy
PRONAMA
(Programa Nacional Reduce illiteracy rate
Peru 2006 1,465,320 (2006)
de Movilización por la to 2.5% by 2015
Alfabetización)
Kha Ri Gude Adult
South Africa 2008 9,600,000 (2006) 4,700,000 (2008–2012)
Literacy Programme
National Literacy Eradicate illiteracy
Timor-Leste 2007 252,000 (2005–2011)
Campaign Yo Sí Puedo by 2011
5,200,000 (16%)
Improvement of basic
have literacy skills
skill levels of 2,250,000
below Level 1
adults between
UK Skills for life 2001 15,000,000 (46%)
2001 and 2010
have ­numeracy
(7,400,000 by 2020,
skills below Level 1
95% adult basic skills)
(Skills Survey 2003)

1,500,000 by 2006
Venezuela Misión Robinson 2003 1.08 million (2001)
(illiteracy free in 2006)

(*) The dark shaded targets have not been met, while the targets in cells with hatched shading
are impossible to meet by 2015.

Sources: UIS, 2011; OEI, 2006, and official documents from Ministries of Education

27
4.2 Main funding sources, annual and/or overall cost of the campaign or
programme, and cost per learner
The feasibility of large-scale interventions is determined by realistic cost estimates.
The mobilization and allocation of sufficient resources is crucial for the success of
a major campaign or programme. It is extremely difficult to find accurate, reliable
and comparable information on the budgetary allocations for literacy campaigns and
programmes. A general finding from analysing 2012 country reports on progress in
meeting commitments of the Belém Framework for Action seems to apply also to the
literacy campaigns and programmes implemented during the past decade: Investment
levels ‘fall far short of meeting demand’ (UNESCO, 2013, p. 158). Even without accu-
rate data on investments it is clear that a) resources are insufficient to meet the needs
of non-literate adults in the countries concerned; and b) the resources mobilized for
major literacy campaigns or programmes are often unstable and fluctuating over the
years, and in some cases heavily dependent on external aid.
The Ibero-American Plan for Literacy and Basic Education of Youth and Adults
(PIA) is an example of a regionally coordinated attempt to address the funding chal-
lenge in a coherent way. On the basis of the illiterate adult population in each of the
PIA member states (around 34 million), a global budget of US$4,090,012,200 was esti-
mated for the Plan. This would imply an annual cost of $US454 million over nine years
(2007–2015). 28 The government of each country participating in the PIA was expected
to pay these costs; if necessary, international donors would match funds to fill eventual
gaps. The average annual cost per learner was estimated to be around $US40, which
would amount to $US120 per person acquiring basic literacy skills (over the minimum
of 3 years that was established). This average cost would be distributed in the follow-
ing ways: facilitators/educators 40%; training 20%; materials 20% and monitoring 20%
(OEI, 2006, pp. 19-20).
In most of the cases analysed the central government is the main source of fund-
ing for the national literacy campaign or programme. Often sub-national govern-
ments (state, provincial, district governments and/or municipalities) are expected
to contribute financial, material or human resources. This, for example, is the case
with the Saakshar Bharat Mission in India: the Central Government of India provides
three-quarters of the costs and state governments share one quarter, except in the
case of the North-Eastern States where central government provides 90%. The total
cost of the Saakshar Bharat programme during the last three years (2008–2010) of the
Eleventh Five-Year Plan is about US$1.2 billion. The unit cost per learner made literate

28
4,090,012,200 divided by nine (years) = 454,445,800

28
 is extremely low, at around US$5. 29 For the AKRAB! programme in Indonesia, most
of the budget allocation is provided by the central government. Major contributions,
however, are also made by provincial and district governments and other sources. In
general, the budget for each implementing organization, that submits their budget pro-
posal in order to join the programme is paid for by the central government at national
level (50%), the provincial government (30%), and the municipal government (20%).
The cost of the programme is approximately US$62 per learner.
In Brazil, the Federal Government provides the majority of funding for the im-
plementation of the ‘Brasil Alfabetizado’ Programme through the Secretariat for
Continuing Education, Literacy and Diversity (SECAD) and the Ministry of Education
(MEC), despite the fact that the constitutional responsibility for financing adult edu-
cation lies with the states and municipalities. SECAD and MEC transfer funding to
the states and municipalities to cover payment of the literacy personnel (volunteers,
coordinators and sign language translators), the training of literacy teachers, food for
lunches and all materials for teachers and learners (Mendonça et al., 2014). In the case
of the Kha Ri Gude mass literacy campaign in South Africa the government is the sole
funding source.
For the Skills for Life strategy, which was launched in the UK in 2001 as the na-
tional strategy for improving adult literacy, English for speakers of other languages
(ESOL) and numeracy skills, the government was the key funding source. Until 2007
the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) had spent at least ₤GB5 billion on
adult literacy, language and numeracy skills since the strategy began in 2001. Over the
­period 2007/08–2010/11, planned expenditure was ₤GB3.9 billion (Burr, 2008).
Approximately 3.5 billion Nepalese rupees (US$358.2 million) was invested in
four years (2008–2011/12) for the Nepalese National Literacy Campaign Programme
(NLCP). The ratio of allocated budget and non-literate population attended varies
for each year, resulting in a cost per participant ranging from NRs.577.70 (US$6) in
2008/09 to NRs.1,945.50 (US$20) in 2010/11. According to the implementation guide-
lines adopted by the governmental Non-Formal Education Centre (NFEC), which is the
lead implementer of the NLCP along with the Department of Education and Ministry
of Education, NGOs and CLCs were identified as implementing partners through a
competitive bidding process according to the government’s procurement guidelines.
However, these potential partners were put off by the requirement that partners reach
30% of the total targeted non-literate population from their own resources. Even the
partners who were selected for implementing literacy classes manipulated the allo-
cated budget to cover their part of the cost or applied cost-effective measures and

29
Country Paper: Status and Major Challenges of Literacy in India.
Prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of India, June 2010.

29
thereby compromised on the quantity and quality of literacy materials and classes.
In conclusion, the cost sharing approach (70% NFEC and 30% NGO partners) failed.
NFEC learned from this experience that it needs to provide the complete budget if it is
to reach the target of making 100% of the non-literate population literate (Government
of Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, p. 5 and 14).
In Pakistan, the major funding for the National Commission for Human Development
(NCHD) to implement the National Literacy Programme came from the federal gov-
ernment. However, funds are also raised through donors, donations and expatriate
Pakistanis. As a public-private partnership model, NCHD and the Pakistan Human
Development Fund (PHDF) together raise funds from members of their own Board of
Directors, private sector philanthropists, international donor agencies, volunteers and
the Government of Pakistan. So far the total funds raised by PHDF/NCHD amount
to 1.659 billion Pakistani rupees (US$27 million), while the Government has provided
7.693 billion Pakistani rupees. For literacy and education the NCHD spent 5,543,840,504
Pakistani rupees (US$90.2 million) between 2007 and 2011. 30 The annual allocation for
literacy and education, however, shows major fluctuations, particularly for 2009:

Table 4: Financial allocations of NCHD to literacy and education between 2007 and 2011

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Total

PR PR PR PR PR PR
1,365,467,006 1,638,241,561 314,285,405 1,134,015,968 1,091,830,564 5,543,840,504
(US$ (US$ (US$ (US$ (US$ (US$
22.2 million) 26.7 million) 5.1 million) 18.5 million) 17.8 million) 90.2 million)

Source: NCHD, Financial Statements for the years 2007 to 2011, http://www.nchd.org.pk/ws/

An audit report in 2011 concludes that the PHDF failed to raise enough funds, making
the NCHD dependent on government grants. This runs contrary to the original inten-
tion to raise funds from international and national donors. The grants provided by
the government to the PHDF over the six years from 2002–2008 amounted to PR6.25
billion, which was 74.43% of the total funds received for the NCHD. 31 One of the les-
sons to be drawn from the NCHD experience in Pakistan is that public-private funding
models which are dependent on the support of the ruling political party cannot guar-
antee a stable funding basis for large-scale literacy provision.

30
http://www.nchd.org.pk/ws/
31
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/06/21/national/audit-report-says-nchd-mostly-a-failed-programme/

30
The main funding source for the Ghanaian literacy programme was quite unusual until
2006. For both phases (1992–1997 and 2000–2006) of the Ghanaian National Functional
Literacy Programme (NFLP), 60% of funding was provided by World Bank credit, 30% by
the Government of Ghana, and the remaining 10% by communities and NGOs. The total
estimated cost of the second phase of the NFLP was US$46 million (ODI/DFID, 2006). At
present the government of Ghana is the only funder of non-formal education including
adult literacy provided by the Non-Formal Education Division (Abudu et al., 2013).
Funding of literacy programmes in a number of countries, particularly in those
emerging from conflict, depends substantially on development assistance, such as in
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste or South Sudan, which makes such interven-
tions rather short-term and project-oriented and poses challenges of coordination
when several donors are involved. 32

4.3 Supporting policies and/or legislative measures,

and strategic or operational plan
A favourable policy and legal context is important to support a literacy campaign or
programme in its organizational and operational implementation. This also includes
the broader development context: other ongoing social, economic, political, educa-
tional and cultural changes – particularly those that benefit poor people – can signifi-
cantly contribute to the success of a large-scale literacy campaign or programme. In
some cases governments have issued specific instructions or decrees to launch major
literacy endeavours.
For example, in Indonesia, a Presidential Instruction (No. 5/2006) on the ‘National
Movement to Accelerate Completion of the Nine-Year Compulsory Basic Education
and the Fight Against Illiteracy’ was issued in 2006, followed by a Decree of the
Minister of National Education on Guidelines for Implementation of the same, and
a Letter of Decision of the Director-General for Non-Formal and Informal Education
No. 258/2009 on the structure of the literacy education programme.
The Brasil Alfabetizado programme was initiated in 2003 by President Luiz Inácio
da Silva (‘Lula’) himself, who had identified literacy as a priority at the beginning
of his term of office. A number of policy and legislative frameworks support the
Programme, such as the Federal Constitution of 1988, the National Education Plan
2000, the National Education Guidelines Act No. 9394 of 1996, the Decree No. 6093 of
April 2007, the National Education Development Plan 2007 (Ministry of Education of

32
In Timor-Leste, which has a total population of only around 1 million, the following organizations and
­countries are involved in literacy projects: UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, New Zealand, Australia, Cuba, the USA
and since 2010 the World Bank (República Democrática de Timor-Leste/ Ministry of Education, 2011, p. 34).

31
Brazil, 2010) and the Territorial Agenda for an Integrated Development of Youth and
Adult Literacy and Education (2009). Several laws, decrees and even a constitutional
amendment issued between 2004 and 2009 regulate different factors that have an im-
pact on financing literacy. 33
The relevant government policy for basic skills in the UK is laid out in its Skills for
Life strategy, which was launched by the Prime Minister in 2001 and aims to improve the
literacy and numeracy skills of 750,000 adults by 2004 through a promotional campaign
and reinforcing the entitlement to free training in basic skills. In July 2000 the Learning
and Skills Act became law, establishing the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), a new
body whose role is to secure and actively promote provision of education and training for
all post-16 learning outside of higher education, including adult literacy.
In the case of Nicaragua the literacy campaign was treated at policy level as an
isolated activity to be implemented within a short timeline. The legal instrument of
a ‘presidential accord’ was used only to create the national and sub-national literacy
campaign structures. For the development of the campaign a national plan was pre-
pared which supported the implementation of strategies at the sub-national level.
These were continuously updated and adjusted to evolving situations in order to main-
tain momentum or intensify efforts during limited periods. During the last months of
the campaign in 2009, a ‘Final Offensive Strategy’ was developed to prioritize those
departments that concentrated the highest illiteracy rates in the country (Ministerio
de Educación, 2009).
The Government of Timor-Leste gave priority to promoting non-formal education
in the 2008 National Education Policy. This policy highlighted the issue of illiteracy
and the need to address it by building on past initiatives. In the National Education
Strategic Plan (NESP) 2010–2015, ‘Recurrent Education’ was one of the government’s
priority programmes for education. Recurrent Education includes both literacy and
adult basic education which is equivalent to formal education. The overall goal of NESP
was to ‘eradicate illiteracy’ among all age groups of the population by 2015 and to com-
plete the introduction of the National Equivalence Programme (NPE), which will al-
low accelerated completion of basic education for all graduates of Recurrent Education.
In the National Education Strategic Plan 2011–2030 (República Democrática de Timor-
Leste/Ministry of Education, 2011), both literacy and Recurrent Education are to be
phased out after 2015: ‘In the future, the quality of the formal education system will be
such that literacy and second-chance education programmes for youth and adults will
be unnecessary’ (p. 15).

33
National Report Brazil 2012 http://uil.unesco.org/home/programme-areas/adult-learning-and-education/­
confintea-portal/global-report-of-adult-learning-and-education-grale/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/

32
 In most of the countries analysed, national constitutions establish citizens’ right to lit-
eracy and education. For example, the right to education is enshrined in the Bangladeshi
constitution. A national NFE Policy was approved in January 2006 which provides the
policy framework for non-formal education in Bangladesh, including vision, mission,
goal, objectives, scope, and potential target groups. The constitution of Pakistan of
1973 also recognizes the importance of literacy. A Literacy Act was enacted in 1987 but
implementation is still pending because the enforcement date has yet to be announced
by the Federal Government. A number of policy measures have been outlined in the
new National Education Policy (2009) in order to achieve literacy goals and targets.
Broader policy frameworks constitute the National Plan of Action on EFA 2001–2015
and the MDG Acceleration Framework (2013–15) (NCHD, 2014).
The inclusion of adult literacy components within national education laws, pol­
icies or plans seems to be another trend. For example, the Saakshar Bharat Mission
in India was supported by the Eleventh Five-Year Plan and has also been included
into the Twelfth Five-Year Plan 2012–17. In the case of Ghana, the Free Compulsory
Universal Basic Education policy, which was introduced in 1996 to improve access to
basic education for all, is believed to have contributed to the success of the national
literacy programme (ODI/DFID, 2006). In Bolivia the Education Law No. 79 ‘Avelino
Siñani-Elizardo Pérez’ of 2010 includes regulations on adult literacy and alternative
education. In South Africa, policies framing adult literacy work include the Adult
Basic Education and Training Act (Act No. 52 of 2000) and the National Multi-Year
Implementation Plan for Adult Education and Training (1997). Furthermore, South
Africa has a National Qualifications Framework that provides a reference for equiva-
lencies as well as for recognition, validation and accreditation of prior learning. The
South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) acts as the accrediting body.
In some cases literacy is included in adult education policies, such as in Paraguay (Public
Policy of Youth and Adult Education, 2011), Burkina Faso (Decree No. 2009/644/PRES/MEBA
to Organize Non-formal Education, 2009), or Mexico (Accord to Create the National Council
for Education for Life and Work (CONEVyT), 2002). Specific policies on adult literacy exist
in Morocco (National Strategy of 2004 revised in 2009), Namibia (the Adult Literacy Policy
of 1996 is under revision; a new policy on Basic and Post Literacy was drafted in 2011), and
Guatemala (Literacy Law and its Regulation, Decree No. 54–99 and Government Accord No.
137–91 of 1986, with reforms in 1991 and 1999). In Peru the National Mobilization for Literacy
was initiated in 2006 and is supported through the Supreme Decree No. 022–2006–ED.
A number of the countries analysed have policies regarding language of instruction,
such as Brazil (including Portuguese sign language), Paraguay, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Afghanistan, China, India,
Morocco, Namibia and South Africa (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2013,
pp. 54–55). This does not mean, however, that the literacy programmes analysed are
­offered in all official languages or in all mother tongues/minority languages.

33
4.4 Social mobilization/campaigning/advocacy, philosophy/ideology,
link to social-political movement/community ownership and control of
the campaign or programme
In the framework (Figure 1), political will and national commitment, including the
capacity to organize and mobilize people around the goal of literacy, were identified as
critical factors for the successful implementation of large-scale literacy campaigns or
programmes (see also: Bhola, 1984; 1997; 1999; Lind, 2008; Hanemann, 2012). Initial
motivation for participation is necessary but not enough. Moreover, after the launch
of such large-scale endeavours, continuous mobilization activities aimed at sustaining
collective motivation are crucial to achieve the planned results. Mobilization and sup-
port at the local level are of particular importance, including strongly committed local
leaders and community participation. In a number of countries large-scale literacy
campaigns or programmes were launched after a political change or after civil war and
independence (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, Timor-Leste, South Sudan).
Clear linkages between an ideological-political movement and a literacy campaign
can be seen in the cases of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and to some extent also
in the cases of Ecuador and Peru. For example, the Movimento al Socialismo (MAS)
movement in Bolivia, which won the elections in December 2005, was closely linked
to the ‘campaign for the eradication of illiteracy’ (2006–08) and the ‘refoundation’ of
Bolivia’s education system as the first step towards ‘decolonization’. 34 Within days of
his electoral victory in December 2005, the Bolivian President Evo Morales signed
an agreement with Cuba to offer advice on Bolivia’s literacy campaign in what was
the first policy measure of the MAS government. While an important outcome was
long-term political support for the ‘process of change’ initiated by the government and
increased awareness and national cohesion, the literacy campaign would not have been
possible without the social and political organization that took MAS to power. ‘Indeed,
the power of Bolivian social movements is such that they are the driving forces behind
the new educational developments that aim to go beyond the original literacy cam-
paign’ (Artaraz, 2012, p. 34).
In May 2007 the Nicaraguan President created a National Council of the National
Literacy Campaign ‘From Martí to Fidel’ per Presidential Accord. The Council was
chaired by the President himself, coordinated by the Ministry of Education, and in-
tegrated by a broad range of 26 stakeholders including other ministries (Ministry of

34
In Bolivia, as well as in Ecuador and Venezuela, the social groups that have led ‘revolutions in democracy’ often
emerged from within ‘politics of recognition’ – as have indigenous peoples in the region – to bring about
­political change built on indigenous forms of knowledge. These are ‘refoundations’, new beginnings that build
on a new ‘epistemology of the South’ (Santos, 2010).

34
Finance), institutes for women, youth and culture, the Army, Police, churches, ­u nions,
foundations, national university councils, student federations and the National
UNESCO Commission. At the sub-national (departmental and municipal) levels
similar councils were created, chaired by the mayors and municipal delegates of the
Education Ministry. 35 The main task of these councils was to coordinate the mobiliza-
tion and administration of human, material and financial resources for the campaign.
Particularly important was the support of local governments and state institutions
which was mobilized through their participation in the councils, because they con-
tributed the payment of municipal officers as well as resources for mobilization and
development of the campaign (Ministerio de Educación, 2009).
Social mobilization for literacy also played an important role in Pakistan. The de-
sign, development and implementation of Pakistan’s National Literacy Programme
(ALP) is based on a tripartite partnership between the National Commission for Human
Development (NCHD), District Education Department (DED) (including schools and
teachers) and communities (including volunteer literacy teachers). A particularly inno-
vative and critical feature of the ALP is its emphasis on social mobilization and com-
munity involvement in programme implementation. Social mobilization is often under-
taken through a network of influential local leaders such as teachers, elected officials and
religious leaders. This is intended not only to identify and mobilize potential learners
and teachers, but also to ensure that the programme effectively addresses their particular
needs, as well as encouraging parents to enrol into the ALP and to support their children
in school. In addition, the community provides space for the setting-up of community-
based adult learning centres (ALCs) and is responsible for their management and for the
identification of potential programme facilitators from the communities concerned. On
the other hand, the NCHD and the DED are responsible for preparing implementation
plans and providing teaching-learning resources to ALCs, as well as for the training and
payment of programme teachers/facilitators (NCHD, 2014).
The mobilization and recruitment of learners through awareness campaigns is
crucial for the success of all large-scale literacy programmes. The evaluation of the
Nepalese National Literacy Campaign Programme (NLCP) establishes that more than
70% of the enrolled learners had received the information on the programme from the
facilitator, followed by family members (22%). The awareness-raising campaign activi-
ties consisted in door-to-door visits (72%), radio programmes (20%) and street drama
(8%) (Government of Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, p. 7). In the same
evaluation, participants reported that decisions about the location of literacy classes
were taken mainly by facilitators (48.6%), while 21.5% said in the interview that they

35
http://legislacion.asamblea.gob.ni/Normaweb.nsf/b34f77cd9d23625e06257265005d21fa/5f255005f b0071560625
72f90070c062?OpenDocument

35
themselves selected the location. Only 11.1% reported that the location was selected by the
Class Management Committee, facilitator and participants together, and only 3.8% said the
decision was taken by the Class Management Committee (Government of Nepal/National
Planning Commission, 2013, p. 8). 59% of the literacy graduates reported that they encour-
aged others to participate in literacy classes; of these, 87.9% said that they had managed to
motivate relatives and friends to attend the literacy class (Government of Nepal/National
Planning Commission, 2013, p. 9). One of the conclusions of the evaluation is that in the
absence of wider community participation and media mobilization, ‘the NLCP cannot get
momentum’ (Government of Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, p. 15).
The ‘Get On’ campaign, which formed part of the UK Government’s Skills for Life strat-
egy, was one of the biggest and most successful campaigns in the UK to mobilize learners and
increase participation in literacy programmes. In its first stage launched in 2001, it featured a
now-famous ‘gremlin’36 character in television and press advertising, encouraging people with
literacy, numeracy and language needs to tackle their fears or ‘gremlins’ regarding basic skills. 37

4.5 Partnerships, collaboration schemes, cooperation agreements,

governance and management structure (in decentralized systems), logistics
(availability and delivery of materials), and accountability
Broad collaborative involvement of stakeholders from other ministries and government enti-
ties, civil society and the private sector is important for the mobilization of resources and people
in support of a literacy campaign or programme. This requires a strong central coordination
complemented by local responsibility and flexibility to respond to specific contexts and situa-
tions. Organizational structures and effective management structures from national to local
levels is important to facilitate the implementation of large-scale literacy programmes.
One of the success factors of the National Movement to Accelerate Completion of the
Nine-Year Compulsory Basic Education and the Fight Against Illiteracy (NMHFI) in
Indonesia seems to be a well-defined structure for the coordination of multi-level literacy
and basic education implementation, established from central national level right down
to the level of the local village. Each of the nine actors has clearly defined roles and re-
sponsibilities.38 Coordination meetings, operational meetings, public hearings and other
meetings have increased coordination among the ministries and government agencies

36
A grotesquely unattractive cartoon character, presented as blocking people’s access to learning and life progression.
37
CONFINTEA VI UK National Report 2009, http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/INSTITUTES/
UIL/confintea/pdf/National_Reports/Europe%20-%20North%20America/United_Kingdom.pdf
38
The Coordinating Ministry of Public Welfare, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Internal Affairs,
Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Women’s Empowerment, Head of National Bureau of
Statistics, Governor of each Province (33 provinces) and the Head of Municipality or Regency (Country Paper:
Status and major Challenges in Literacy in Indonesia. Prepared by the Ministry of Education of Indonesia, June 2010).

36
concerned, as well as between the Government and the Legislative Assembly, particular-
ly with its Commission that manages education and the Budget Committee. Partnership
with provincial and district/municipal governments has also been strengthened. The
Ministry of National Education signed two memoranda of understanding (MoUs): one
with the Minister for Religious Affairs on the implementation of literacy education and
other non-formal education in religious education institutions (2007) and another with
the governors and district/regency heads of 26 provinces on budget allocation for the
NMHFI. Collaboration also takes place with a wide range of stakeholders, including
women’s organizations, religious institutions, 87 universities and higher education insti-
tutions and the Forest Corporation. With the latter two the Directorate General of Early
Childhood, Non-Formal and Informal Education has also established MoUs.
The Kha Ri Gude Unit of the South African Department of Basic Education works
closely with the Department of Public Works, Expanded Public Works Programme,
the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Correctional Services, the South
African Qualifications Authority, and other governmental institutions which sup-
port the literacy campaign. In Brazil, partnerships have been established between the
Ministries of Education and Health within the Olhar Brasil project, which provides
ophthalmological examinations and glasses for participants on the Literate Brazil
Programme. A further partnership is in place with the Ministry of Culture and civil
society networks to promote reading and literature appropriate for the newly literate.
With the launch of the National Literacy Campaign in Timor-Leste in 2007, an
independent office of the National Campaign Secretariat was created which reported
through the Minister of Education to the National Campaign Commission and sub-
commissions. However, a change of government shortly after this gave rise to a restruc-
turing of the Ministry of Education. Priorities were shifted away from the national
literacy campaign and the National Commission and Campaign Secretariat was closed
down, returning the overall leadership of the campaign to officials in the Ministry of
Education (Boughton, 2010; Fernandes, 2010). This not only led to a loss of momentum
but also put an end to the inter-sectorial cooperation of ministries and institutions
which had worked together through the national campaign commission structure.
The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), set up in Pakistan in
2002 under the Cabinet Division as the lead organization in literacy, has its own admin-
istrative and management structure at national, provincial and district levels. 39 Together

According to a report of the Crisis Group Asia (2013), the NCHD was created together with other bureaucratic entities by
39

the Musharraf regime to target political opponents and, more generally, to undercut the national and provincial
­assemblies. More than five years after the return to civilian rule, most of these entities, including the NCHD, continue to
exist. Requiring a massive infrastructure and staff, they also significantly added to government cost, contrary to what
they claimed to do (improve governance, reduce bureaucracy and promote accountability). http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/
media/Files/asia/south-asia/pakistan/249-parliaments-role-in-pakistans-democratic-transition.pdf

37
with the Pakistan Human Development Fund (PHDF), which was registered as a non-
profit company under the Companies Ordinance 1984, it is a unique public-private part-
nership model for social sector development in Pakistan, focusing mainly on the im-
provement of basic education and healthcare. The PHDF receives funds for the NCHD’s
programmes and oversees its operations and programme implementation. It has an inde-
pendent 37-member Board of Directors who make the policy decisions. However, follow-
ing elections and consequent changes in the government, the new government stopped
the grants to the NCHD. In January 2008 the literacy programme had to be shut down
and the contracts of all literacy staff in the field were discontinued. A Cabinet Committee
was formed to look into the affairs of NCHD. In 2009, literacy programmes were restart-
ed, but it took until October 2011 for the Supreme Court to decide that the NCHD should
not be closed down. It is still not clear whether the financial stability of the NCHD has
been fully restored. A special audit report on the NCHD in 2011 concludes that, on the
whole, the NCHD could not achieve its objectives and could not be termed compliant
with its mandate.40 This experience shows how vulnerable government schemes for lit-
eracy provision can become when they depend on political stability.
The launch of the literacy campaign in Nicaragua required changes in the national
and sub-national structures of the Ministry of Education in 2007. A General Directorate
for Youth and Adult Literacy and Education (DGAEJA) was created in the Ministry of
Education to take responsibility for the campaign under the leadership of the Minister
(literacy work had previously been implemented mainly by NGOs). A team of technical
Ministry staff was assigned one or two departments each, with the brief to follow up
and provide technical support to the departmental and municipal coordination units
for adult literacy and education. During the first year of the campaign, the governance
structure of the newly created DGAEJA caused a dual management situation at the
sub-national level because it collided with existing ministry structures in charge of
coordinating adult literacy and education. This was solved in 2008 by giving the sole
leadership to the newly created Ministry structure (DGAEJA), while trying to link
campaign activities at the sub-national levels to ongoing adult literacy and education
work. In 2008, 787 additional technical personnel were contracted to consolidate the
structure at all levels, in particular the technical teams in the 153 municipal adminis-
trations of the country (Ministerio de Educación, 2009). This experience demonstrates
the challenges resulting from a campaign structure that is created as an ‘add-on’ to the
existing adult literacy and education system.

40
The report says that the NCHD did not support government line departments, non-governmental organizations and
public representatives at the district level as envisaged in the ordinance. The audit noted that the NCHD engaged in
provision of services directly, contrary to its mandate. ‘Since the funds were not channelled through proper budgetary
procedures and the advisory council representing critical stakeholders did not provide much-needed interface between
the NCHD operations and other development organs of the state, audit noted instances of duplication in development
activities.’ http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/06/21/national/audit-report-says-nchd-mostly-a-failed-programme/

38
4.6 Inclusiveness of the campaign or programme: gender equality, access to
­learning sites, identification and removal of barriers to participation for
­special groups, e.g. people with disabilities, women, youth, rural p­ opulations
and living in post-conflict contexts
Making an adult literacy programme accessible for all involves catering to people with
­diverse learning needs and life circumstances. Potential barriers to participation must be
identified and removed, and learners with learning difficulties and disabilities supported.
Particularly in those countries which have already reached high levels of literacy rates, for
large-scale programmes to reach out to the remaining non-literate population it is necessary
to develop differentiated strategies for specific target groups. The review of official documents
relating to the literacy campaigns and programmes analysed indicate that the target popula-
tion includes marginalized and vulnerable groups such as women, indigenous populations,
ethnic minorities and disadvantaged communities, disabled persons (including persons with
physic­al disabilities and persons with learning difficulties), rural populations, inmates in
prisons, and war-affected populations (see Table 5 below).

Table 5: Target population of national literacy campaigns and programmes as

­expressed explicitly in official documents

Women Indigenous peoples, Blind (Braille), Rural Inmates War-affected

ethnic ­minorities, deaf (sign language), population in prison populations
disadvantaged physically disabled
communities

India Nicaragua Nicaragua Ghana Pakistan Pakistan

Pakistan
Ecuador South Africa Brazil Ecuador Afghanistan
(90%)

Nicaragua UK Pakistan Nicaragua UK South Sudan

Afghanistan Brazil Ecuador South Africa South Africa

Ghana Mexico Brazil Mexico Mexico

Mexico Indonesia

Timor-Leste

Sources: Author’s research

39
At the global level, two-thirds of adult non-literates are women. According to the EFA-
GMR 2013/14, of the 61 countries with data, around half are expected to achieve gender
parity in adult literacy by 2015, while another ten will be very close to meeting this goal
(UNESCO, 2014, p. 4). This is why countries with significant gender disparities (main-
ly in favour of men) need to address the gender dimension when going to scale with
literacy. The Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan (ELA) programme has adopted
the target of 60% female learners in literacy programmes. The Indian Saakshar Bharat
Mission has planned that, out of its total target of 70 million beneficiaries, 60 million will
be women. One of the goals of Timor-Leste’s literacy programme is to promote gender
equity and empower women; it seems that the overwhelming majority of partici­pants in
the programme are women (Fernandes, 2010, p. 282). In Nepal and Indonesia, strategies
for linking literacy with income-generating activities are expected to provide women,
particularly in rural areas, with more decision-making control.41
The removal of cultural barriers to participation in literacy courses involves find-
ing solutions that work for both men and women.42 The recent evaluation report of the
Nepalese National Literacy Campaign Programme (NLCP) concluded, for ­ex­a mple,
that management of separate literacy centres for male and female participants helped to
engage more participants from the target group, because in some areas cultural norms
discourage attendance in mixed classes (Government of Nepal/National Planning
Commission, 2013, p. 16).
The Skills for Life strategy in the UK targets the unemployed and welfare benefit
claimants, offenders, public sector employees, people who do not speak English as a
first language and those in low-skilled employment. It also targets migrant commu­
nities (e.g. from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India) who need to learn English as a second
language in addition to acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills. In the frame-
work of the Skills for Life initiative a special manual detailing strategies for supporting
learners with learning difficulties and disabilities was developed and disseminated to
literacy providers and teaching personnel.43
In Latin America and the Caribbean, diversity has been identified as a particu-
larly relevant feature in adult literacy programmes. The experiences analysed reflect

41
For more examples of literacy programmes empowering women, see: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002257/225787E.pdf
42
For more examples of challenges and solutions with regard to women’s participation in literacy, see:
http://uil.unesco.org/home/programme-areas/literacy-and-basic-skills/news-target/uil-publishes-research-
study-on-womens-literacy-and-empowerment/8624adcb9ae9b516bd5a636b6c8ab34b/
43
Access for All identifies seven groups of learners: people who are deaf or partially hearing, people who are blind
or partially sighted, people with mental health problems, people with dyslexia and related difficulties, people
with physical disabilities, people with learning disabilities, and people with autistic spectrum disorders.
It provides practical guidance on the impact such issues can have on learning, as well as on technology and on
approaches to consider.

40
the heterogeneity of target populations in urban and rural areas, indigenous peoples,
inmates, young people excluded from the school system, older adults, and persons
with disabilities (Infante and Letelier, 2013). The Literate Brazil Programme, for ex­
ample, has a special focus on vulnerable population groups such as farmers, fishermen,
­women, quilombola communities, and the prison population. The Education Model
for Life and Work (MEVyT) in Mexico has developed a special Indigenous Bilingual
programme for the indigenous population (MEVyT Indígena Bilingüe – MIB)44, which
has been implemented by the National Adult Education Institute (INEA) since 2007
and is currently available in the 42 main indigenous languages found in the 15 par-
ticipating states. So far, the MIB programme has created an alternative route for about
90,000 indigenous learners (92% of whom have been women) to gain access to basic
literacy and life skills training.
In the documents analysed there are plenty of examples showing how vulner-
able groups with special needs were considered and addressed. However, there is lit-
tle consistent evidence to determine the levels of inclusiveness of large-scale literacy
campaigns and programmes. Apart from sex-disaggregated data, and sometimes data
broken down into different age groups, it is not easy to find information on participa-
tion in literacy campaigns and programmes that is differentiated by other categories.45
Even if such information were available, it would still need to be contrasted with dif-
ferentiated information on the composition of the total non-literate adult population,
in order to see if the proportions of participating special groups correspond with the
proportions of potential special target groups.
According to the final report on the literacy campaign in Nicaragua, the campaign ar-
ranged for opportunities for differently abled persons, including sign language for persons
with hearing problems and the Braille system for blind learners. It had also a particular
focus on rural populations and women. It aimed to respect the autonomy of indigenous
communities at the Caribbean Coast and their cultural and linguistic roots by teaching
literacy in Miskito, Mayangna and Creole languages (Ministerio de Educación, 2009, p. 3).
The evaluation of the Nepalese NLCP provides some data on participants’ profiles.
It shows that female participants constitute the overwhelming majority. Out of a total
of 1,000 literacy graduates selected randomly for the interview, 95.1% were women.
However, the same evaluation shows that more than two-thirds of participants came
from well-off families. Only 1% of the participants were from the lowest income quin-
tile, despite the fact that most of Nepal’s illiterates are from this group. The majority

44
See: http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=16&programme=92
45
Sex-disaggregated literacy data still cannot be taken as a guaranteed standard. For example, the final report of the literacy
campaign in Nicaragua, data provided by SECAD Brazil on the Brazil Alfabetizado Programme, or literacy data provided
in the annual PIA reports are not differentiated by male and female populations.

41
of the participants (30.4% and 27.9%) were from the 35–45 and 46–55 age groups re-
spectively. 16% of the participants were 56 and older (Government of Nepal/National
Planning Commission, 2013, pp. 6-7).
Data on the number of learners certified as having completed the assessment for
Basic Literacy Competencies of the Saakshar Bharat Programme in India from 2010 to
2013 provide a more nuanced picture. A total of 33,921,633 learners took the exam, of
whom 72% were women, and 24,734,705 (73%) passed, of whom 72% were women. Of
the 24,734,705 learners who passed the exam, 23.2% were aged 15–25, 36.6% were aged
26–35, 25% were aged 36–45, and 15.2% were over 45 years old. In addition, the data
was broken down into caste or ethnic categories: 23.1% of the 24,734,705 who passed the
exam belonged to the ‘scheduled castes’ (SC), 12.9% to the ‘scheduled tribes’ (ST), 8.2%
to ‘minorities’, and a majority of 55.8% to ‘others’.46 It would be interesting to analyse the
data of those who participated in the programme but did not present to the final exam
(potential drop-outs), as well as of those who presented to the exam but did not pass.

4.7 Recruitment, payment and training of educators ­(volunteers, supervision,

pedagogical support)
Recruitment, motivation and training of literacy teachers, including in-service training
and a system of pedagogical and organizational support services, are key issues to be
considered when planning a large-scale intervention. However, according to evaluations
and reviews, teacher recruitment and training is the weakest point in many literacy pro-
grammes (Lind, 2008, p. 88). While there is a strong case for sustained investment in hu-
man resources (Lind, 2008; Oxenham, 2008; UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning,
2010), the use of volunteers has always played a role in adult literacy campaigns. In order
to attract volunteers to national literacy work, it is helpful to have a well-designed strat-
egy which takes into account their requirements.47
An important factor behind the success of the National Literacy Programme in Ghana
was the willingness of many people to work as volunteer facilitators. Upon successful com-
pletion of the learning cycle they were awarded a bicycle, sewing machine or other token gift
(ODI/DFID, 2006). The facilitators of the literacy campaign in Nicaragua were mainly young
people, students or teachers who worked on a voluntary basis in their free time, ‘showing
their social commitment’. They were recruited by the municipal technical teams together

46
Information provided by Dr Nasim Ahmad, Assistant Educational Advisor, D/o School Education & Literacy,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, 25 April 2014.
47
Peter Lavender, NIACE, UK, mentions (among other strategies): a) effective screening, induction, ­training and ­support;
b) proper valuing of volunteers’ motivation; c) progression opportunities; d) a marketing and ­promotional
­strategy to recruit volunteers. See http://volunteermanagers.org.uk/research/.

42
 with school directors and teachers, community and religious leaders, (political) youth and
student organizations and the teachers’ union (Ministerio de Educación, 2009).
In all cases analysed the facilitators or educators receive training before they start
their teaching tasks, and most of them are obliged to attend regular follow-up train-
ing activities. Continuous capacity development is usually seen as a key factor for the
success of the campaign or programme. The evaluation report of the Nepalese NLCP
showed that only 74% of the facilitators received the five-day training recommended
by the NFEC (Non-Formal Education Centre. 36% and 54% of the facilitators who did
receive the training indicated that their training was either ‘very efficient’ or ‘efficient’
respectively (Government of Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, p. 13).
Some of the countries analysed have started to implement strategies of professionaliza-
tion for adult literacy and education personnel. Examples include the UK and South Africa
– both with National Qualifications Frameworks in place – and Brazil, where partner-
ships with higher education institutions allow for training courses that are conducive to
qualifications. However, while Brazilian universities seem to have invested very little in the
training of managers, coordinators and teachers for youth and adult education (Ministry
of Education of Brazil, 2010), the University of South Africa (UNISA) has trained tens of
thousands of adult educators for the Adult Basic Education Programme, mainly through
distance learning courses. The Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign was able to build on
this long-term investment in developing professional capacity in adult literacy and educa-
tion country-wide over almost two decades (Hanemann, 2011).
The Saakshar Bharat Mission also places emphasis on the professional development
of literacy providers. Its human resource development plan includes the following
­elements (Hanemann, 2012, p. 53):
a) training of trainers, literacy facilitators and supervisors using learner-centred,
learning-by-doing, participatory techniques
b) Total Quality Management (TQM), which emphasizes the quality of literacy
workers and literacy educators
c) volunteer teachers are given intensive pre- and in-service training in adult
education in local languages
d) a cascade approach is adopted in training literacy personnel
e) model manuals and resource books with participatory training techniques
have been distributed for adaptation at State Resource Centres and State
Literacy Mission Authorities
f) ongoing training is provided to key resource persons at district level
g) orientation and managerial training is provided to literacy managers
h) various kinds of training workshop have been organized by different bodies for
different target literacy personnel

However, there is no information available on the implementation of this plan.

43
4.8 Pedagogical aspects (content and quality of ­materials, methodology,
languages of instruction, assessment tools and system)
A curriculum, learning materials and teaching–learning methodologies which are rele­
v­a nt for learners and within the reach of literacy teachers are of utmost importance for
the success of the learning process. The choice of language of instruction is essential for
motivation and learning. Mother-tongue based multilingual literacy programmes that
cater for the needs of different ethnic and linguistic groups, together with rich and dy-
namic literate environments that support the development of multilingual skills in oral
and written communication, have proven to be the most effective approach to linguistic
diversity (see Ouane/Glanz, 2010, 2011; ADEA/UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning,
2010).48 Assessing learning progress in the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills
is also a critical issue. However, combining the pedagogical and formative purposes of
measuring learning achievement with the need to account for the investment made and
generate compar­able data poses major challenges for providers around the world.
The review of the different experiences shows diverse pedagogical approaches to
teaching and learning literacy. Social awareness approaches can be found mainly in
Latin America. Isabel Infante and María Eugenia Letelier, who analysed 23 major lit-
eracy programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean, concluded that the ‘popular
education’ approach, based on the pedagogical thinking of Paulo Freire, is ‘a hallmark
of the region’. One of the key ideas of this approach is to perceive literacy teaching
and learning as a space of social participation (Infante and Letelier, 2013, p. 37). Other
common features of teaching–learning approaches in the literacy programmes ana-
lysed from all regions are participatory and activity-oriented learning and the integra-
tion of literacy with life skills and content which is relevant to learners’ everyday lives
and needs.
In the attempt to cater for diversity and allow for flexible approaches to deliver-
ing literacy courses, the curriculum of the Mexican MEVyT literacy programme is
modular, comprising a series of self-contained yet complementary modules leading
to accreditation (certification) at different levels. More than 60 modules have been
developed and produced to date. Modules are tailor-made to reflect and respond to
the linguistic, cultural and social circumstances and needs of various ethno-regional
groups of learners. As a result, the modules have been sub-divided into: 1) Modules in
Spanish; 2) Modules in Indigenous Languages; and 3) Modules for People in Special
Circumstances such as prisoners, the blind and migrants. MEVyT modules for the
different target groups are designed to satisfy learning levels and cover a broad range
of themes. The MEVyT programme is based on three accredited learning levels, each

48
See also the Background Paper by Clinton Robinson on languages in adult literacy (Robinson, 2014).

44
with a specified number of study modules: 1) the initial (basic) level is dedicated to the
acquisition of basic literacy, numeracy and writing skills; 2) the intermediate level of-
fers modules for learners with basic literacy and numeracy skills and leads to the com-
petition of primary education; and 3) the advanced level offers modules that lead to
the completion of secondary education and pave the way for advanced, post-secondary
learning.49
Another example of integrated approaches to literacy teaching and learning is the
Indonesian AKRAB! programme, which incorporates entrepreneurship, life skills,
gender equity and local culture into literacy training. The curriculum for basic literacy
is part of a broader curricular strategy for non-formal basic education, with learning
modules offered in Package A (equivalent to primary education), Package B (equiva-
lent to lower secondary education) and Package C (equivalent to senior high school
education). All programmes lead to recognized certificates.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, new ICTs have not displaced the radio as
a means to reach out to illiterate population in remote areas, such as in Chile (until
2009), the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Paraguay. Videos and television are
used in those countries using the Cuban Yo Sí Puedo method. In Mexico, since 2000
INEA has been promoting the ‘Community Places’ (Plazas Comunitarias) approach,
which makes learning programmes including the MEVyT programme available on
computers for young people and adults. In Asia, the use of ICTs to support literacy
teaching and learning is increasing. For example, in Pakistan, the NCHD in collabora-
tion with UNESCO has established 20 mobile phone based community learning cen-
tres (NCHD, 2014).
The choice of language for literacy instruction needs careful consideration and
planning in each specific context. Decisions must also be made about bilingual – or
even multilingual – approaches to teaching and learning literacy. In India literacy is
provided in all State languages and other officially recognized languages. The Kha Ri
Gude campaign in South Africa is offered in the 11 national languages, Braille and
sign language. The National Functional Literacy Programme in Ghana is available in
15 Ghanaian languages and English. However, the Adult Literacy Programme of the
NCHD in Pakistan is taught only in Urdu, the official language, even though only
8% of the population speaks Urdu as their first language. The Brazil Alfabetizado
Programme provides classes and materials only in Portuguese (some materials are
produced in Braille for blind students), while the literacy programme in Timor-Leste
is taught in Tetum and Portuguese. The importance of the need to operationalize and
implement what has been adopted at policy level becomes evident when analysing the
case of literacy programmes in Latin American countries with considerable indigenous

49
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=16&programme=39

45
populations. Although most of these countries have policies on language, this cannot
necessarily be taken as an indicator of inclusiveness, because it has not always given
rise to linguistically and culturally sensitive approaches to literacy teaching and learn-
ing (López and Hanemann, 2009).
Most of the campaigns and programmes analysed have developed some kind of
assessment tool or system to measure learning progress and determine when learn-
ers have reached the required competency level to be considered literate or awarded a
certificate. A diagnostic assessment in the case of the Brazil Alfabetizado programme
seeks to establish the reading, writing and numeracy skills of learners when they enter
and leave the programme. For the Saakshar Bharat programme, a systematic learner
assessment system has been devised. The AKRAB! programme has developed a system
of learning process evaluation and assessment, featuring a final exam and certifica-
tion. The Adult Literacy Programme of the NCHD in Pakistan includes assessments
upon completion of each of the four books; a certificate is awarded to learners after the
completion of the six-month course.
At the conclusion of the three-month literacy classes, facilitators test the par-
ticipants on the Nepalese NLCP Programme. Those who achieve over 50% are con­
sidered literate. However, tests are not standardized and do not allow for accreditation.
Literacy test findings from a sub-sample of 100 literacy graduates in the context of the
recent evaluation of the NLCP indicate that only 34% of graduates achieved literate
status according to the NFEC’s criteria (50% or more of the possible score). Except for
comprehension and addition, where 58% and 54% of graduates respectively achieved
over 50%, the graduates performed below the minimum standard in all of the literacy
components. Their performance was lowest in multiplication, division and word prob-
lems (where only 21%, 24% and 12% respectively achieved over 50%) (Government of
Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, p. 10). Not only does this raise questions
about the effectiveness of the literacy classes, particularly when they last only three
months; it also shows that without standardized and quality assured processes to as-
sess learning progress and achievement it is difficult to establish how many learners
have actually achieved a sustainable level of literacy.
The Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign in South Africa has attempted to imple-
ment a strategy for mass-based assessments to assess the learning outcomes of par-
ticipants enrolled on the campaign and provide tangible evidence of learners’ full and
active participation. The strategy for assessing learners’ knowledge and skills has been
integrated into the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the campaign. The assess-
ment approach was designed to be regular, integrated and non-threatening, and to
allow learners to demonstrate their growing competences in the ‘Yes I can’ Learner
Assessment Portfolio. This structured portfolio assesses learners’ competencies against
outcomes aligned with specific unit standards. All learners’ grades are recorded in a
central database.

46
4.9 Monitoring and evaluation system, reporting and databasing, impact and
results, retention and pass rates
The implementation of large-scale literacy programmes or campaigns involves the need
to incorporate an effective monitoring and evaluation system to observe the progress
of ongoing programmes and to evaluate the results. There are a number of examples
in the cases analysed of internal evaluations conducted by implementing ministries
of education. In Nicaragua, for example, the Ministry of Education prepared a final
report on the National Literacy Campaign (Ministerio de Educación, 2009). In Nepal,
the evaluation of the National Literacy Campaign Programme (NLCP) was commis-
sioned by the Ministry of Education to the National Planning Commission Secretariat
in 2013. This was called a ‘Third Party evaluation’ (Government of Nepal/National
Planning Commission, 2013).
Other governments opted for external evaluations. The Ministry of Human Resource
Development of India is currently preparing detailed guidelines to commission ex-
ternal agencies to carry out evaluation and impact studies on the Saakshar Bharat
programme. 50 There are also mixed approaches featuring both internal and external
evaluations. For example, in the case of the Indonesian AKRAB! programme, intern­
al monitoring and evaluation is carried out by the Ministry of National Education,
Provincial Education Office, District Education Office, Sub-district Education Office,
and the Education Units themselves, whilst external evaluation is performed by the
National Board of Education Standardization, Inspectorate General, and others. 51
According to the Pakistan National Commission for Human Development
(NCHD), monitoring and evaluation has been one of the strongest components of
their National Literacy Programme. Each Adult Literacy Centre was visited at least
once a week by senior NCHD staff (supervisors/coordinators and the DED) who used
Literacy Management Information System (LIMS) software to enhance the monitor-
ing and evaluation process. The field visits were also used as an opportunity to assist
programme facilitators in their duties in order to enhance programme effectiveness. In
addition to internal monitoring, the programme was also evaluated by external profes-
sionals. To date, comprehensive programme evaluations were undertaken by UNDP
(2004, 2006) and Shell Pakistan (2005). 52
The monitoring of the National Functional Programme in Ghana is carried out by
around 1,000 permanent employees who regularly supervise literacy classes in rural

50
Information provided by Dr Nasim Ahmad, Assistant Educational Advisor, D/o School Education & Literacy, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, India, 25 April 2014 .
51
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=14&country=ID&programme=121; see also 5.4.
52
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=4&programme=66

47
areas. District staff supervise the zonal centres and regional staff supervise district
offices, while headquarters staff make periodic visits to local and district-level admin-
istrators to monitor compliance with guidelines. Overall programme performance is
monitored through a set of objectively verifiable indicators. In addition, studies are
conducted on the efficacy of the reading materials, learning support systems, income
generating activities, facilitator incentive awards and supervision systems. Monitoring
outputs demanded by the World Bank at each stage of the schedule for fund disburse-
ment helped the programme comply with its plan and objectives (ODI/DFID, 2006).
Reliable databases that capture the relevant information on large-scale literacy pro-
grammes are crucial for effective planning, management, monitoring and evaluation.
Such databases have been established in the four literacy campaigns or programmes
that are analysed in depth in section 5. The South African Kha Ri Gude literacy cam-
paign has developed a highly effective data management system which provides stat­
is­t ics on all learners, including each learner’s biographical profile, assessment records
and attendance. Each learner is given a unique identity number so that it is possible to
find out about learners who repeat a course. 53 All learner records are uploaded onto the
South African National Learner Record Database to enable tracking of learners.
When reviewing information on the impact and results of the large-scale campaigns
and programmes analysed, it becomes clear that statistical data on literacy is weak in
many countries. Available information on progress in adult literacy in countries with
major literacy programmes for 2000–2011 (see Table 5 in the Annexes) shows a mixed
picture: in fourteen out of thirty countries with data the number of non-literate adults
has actually increased. Furthermore, in contrast to the celebratory discourse, even the
results of short and intensive campaigns are often rather modest. This is demonstrated
by the example of Venezuela which is discussed in some detail below.
In October 2005, the Venezuelan government declared the country an ‘illiteracy-
free territory’ following the two-year national literacy campaign, Misión Robinson,
which reported to have reached 1,482,543 persons with the Cuban Yo Sì Puedo ­method.
Using data from the Venezuelan Household Surveys, which include self-reports on
literacy, to evaluate official claims of having wiped out illiteracy and to assess the im-
pact of the programme, Ortega and Rodríguez (2008, p.3) found evidence of ‘at most,
small positive literacy gains as a result of the program, though in many specifications
the Misión Robinson program’s impacts are statistically indistinguishable from zero’.
One puzzling fact about the government’s claim is that according to official statistics,
the number of illiterate Venezuelans before the start of Misión Robinson was already
below 1.5 million persons (1.08 million in 2001). In their still optimistic estimates, the

53
This is neither the case in Saakshar Bharat nor in AKRAB!.

48
authors calculate that the total number of people who became literate as a result of the
programme was only 48,327. Since the Venezuelan government has invested US$50
million in Misión Robinson, the cost per newly literate person would be as high as
US$1,035. 54
The authors try to identify why such a large, well-funded and high-profile effort
failed to generate visible reductions in illiteracy. One reason they identify is that the
programme was never as large as the government claimed. Several characteristics of
the programme’s design seem to have contributed to its lack of success, such as politi-
cization, inadequate incentives, and delays in payments to trainers. In addition, they
suggest that the pedagogical approach to teaching and learning literacy needs to take
on board recent neuro cognitive research evidence which the Yo Sí Puedo approach
failed to do (Ortega and Rodríguez, 2008; Abadzi, 2003).
In the case of Nicaragua, according to the National Information System created by
the Ministry of Education (MINED) for the National Literacy Campaign ‘From Martí
to Fidel’ (2007–2009), on 30 June 2009 when the campaign was officially closed and the
final report presented, the national illiteracy rate was 4.1%. The National Institute of
Information on development (INIDE) had established through a survey in 2005 that
20.07% of the population aged 15 to 65 years old were illiterate (772,025 persons).
According to these data, the three-year campaign achieved a 15.97% reduction in adult
illiteracy in Nicaragua (Ministerio de Educación, 2009). The Basic Document of PIA
estimated that in Ecuador 672,478 adults were in need of literacy instruction (OEI, 2006,
p. 19). In 2009, a total of 601,998 persons were reported to have participated in literacy
programmes (UNESCO, 2009, p. 36). In the report, however, no distinction is made be-
tween the number of people who attended courses and the number of people who actu-
ally became literate as a result. There is no information about how learners’ achievements
were assessed, whether there was a final exam, and if so, what the pass rate was.
In the case of Timor-Leste, according to population censuses in 2004 and 2010, the
15–24-year-old non-literate population decreased by 4% from 220,000 to 211,000, while
in contrast the 25–64-year-old non-literate population increased by 2% from 376,000 to
385,000 (República Democrática de Timor-Leste/Ministry of Education, 2011, p. 233).
Nonetheless, the reliability of population censuses as a method of obtaining literacy
data is limited. Usually the estimate of adult literacy rates is based on a single question
phrased in very simple terms, such as ‘Can you read and write?’ or a variation on this. The
statistics therefore rely on information that is self-reported or reported by someone on

54
This is extremely high for a three month programme such as Yo Sí Puedo. Jan Van Ravens and Carlos Aggio,
who ­developed a model to calculate the unit cost of literacy programmes in Brazil, Burkina Faso and Uganda,
arrived at USD151 as the highest value for making a rural learner above the age of 45 literate in Brazil
(comparable to Venezuela) in 2004 (Van Ravens and Aggio, 2007).

49
behalf of an entire household, and not on direct measurement methods such as a standard-
ized literacy test (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2013, pp. 26-27).
The third-party evaluation of the Nepalese National Literacy Campaign Programme
(NLCP) conducted by the National Planning Commission Secretariat in 2013 arrives at
the overall conclusion that the NLCP is moderately satisfactory. Data presented in the
evaluation report shows an 11% increase in the national literacy rate in 2011 compared
to 2001, while in the target districts the literacy rate increased, on average, by 15.4%.
Out of the ten target districts, Rasuwa, Solukhumbu, Myagdi and Terhathum achieved
the target of reaching out to over 95% of the illiterate population above the age of 15.
In these districts the literacy rates increased by between 15.4% (Terhathum) and 18.9%
(Solukhumbu). On the other hand, in the remaining six districts (Bajura, Bardiya,
Bhaktapur, Jajarkot, Mahottari and Tanahun), less than 95% of the targeted illiterate
population were reached. The increase in literacy rates in these districts was lowest
in Mahottari (6.9%) and highest in Jajarkot (18.8%) (Government of Nepal/National
Planning Commission, 2013, p. 4). However, there is no analysis of the possible reasons
for these variations across districts targeted by the same programme.
The National Plan of Action for EFA (2003) of Pakistan aims to achieve a 75% literacy
rate by 2015 (revised target: 86%). In 10 years (2002/03 to 2012/13), the NCHD estab-
lished 164,190 Adult Literacy Centres in 134 districts of Pakistan and enrolled 3.8 mil-
lion illiterate adults, of whom 90% were women (NCHD, 2014). The NCHD reported the
following achievements for the period from August 2002 to 2008: Over 120,263 Adult
Literacy Centres were established; 2.76 million adults were made literate, of whom 90%
were women; more than 150,000 teachers were trained in adult literacy teaching; about
100 civil society organizations and 2000 professionals were trained in the implementa-
tion of literacy programmes; and 12,000 literacy supervisors were trained in the manage-
ment of literacy centres (NCHD/ PHDF, 2010, pp. 14-15).55
In the most recent progress report (2012–13), the NCHD announced the establish-
ment of 164,190 Adult Literacy Centres in 134 districts and the enrolment of more
than 3.8 million illiterate people in the 10 years prior to the publication of the report.
This reflects a contribution of 2.95% to the improvement of Pakistan’s overall literacy
rate over the ten years concerned (NCHD, 2014). 56 If progress in addressing the exist-
ing literacy challenge in Pakistan – over 55 million adults – were to continue at this
pace, another 145 years of literacy programme delivery would be required to complete
the job! This shows that in highly populated countries with continued population

55
Due to the cut in government funds in 2008 no literacy programmes were implemented from mid-2008.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/551523/education-crisis-2/
56
As one of the E-9 countries, Pakistan is still challenged by the 130,086,767 people aged 10+ who were reported
to be ­non-literate (NIPS projections, 2013; in NCHD, 2014, p. 8).

50
growth and weak formal education systems that perpetually produce new non-liter-
ates, literacy efforts need to multiply in order to cause a visible increase in national
literacy rates.
In the case of Ghana, the long-running national literacy programme has contrib-
uted to improving the literacy rates over the past two decades in the following way.
From 1992, when the programme started, until 2010, 2,781,973 learners participated,
of whom 2,247,329 graduated. The average dropout rate was 19%. According to the
Ghana Statistical Service, literacy rates increased from 57.4% in 2000 to 71.5% in 2010
(Abudu et al., 2013). However, this improvement cannot be attributed to governmental
efforts alone, since other programmes have been implemented by both national and
international NGOs (e.g. School for Life, Action Aid, Ghana Institute of Linguistics,
Literacy and Bible Translation, and World Vision). None of these, however, have oper-
ated country-wide. Generally, the participation of women is higher than that of men:
60% and 40% respectively. Nevertheless, to achieve gender parity, it was estimated that
75% of the beneficiaries should be women. Drop-out rates among women have also
been higher than among men (ODI/DFID, 2006).
A survey of 1,200 beneficiaries from 2000–2005 in Ghana showed strong achieve-
ments in reading skills, with 80% scoring 21–30 on a 30-point scale. Weaker achieve-
ment was observed in writing. Less than 40% could write a simple letter of a few para-
graphs. The study raised concerns that many learners had lost a significant level of
skill since completing the course, particularly since learning mostly takes place during
the first year of programme enrolment, with only minimal further development in the
subsequent year (Aoki, 2005). However there are other positive impacts to consider.
For example, government officials believe that the national literacy programme has
reinforced public health campaigns and had a positive impact on healthy lifestyles
(ODI/DFID, 2006).
The national Skills for Life strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills
in the UK committed the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) to conducting
two comparable surveys: the first in 2002–2003 to determine literacy and numeracy
needs (DFES, 2003), and the second in 2011 to evaluate progress. 57 The first Skills for
Life survey, the National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and ICT
Skills, assessed adults’ basic literacy, numeracy and ICT skills at five levels (Entry Level
1 or below, Entry Level 2, Entry Level 3, Level 1, and Level 2 or above) by using tests
as a direct measurement method to establish a baseline. The second survey nine years
later establishes the following changes of skills levels in the adult population (16–65
year-olds):

57
Responsibility for the Skills for Life strategy passed in 2009 to the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (BIS).

51
Entry Level 1 or below 3.4%
5.0%
2.0%
Entry Level 2
2.1%

10.8%
Entry Level 3
7.8%

39.5%
Level 1
28.5%

44.2%
Level 2+
56.6%

2003 2011

Base: All respondents with literacy scores in 2003 (Unweighted=7874) / All with literacy scores in 2011
(Unweighted=5824)

Figure 2: Adult literacy in England 2011 and 2003 (Full Level Distribution)

Source: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), 2011, p. 5

52
Overall, 57% of respondents achieved Level 2 or above in literacy, which corresponds
to a 13% increase from 44% in 2003. 85% of respondents achieved Level 1 or above in
literacy, and 15% of respondents performed at Entry Level 3 or below. Consequently, it
is estimated that 29 million adults aged 16–65 in England had literacy skills at Level 1
or above, and 5.1 million at Entry Level 3 or below. In 2003 the equivalent figures were
84% and 16%. Whilst this represents a difference of 1.3 percentage points (14.9% com-
pared with 16.2% when rounded to one decimal place), it is not statistically significant.
In numeracy, 76% of respondents achieved Entry Level 3 or above, with 24% scoring
below this level. This represents a decline of 3% in numeracy levels compared to 2003
(BIS, 2011, pp. 4-5). Except for the achievements at the higher levels, this represents
no significant change since 2003. Progress among adults at the lower literacy and nu-
meracy skills levels has been very modest, despite major and sustained governmental
investments into the Skills for Life initiative.
The impact of large-scale literacy campaigns and programmes, however, is not re-
stricted to the number of people who successfully pass a literacy test. Aside from the
individual gains for graduates of literacy courses in terms of improvements in different
life domains and personal empowerment (Metcalf et al., 2009), literacy campaigns may
have a positive impact on the broader education policy and system. This is demon-
strated by the example of Bolivia, to which we now turn.
The most important impact of the Bolivian literacy campaign (2006–08), according
to Kepa Artaraz, was the way in which it has shaped educational policy in the coun-
try. A post-literacy campaign which began in March 2009 attracted far more people
than had taken part in the basic literacy campaign. Whereas the original plan was
to stop at the point of having ‘eradicated illiteracy’ via a two-year literacy campaign,
the policy thinking of the Bolivian decision-makers evolved beyond this to providing
basic primary education for the entire population and then introducing an accelerated
secondary education programme. Policy aims have become much broader and more
ambitious, aiming to increase the educational level of the majority of the population
and create the basis for a comprehensive and holistic education system that is able to
tackle the literacy challenge from different angles (Artaraz, 2012).
The example of Nepal shows that literacy programmes may also cause unintended
political effects, contributing to civil unrest by providing a forum for people to criticize
the dominant political structures. The term ‘political benefits’ of literacy is often related
to citizenship education. However, the case of Nepal suggests that literacy inter­ven­tions
may also result in unintended political consequences. A number of young women in
particular joined the Maoist cadres as a result (Robinson-Pant, 2010).
There is much anecdotal evidence of the impact of literacy programmes on women’s
empowerment. However, progress in terms of gender equity in adult literacy (see Table
6 in Annex) shows that, out of twenty-seven countries running large-scale literacy pro-
grammes for which data is available, only seventeen managed to reduce the number of

53
non-literate women. In ten countries the number of non-literate women has increased,
according to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. The LIFE Mid-term Report
2012 already showed a worrying trend, with twenty-one LIFE countries facing increas-
es in the numbers of non-literate women, while only ten countries showed decreases
(Hanemann, 2012, p. 28). It seems that much work remains to be done in this regard.

4.10 Continuity of learning opportunities (‘post-literacy’, adult basic education,

equivalence), system development and institutionalization, recognized
certificates
Continuity of learning opportunities – such as ‘post-literacy’ programmes, adult basic
education programmes equivalent to formal basic education, or vocational skills train-
ing courses – and the development of literate environments are crucial to help learners
sustain and further develop their newly acquired reading and writing skills. While in the
last century ‘post-literacy’ and continuing learning opportunities were usually not part
and parcel of the preparation for literacy campaigns, we can observe a trend during the last
decade towards more and more national literacy programmes planned as building blocks
of non-formal education systems, national qualifications systems, or at least of equivalency
programmes. This means that they are designed to create bridges to follow-up courses and
equivalency programmes, often leading to recognized certificates.
Often we can also observe that earlier large-scale programmes led to new initiatives
and revised strategies, such as in India, South Africa and Brazil. Agneta Lind identifies
a trend towards a certain institutionalization of adult basic education (Lind, 2008, p.
128). Many national literacy campaigns and programmes seem to make amendments
to their strategy to service the demands of newly literate populations. This has been
the case in the short-term campaigns in Latin America (i.e. Bolivia, Nicaragua and
Venezuela), which led to follow-up courses. Although the national literacy campaign in
Nicaragua was designed only for a short term (2007–2009), the final report claims that
its vision included a longer-term perspective: namely, to develop a solid basis among
literate people (‘alfabetizados’) to achieve Youth and Adult Basic Education in the me-
dium-term future, while contributing to their personal development and economic
growth and thus furthering poverty reduction (Ministerio de Educación, 2009, p. 3).
Many literacy programmes, even those running for a long time, do not seem to
work towards the establishment of a non-formal education sub-system. They offer just
one step further than basic literacy, often still called ‘post-literacy’. For ex­a mple, the
National Functional Literacy Programme in Ghana encompasses two levels: ­basic liter-
acy (in Ghanaian languages, 21 months) and post-literacy (Basic English, 21 months).
In Pakistan, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) has ­i nitiated
a six-month (132 days/264 learning hours) Post-Literacy Programme (PLP) to provide
graduates of the Adult Literacy Programme (ALP) and out-of-school young people

54
with opportunities for continuing their education, leading to enrolment in formal
primary, secondary or vocational education and engagement in secure income gen-
eration activities. Thus, as well as consolidating learners’ literacy skills, the PLP also
endeavours to empower them through functional literacy learning and vocational
training. To this end, the PLP emphasizes training in, for example, literacy (mathemat-
ics, English, Urdu), health, agriculture (crop, fish, poultry and livestock production),
life skills (peace-building, conflict management and resolution), food processing and
preservation, and dressmaking (NCHD/PHDF, 2010).

The short-term goal of Timor-Leste’s NESP 2011–2030 is as follows: ‘By 2015, completely
eradicate illiteracy in all age groups of the population and complete the introduction of the
National Equivalence Programme (NEP) that will allow accelerated completion of Basic
Education for all graduates of Recurrent Education’ (República Democrática de Timor-
Leste/ Ministry of Education, 2011, p. 115). The Timorese government plans to build a
non-formal education sub-system for adults to obtain recognized primary and second-
ary school certificates through an equivalency programme which is already being piloted
(ibid., p. 36).
The smooth transition of graduates from basic literacy courses to follow-up learning
opportunities remains a challenge in many cases. Often, learners have no access to related
information, counselling and guidance, particularly in the context of short courses. The
evaluation report of the Nepalese NLCP established that only 4.5% of the literacy gradu-
ates interviewed knew about the opportunity to use their newly acquired skills in the com-
munity learning centre (CLC) that has been put in place, and only 56.6% of those who did,
actually visited CLCs (Government of Nepal/National Planning Commission, 2013, pp.
10-11). In other cases, such as the Brazil Alfabetizado Programme, not enough places are
available for learners to further their studies, and such opportunities are very rare in rural
areas.
Even in a country with a sophisticated National Qualifications Framework like South
Africa, where integration is possible into the non-formal Adult Basic Education and
Training (ABET) Programme equivalent to nine years of General Education, the transi-
tion from the Kha Ri Gude campaign to the ABET system poses challenges. In order to
boost its effectiveness, Kha Ri Gude was designed as an independent system which is not
organically integrated into the non-formal education system. The transfer of learners from
Kha Ri Gude to ABET requires a more systemic and institutionalized approach in order to
make the gains of the campaign sustainable (Hanemann, 2011).

55
5. Four case studies
5.1 Brazil: Literate Brazil Programme (Programa Brasil Alfabetizado) 58

Context and background

The government of Brazil reported to UIS a literacy rate of 88.4% for the adult popula-
tion (15 years and above) for the years 2000–2004. Divided by sex, the rate was 88.3%
for men and 88.6% for women. In absolute numbers, 14,870,000 adults lacked reading
and writing skills in this period. 59 For the same period (2000–2004) the youth literacy
rate (15–24 years old) was 96.6% (95.6% for young men and 97.7% for young women).
Altogether, 1,180,000 young people were affected by a lack of reading and writing skills
at that time (UNESCO, 2005). Most members of the non-literate adult population are
male, black, 60 or over, and live in rural areas of the Northeast of Brazil (Ministry of
Education of Brazil, 2010). According to the most recent data (2005–2011), the adult lit-
eracy rate stands at 90% (90% for men and 91% for women). 13,984,000 adults are still
not literate. 60 The youth literacy rate has reached 98% (97% for young men and 98% for
young women). Thus, 836,000 young people still lack literacy skills (UNESCO, 2014).
Progress has therefore been modest: the adult literacy rate has improved by only 1.6%,
and the youth rate by 1.4%, between 2000–2004 and 2005–2011.
In 2003, the Government of President ‘Lula’ da Silva initiated the Literate Brazil
Programme (Programa Brasil Alfabetizado – PBA) as a nationally coordinated literacy
effort. The programme reflects a new conception of public policy, recognizing the obliga-
tion of the State to guarantee education as a universal right. At that time, Alfabetização
Solidária was already running as one of the first long-term, nationwide youth and adult lit-
eracy programmes. Launched in 1997, the programme is managed by the NGO Associação
Alfabetização Solidária (AlfaSol) and works through a network of public-private partners.61
With the launch of PBA the Federal Government, particularly the Ministry of Education,
took the lead in literacy as part of a broader strategy of public policies towards the inclusion
of historically excluded social groups in mainstream society. Since 2003 adult literacy has
been a ‘Presidential Goal’ (Ministry of Education of Brazil, 2010).

58
See LitBase: http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=16&country=BR&programme=50
59
In 2004, IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro do Geografía e Estatística) recorded the figure of 15.6 million adult Brazilians
(age 15 and over) who were illiterate (Ministry of Education of Brazil, 2010, p. 2).
60
According to the National Random Household Survey (PNAD) in 2008, the number of illiterate adults had declined to
14.25 million, with a drop in illiteracy from 11.45% to 9.96% during this period.
61
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=16&country=BR&programme=1

56
Development of PBA, institutional setting and main features of implementation

The objectives of PBA are: 1) to contribute to the universalization of literacy among

young people, adults and older adults in Brazil, and to support the continuation of
their studies to higher levels; and 2) to collaborate in the efforts of the federal districts
and municipalities to universalize basic education. PBA is a joint venture between the
Federal Government, state/local governments, municipalities, universities and private
agencies (mainly private schools). The Federal Government is primarily responsible
for providing technical and financial support, while the other partners focus on imple-
menting the literacy programme in the communities.
Over more than ten years of existence, PBA has experienced adjustments and ­changes,
based on studies and evaluations. In its first version (2003–2004) the programme was
carried out through partnerships with states, municipalities and the Federal District
and agreements with civil society organizations, with funds transferred directly to
public institutions upon approval of their literacy projects and registration of learners
and literacy teachers, as well as accreditation by the National Education Development
Fund (FNDE) and agreements in the case of private entities. The second version of PBA
(2004–2006), developed in dialogue with the National Literacy Commission, began
with the creation of the Secretariat for Continuing Education, Literacy and Diversity
(SECAD) within the Ministry of Education. SECAD’s responsibility was the coordina-
tion of youth and adult literacy and education policies. The intention was to broaden
the focus of literacy acquisition with a view to the continuation of the learners’ educa-
tion. At the same time, an attempt was made to diversify provision to cater for specific
learning needs.
Between 2006 and 2007 the PBA was restructured for the third time. 62 One of the
most salient features of the new restructuring was the stipulation that only munici-
pal and state governments can be direct programme partners.63 This change was in-
tended to reduce the remaining obstacles preventing PBA graduates from continuing
their education within the public youth and adult education system. NGOs, which
had previously made agreements with the Ministry of Education to provide literacy
classes, began to provide only training of literacy teachers and class coordinators,
through agreements made with states and municipalities. A second innovation refers
to the transfer of funds: the grants for literacy teachers began to be paid directly by the

62
Decree No. 6093 (April 2007) deals with the reorganization of PBA with the aim of achieving universal coverage of
literacy provision for young people and adults. The transfer of financial resources to states, the Federal District and
municipalities was regulated by Resolution No. 12 of 03 April 2009 (Ministry of Education of Brazil, 2010, p. 6).
63
The partnerships and participation rate of NGOs fell progressively between 2003 and 2006 (Ministry of Education of
Brazil, 2010).

57
Ministry of Education. In addition, the position of pedagogical coordinators as public
servants was introduced.
The Department of Youth and Adult Education Policy (DPEJA) is directly re­spon­
sible for planning and implementing PBA. The DPEJA is part of the newly (2004)
created SECAD within the Ministry of Education. The programme is developed in
partnership with state and municipal governments, who are in turn free to contract
NGOs for literacy work or technical support. Public State and Federal Universities are
now financed by the Ministry of Education to offer training courses for literacy teach-
ers, making use of both distance education methodologies and in-service/face-to-face
courses.
In partnership with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health implements
the Olhar Brasil project which offers ophthalmological examinations and eyeglasses
for learners participating in PBA. During the 2009–2010 cycle, the programme served
around half of the enrolled learners (Ministry of Education of Brazil, 2010).
Over the last decade, each state has set up its own state forum for adult and youth
education involving all actors engaged in youth and adult literacy work: local and state
governments, universities, social and popular movements.64 These have contributed
to raising public awareness, as well as providing forums for debate and social control
of public policy. Formal meetings are held with representatives of the forums twice a
year. Together, forums and the Ministry organize a national annual meeting on youth
and adult education. In 2003 the Ministry created the National Literacy and Youth and
Adult Education Commission (CNAEJA), which is made up of representatives of state
and municipal governments, universities, trade unions, NGOs, international agencies
and other stakeholders. It serves as a consultative group on literacy matters and meets
four times a year. The ministry also holds twice yearly meetings with state co­ord­i n­
ators of youth and adult education to discuss policy and its implementation.
The main goal of PBA is to target socially disadvantaged groups such as indigenous
populations, fishermen, workers in the fishing industry, small farmers, seasonal work-
ers in rural areas, women, prison inmates, child labourers, people with disabilities and
the poverty-affected populations involved in the Family Grant Programme. PBA oper-
ates throughout the country, with a priority focus on the 1,928 municipalities that have
illiteracy rates of 25% or above.
In 2008 the Ministry of Education created the ‘Territorial Agenda’ in each state,
which included the task to ‘articulate and integrate the literacy programme with its
continuity in youth and adult school education programmes’ (Ministry of Education

64
Amongst those involved in formulating and promoting educational activities are religious, trade union and social
movements, student organizations, neighbourhood associations, youth groups and clubs for older adults and a host of
similar organizations (Ireland, 2009).

58
of Brazil, 2010, p. 6). In addition, in 2009, the Governors of the States with the highest
illiteracy levels signed a pact with President Lula to give literacy priority treatment in
the period 2009–2011, to guarantee placement for literacy programme graduates in
basic adult education classes, and to improve the efficiency of this strategy.
As a federal programme, PBA is financed by the central government in partnership
with municipal and state governments who are responsible for its execution. State and
municipal governments present projects which are the basis for the resources trans-
ferred from the central government. In addition, the ministry passes resources to their
partners to cover the costs of initial and in-service training of literacy workers, literacy
textbooks, reading material for newly-literates, stationery, meals and transport. The
federal government pays a monthly grant directly to literacy workers (who are con­
sidered volunteers), to coordinators responsible for a fixed number of classes, and to
sign language interpreters. In many cases state and municipal partners also invest ­local
resources. From 2003 to 2009 SECAD invested the total amount of US$949,149,309 in
PBA, intended to serve 26,049,180 learners (ibid., pp. 7–8).

Management of PBA

In order to accompany and monitor PBA, SECAD has developed the online Literate
Brazil System (Sistema Brasil Alfabetizado – SBA). This multi-use software, which in-
volves the three levels of public administration (federal, state, and municipal), collects
information on programme performance, accompanies the payment of grants, and
conducts technical and pedagogical analysis of projects, as well as managing, imple-
menting and supervising the programme in all of its phases. A service centre provides
technical support to PBA partners for partner mobilization, for the rapid collection
of specific information, and for the application of short questionnaires in support of
management, monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
As partners, municipalities and states present their ‘theoretical-methodological
proposal’, their budgetary proposal, and the goals to be accomplished. They further in-
dicate which institution will carry out the training, which in turn provides its Training
Plan to the system. It is the task of SECAD to verify the proposals and the consistency
of the goals in order to formalize the partnership. SECAD has developed an opera-
tional manual for PBA, detailed guidelines for the training of coordinators and literacy
teachers, and a resolution with instructions, criteria and procedures for the transfer
of PBA’s financial resources to the states and municipalities, as well as the payment of
volunteer teachers.
SECAD has created differentiated grants for literacy trainers working with learners
with special needs, such as disabled persons, prison inmates or young people carrying
out socio-educational sentences, and Brazilian Sign Language interpreters. Teacher
training is the responsibility of partners, who are required to offer both initial and

59
continued training. For each ten classes there is a coordinator who is responsible for
accompanying and monitoring the group’s pedagogical and administrative activities.
In 2009 and 2010, the Ministry of Education reported that 18,291 literacy instructors,
coordinators and managers were trained in youth and adult education.
On average, 1.3 million learners enrol in the programme each year. The Ministry of
Education has developed a series of radio and television campaigns to raise public awareness
about literacy and to encourage non-literates to take part in the Literate Brazil Programme
(Ministry of Education of Brazil, 2010). Efforts are made to make the programme acces-
sible to persons with special needs. For example, the government contracts Brazilian Sign
Language (LIBRAS) interpreters and offers learning material in Braille. The ter­ri­tor­ial
coverage (currently PBA is implemented in more than 3,500 municipalities) ­allows the
programme to reach out to rural populations in remote areas with high illiteracy rates.65
Concerted efforts are also made not only to ensure that learners remain on the programme,
but also that they continue their studies over the longer term. The Ministry of Education
caters for the provision of adequate teaching and learning materials, food and transport to
literacy centres, in order to strengthen the learning en­vir­on­ment and, by extension, moti-
vate learners to persevere in their courses.

Programme design

Literacy classes lasting between six and eight months are attended by groups of ­eighteen
to twenty-five learners under the guidance of trained teachers. Local partners (states
and municipalities) are free to determine the content of both materials and teaching
meth­od­ologies. However, content should include literacy and numeracy and be based
on learners’ interests and social-cultural context. SECAD has invested in the produc-
tion of a collection of textbooks for youth and adult education, as well as previously
unpublished works aimed at new readers through the Literature for All programme
and an annual Literature for All Contest (since 2006). The Ministry of Education
makes available to all literacy training students and teachers a list of manuals assessed
and rated by a specialist team as appropriate for the youth and adult education public.
Literacy classes and all materials are provided in Portuguese. Some materials are pro-
duced in Braille for blind learners.
Cognitive test resources are made available so that learning outcomes can be as-
sessed. The results are used to improve teaching and learning activities. The Ministry

65
Data provided by António Lidio de Mattos Zambon, General Coordinator of Literacy, MEC/SECAD/DPAEJA, 17 April
2014. Priority is given to the 1,928 municipalities with an illiteracy rate of 25% or above, of which 90% are located in the
North-East of Brazil. These municipalities receive technical support in programme implementation, particularly to
ensure continuity of learning for the newly literate population (Mendonça et al., 2014).

60
of Education is responsible for providing the programme entry and exit (diagnostic)
tests. These are produced by consultants from federal universities belonging to the
Literacy Teacher Training Network and serve as the basis for official accreditation of
learning outcomes.

Results

Day-to-day monitoring is carried out using the online Literate Brazil System. All information
related to local literacy plans, details of coordinators, literacy teachers, learners, classrooms,
schedules of classes, and the results of pre- and post-cognitive assessment tests are recorded
in the system. For each individual learner the system can provide information on his or her
teacher and where he or she studies (including the address) using GPS services.
SECAD is implementing an Assessment Plan to monitor the performance of PBA, which
is internally coordinated by the Department of Studies and Evaluation of Educational
Vulnerabilities and externally supported by the University of Brasilia Literacy, Reading and
Writing Centre, the Paulo Montenegro Institute and the Institute for Applied Economic
Research. The methodologies and research instruments are the result of a collective process.
The creation of a Reference Framework for the evaluation of PBA participants was a major
step forward as it enabled the development of benchmarks and equivalencies between PBA
graduates and learners from other educational programmes (Ribeiro, 2011).
The PBA Diagnostic Assessment assesses the reading, writing and numeracy com-
petencies of learners when they enter and leave the programme. From 2003 to 2007 the
total number of learners initially enrolled was 8,368,518 (Ribeiro, 2011).66 From 2008 to
2012 the Brazilian Ministry of Education reported the following figures:

Table 6: Target population of national literacy campaigns and programmes as

­expressed explicitly in official documents

Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2008–2012

Initial enrolment 1,384,053 1,938,867 1,589,224 1,397,335 1,113,450 7,422,929
Final enrolment 883,583 1,318,599 1,339,085 1,098,595 (*) 4,640,434
No. of learners who passed
424,222 598,794 632,255 513,147 (*) 2,168,714
the final evaluation test

(*) The cycle 2012 is still in execution and will be finalized in August 2014
Source: MEC/SECAD/DPAEJA 67

66
From 2003 to 2006 PBA was also delivered through NGOs. The requirement to report on final enrolment was only
established from 2008 onwards.
67
Data provided by António Lidio de Mattos Zambon, General Coordinator of Literacy, MEC/SECAD/DPAEJA, 17 April 2014.

61
The results of a UIS survey on adult education and literacy programmes in Latin
America and the Caribbean show that only 3.8% of adult illiterates in Brazil were par-
ticipating in a literacy programme in 2009 (UIS, 2013b, p. 12). Even if it is not possible
to establish how many PBA graduates continue their learning within the adult basic
education system, the survey indicates that 3.1% of the target population had access
to and participated in primary adult education programmes and 4.3% in secondary
adult education programmes in 2010 (ibid., pp. 21-22). Altogether it can be concluded
that PBA and adult education programmes reach only a modest segment of the target
population. According to a national report on progress in the implementation of the
recommendations adopted in the 6th International Conference on Adult Education
(CONFINTEA VI), submitted by the Brazilian Government in 2012 to the UNESCO
Institute for Lifelong Learning, PBA reached only 14.74% of the potential target popu-
lation in need of literacy instruction (14,104,984 people). The percentage of the poten-
tial target populations in need of adult primary and secondary education who were
reached by the programme is even lower, at 6.09% and 7.45% respectively.68

Lifelong learning perspective

Despite its strong focus on literacy, the Brazilian government has attempted to establish a strat­
egy that sees initial literacy only as a gateway to further learning. PBA started as a campaign that
proposed to ‘eradicate illiteracy’ in Brazil in a short time.69 Previous experiences with such cam-
paigns in the country had revealed that the model was not effective for this purpose. Sustainable
literacy is only guaranteed if the newly-literate continue their learning process by entering the
adult basic education programmes (equivalent to formal education) that should follow basic
literacy acquisition. Public provision of youth and adult basic education in the early grades is
seen as essential. However, since the beginning of PBA this has been a major challenge (Ribeiro,
2011). Due to a lack of adult basic education schools, PBA graduates find it difficult to follow-up
on their studies. They find themselves ‘competing’ with persons with low levels of schooling
who have dropped out before completing grade 4. In order to ensure that PBA learners continue
their studies, SECAD and the Ministry of Education maintain close relationships with state and
municipal education authorities to strengthen their commitment to providing study places for
first and second-level courses (equivalent to formal primary and secondary education) within
the public youth and adult education system.

68
Sources: School Census 2010; PNAD 2009; SBA 2009. Available at:
http://uil.unesco.org/fileadmin/download/en/national-reports/latin-america-and-caribbean/Brazil.pdf
69
Goal No.1 of the National Education Plan (2000) committed the Brazilian government to ‘establish, through approval of the
National Education Plan, programmes aimed at achieving literacy for 10 million young people and adults in five years, and
by the end of the decade to eradicate illiteracy’ (Ministry of Education of Brazil, 2010, p. 6).

62
The sustainability of PBA is guaranteed by a legislative and policy framework at the
federal level as well as by commitment from states and municipalities to actions that
include setting up a professional team to oversee the programme in each location,
providing the infrastructure needed for literacy courses to take place, and, in some
cases, investing their own resources to fund additional provision. The existence of
institutionalized forms of participation and dialogue with civil society (CNAEJA, fo-
rums) further contributes to the sustainability of the programme. CNAEJA advises
the Ministry of Education in the formulation and implementation of national literacy
and of youth and adult policies and actions. It is complemented by state- and district-
level commissions of the ‘Territorial Agenda of Integrated Development of Literacy
and Youth and Adult Education’, which allow for structured and institutionalized joint
action on the part of public authorities and civil society in order to cover the pro-
gramme’s needs.70 In addition, the State Forums of Adult and Youth Education have
been responsible for generating a national movement capable of promoting dialogue
between the government and civil society to negotiate opposing visions of adult and
youth education in the last decade (Ireland, 2009).

5.2 India: Saakshar Bharat Mission71

Context and background

India’s population of 1,236,687 (2011, UIS) is multicultural and multilingual, with 300
to 400 languages and about ten major writing systems (Sridhar and Kachru, 2000).
Twenty-two languages are recognized by the constitution (Ministry of Home Affairs).
Hindi written in Devanagari script and English written in Latin script are the official
languages of the country (Ministry of Human Resource Development of India 2010,
Ministry of Home Affairs).
The literacy rate is based on the following definition: ‘A person aged 7 and above
who can both read and write with understanding in any language’ (Population Census
2001, UIS). The latest figures from 2006 on literacy in India record a youth (15–24
years old) literacy rate of 81.13%, compared to 76.4% in 2001. For both statistics the lit-
eracy rate for women is lower than for men. India’s adult (15–59 years old) literacy rate
is lower, at 61.01% in 2001 and 62.75% in 2006, again with a lower rate for women. The
age group 65+ has the lowest literacy rate, especially for women.72 Illiteracy is highest
in rural areas and among economically and educationally disadvantaged groups.

70
http://uil.unesco.org/fileadmin/download/en/national-reports/latin-america-and-caribbean/Brazil.pdf
71
See LitBase http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=14&country=IN&programme=132
72
UIS Data base, http://data.uis.unesco.org/

63
The Indian government would like to see that all people in India are literate as stipu­
lated in the National Policy on Education of 1986 (Ministry of Human Resource
Development, 2010). In 1988 it created the National Literacy Mission to address this
task.73 Inspired by the success of the ‘area-specific, time-bound, voluntary-based cam-
paign approach, first in Kottayam city and then in Ernakulum district in Kerala in
1990, the National Literacy Mission had accepted literacy campaigns as the dominant
strategy for the eradication of illiteracy’.74 The Mission began with the so called ‘Total
Literacy Campaigns’, which were changed in 1999 to basic literacy campaigns and
post-literacy programmes (the latter aiming to prepare learners for continuing educa-
tion). The National Literacy Mission Authority was set up as an independent wing of
the Department of School Education and Literacy. Its purpose is to coordinate adult
literacy programmes at national level that are funded and managed by the government
(Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2010).
Saakshar Bharat, a new variant of the National Literacy Mission, was launched by
the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on 8 September 2009. Initially the programme
was planned to run until the end of 2012. However, it has now been included in the XII
Five Year Plan (2012–17).

Development of Saakshar Bharat Mission, institutional setting and main

­features of implementation

Saakshar Bharat is the centrally sponsored nationwide literacy programme of the

Indian Department for School Education and Literacy (DSEL) of the Ministry of
Human Resources and Development. Public awareness and acceptance for the pro-
gramme have been raised through extensive use of different forms of mass media
(Ministry of Human Resource Development of India, 2010). The programme aims to
significantly reduce the number of non-literate adults, particularly women, in India,
and to foster an environment within communities that encourages lifelong learning.
The programme´s focus is on reducing gender disparity and thereby achieving the
government’s target of an 80% national literacy rate. This was planned to be achieved
through the provision of functional literacy to 70 million more people, of whom 60
million are women. The aim is not only to promote women’s literacy skills but ‘to link
it with empowerment of women, and thereby achieve inclusive growth in the socio-
cultural, economic and political spheres’ (Ministry of Human Resource Development,
2010, p. 7). In addition, Saakshar Bharat aims to reach 1.5 million adults with its basic
education programme and the same number with its vocational skills development

73
http://www.nlm.nic.in/
74
www.nlm.nic.in/intro_nlm.htm

64
programme (Ministry of Human Resource Development of India, 2010). The scheme
may be considered for extension during the XIII Five Year Plan, if the Government of
India so decides.75

Management of SAAKSHAR Bharat

Saakshar Bharat is distinguished by collaboration all the way through from national
to village level. Accountability, transparency and decentralization have been essential
features of the planning and management process. The total budget for the programme
between 2009 and 2012 was US$1.2bn, with the national government providing 75%
of the costs and district governments covering the remaining 25%. The allocation of
funds for basic literacy is based on the number of non-literate adults in each district.
All districts with an adult literacy rate of 50% or lower (Census 2001) are covered
­u nder the programme.
The mission has devised a comprehensive, transparent financial management
system which enhances accountability, ensures uninterrupted availability of funds,
­facilitates regulation and monitors the flow of resources. This is especially important
in terms of accountability for public expenditure. To meet this requirement a custom-
ized Funds and Accounts Management System was constructed, featuring a Fund Flow
System, Customized Banking System, Online Accounting System, and MIS. The Fund
Flow System removes the requirement for submission of reports, as expenditure ­details
are available online. It ensures real time monitoring and availability of adequate funds
for every implementing agency. The system also allows identification of both good per-
formers and laggards in terms of expenditure. The Online Accounting System ­ensures
that the Mission’s implementing agencies always receive grants when required, that
funds are not left unused, and that the executing agencies maintain regular, trust­
worthy accounts.
Whilst funding is coordinated via a predominantly centralized model, implementa-
tion of the programme is decentralized. Each district is responsible for regional plan-
ning and for each local body (Gram Panchayat). The Panchayat Raj Institutions are the
main implementing agency at the district, block and Gram Panchayat levels. They are
responsible for the establishment and provision of facilities for the Adult Education
Centres. All stakeholders, especially at community level, have a say in the planning and
implementation of the programme. The village bodies are responsible for preparation
of literacy financial planning at the village level. The plan entails conducting a house-
hold survey in every village, data collection, mass mobilization, training schedules,

75
Information provided by Dr Nasim Ahmad, Assistant Educational Advisor, D/o School Education and Literacy,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, 25 April 2014.

65
procurement and distribution of learning materials, evaluation of learning outcomes,
budgetary requirements. Aggregation of village plans leads to State-level preparation
and ultimately to the national plan.
Adult Education Centres (AEC) are responsible for the organization and delivery of
classes. One AEC is set up in every village, manned by two paid coordinators, at least
one of whom is a woman. This reflects the drive to encourage and reinforce gender
equality throughout the programme, including its core implementation, planning and
management structures. The centre offers various services, including registration, a
venue for teaching, a library and reading rooms. It is also used as a centre for promot-
ing and practising sports, adventure and cultural activities.

Programme design

The programme places emphasis on development of its human resources through on-
going training of teachers, literacy facilitators and supervisors. Key resource personnel
at district level are provided with managerial training, whilst volunteer teachers are
given in-service training in local languages and the methodology and practice of teach-
ing adults. Saakshar Bharat employs a large number of Volunteer Literacy Educators to
help reach the overall target of 70 million literates.
Where qualified volunteers are not resident within a particular village, instructors may
be engaged from outside to live with the community and provide instructional teaching.
On average, one resident instructor is required to teach thirty learners over a year. Through
this approach the centre functions for seven to eight hours every day and groups of learners
attend classes for a couple of hours or more, depending on their available free time. The cur-
riculum includes Core Content (CC) based on the broad National Curricular Framework
for Adult Education, and Locally Relevant Content (LRC), produced in the locally domi-
nant language. For each group and area identified to benefit from the programme, there
is a specific community-centred target, approach and strategy. Gender is considered in
conjunction with caste, ethnicity, religion and disability.
Learning material is developed by identifying the needs and interests of learners to
ensure relevance. Materials are developed by adult educators and subject experts based on
the topics learners identify as being of interest to them. These are scrutinized at national
level review meetings by the Quality Assurance Committee. After finalization the material
is field-tested and revised for improvement before eventually becoming teaching material.
Alongside literacy, the core content encourages awareness of values such as democracy
and gender equality. The locally relevant content is linked to the learner’s livelihood and
socio-cultural realities, involving issues such as health and hygiene, agriculture, animal
husbandry, local self-government, forest protection and other ecological themes.
Assessing and certifying the competency levels of neo-literates is a crucial feature
of the Saakshar Bharat Mission. Learners typically undergo 300 hours of tuition to

66
reach basic literacy. The assessment aims to recognize achievements and enable learn-
ers to take part in further education opportunities. The tests are based on guidelines
framed by the National Institute for Open Schooling (NIOS). Certificates are issued
within 60 days and all results made available on the NIOS website.

Results

The efficient management of the Mission is dependent on robust real-time monitoring.

Each level of governance is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of all units be-
neath it. Saakshar Bharat involves about 200,000 implementing agencies. In order to reach
out to them, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed a Web Based Planning
and Monitoring Information System (WePMIS), a customized web-based system for plan-
ning, monitoring and impact analysis. This system allows Adult Education Centres to update
information about the progress of each of the courses, tutors and learners online, improving
efficiency in evaluations of the programme’s impact. From 2011 onwards all of the online
data has been accessible to the public, encouraging engagement and an understanding of
progress within a given area. It facilitates citizen feedback by providing information about
the enrolled ­learners, including assessment and certification. Using the online feedback sys-
tem, the ground situation can be appropriately evaluated and corrective interventions made
by programme managers at the appropriate levels. WePMIS Training has been provided to
users at all levels. E-infrastructure such as computer and broadband connectivity has been
provided up to block level. These facilities need to be extended to the village level.
In its Annual Report 2012–13 (pp. 81–83), the Department of School Education and
Literacy reports the following achievements since 2009:

> the programme was expanded to 372 districts in 25 states

> 1,05,054 Adult Education Centres have been set up
> about 9000 resource persons have been trained
> about 25 million basic literacy primers have been distributed for use by the literacy
learners
> total enrolment in basic literacy was around 11.7 million by December 2012

According to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development
for the period of August 2010 to August 2013 (seven batches of learners), a total number
of 33,921,633 Basic Literacy Programme learners appeared at the National Institute of
Open Schooling (NIOS) to take the final exam.76 Of these, 24,734,705 (73%) passed.

76
Information provided by Dr Nasim Ahmad, Assistant Educational Advisor, D/o School Education and Literacy,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, 25 April 2014.

67
However, there are no data on how many of the total participants in the literacy pro-
gramme presented for the final exam (or on how many of those who did not should be
considered ‘drop-outs’).
The 2011 census shows an increase in the literacy rate in India from 64.84% in
2001 to 74.04% in 2011 and a reduction in the male-female literacy gap from 21.59% to
16.68%. Virtually all areas of India have reported a rise in literacy rates from 2001–11.
The number of illiterates has decreased from 304.15 million to 272.95 million.

Lifelong learning perspective

The Annual Report 2012–13 of the Department of School Education and Literacy an-
nounces that Saakshar Bharat will be included in the national twelfth Five Year Plan (2012
to 2017). The aim is to achieve a ‘paradigm shift from basic literacy to lifelong learning with
the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence within personal, civic social and
for employment selected perspective (sic). The focus is not only on non-formal education
but on establishing strong linkages with the formal system with mechanisms for recog-
nizing prior learning and accreditation’ (Department of School Education and Literacy,
Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, n.d. p. 167).
The literacy programmes of the ninth and tenth Five Year Plans targeted the age group
15–35 years. This was extended during the eleventh Plan to all age groups (Ministry of
Human Resource Development, 2010). Literacy and vocational programmes are also linked
to the wider national development frameworks and the National Vocational Qualifications
Framework as part of equivalency programmes (Singh, 2013).

5.3 South Africa: Kha Ri Gude Adult Literacy Programme 77

Context and background

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Education to UIS, a total of 89% of

adults (aged 15 and over) were estimated to be literate in 2005–2008 (90% of men and
88% of women). In absolute numbers, this means that 3,790,000 adults had not mas-
tered reading and writing skills during the same period. For the youth age group (15–
24) a total of 97% were literate (96% of men and 98% of women). 322,000 people in this
age group were affected by illiteracy. Three years later (2005–2011), a total of 93% of
South African adults were reported to be literate: 94% of men and 92% of women. In
absolute numbers, 2,474,000 adults were still illiterate during the period 2005–2011,

77
See LitBase: http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=13&country=ZA&programme=69

68
while the youth literacy rate increased to 99% (98% of men and 99% of women). In
absolute numbers, 122,000 young people remained illiterate in 2005–2011 (UNESCO,
2011 and 2014).
Since its democratization in 1994 South Africa has implemented several literacy and
adult education programmes, including the South African National Literacy Initiative
(SANLI), launched by the national Education Department in 2000, and the Adult Basic
Education and Training (ABET) programme, which was introduced into the National
Qualifications Framework (NQF) in 2000 via the Adult Basic Education and Training
Act. The ABET programme consists of a variety of outcomes-based, basic educational pro-
grammes and courses that specifically target adult learners. These programmes were in-
tended to empower socially disadvantaged groups who had been excluded by the Apartheid
system. A study by the Ministerial Committee on Literacy (June 2006) established that
about 9.6 million adults (24%) were still functionally illiterate. Of these, 4.7 million had
never attended school and could not read and write at all. The study also revealed that the
illiteracy rate was significantly higher in non-white communities and among women. The
recommendations of the Ministerial Committee on Literacy prompted the government of
South Africa to institute the Kha Ri Gude (Let Us Learn – KRG) mass literacy campaign,
which was launched by the Education Minister in April 2008.

Development of KRG, institutional setting and main features of implementation

KRG is an integrated and multilingual mass adult literacy campaign which is being
implemented across the entire country by the South African government through the
Department of Basic Education. The target was to enable 4.7 million illiterate and semi-
literate adults to become literate and numerate in one of the 11 official languages by 2012.
This was intended to reduce the national illiteracy rate by 50% by 2015. These objectives
were presented by the Department of (Basic) Education in a Cabinet meeting in July
2007 as part of a Strategic Plan and an Operational Plan for the Mass Literacy Campaign
(Department of Education, 2007a and 2007b) prepared by the Ministerial Advisory
Committee. The Plan established three phases for the ‘eradication of illiteracy’:

Phase 1 (2007): Organizational set-up, materials development, campaign announcements

Phase 2 (2008–2010): Intensive implementation of literacy campaign to reach 3.22 million
Phase 3 (2011–2012): Reach another 1.48 million (‘mop up’), UNESCO review, continuing
programmes for newly literates

The Plan includes a rationale, operational principles, learning outcomes, structures and
processes for governance, organizational coordination, curriculum, materials and train-
ing, monitoring, evaluation and research, as well as the requirements for Phase 1 and budg-
et estimates. The organizational structure is divided into five levels (national, provincial,

69
district, local and site). Governance is overseen by an Inter-Ministerial Committee which
governs the campaign organization through the legal constitution of a ‘section company’.
While the latter is firmly located within public service as defined in the Public Service
Act, it should be sufficiently autonomous from departmental line functions and should
focus exclusively on the campaign. The National Literacy Secretariat at national level is
composed of four committees (curriculum committee, training committee, materials
development committee and research committee), and complemented at the decentral-
ized levels by Provincial Literacy Secretariats and District Literacy Coordination Units.
Key staff include monitors (district level), coordinators (local level) and facilitators (site
level) (Department of Education 2007a and 2007b).
KRG has built strategic partnerships which involve sharing government resources
to improve outreach to specially challenged learners such as blind people. A member
of the South African Council for the Blind has been employed as a coordinator who
can feed back what he has learned to the Council (Hanemann, 2011). As an inclusive
campaign, KRG targets every adult person with little or no formal education. However,
special efforts are made to target marginalized social groups such as women, young
people and people with disabilities . Of the 620,000 learners enrolled in KRG in 2009,
about 80% were women, 25% were young people and 8% had disabilities. In addition,
a majority of learners came from poor urban informal settlements and rural areas.
Almost all were unemployed or self-employed.
The government has committed six billion Rand (about US$780 million) to fund
the campaign over a period of five years (2008–2012). In the Operational Plan the
budget estimate was Rands 5,295,000,000 (about US$537 million) for five years and
Rands 1,165 per learner (about US$118) (Department of Education, 2007b).

Management of KRG

For the effective implementation of KRG campaign, the Department of Basic Education
has recruited and trained about 75,000 community-based volunteer coordinators,
super­v isors and educators or literacy training facilitators, including 100 blind and 150
deaf educators who provide specialized instruction to illiterates with disabilities. Of
these, about two-thirds are under 35, 80% are women, and 85% were previously unem-
ployed. All were recruited from the same communities as the learners they serve. Only
candidates with a minimum of Grade 12 education and qualified professionals are
recruited and trained to serve as programme facilitators. About half of the volunteers
(coordinators, supervisors and educators) have one or more tertiary educational qual-
ifications (university degree/diploma in ABET) and many years of field experience.
The campaign is building on the professional capacity in adult literacy and education
which has been developed country-wide over almost two decades (through, for exam-
ple, distance courses at the University of South Africa specifically developed to train

70
adult educators for the ABET Programme). KRG is therefore harvesting the fruits of a
long-term investment in developing human resources in adult education.
As KRG has created more than 40,000 short-term jobs, mainly in rural areas with high
unemployment rates, it has been awarded an additional R45 million for 2011 from the
Expanded Public Works Programme run by the Department of Labour. The campaign has
therefore stimulated other government sectors to invest in literacy (Hanemann, 2011).
Facilitators are provided with basic initial training in various aspects of adult educa-
tion, including adult-appropriate teaching/learning methods, classroom management,
how to use learning material and moderate the learning process, and how to conduct
assessment activities. In addition, they receive ongoing training, mentoring and support
from supervisors and coordinators, all of whom have post-graduate qualifications and
experience in community development work. Facilitators are provided with a desk calen-
dar which includes lesson plans and teaching modules for the thirty-five mother tongue
literacy lessons, thirty-five numeracy lessons, and ten English for Everyone lessons.
Each trained educator/facilitator is responsible for a group of fifteen to eighteen
learners. Volunteers are paid a monthly stipend which is contingent on their meeting a
number of requirements, such as submitting monthly reports and Learner Assessment
Portfolios. This ‘outcome-based’ payment is necessary for reasons of accountability
and motivation, and to ensure that learners are not compromised. It is also essential in
ensuring the integrity of the campaign’s payment system.
Educators/facilitators also play a critical role in the recruitment of new learners
via advocacy campaigns which are intended to make KRG a visible part of commu-
nity life. Various strategies are used to encourage potential learners to enrol in KRG,
including public announcements and advertisements in community newspapers and
over the ­radio, production and distribution of posters and pamphlets, word-of-mouth
promotion through meetings with women and youth groups, taxi organizations, trade
unions, traditional leaders and door-to-door visits, public announcements in church,
at fu­nerals, and in schools, and advocacy in communities by KRG graduates.
The Department of Basic Education has established about 35,000 community-based
learning centres across the country. Learning centres range from basic venues such as
participant’s homes, backyards or bus shelters to more established institutions such as
local churches, community centres or prisons.
For procurement and human resource management, including registering and pay-
ing the monthly salaries of up to 40,000 volunteers, the Department of Basic Education
has contracted a private agent, the Business Innovations Group. This organization also
carries out the financial accounting, reporting and updating of all the learner and educa-
tor databases in a professional information management system. At peak times it hires
up to 60 people to capture the data from reports coming from all over the country. It
oversees the logistics company which is responsible for the picking and packing of all
learning materials and their distribution to some 37,000 learning sites. This company has

71
been sub-contracted by the Business Innovations Group to ensure the safe collection and
storage of all materials, reports and Learner Assessment Portfolios. In addition, it col-
lects monthly reports from the coordinators from all provinces and completed Learner
Assessment Portfolios from approximately 40,000 classes. The company has 80 per­man­
ent employees, but in the period before the start of classes every year it hires 1,000 extra
packers, drivers and off-loaders to make sure that the correct material arrives in the
correct quantities at the correct sites at the correct time in the correct languages. A large
warehouse is used to store all reports, Learner Assessment Portfolios and other docu-
ments (after they have been scanned): these records are required to be kept as evidence
for a number of years by the national treasury (Hanemann, 2011).
The campaign runs smoothly thanks to highly professional management and logistics
and a very efficient data collection and information management system. This all comes
at a cost, of course; but it is one which seems to pay off, because good performance in the
frequent audits to which KRG is subject for transparency and accountability in the use of
public funds has ensured government willingness to continue investing in the campaign
(around €30m last year) (Hanemann, 2011).

Programme design

In order to address the particular and diverse needs of different groups of learners, KRG
uses 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 curriculum places emphasis on
themes that are relevant to learners’ socio-economic context and everyday experience,
such as health (particularly HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention), civic education,
environmental issues and income generation or livelihood development. In addition,
KRG also provides instruction in English as a second language.
The Department of Basic Education has developed various teaching/learning mater­
ials in all eleven official languages, which have been professionally adapted for use by
deaf and blind learners. KRG provides participants with free learning material and basic
stationery and requires them to attend classes three times a week over a period of six
months. Blind and deaf learners receive specialized instruction in Braille and sign lan-
guage. The strategy of engaging educators with disabilities is not only beneficial to the
educators, but also ensures that learners with special needs receive effective instruction
and assistance from persons who understand their challenges and needs.
Learning materials follow an integrated approach to literacy acquisition, drawing on the
language experience and whole word approaches while taking on board the findings of recent
neuro cognitive research. Materials are highly structured with in-built sequenced activities in-
cluding learning games that help learners read faster and acquire sustainable literacy skills lev-
els. The curriculum is organized around eight themes which are relevant to learners’ motivation.

72
Instead of a final exam, assessment within KRG is based on internal evidence which is
assessed using a standardized tool (all learners perform the same tasks and are marked
against the same criteria). KRG learners are tested continuously through a Learner
Assessment Portfolio (LAP) containing ten literacy assessment activities and ten nu-
meracy activities in their mother tongue. The assessment activities are competency-
based and time-linked to the various stages of the learning process. The LAPs are
marked by the facilitator, moderated by supervisors and controlled by coordinators.
They are then returned to the campaign head office where the site-based and mod-
erated marking is verified by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
The moderation system is not only a sophisticated verification of the integrity of LAP
marking, but also constitutes an important component of the quality assurance pro­
cess. The involvement of the campaign’s moderators and coordinators ensures that it is
a learning experience and capacity development exercise for everybody.
The return rate of more than 80% of LAPs is an indicator of KRG’s high learner retention
rate. On the basis of this quality assured and interconnected assessment process, successful
learners (who have performed over 39% of the tasks correctly) are issued with certificates at
Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Level 1 by the Department of Basic Education’s
Examinations Directorate. At the end of the assessment process, the learners’ biographical de-
tails and marks per activity are captured in an assessment database to allow for statistical ana­
lysis, which in turn informs the strategies employed to improve programme delivery.
In an annual moderation workshop attended by around 220 monitors and co­ord­
in­ators of the campaign and led by senior verifiers hired by SAQA, a sample of ap-
proximately 50,000 Learner Assessment Portfolios (representing around 10% of the
total) are rigorously reviewed to verify the quality and authenticity of internal marking
and moderation. This is a comprehensive and complex process which contributes to a
final report and to the recording of successful learners’ achievements on the National
Learners’ Records Database. Following the annual moderation workshop, the same
participants attend a training, monitoring and planning workshop to jointly analyse
good practice, review factors that need improvement, and plan programme activities
for the following year. This participatory system of training, monitoring and strategic
planning strengthens the capacities of all campaign staff and contributes to their sense
of ownership (Hanemann, 2011).

Results

KRG has instituted an extensive action-oriented monitoring and evaluation system

which is implemented by supervisors who each monitor 10 educators/facilitators, and
coordinators who each monitor 20 supervisors. This ongoing internal monitoring and
evaluation process includes monthly class visits by supervisors and spot checks car-
ried out by a team of external monitors and ‘line’ coordinators. The system enables

73
super­v isors to provide pedagogical support to facilitators and, together with coordina-
tors, to solve many of the problems that arise onsite.
KRG’s data management system provides timely information on registrations (volunteers
and learners), attendance, stipends, learner assessments, remuneration, procurement, docu-
ment library, import/export, and administration. It enables reporting for purposes such as man-
agement, planning, monitoring, accountability and public relations work. A sophisticated data
management system is an indispensable investment to run a campaign of this size successfully.
KRG has evolved into South Africa’s biggest adult literacy campaign to date, as
manifested by the number of graduates shown in the table below.
Approximately 680,000 further learners enrolled in 2013, and a similar number in
2014. The campaign therefore achieved 51% of its goal to make 4.7 million people liter-
ate by the end of 2012.
KRG has unusually high retention and completion rates. This is due to: a) classes located
close to where learners live and scheduled at times which are convenient for learners to at-
tend; b) good relationships with educators who ‘care’ about their learners; c) attractive learn-
ing materials that are ‘chunked’ and paced to enable curriculum coverage; d) the programme
being offered simultaneously in the eleven official languages and Braille; e) a non-threaten-
ing portfolio approach to assessing learning achievements; and f) widespread motivation to

Table 7: Numbers of learners who enrolled in and completed KRG 2008–2012

Learner As-
LEARNERs PASSED ACTUAL
sessment LEARNERS (> 39% as the ­minimum NUMBER OF
YEAR ENROLLED Portfolios COMPLETED of the ­combined
LEARNERS
(ACHIEVED) % mark of 100% required
PASSED
SUBMITTED to pass)

2008 381,862 254,085 67% 93.3% 237,128

2009 634,003 593,051 94% 98.2% 582,489
2010 611,281 491,280 80% 99.7% 489,988
2011 639,449 520,252 81% 99.7% 518,669
2012 600,164 554,397 92% 91.7% 508,123
Totals 2,866,759 2,413,065 84% 96.8% 2,336,397

Source: Department of Basic Education, South Africa 78

78
Data provided by Prof. Veronica McKay, advisor to KRG and former CEO of KRG, on 30 March 2014.

74
obtain the recognized certificate, which opens opportunities for further learning within the
non-formal ABET system. In addition, every aspect of data collection (registers, monthly
reports, LAPs) is linked to the data required to enable payments to be authorized. In other
words: no data, no money. This policy of payment against results has contributed to high
levels of achievement and accountability (Hanemann, 2011).

Lifelong learning perspective

Efforts are currently being undertaken by facilitators and coordinators to refer KRG graduates
to the ABET system to continue their studies. In some cases the capacity of ABET to absorb all
KRG graduates was limited due to constraints within the ABET system itself. Some provinces
have ensured that KRG educators are taken over into the provincial ABET system together with
their learners. This provides an opportunity for learners to enter further learning and to stay
with a teacher whom they know and trust. Where whole classes are absorbed into the ABET
system, there has been some success. However, certain problems have restricted the flow of
learners to ABET. For example, where the ABET system requires learners to join classes – usu-
ally in schools, at night and in venues some distance from where they live – there is considerable
resistance (Hanemann, 2011).
Enrolment data from 2013 and 2014 show that demand from potential learners to enrol in
KRG seems to be continuing. The programme has also secured government funding for the
next five years. It is therefore assumed that KRG will continue sustainably in the coming years.
KRG’s design as a new and independent system, which has to some extent contributed to its
success, involves a level of risk. The campaign currently operates as a stand-alone system which
is not fully part of the non-formal education (ABET) system or of the lifelong learning system.
KRG’s benefits to the ABET system are therefore at risk of being lost once the campaign is
over. There is still a need to design an exit strategy to allow smooth transfer from KRG into the
longer-term adult education and lifelong learning system.

5.4 Indonesia: The national educational movement AKRAB! 79

Context and background

Indonesia has a population of over 234 million people, distributed between roughly
6,000 inhabited islands. The population is multi-ethnic and multilingual with over
300 distinct ethnic groups and an estimated 680 languages and dialects (most of them
in Papua). Indonesia’s official language is Bahasa Indonesia (Yulaelawati, 2012a).
The Indonesian Government has identified adult illiteracy as one of the major caus-
es of poverty. Accordingly, the Government invests heavily in adult literacy education
and has considerable experience in the area. Between 1970 and 2000 the illiteracy rate
was halved (from approximately 21% to 11%) and literacy was found to have a positive

75
effect on cross-sector productivity. 80 This observation led to an increased interest in
literacy across sectors and government ministries. Indonesia’s educational targets have
therefore been set in consultation with several government ministries and various
stakeholders. Since the year 2000, emphasis has been placed on literacy education and
literacy targets have been a primary focus of national strategic planning. As a result,
literacy rates have increased (Yulaelawati, 2012a).
The latest figures from 2011 on literacy in Indonesia record a youth (15–24 years old) lit-
eracy rate of 98.78% (2011, UIS Database) with very little gender disparity. Indonesia’s adult
(15–59 years old) literacy rate is lower, at 92.81%, and the gender disparity is wider, with
a gender parity index of 0.94. Rates refer to the literacy in the national language Bahasa
Indonesia in Latin script; the Arabic writing system is also in use. The highest illiteracy
rates are recorded in rural and remote areas and among adults aged 40+. The highest num-
bers of illiterate adults are recorded in more densely populated areas. The economically
poorest provinces have higher illiteracy rates (Yulaelawati, 2012a).
The Indonesian constitution of 1945 stipulates that every citizen has the right to
education. Moreover, Law 20 of 2003 states that the National Education System is to
provide equal educational opportunities to all citizens (MoE, 2010, p. 3). Coordinated
efforts to address illiteracy in Indonesia began as far back as 1945–1965. These efforts
were built on in 1970 with the introduction of the Package A programme, which was
divided into 100 modules. Modules A1–A10 concerned basic literacy, whilst A11–A100
focused on literacy in the context of life skills. During the three decades following the
introduction of Package A, the illiteracy rate was almost halved.

Development, institutional setting and main features of implementation

In 2006, Presidential Instruction No. 5 created the National Movement to Hasten

Compulsory Nine-Year Basic Education and the Fight against Illiteracy (NMHFAI),
with inclusion as a central concern. In NMHFAI, adult literacy is perceived as an invest-
ment in the learning society. Quality, equity and efficiency are the guiding principles.

79
The information on this case is based on the description in UIL’s LitBase if not otherwise indicated,
http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=14&country=ID&programme=121, accessed April 2014.
80
According to Jalal and Sardjunani (2007), the rise in literacy rates was also due to schooling programmes, such
as the Presidential Assistance Programme for Elementary School in 1974 and the Six-Year Compulsory Education
Programme in 1984. This went along with an increased participation of girls and women in the education system.
However, the authors also provide a long list of literacy programmes and initiatives which started even before
Independence in 1945, as well as several notable later efforts. For example, in 1970–1990 Indonesia implemented
the ‘Package A Programme’ which decreased the illiteracy rate significantly. From 1990 to 2000 the government
focused on achieving the goal of nine years’ compulsory basic education for all. This led to a slight neglect of adult
literacy, causing a decrease in the numbers of adult literacy learners.

76
Six ministries, the Bureau of Statistics and local governments collaborated in the crea-
tion of the movement. The adult literacy component is called Aksara Agar Berdaya
(AKRAB!), which translates to ‘Literacy Creates Power’ in allusion to UNESCO’s
Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE). AKRAB! comprises both ­basic and ad-
vanced literacy training in local languages and Bahasa Indonesia. The cri­ter­ion for a
good literacy programme is that it leads to the reduction of poverty among learners,
who are usually disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalized people (MOE, 2010). The
target groups of AKRAB! are illiterate youth (15–24 years old), adults (15–59 years old),
and, upon request, older adults (60 years and above), with particular attention paid to
poor women, indigenous people and minority groups in slum and remote areas. An
integrated women’s empowerment programme promotes gender equality. Community
reading centres are established in public spaces so that learners have easy access to
reading materials, helping them to sustain their reading skills.

Management of AKRAB!

One of the strengths of the AKRAB! programme is that it is coordinated and im-
plemented through a holistic, integrated approach which involves various stakehold-
ers. The programme benefits greatly from the resulting diversity of ideas and funding
sources and the wide range of efforts from various sectors. For example, in order to
mobilize women as learners and as partners to implement the programme, success-
ful partnerships have been created with women’s religious and welfare organizations,
including a partnership with one of the largest Muslim women’s organizations in
Indonesia (MoE, 2012). This integrated approach, however, also presents challenges,
especially with regard to identifying and agreeing upon common objectives.
The design and coordination of the AKRAB! programme is the responsibility of
the Ministry of Education and Culture. Other government ministries play the following roles:
> The National Bureau of Statistics provides the Ministry of Education and Culture
with updated statistical data (Ministry of Education of Indonesia, 2010).
> The Ministry of Public Welfare defines the roles of individual ministries in the
movement and assists with programme coordination.
> The Ministry of Internal Affairs encourages participation in the movement by provincial,
city and district administrators, as well as stakeholders in the p
­ rivate sector such as
women’s organizations, youth organizations, NGOs and c­ ommunity organizations.
> The Ministry of Religious Affairs identifies religious facilities for participation and
helps to implement AKRAB! in religious institutions.
> The Ministry of Finance plans the AKRAB! budget in accordance with the Ministry
of Education’s proposals.
> The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment creates social networks and advocates on
behalf of the institutions and NGOs under their guidance.

77
AKRAB! uses a decentralized approach: the governors of each of the 33 provinces and
the heads of each municipality have teams that coordinate the programme’s local im-
plementation (MoE, 2010). Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry
of Education and Culture formalize the collaboration.
The implementation of the programme is carried out by a wide range of different
­organizations. These include:
> NGOs, particularly women’s groups
> Community Learning Centres (CLCs)
> Religious institutions
> Environmental groups
> Universities (through an MoU between the Director General of Early
Childhood, Non-Formal and Informal Education and 87 universities)
The implementing organizations send their proposals to the designated coordinator
at the local level. Depending on the specific agreement between the central and local
authorities, the municipal coordinator can then either approve the proposal and budg-
et directly, or recommend the proposal to the provincial authorities. The budget is
awarded based on the proposed number of learners. In general, the budget for each im-
plementing organization is paid for by the central government at national level (50%),
the provincial government (30%), and the municipal government (20%). The cost of the
programme is approximately US$62 per learner.

Programme design

Each year, one person is selected from each municipality for training to become a
­t utor. Candidates must have at least Senior High School education, reside in the local
area, demonstrate high levels of commitment, be able to master the teaching and learn-
ing materials, and to develop participatory learning methods. Tutors are paid a basic
wage of Rp10.500 (US$1.20) per hour.
Each literacy programme integrates literacy with life skills. Instruction begins in
the learners’ mother tongue and develops into a mixture of mother tongue and Bahasa
Indonesia in Latin script as the learners’ skills develop. Learners who can read and
write in the Arabic script become literate in the Latin script. In general, teaching is con-
ducted in groups of ten learners per tutor, and programmes last for six to ten months.
AKRAB! consists of several types of services that run in parallel in order to create a teaching
and learning environment to which the different target groups can relate:
> Basic literacy training for individuals and families combined with culture-specific input
in local languages, such as non-confrontational, non-formal learning with the Baduy people
(Yulaelawati, 2012b)
> Literacy is learned or improved alongside entrepreneurial skills in a scheme ­involving
five competency stages for individuals and community groups, named ‘train to gain’

78
> Community reading gardens and ICT facilities in public areas provide access to
post-literacy materials with the aim of improving reading and writing culture.
The curriculum is responsive to learners’ culture and learning needs. Although the
educational programmes have a fixed structure, tutors are trained to identify and re-
spond to the learning needs of each individual student through observation and inter­
view. The teaching and learning materials developed by the tutor and non-formal edu-
cation experts are supplemented by materials developed by learners themselves during
writing classes, such as booklets and newspapers, which are then used as learning
materials by other participants.

Results

All institutions and organizations involved in the delivery of AKRAB! are assessed
by the independent National Accreditation Board for Non-Formal and Informal
Education for their eligibility to participate in the programme and issue literacy cer­
tifi­c ates. Assessment is based on the quality and standards of the curriculum, teach-
ing and learning process, graduate competence, personnel, facilities, governance and
finance. The accreditation process is a fundamental part of the organization’s proposal
and application for funding from the municipal authorities. The Ministry of Education
and Culture collaborates closely with the National Statistics Bureau to monitor and
evaluate the wider impact of the programme.
Between 2008 and 2012, the following goals were achieved:
> More than 4 million people have participated in the literacy programme.
> More than 3 million people have been awarded the government literacy certificate (SUKMA).
> More than 1 million people have participated in the entrepreneurship programme.
> More than 3,500 tutors have been trained or increased their capacity to teach adult literacy.
> More than 6,179 community reading gardens have been made available in public areas.
> More than 1,350 community learning centres have been created.
> The number of illiterate people has decreased from 11.2 million in 2007 to
6.73 ­m illion in 2011.
> The number of Community Learning Centres has increased by 30 per cent
between 2007 and 2012.
> Gender disparity has decreased from 4.32 in 2007 to 2.7 in 2011.
To conclude, the AKRAB! programme is an example of successful implementation
of a multi-stakeholder approach that mobilized several ministries and administrative
units at all levels to collaborate with non-governmental organizations. In four years it
has made a considerable contribution to enhancing literacy skills in both the official
language and local languages for a variety of purposes, such as entrepreneurship. The
AKRAB! programme’s culturally sensitive approaches to teaching and learning is an-
other feature of good practice.

79
Lifelong learning perspective

Through its integrated components including entrepreneurship skills, ICT skills,

language skills and gender mainstreaming, AKRAB! strives to enhance the literate
environment of communities. Community reading centres in public spaces such as
markets and worship areas help learners to sustain and further develop their newly
acquired skills. However, there is no information available on how graduates of the five
competency stages of AKRAB! are encouraged and guided to enrol in the next levels in
order to prepare for primary and secondary education certificates.

Literacy as a national movement has been extremely successful in reaching many people.
However, at a certain point, the national movement became at risk of relinquishing these
gains. Current efforts are therefore geared towards strengthening movements at the com-
munity level in order to address remaining literacy needs, particularly for linguistic and
ethnic minorities and in provinces where illiteracy rates remain high. In order to reduce
disparities among provinces and focus on areas with high adult illiteracy rates, the creation
of Local Movements of Literacy Improvement is planned. However, it is quite challenging
to reach out to marginalized populations who live below the poverty line and experience a
range of disadvantages in their lives.
Moreover, literacy policy itself has changed in recent years. Literacy is now seen as
­going beyond the ability to read, write and do simple arithmetic: the focus is increasingly
on sustaining literacy skills and empowering learners to face rapid changes in their lives. 81
While the development of a National Qualifications Framework is still underway, non-
formal and informal learning are recognized by national examinations within an equiva-
lency programme, running since 1990, which provides certificates equal to primary, junior
secondary and senior secondary education (‘Packages A, B and C’). Accreditation of non-
formal learning institutions (community learning centres or training institutions) started
in 2008. It is foreseen that non-formal education institutions will play a major role in
­human capital development in the future.

81
National Report Indonesia 2012 for GRALE 2.

80
6. Conclusions

The ‘small is beautiful and safe’ argument put forward by intellectuals, NGOs and
some powerful international actors against large-scale adult literacy programmes or
campaigns, which was still identified by Agneta Lind at the end of the last century
(Lind, 1997), seems to have vanished during the past decade.82 While many small-
scale literacy programmes and projects are still being implemented around the globe
– many of them well-established and quite successful in engaging learners on a fairly
long-term basis – a number of governments in UNESCO Member States have taken the
decision to accelerate literacy efforts in their countries through large-scale initiatives
(UNESCO, 2013; Hanemann, 2012).
None of these major literacy campaigns or programmes is appearing out of the blue.
Most if not all of them emerge from or build on prior campaigns or programmes that
had been going on for some time. Many of these prior programmes were either dis-
continued due to political change (i.e. elections), or continued on a lower profile with
reduced budgets because they no longer benefitted from (major) public funds. In the
meantime, new campaigns or programmes were launched to create fresh momentum
or to use a particular historic moment to mobilize society for literacy.
There are also examples of major government-led programmes which show con­
tinu­ity through different phases, such as the National Functional Literacy Programme
in Ghana. The first phase of this programme started in 1992 and was completed in
1997; the second phase was implemented from 2000–2006. Subsequent governments
have continued to support the programme until today, even when the IDA credit came
to a close in 2006. Domestic political commitment and democratic governance towards
the fulfilment of the right to equal educational opportunities enshrined in the 1992
Constitution has contributed to the success of Ghana’s national literacy programme.
Similarly long-lived government literacy programmes can be found in other countries,
such as Namibia.
We can also observe that many campaigns are launched by politicians or decision-
makers with very ambitious, if not downright unrealistic, targets. Over time they real­
ize that they are dealing with a highly complex task and that it will take more time
either to reach the illiterate population on a large scale or to reach smaller but more di-
verse and vulnerable population groups with special needs. They also realize that, once

82
The arguments against campaigns included that literacy is instrumentalized for economic development;
literacy is an imposition of the modern world which damages traditional (oral) culture; and centrally designed
programmes and materials are inefficient and irrelevant (Lind, 1997).

81
 people have achieved basic literacy, they will need to continue their learning pathways
in order to sustain and further develop their skills levels. Together with newly liter-
ates, many low-skilled people are waiting for opportunities to continue their studies in
order to reach education levels that provide them with recognized certificates and real
opportunities to progress in their lives and in society.
While in some countries non-formal education sub-systems have been well estab-
lished for some time (going back to the 90s), some of which even incorporate equiva-
lency programmes and competency-based programmes within National Qualifications
Systems, in other countries such institutionalized approaches have only recently
emerged or are yet to be developed. The community learning centre approach as the
main delivery strategy for adult literacy and non-formal education, found mainly in
some Asian countries (e.g. Bangladesh, Nepal), has yet to be articulated within more
formalized lifelong learning systems. Particularly the E-9 countries face major chal-
lenges in their attempts to make progress with adult literacy, due to population growth
and to the high number of young people passing into adulthood without having gone
to school (long enough) to become literate.
In a few countries there are indications of a broadened understanding of literacy as
a continuum. However, this has yet to be reflected in official measurements. Only in
the analysed case of the UK Skills for Life surveys were literacy and numeracy skills as-
sessed according to graded and differentiated competency levels, and only in this case
was it possible to contrast baseline data on the distribution of skills levels with another
survey nine years later to determine progress achieved. This information needs to be
complemented by longitudinal surveys tracking specific adult learners over a longer
period of time in order to determine progress and skills retention levels. This kind of
research is rather the exception in the adult literacy landscape (see Metcalf et al., 2009).
Standardized tests to determine learning achievement at the end of a literacy course
are not the rule among analysed country cases either. Many questions therefore arise
when analysing available data on people ‘made literate’. Existing evidence (e.g. in the
case of Venezuela) suggests interpreting statistics about the numbers of newly literate
people with caution. More reliable (test-based) data from Skills for Life suggest that it
is easier to motivate people to lift their skills one level higher if they started at a higher
level. It will probably require tailor-made rather than mass-scale approaches to engage
those who are most in need of literacy training – usually people living in difficult cir-
cumstances and requiring support in multiple ways.
In the light of the above as well as that of the analysed case studies, the following
­advantages of the campaign approach to literacy can be identified:
> Literacy campaigns have helped to create or use momentum for general mobiliza-
tion in the countries where they have been launched. They have placed literacy high on
national agendas and helped to create a social environment that encourages motiva-
tion, participation and retention among learners.

82
> Campaigns have shown a strong potential for mobilizing different stakeholders for
partnerships and strengthening commitment to contribute to national literacy efforts.
> Increased public (e.g. media) interest in governmental literacy efforts has created
pressure to make the results accountable.
> If teachers and students from the formal education sector are mobilized as volunteers, the
benefit and impact can be mutual, helping to energize the formal education system.
> In some countries (e.g. Cuba, Bolivia and to some extent in Mozambique), literacy
campaigns have been linked to or led to the creation of an institutionalized adult edu-
cation system. 83
On the other hand, the analysed examples of literacy campaigns also indicate some
disadvantages that the campaign approach entails:
> Major campaigns entail the risk of raising overly high expectations due to very am-
bitious and often unrealistic targets. This is then potentially linked with manipulation
of data and loss of credibility.
> Centrally designed ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches with a prescribed curriculum, ob-
jectives and materials are not always able to cater to a diversity of learner profiles
featuring different abilities, ages, prior experience, geographic location, gender, life
circumstances, interests and expectations. The top-down manner in which many lit-
eracy campaigns are designed runs the risk that they will become inefficient and even
irrelevant in specific local contexts and for particular groups of learners.
> The promotional language of campaigns often portrays illiteracy as a ‘social illness’
which can be permanently ‘eradicated’ with the right intervention. This stigmatizes illit-
eracy and potentially demotivates people with low literacy skills. It may even induce people
to hide their problems, particularly after a city, region or country is declared ‘illiteracy-
free’. It may be also be harmful to long-term learning efforts, because some people need
longer than the duration of a campaign to develop their literacy skills.
> Instead of developing human resource capacity with a longer-term perspective,
campaigns rely greatly on voluntary work. This usually involves high staff turnover,
‘take it or leave it’ attitudes, and lower investment in training, resulting in lower teach-
ing quality and instability.
> The magnitude of the campaign or programme poses challenges as regards monitoring and
evaluation. This often affects the reliability and credibility of internal assessments and reported
data. There is often a lack of two-way flow of monitoring and feedback. In order to achieve
quantitative results, functionality is a priority, resulting in inadequate input and less attention
to qualitative outcomes (little or no training of personnel, weak supervision, etc.).
Oxenham believes that neither the campaign nor the programme approach has an em-
pirically verified advantage over the other. Both approaches have had successful as well as

83
Lind, 2008, p. 102.

83
disappointing experiences. Both have to follow the same learning continuum by starting
with basic literacy skills and then progressing to the development of advanced skills through
other learning opportunities. He arrives at the conclusion that ‘the crucial factors for success
in both approaches seem to have been the commitment, energy, effectiveness and consistency
of the organizers and supporters of a campaign or programme, and the resources that they
could mobilize locally and internationally’ (Oxenham, 2008, p. 61).
In addition to the already stated impossibility of clearly distinguishing the features
of a literacy campaign, programme, movement, or mission approach (see Chapter 3),
it is not easy to attribute the above-mentioned advantages and disadvantages exclu-
sively to a campaign approach. Most of them also apply to programmes, movements
or other approaches to literacy. Even the distinction of politically ‘hot’ or ‘cool’ ap-
proaches which are more or less ‘urgent’ and ‘massive’ (Bhola, 1999) is probably subject
to specific contexts and moments, and certainly needs to be assessed on a continuum.
Therefore, the guiding question should rather be: what are the enabling processes,
structures and environments (see Framework of Figure 1 in Chapter 3) that need to be
in place to allow the largest possible numbers of non-literate young people and adults
to develop and improve their literacy and basic skills levels?
Some key messages resulting from the analysis of some major literacy campaigns
and programmes from around the world which may also inform further discussion of
the post-2015 education agenda are the following:
> Successful large-scale literacy campaigns and programmes are linked to processes of
social change and development. A multi-pronged strategy is required to address the lit-
eracy challenge simultaneously from different angles and across the life span on at least
five complementary fronts: 1) Laying strong foundations for later learning and addressing
disadvantage through good-quality early childhood care and education programmes; 2)
ensuring universal good-quality basic education for all children (in formal or non-formal
settings); 3) scaling up and reaching out with relevant literacy provision to all young people
and adults; 4) developing literacy-rich environments and a literate culture at the local and
national levels; and 5) dealing with the root causes of illiteracy (mainly poverty, societal
injustice and all kinds of disadvantages) in a deep structural manner. It is necessary to
work with a vision to develop the literacy skills not only of individuals but of whole com-
munities. The ultimate goal is to build literate societies.
> Sustainable and sufficient funding is crucial for large-scale literacy interventions.
Without substantial increases in funding literacy programmes and sustained investment
in human resources to build professional capacity in adult literacy and education, it will not
be possible to address the literacy challenge seriously and achieve progress at the necessary
pace. The backbone of an effective campaign structure is a pool of professional managers,
trainers, monitors, coordinators, educators and facilitators who are available country-wide.
Therefore it is necessary to invest more in quality teaching and learning. Facilitators and
educators need a solid professional basis complemented by in-service training, monitoring,

84
and pedagogical support structures. This also requires partnership with universities and
training centres, the development of quality criteria and quality assurance strategies, and
the strengthening of research into and use of good practice.
> The profile of literacy has to be raised, in particular in countries with significant
numbers of non-literates; literacy has to be made more visible in society. Good com-
munication and advocacy work is required to confront decision-makers with the fact
that masses of people are excluded from participating in activities that are text-based,
and are struggling with competencies too low to allow them to progress with their as-
pirations or have their rights fulfilled.
> Participation in adult literacy programmes is increasingly perceived as one step on
a longer road to developing sustainable skills levels in reading and writing. This needs
to be supported by literate environments and opportunities for further learning to ob-
tain recognized qualifications. The provision of literacy as a continuum, featuring pro-
grammes that are structured into levels of graded progression and different pathways
that meet a diversity of (evolving) learning needs, remains a major challenge for most
of the large-scale literacy campaigns and programmes currently running. This is why
short-duration campaign approaches need to be firmly embedded into national learn-
ing systems while dealing with literacy as a continuum and as part of lifelong learn-
ing. Literacy should be integrated in national development strategies and provided in
different settings to enable all to acquire basic skills and qualifications. More needs to
be done to establish systems of counselling and coaching to assist learners throughout
their learning careers.
> In the context of accelerated technological developments, it is indispensable to
broaden the concept of literacy skills to include the basic problem-solving skills re-
quired in technology-rich environments. A more systematic use of ICT is also impor-
tant to expand the coverage of literacy programmes by reaching both learners and
teachers with relevant training opportunities.
> Although most countries have records of the number of learners enrolled in literacy cam-
paigns and programmes, they do not have accurate information on successful completion rates
(UIS, 2013b). The databasing of campaign participants with unique identity numbers (the only
way to establish reliable tracking of individual learning careers) remains the exception rather
than the rule. Even though literacy campaigns and programmes are implemented by Ministries
of Education, related databases are not necessarily part of the broader EMIS systems. It is rare
that learners in literacy programmes are tested using standards that are able to generate com-
parable statistics on learning achievement. Comprehensive and in-depth research, involving
longitudinal studies, evaluations of impact and test-based pre- and post-intervention surveys, is
still very rare. Therefore, special efforts are necessary to improve the availability, reliability and
comparability of literacy data for better planning and targeting. This includes more complex
studies to assess levels of literacy and numeracy skills, such as UNESCO’s Literacy Assessment
and Monitoring Programme (LAMP).

85
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Appendices
Table 8: Progress in adult literacy in countries with major campaigns, 2000–2011
­(available data closest to 2000 and 2011)

Country Reported adult literacy rate (%) Reported illiterate population (in 1,000) [round numbers]
2000 [A] 2011 [B] 2000 [A] 2011 [B]
Progress [B–A] Progress [B–A]
(1994–2004) (2005–2011) (1994–2004) (2005–2011)
Africa
0,738
Angola 67.40* 70.40 (2011) 3.00 2,388 (2001) 3,126 (2011)
increase
5,646 0,245
Burkina Faso 21.80 (2003) 28.70 (2007) 6.90 5,401
5,806 * increase
29.82 (2005) 39.00 (2007) 9.18 28,929 3,444
Ethiopia 25,485
35.90 29.80* -6.10 26,847 * increase
-0,090
Equatorial Guinea 88.31 (2000) 94.20 (2011) 5.89 34 (2000) 25 (2011)
decrease
0,021
20.60 (1996) 25.31 (2010) 3,466 3,487 *
Guinea 4.71 [9.80] 0,900
29.70 (2003) 39.50* 3,400 (2003) 4,300 (2010)
increase
61.30* [60.8*] 0,570
6.53 [6.03] 34,272 34,842 *
Nigeria 54.77 (=)(=) [51.08 (2008)] 7,767
-3.69 34,078 (2003) 41,845 (2008)
(=) increase

-2,292
82.40 (1996) 10.58 4,766 (1996)
South Africa 92.98 (2011) 2,474 (2011) -1,280
88.72 (2007) 4.26 3,754 (2007)
decrease

Arab States

17,816 * 0,196
55.60 (=) 72* [66.4*] 16.40 [10.8] 17,620
Egypt 15,234 (2012) 0,908
71.41 (2005) 73.87 (2012) 2.46 14,326 (2005)
15,631 * increase

Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012 (data from UIS 2005–2009); Ninth E-9 Ministerial Review
Meeting, 2012 (data from 2010); UIS (various years); UNESCO EFA GMR 2013/4 (data from 2005–2011); UIS
Figures marked with an asterisk do not correspond to the years indicated in the header of this column, but are INFORMATION PAPER JUNE 2013, ADULT AND YOUTH LITERACY National, regional and global trends,
from years that are as close to those in the header as possible. 1985–2015; OEI, 2014 (PIA documento base)

94 95
 Country Reported adult literacy rate (%) Reported illiterate population (in 1,000) [round numbers]
2000 [A] 2011 [B] 2000 [A] 2011 [B]
Progress [B–A] Progress [B–A]
(1994–2004) (2005–2011) (1994–2004) (2005–2011)
Asia &
the Pacific
Afghanistan No data No data No data No data No data No data
59.80* [55.9*] 12.30 [8.40] 0,328
Bangladesh 47.50 (=) (=) 43,809 (2001) 44,137 (2011)
57.70 (2011) 10.20 increase
-20,703
95.12 [94.3*] 85,307 64,604 *
China 90.92 (=) (=) 4.20 -33,341
[94.00*] 85,688 (2000) 52,347 (2010)
decrease
74.00* [62.80*] 13,282
269,823 283,105 *
India 61.01 (=) (=) [62.75 (2006)] 13.00 [1.70] 13,302
274,053 (2001) 287,355 (2006)
(=) increase
12,858 * -1,966
92.60* [92.20*] 2.22 [1.82] 14,824
Indonesia 90.38 (=)(=) 12,793 (2011) -2,510
92.80 (2011) 2.42 15,303 (2004)
decrease
0,523
Nepal 48.61 (2001) 57.37 (2011) 8.76 7,627 (2001) 8,150 (2011)
increase

3,897
58,00* [55.0*] 58.00* [55.50*] 15.30 [12.80] 45,610 (1998)
Pakistan 49,507 (2009) 0,390
54.89 (2009) 54.89 (2009) 5.02 12.20 49,117 (2005)
increase

-19
Timor-Leste 58.30 (2010) 58.30 (2010) 20.70 271 (2001) 252 (2010)
decrease

Europe &
North America
-2,831
Turkey 87.37 (2004) 94.11 (2011) 6.74 6,055 (2004) 3,224 (2011)
decrease

UK No data No data No data No data No data No data

Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012 (data from UIS 2005–2009); Ninth E-9 Ministerial Review
Meeting, 2012 (data from 2010); UIS (various years); UNESCO EFA GMR 2013/4 (data from 2005–2011); UIS
Figures marked with an asterisk do not correspond to the years indicated in the header of this column, but are INFORMATION PAPER JUNE 2013, ADULT AND YOUTH LITERACY National, regional and global trends,
from years that are as close to those in the header as possible. 1985–2015; OEI, 2014 (PIA documento base)

96 97
 Country Reported adult literacy rate (%) Reported illiterate population (in 1,000) [round numbers]
2000 [A] 2011 [B] 2000 [A] 2011 [B]
Progress [B–A] Progress [B–A]
(1994–2004) (2005–2011) (1994–2004) (2005–2011)
Latin America
& the Caribbean
-100
Argentina 97.19 (2001) 98.00* 0.81 758 (2001) 658 (2011)
decrease
91.17 (2009) 4.45 -138
Bolivia 86.72 (2001) 681 (2001) 543 (2009)
94.90 (2012) 8.18 decrease
86.37 90.38**[90.0*] 1.78 [1.4] [4.01] -2,775
Brazil 16,759 (2000) 13,984 (2010)
[88.6 (=)] 91.30 (2012) 2.70 decrease
-305
Chile 95.72 (2002) 99.00 3.28 496 (2002) 191 (2009)
decrease
2.22 [1.82] 0,059
Colombia 92.80 (2004) 93.58 (2011) 2,098 (2004) 2,157 (2011)
2.42 increase
90.11 (2011) 3.11 -71
Dominican Republic 87.00 (2002) 761 (2002) 690 (2011)
87.30 (2012) 0.30 decrease

860 (2011) 114

Ecuador 90.98 (2001) 91.59 (2011) 0.61 746 (2001)
818 * increase

-123
El Salvador 83.56 (2006) 84.49 (2010) 0.93 776 (2004) 653 (2010)
decrease

75.90 (2011) 6.80 0,043

Guatemala 69.10 (2002) 2,055 (2002) 2,098 (2011)
84.62 (2013) 15.52 increase

91.00 93.10* 2.1 -0,995

Mexico 6,295 (2000) 5,300 (2011)
[90.54 (2000)] [93.52 (2011)] [2.98] decrease

78.00 (2005) 1.32 24

Nicaragua 76.68 (2001) 719 (2001) 743 (2005)
96.70 (2009) 20.02 increase

Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012 (data from UIS 2005–2009); Ninth E-9 Ministerial Review
Meeting, 2012 (data from 2010); UIS (various years); UNESCO EFA GMR 2013/4 (data from 2005–2011); UIS
Figures marked with an asterisk do not correspond to the years indicated in the header of this column, but are INFORMATION PAPER JUNE 2013, ADULT AND YOUTH LITERACY National, regional and global trends,
from years that are as close to those in the header as possible. 1985–2015; OEI, 2014 (PIA documento base)

98 99
 Country Reported adult literacy rate (%) Reported illiterate population (in 1,000) [round numbers]
2000 [A] 2011 [B] 2000 [A] 2011 [B]
Progress [B–A] Progress [B–A]
(1994–2004) (2005–2011) (1994–2004) (2005–2011)
Latin America
& the Caribbean
-16
Panama 91.90 (2000) 94.09 (2010) 2.19 163 (2000) 147 (2010)
decrease
89.59 (2007) 1.92 -0,267
Peru 87.67 (2004) 2,258 (2004) 1,991
92.90 (2011) 5.23 decrease
95.51 (2009) 2.53 -0,264
Venezuela 92.98 (2001) 1,162 (2001) 898 (2009)
95.10 (2011) 2.12 decrease

Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012 (data from UIS 2005–2009); Ninth E-9 Ministerial Review
Meeting, 2012 (data from 2010); UIS (various years); UNESCO EFA GMR 2013/4 (data from 2005–2011); UIS
INFORMATION PAPER JUNE 2013, ADULT AND YOUTH LITERACY National, regional and global trends,
1985–2015; OEI, 2014 (PIA documento base)

100 101
Table 9: Progress in terms of gender equity in adult literacy

Country Reported adult literacy rate / GPI No. of non-literate women (in 1,000)
2000 [A] 2011 [B] Progress [B–A] 2000 [A] 2011 [B] Changes [B–A]
Afghanistan n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
-57
Argentina 1.00 (2001) 1.00 (2007) 0.00 392 (2001) 335 (2011)
decrease
0.89 [0.84*] 0.13 [0.08] 0,096
Bangladesh 0.76* (2001) 24,055 (2001) 24,151 (2011)
0.86 (2011) 0.10 increase
-92
Bolivia 0.87 (2001) 0.91 (2009) 0.04 507 (2001) 415 (2009)
decrease
-1,532
Brazil 1.00 (2000) 1.01 (2010) [1.00] 0.00 8,491 (2001) 6, 959 (2010)
decrease
-0,4
Burkina Faso 0.52 (2003) 0.59 (2007) 0.07 55,8 56,2
decrease

860 (2011) 114

Chile 1.00 (2002) 1.00 (2009) 0.00 746 (2001)
818 * increase

-23,714
China 0.91* (2000) 0.95 (2010) [0.94*] 0.04 [0.03] 258 (2002) 101 (2009)
decrease

0,002
Colombia 1.00 (2004) 1.00 (2011) 0.00 1,095 (2004) 1,097 (2011)
increase

-33
Dominican Republic 1.00 (2002) 1.00 (2011) 0.00 375 (2002) 342 (2011)
decrease

77
Ecuador 0.97 (2001) 0.97 (2011) 0.00 429 (2001) 506 (2011)
increase

0.65* 0.79 [0.77*] 0.14 [0.12] -0,241

Egypt 2,806 (2000) 2,565 (2010)
0.71 (2005) 0.81 (2012) 0.10 decrease

Figures marked with an asterisk do not correspond to the years indicated in the header of this column, but are Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012; UNESCO, 2014;
from years that are as close to those in the header as possible. and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2013a

102 103
 Country Reported adult literacy rate / GPI No. of non-literate women (in 1,000)
2000 [A] 2011 [B] Progress [B–A] 2000 [A] 2011 [B] Changes [B–A]
-45
El Salvador 0.93 (2006) 0.94 (2010) 0.01 449 (2004) 404 (2010)
decrease
-0,241
Ghana 0.75 (2000) 0.83 (2010) 0.08 2,806 (2000) 2,565 (2010)
decrease
0,048
Guatemala 0.84 (2002) 0.88 (2011) 0.04 1,275 (2002) 1,323 (2011)
increase
0.68* (=) 9,7
India 0.65* (2001) 0.03 177,334 (2001) 187,034 (2006)
(2006) increase
0.94 (2011) -1,679
Indonesia 0.92* (2004) 0.02 [0.01] 10,597 (2004) 8,918 (2011)
[0.93*] decrease
-0,647
Mexico 0.96 (2000) 0.97 (2011) 0.01 3,868 (2000) 3,221 (2011)
decrease

50
Namibia 0.96 (2001) 1.05 (2007) 0.09 98 (2001) 148 (2007)
increase

0.66 (2011) 0,438

Nepal 0.56* (2001) 0.10 [0.09] 4,945 (2001) 5,383 (2011)
[0.65*] increase

13
Nicaragua 1.00 (2001) 1.00 (2005) 0.00 368 (2001) 381 (2005)
increase

0.55 (2005) 0.59 (2009) 1,006

Pakistan 0.04 [0.05] 31,101 (2005) 32,107 (2009)
[0.53*] [0.58*] increase

-7
Panama 0.99 (2000) 0.99 (2010) 0.00 88 (2000) 81 (2010)
decrease

21
Paraguay 0.98 (2007) 0.98 (2010) 0.00 130 (2007) 151 (2010)
increase

Figures marked with an asterisk do not correspond to the years indicated in the header of this column, but are Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012; UNESCO, 2014;
from years that are as close to those in the header as possible. and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2013a

104 105
 Country Reported adult literacy rate / GPI No. of non-literate women (in 1,000)
2000 [A] 2011 [B] Progress [B–A] 2000 [A] 2011 [B] Changes [B–A]
-0,173
Peru 0.88 (2004) 0.89 (2007) 0.01 1,658 (2004) 1,485 (2007)
decrease
-0,819
South Africa 0.96 (2007) 0.98 (2011) 0.02 2,223 (2007) 1,404 (2011)
decrease
-9
Timor-Leste 0.66 (2001) 0.83 (2010) 0.17 149 (2001) 140 (2010)
decrease
UK n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
137
Venezuela 0.99 (2001) 1.00 (2009) 0.01 604 (2001) 467 (2009)
decrease

Sources: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2012; UNESCO, 2014;

and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2013a

106 107
 United Nations

Cultural Organization

The past decade has seen a resurgence in the popularity of literacy campaigns as a
means of mobilizing political will, resources and people. This analysis of adult ­l iteracy
campaigns and programmes around the world from 2000 to 2014 finds that most
large-scale campaigns have failed to achieve their overly ambitious targets, however.
Focusing on four case studies of major literacy campaigns – in Brazil, India, South
Africa and Indonesia – this research paper paints a nuanced picture of global trends
as well as specific features, challenges, success factors and results. It shows that the
continuity of learning processes for newly literates and the integration of short-du-
ration campaigns into national learning systems remain major concerns. The paper
concludes with ­several recommendations for policymakers.
The Evolution and Impact of Literacy Campaigns and Programmes, 2000‒2014 is
the first in a new UIL publication series comprising extended peer-reviewed research
papers. The UIL Research Series aims to provide an additional platform for research
that supports UNESCO’s education goals and more specifically the mandate of UIL:
lifelong learning with a focus on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-
formal basic education.

ISBN: 978-92-820-1198-0