Impact and Achievements
The following lists a number of the project’s achievements:
Around 800 intergenerational literacy learners (300 children and 500 adults) were mobilised in 15 learning centres located in four sub-counties in Arua district. Most adults (about 450) were illiterate when they first joined the programme. However, by the time it had finished, most had acquired basic competencies, i.e. they were able to read a few pages of texts written in the vernacular, understand directions,
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Learning Families – Intergenerational Approaches to Literacy Teaching and Learningand read numbers and words written on sign posts and doors in hospitals and health units.
In February 2005, 800 intergenera- tional literacy learners demanded to sit an assessment test. 600 learners eventually took the test and 570 of them achieved the pass mark required by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development that oversees adult literacy provisions in Uganda. 80% of the women participating in IILP who claimed to have been unable to read their children’s end-of-term report cards were able to do so after completing the programme. At least 250 mothers have reported that they are now able to check their children’s homework. Furthermore, the goal of gender empowerment has been achieved, as demonstrated by the increasing number of female IILP participants taking an active role in community development activities, including politics, with at least 30 of the URLCODA programme’s female participants having won positions in recent Local Council I and II elections. Teaching adults together with children (intergenerational learning) has empowered parents to act both as social mentors (childcare givers) and teachers as they formally transmit their wisdom to children and youth during IILP classes. This is having a positive impact on the behaviour and performance of children at school and in the communities, while at the same time giving them a more optimistic outlook on the future. URLCODA literacy learners partic- ipated in a series of book writers’ workshops which resulted in the production of 600 copies of a book entitled: ‘Buku ‘Bani E’dozu Waraga Laza Onizuri’, a pictorial reader for beginners. The book has been distributed to 15 learning centres in Arua district and is currently used as the principal resource book. The participation of learners’ represent- atives in the production of the book was a motivational learning experi- ence that also gave the communities a strong sense of project ownership, responsibility and control. The public and vibrant book launch furthermore inspired other learners to join the pro- gramme. It also attracted community and institutional support.
Encouraging collaborative link- ages between the adult literacy programme and the formal school system has also encouraged local ed- ucational development cooperations. Teachers demonstrated their support for adult literacy by their active participation at the book launch. URLCODA now provides guidance and counselling as well as uniforms and other scholastic materials to 664 HIV / AIDS orphans and other vulner- able children in 12 primary schools and 1 vocational school. This has gone a long way towards boosting the morale of HIV-positive parents and vulnerable children’s guardians participating in URLCODA’s literacy project, and has also improved pupil retention in primary schools. URLCODA has succeeded in com- municating adolescent reproductive health and HIV / AIDS prevention messages to over 10,000 adolescents in four primary schools and one secondary school in one sub-county. Through URLCODA’s literacy project, at least 50 HIV-positive people have come forward and a club known as the URLCODA HIV / AIDS Club has been formed to help them. This club now has a poultry project to generate income and help meet members’ nutritional needs.
In the last three years, the community health literacy week has enabled over 40,000 people to receive general health and HIV / AIDS education and over 2,000 people to come forward to take an HIV test. Those who did so attributed their decision to take the test to the free and open interaction that they had experienced during the literacy classes.
Challenges
Despite the successes noted above, the effective implementation of this project is hampered by a number of challenges, which include:
■ limited funding, which is pre- venting the project from producing adequate learning materials or paying stipends to volunteer edu- cators to compensate them for lost productive time. The lack of instruc- tional materials, particularly books
for home-based reading practice, impacts negatively on learners’ ability to master the literacy skills learned at the centres; and
■ URLCODA is yet to develop a systematic programme monitoring and evaluation mechanism. The project currently depends on internal assessments carried out by volun- teer educators, and comments from participants in community health literacy week activities and the family sanitation and hygiene competition. However, this does not yield objective results which could further strength- en the project.
LESSONS LEARNED
In the course of implementing this project, it has become clear that local people are self-motivated to learn but lack access to education or reading materials. Given this high level of motivation, it has also been realised that all that is needed to mobilise many learners is a little investment and an awareness campaign. However, IILP still lacks the capital needed to implement the programme effectively.
The project has benefited greatly from positive linkages between com- munities, members of URLCODA and nearby primary schools, as evidenced by the high turnout of primary school teachers and members of the local communities during the book launch. The spirit of voluntarism can help rural communities to access services that would otherwise have been unavailable to them. This is some- thing that needs to be promoted, particularly in the case of the young generation.
Meaningful partnerships and collaboration enable organizations with limited resources to carry out essential community-based activities that many other NGOs do not provide. Furthermore, effective partnerships prevent the duplication of efforts and therefore the wastage of limited resources.
Producing tangible results can transform negative attitudes towards voluntarism in community develop- ment programmes into positive ones. For instance, last year’s community
health literacy week attracted 16 volunteer doctors compared to 3 in 2005 and 2006 respectively. The health week combines literacy with issues of treatment and rational drug use by the rural communities.
SUSTAINABILITY
In an attempt to address the chal- lenges posed by a lack of adequate funding, URLCODA has established a grinding mill and poultry projects. The vision is to plough the income generated from these project into IILP in order to ensure its long-term sustainability.
Learners are also being encouraged and assisted to form loan and savings club, both to boost their livelihood skills and as a means of attracting and retaining more literacy learners. As membership grows, it is hoped that the members will contribute to the production of learning materials.
REFERENCES
■ Uganda: Mak Don Opens School for Oldies in Arua
■ Uganda Rural Literacy & Communi- ty Development Association (URL- CODA), IRA – Developing Countries Literacy Support Project, Final Report 2006-06-08
■ URLCODA: The 1st National Intergenerational Literacy Learners’ Conference
■ Willy Ngaka. The Contribution of Literacy Activities to Natural Resourc- es Management (NRM): Experiences from the Uganda Rural Literacy and Community Development Association (URLCODA), The International Journal of Learning, Volume 12, Issue 4 ■ Willy Ngaka and Y. Eleru. Adult literacy programs and socio-economic transformation among the rural poor: Lessons from a local NGO in Arua district, Uganda