Community Empowerment Through Enhanced Literacy

Community Empowerment Through Enhanced Literacy

Introduction

For some years an adult literacy programme called Masifundisane (Zulu: ‘teach one; teach all’, or ‘teach each other.’) operated in KwaZulu-Natal under the provincial Department of Education. It was directed by Mrs Cynthia Mpati. 

 

It incorporated thousands of people. And while it operated it held out great hope for the most impoverished to better their lives and achieve dignity. Many of the elderly people who engaged with it had seen their opportunities for a sound education evaporate during the apartheid era. The programme set out to redress these discriminations.

The present report is intended to place on record a simple overview of the project. In the writer's view it was a brilliant enterprise, worthy of emulation in part or whole elsewhere in many parts of the world.

The present report was compiled as a result of the writer's participation in the work of a company rendering services to the organisers. These included the planning and introduction of innovations, training, cognitive enhancement of co-ordinators, liaison with outside resources and technical services. 

The methodology for gaining information included direct experience of the project, observation, interviews with senior personnel and field officers, formal meetings and documentary study.

 
Planned community involvement

The approach was planned in such a way that it was driven by impoverished local communities themselves. It did not depend largely on 'external resources' because these agencies might not adequately address community needs. The originators did not wish to impose a process from the “top” down, and therefore mounted a democratic initiative that would grow upwards from the grassroots community level. For years it succeeded admirably. Therefore, while modifications and adaptations might be needed here or there, it has great relevance to many parts of the world where deep-seated poverty holds sway.

Study in Cuba

 

In 2006 several senior members of the Masifundisane team visited Cuba and spent two weeks there. They listened carefully to the advice given.  They discussed issues with a wide spectrum of people, conversed with every literacy stakeholder available and generally sought insights from people who had promoted literacy in Cuba from the grassroots up.  It was an exciting experience and the team returned fired with enthusiasm from a visit that had proved stimulating and challenging. It held great prospects for the democratization and spread of education and training in the province and indeed, possibly all of South Africa.

 Within a few days of their return, the findings from the research visit had been thoroughly discussed and brainstormed by members of the unit driving it.

Five objectives 

The strategic plan that emerged after the Cuba visit reflected five objectives, namely to:

 

• Provide easy access to the programme for illiterate adults
• Create partnerships with various parties who could add critical resources to the initiative
• Create relevant curricula
• Train facilitators, and monitor and evaluate the programme effectively
• Develop institutional capacities

Initial steps

Copyright issues were analysed, and care taken to ensure compliance where any external material was to be used. At this early stage a clear picture of the incidence of illiteracy was also gained. Particular attention was given to rural areas, and the magnitude and impact of statistics for unemployment, poverty and illiteracy were identified and clarified. 

 The trend of persons attempting to escape poverty in rural areas by flight to the cities was understood as a major problem, since it often  drove poverty-stricken people from one area to another without improving their prospects. It was resolved to address rural conditions through the programme so that people would be reaffirmed and developed as self-sufficient and productive citizens where their home communities had emerged historically. There should be a re-establishment of pride and competence. People should be proud of who they are and have their self-images and cultures reaffirmed.

Speaking, reading and writing incorporated into the programme

 

South Africa 2001 statistics were perused in detail and colour-coded maps were obtained that showed the incidence of illiteracy in all districts of KwaZulu-Natal.  Projects could then be mounted in various areas on a firm empirical basis.  Owing to the ease with which illiterate persons could be drawn into political issues, an attempt was made to remain outside any political controversies to ensure that people were defined fundamentally as people and not as adherents to any political persuasion.

 

Accordingly, the selection of areas to be the focus was dependent on the actual literacy requirements and the other needs of the people living there, and not political persuasion. In this regard, attempts would be made to address such other matters as health including AIDS, TB and malaria, with developments in health also achieved through the literary focus of the programme.  


Implementing community involvement
 

From the outset, communities were drawn in to give their opinions, advice and ideas. The ‘community mobilisers’ went into the field and invited peoples’ contributions with the words “talk to us”.  Curricula were designed around the idea of “safe” topics” that could be evocative yet non-ideological.  It was a matter of selecting topics for literacy promotion across diverse but always real-life contexts, with the meeting of personal needs as a prime emphasis as they were experienced in the real world.  The thrust would be to unify communities and not divide them.

 Main buzzwords were therefore to ‘affirm people’.  This implied the reaffirmation of individual significance, and the recognition of the full humanity of each participant. Every effort was made to avoid patronization. A further important factor was to gain insight into how the experience of facilitation reaffirmed the humanity and worth of the facilitators themselves.  Indeed the term Masifundisane means “We learn together”.  Yet another rallying cry was: “Each one, teach one”.

A problem-solving methodology was reaffirmed for the literacy programmes, with a powerful social context; yet in the midst of community affirmation the team never lost sight of individual needs.

 Matriculant facilitators

The selection of matriculants as facilitators could be seen as hugely important for these young people, since there is probably no quicker way to learn that to facilitate learning for others. The improvement of their chances of entry to further study in colleges or universities could not be stressed too strongly. It created hope for a lost generation. It also gave them work, and thereby began the address of a major problem in South Africa, namely the provision of employment for school–leavers whose certification might not have brought employment.  It helped them to go beyond the dead-end that many of them had encountered.

 

Matriculant facilitators were supported by a stipend. Their entry to the programme was made easy by a simplification of bureaucratic entry requirements, while the weaker aspects of  current training were avoided. Advantage was taken of helpful legislation, and in this regard the National Qualification Framework  was seen as an instrument to free the project from the disadvantages of sometimes rigid institutionalized learning.

 

A great effort was made to ensure that learners “learnt how to learn”. The teacher-centred approaches were therefore rejected in favour of a ‘constructivist view’ in which the learner constructs their own meaningful knowledge-perspective, and in general the approach worked very well. Communities had a choice of who would be recognized as a facilitator; a factor that made the best candidates step forward to prove themselves. The implications for improved social stability and the address of negative activities involving the young adults who would serve as facilitators within communities were clear.

 A flexible approach

The existing ‘Adult Basic Education and Training’ programme was seen as productive in some senses, yet perhaps too focused on the constraints of institutional education and training. It was therefore felt to be defective, since it didn’t look at real and actual needs as they were being experiences in living communities.  It was also constrained by rigidities of the academic ladder, and lacked the flexibility to react as needed.

 Although incorporating mother tongue, the existing Adult Basic Education and Literacy programmes were regarded as too biased towards reading and writing English, which has been allowed to carry a considerable weight of  Western cultural concepts.  Admittedly, the use of mother tongue in learning mathematics has been experienced as difficult because the mother-tongue concepts are sometimes alien to the needs of mathematics literacy and other subjects. The language of mathematics is more attuned to the rich concepts carried by English. 

Local community themes

Local community themes formed the curriculum.  This concept was dependent on research and the careful investigation of community needs. If there were no clinics, for instance, the purification of water would be part of the curriculum since it carried with it skills that were crucial to the welfare of the particular community that had identified the lack of clinics as a pressing need. Facilitators were taught how to mobilize communities and draw from them what their needs were on an ongoing basis.

 As a starting point, within four months people could learn to read in their mother tongue, with 128 hours spent on the programme. To consolidate their literacy they had to produce such documents as a verified report of some event, a self-written letter, and an 'own' personal biographical profile. They could even eventually read with insight the Ilanga Lase Natali newspaper started in 1903 by the famous educationist John Langalibalele Dube at Inanda.  These requirements were regarded as absolutely critical, to provide concrete, verifiable evidence of achievement and justify the award of a certificate.

 

Motivation was assisted by showing people that, in a sense, they could read; that they did have a starting-point even if it was distinguishing one popular commercial brand-name from another.  Problem-solving, games and visual literacy (achieved by showing interesting pictures and discussing them so that they could eventually record their content in written form) were all important. There was much on which to build.

 A simple methodology

Learners didn’t need to be shown how to hold a pen exactly; it was generally sufficient to simply ask them to do it. Just find a way! they were urged. They were asked to start with circles and straight lines when forming letters, and use them to reproduce the shapes. They were also urged not to drown in technicalities but rather to go from what they knew to what they didn't. They must strive for early success and read and write as they heard and saw things. The facilitators worked often with what people actually did. 

 

So the workbook of 178 pages included about 23 lessons, each of which was pursued until completed.  Topics came from the local curriculum as revealed by the community needs analysis. The three main categories of learning outcomes were pursued, including skills, knowledge and values/ attitudes.  At the end of each lesson a check was made to ensure that each of the three had been addressed well. Knowledge and skills were actively used in context. 

 

Lessons were often introduced by a story or discussion, and exercises were evaluated by encouraging feedback. Lots of formative activities were done on a regular basis.

Group work was used for building words and eventually writing sentences, describing the events in pictures and encouraging free thinking about such topics as home industries, domestic violence and substance abuse. Self-motivation was encouraged.

Community organisation

‘Community mobilisers’ facilitated access to opportunities, checked the illiteracy densities of district maps, and made a concerted effort to ensure that strategies were accurately linked to the meeting of community needs. It was envisaged that they would ultimately work in each district from a 'hub office', perhaps supported by a local business of bank.

 

Local and district stakeholders were identified and incorporated into projects wherever possible. It was clear that the formal institutions of the Department of Education could not achieve all goals in distant communities that had few resources.  There was a critical need for the flexible Masifundisane programme. 

 

District Councillor support was encouraged since recruitment was facilitated thereby. With District Councillors on board, wards and lesser authorities tended to fall into line more easily. There was then a more uniform understanding of processes. 

 

Churches such as the Shembe and those affiliated to the South African Council of Churches were also significant role-players. Many people were drawn to these programmes very strongly if the churches supported them. The same presentation was given everywhere.  Recruiting church members as facilitators was helpful since they were seen as upstanding and in tune with community needs. They could network well. The beliefs and culture of the churchgoers were reaffirmed.  The introduction of outsiders simply didn’t work because of distrust.  A further advantage was that church members gained useful employment. Churches often then made available such facilities as venues.

 

The fact that a facilitator could recruit twenty people for literacy programmes was powerful evidence that they enjoyed credibility in the community.  In a sense, learners then comprised an informal ‘community appointments sub-committee’. Most people were very perceptive and could identify suitable candidates. Such communities of learners had emerged from amongst believers, workers, citizens, communities, government workforces and educational institutions.

 Because of a lack of management support, probably due to a lack of available time and other constraints, programmes did not emerge substantially from within factories and industries. Workers tended to be reticent about revealing their low literacy status. They felt that it made them vulnerable to stigma and even ridicule. It could also hinder promotion.

 

Even dining rooms and garages were used as venues in the rural areas, and schools, clinics and halls were other available options. An attempt was made to find facilities in close proximity to communities because of threats of poor weather as well as other dangers. Venues had to be acquired by facilitators at no cost.

Some schools were used after hours

 

 Registration 'red tape' for facilitators was limited, with only an insistence on the fact that there must be a Matriculant facilitator who was unemployed, had recruited sufficient learners, and who had a venue available. Entry to courses was also user-friendly, with a one-page entry form in English or Zulu.

 Trophies were awarded to districts with the greatest recruitment, and other trophies were awarded for the greatest monthly growth in numbers.  Some special meetings were held to plan and organise graduations. Despite set dates and times for training and graduations, recruiting was ongoing and relentless throughout the year. Dates and times were set by facilitators and their learners.

 
Monitoring progress

A check was made prior to the establishment of a learning class, of the facilitator’s matriculation certificate, identity document, application form, name lists, availability of the expected twenty learners, and venue. In some cases where conditions mitigated against a full complement, less that the specified number were accepted. Groups as low as two or three were accepted in special cases.
 

Broad-based monitoring was carried out by recruited community members, who gave assistance and support without any financial recompense other than a modest travel allowance. They met once a month at district level, with an exceptionally high rate of attendance evident at meetings.  Minutes were kept to record their insights. Every three months a provincial level meeting was held, with major issues discussed and resolved in a democratic way.

 

Monitoring tended to involve a random sampling of sites, with recommendations made to facilitators and supervisors. Where necessary, Head Office looked into issues raised.  Where the approval of the Superintendent General was needed, issues were channelled via the General Manager.  With twenty monitors in each of twelve districts, there were two hundred and forty monitors.  Each district had two co-ordinators, one of whom would chair meetings while the other took minutes.

 Some teaching principles 

 

1. Present the conditions for learning language

Rather than to provide formal, structured language teaching to illiterates, it appears best to present supportive conditions under which it can thrive and develop spontaneously in its own way. So, facilitators were asked to foster an environment in which effective language learning could develop.  Learners developed and consolidated personal mental representations and therefore meanings.

 2. Motivation

They were asked to capture interest early by using the learner’s needs and objectives. They should discover and nurture springs of motivation in each learner and assist as motivation waxes and wanes. Students were responsible for their own learning as they worked on weaknesses and insufficiencies.

3. Normal environments and tasks

Learners used language for normal purposes, not artificially. They ensured that it operated close to real communication, with creative expression of meanings and not imitation. Facilitators encouraged participatory activities that were student-initiated, purposeful and task-oriented.  Some were peer to peer activities, others were done in small groups that co-operated on tasks demanding language. Language learning was allowed to penetrate other cultural activities. Culturally probable situations and real-world community activities were found to be most productive.

 4. Non threatening atmosphere.

learners were encouraged to think and feel 'naturally'. No emotional threats were allowed to surface, and peers and teachers helped where necessary.  People were required to be comforting, interested and respectful of each other. They could take risks, with no fear of failure. The even taught each other under the slogan: 'While we teach we learn.'

5. Rules of usage

Rule-governed (phonological, syntactical, semantic, pragmatic) subsystems were covered in an interrelated way. Learners were not left to drift into errors by ignoring a firm structural framework, but rather performed rules actively; they didn't simply memorize or discuss them. They used them.

 

6. Modalities

Facilitators offered a wide range of modalities, including physical responses to language, explaining drawings, understanding aural inputs, delivering spoken output; also reading, writing, doing word puzzles, manipulation of objects, describing pictures and engaging with song, dance, music, acting scenarios, gestures, facial expressions and making things.

7. Tests

Tests were done solely to help learning. facilitators learnt not to find errors and omissions as a first concern; but to rather allow learners to display their learning experiences.  Learners reflected course objectives and student interests in what they explored, and didn't stick too rigidly to times. Above all, facilitators avoided over-testing, and tended to rely on the production of assigned work.

Graduation and testimony

During the terminal phase of the project I attended a graduation ceremony at the Pietermaritzburg show grounds in Natal. Thousands of mature students were present, each decked out in the colours of the region from which they had been transported. They sat in a massive tent the size of a football field. In turn, each region was acknowledged, and a number of certificates were handed out.

Recipients ranged from 19 years to gogos (grandmothers) in their 90s. Many took to the stage to bear witness to how the programme had helped them. Some danced for joy, expressing their delight at being accredited as sufficiently literate to read a newspaper in Zulu or English. One elderly matron, not present, was reputed to be 101 years old.

Although as a comparative outsider it was difficult for me to establish each participant's level of achievement in an objective academic way, the anecdotes of  empowerment and competence were frequent, unrehearsed and stated clearly in public. 

 

The Masifundisane project generated enormous potential for good, with obvious benefits for self respect and an alleviation of the 'victim' mentality. It is no doubt worth adapting and pursuing, in part or whole, as a broad model for the enhancement of literacy in many other parts of the world.

Further, meticulous and detailed research would no doubt uncover the triumphs and problems inherent in a system as extensive and spontaneous as this. Modifications and refinements would no doubt be necessary to gain optimal achievements.

In South Africa it seems to have been seen finally as a single, historically-located project set up to alleviate the deficit caused by apartheid.

The process continued under the banner of the prevailing Sector Education and Training Authority system and national grid of qualifications. These offered ongoing, alternative literacy programmes under the Adult Basic Education and Training curricula.

Further recommendations

In the author’s view, while it functioned for some years the project was one of the finest anywhere in the world. The principles of care and nurturing were brilliant markers in an otherwise fundamentally uncaring environment. It is worthy of resuscitation in my own country and wherever in the world illiteracy is widespread.

Further developments worthy of future consideration could include the development in each participant of a wider range of literacies such as home language, language of the economy (English?), numeracy, thinking skills, life skills, entrepreneurship, business practice, financial literacy, computer skills and cell phone literacy.