Narrowing the Gender Gap Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes Narrowing the Gender Gap – Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/ Narrowing the Gender Gap Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes Case studies from the UNESCO Effective Literacy and Numeracy Practices Database (LitBase) http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/ Published in 2015 by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Feldbrunnenstraße 58 20148 Hamburg Germany © UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2015 While the programmes of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) are established along the lines laid down by the General Conference of UNESCO, the publications of the Institute are issued under its sole responsibility. UNESCO is not responsible for their contents. The points of view, selection of facts and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with official positions of UNESCO or the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of the frontiers of any country or territory. We would like to thank the following people for their support in developing case studies during their internships at UIL: Medaldo Runhare, Anne Darmer, Leila Brown-Assadi, Moussa Gadio, Kwaku Gyening Owusu, Sarah Marshall, Mihika Shah-Wundenberg, Mariana Simoes, Angelina Robitschko, Mariana Simoes, Ayda Hagh Talab, Thomas James Day, Mika Hama, Seara Moon, Stephanie M. Harvey, Michelle Viljoen, Laura Fox, Justin P. Jimenez, Rouven Adomat, Shao Lingwei, Ruth Zannis, and Julian Kosh Edited by Ulrike Hanemann with support from Cassandra Scarpino Graphic design by Jan Kairies ISBN 978-92-820-1186-7 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CCBY- SA 3.0 IGO) license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http:// en.unesco.org/openaccess/terms-use-ccbysa-en). Table of Contents Foreword page 7 Introduction page 9 Africa Morocco Means of Socio-economic Empowerment and Integration for Women Ethiopia page 54 Integrated Women’s Empowerment Programme (IWEP) page 15 Palestine The Early Childhood, Family and Community Education Programme Liberia page 57 Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls Project page 20 Yemen Literacy Through Poetry (LTP) page 61 Mozambique Women’s Literacy in Angola and Mozambique page 23 Asia and the Pacific Mozambique Literacy in Local Language, a Springboard for India Gender Equality Khabar Lahariya (News Waves) page 28 page 65 Nigeria India Mother and Child Education Programme Sahajani Shiksha Kendra: Literacy and (MCEP) Education for Women’s Empowerment page 38 page 69 Senegal India The Tostan Community Empowerment Saakshar Bharat Mission Programme page 72 page 44 Indonesia Gender Justice Education for Marginalised Arab States Women page 75 Algeria Literacy, Training and Employment for Pakistan Women Adult Female Functional Literacy Programme page 50 page 77 Pakistan Mobile-Based Post Literacy Programme page 80 Philippines Supporting Maternal and Child Health Improvement and Building Literate Environment (SMILE) page 83 Republic of Korea Mothers’ School page 87 Latin America and the Caribbean Bolivia Bilingual Literacy and Reproductive Health page 91 Mexico Bilingual Literacy for Life page 95 Europe and North America Turkey Family Literacy Programmes page 102 Turkey Functional Adult Literacy and Women’s Support Programme (FALP) page 108 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Prison Family Learning Programme page 112 Foreword 7 Foreword In recent years, the need to empower women and adult women, equipping them with rel- through literacy has been gaining recogni- evant, high-quality learning opportunities tion. In 2013, the UNESCO Institute for Life- and empowering them with the basic skills long Learning (UIL) published a selection of of literacy and numeracy. literacy programmes with a particular focus The examples included in this compilation on women as part of a contribution to related reflect how literacy learning can support the initiatives. Given the great interest that this empowerment of women, families, commu- publication raised – printed copies were soon nities, and ultimately entire societies. They out of stock – I decided to produce a second further demonstrate how women can over- edition. It has been updated with new case come barriers that they face when accessing studies and a modernized graphic design. learning opportunities through creative and Gender equality is a key principle of the mindful programme designs. Involving men 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and community leaders in successful change and one of UNESCO’s strategic priorities. processes is a key requirement, as is the di- However, two-thirds of non-literate adults rect participation of women in the design, around the world are women, and this has planning and evaluation of literacy learning. not changed since 2000. Upon reviewing Experience indicates that programmes that the Education for All (EFA) data published are part of lifelong learning policies and sup- between 2000 and 2015, the EFA Global ported financially over many years generate Monitoring Report 2015 identified this dis- the greatest amount of interest. parity as one of the persistent challenges in I am confident that this publication will adult literacy and education. While there is support the ongoing demand for best prac- much to do to redress existing gender dis- tice examples of literacy programmes that parities, we are also witnessing an array of have been shown to reduce gender dispari- inspiring literacy programmes that directly – ties with innovative approaches. It will hope- or predominantly – target women in several fully contribute to a better understanding of countries. the issues and challenges involved with mak- In line with UNESCO’s mandate to make ing literacy programmes more attractive and information regarding effective literacy pol- accessible for women. Furthermore, I expect icies and programmes available worldwide, that it will provide literacy stakeholders, in- UIL has developed the Effective Literacy and cluding policy-makers, programme providers Numeracy Practices database (LitBase), the and practitioners, with insights on how the source from which the literacy programmes transformative potential of literacy can be documented in this publication originate. used to empower women, thereby paving They were selected to showcase successful the way towards gender equality. approaches that target non-literate young Arne Carlsen, Director UIL Introduction 9 Introduction Access to basic education is a fundamental human and education are critical means through which such right. Ensuring this right is a reality for girls and wom- processes can be unleashed’ (Ghose and Mullick, 2015: en has been an international commitment for several 350). decades. It is enshrined, for example, in the Beijing Mainstreaming gender into adult literacy and ed- Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), the Dakar ucation involves taking into account the processes, Education for All (EFA) Framework for Action (2000– outcomes and impacts of the whole cycle whereby 2015, Goal 5), and the United Nations Millennium De- learning activities are planned, designed, implement- velopment Goals (MDGs, 2000–2015, Goal 3/Target 1). ed, monitored and evaluated. It should be informed EFA Goal 4 makes explicit that efforts to achieve ‘a by an understanding of existing gender awareness, 50% improvement in the levels of adult literacy by identities, roles and relationships, as well as the pos- 2015’ should focus especially on women. However, sibilities of transforming these in or as a result of such progress towards these and other internationally learning processes. Everybody should be engaged agreed targets has been mixed. While many countries in this, not only girls and women but also boys and have taken steps to reduce gender disparities through men, if not whole communities. It is about carefully literacy programmes that directly target women, it re- screening every aspect of the learning process and pri- mains the case that two-thirds of non-literate adults oritizing investment in quality learning provision for globally are women; a statistic has not changed since girls and women. It must involve taking the measures 2000. This situation is likely to perpetuate the poverty necessary to address structural challenges and rectify of millions of women and thus impede human devel- existing gender disparities, linking lifelong learning opment in many parts of the world. to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Develop- Real progress in realizing the right to education is ment Goals. impossible without specific strategies that focus on A number of lessons can be drawn from past ex- women and prioritize the challenge of low literacy lev- periences of mainstreaming gender into literacy and els and poor basic education. The Sustainable Devel- adult education, and of addressing the challenges that opment Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations impede the integration of a gender perspective into General Assembly in September 2015, outline a new literacy