Harnessing Rural Potentials for Sustainable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	ABE ADULT BASIC EDUCATION   PROGRAM MANUAL   2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADULT BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAM – ABE

 

ABE is one of our four core activities providing training and advocacy to vulnerable groups and rural populations in Rwanda. The objective of this document is to inform the reader about essential aspects of this program and its management. For more information about CIMS and the greater context in which ABE is situated, please refer to the CIMS Background and Challenge Analysis.

 

Our Adult Basic Education program responds to the need for greater skill and opportunity to actively seek out and engage in alternative income-generating activities. The country-wide adult rate of illiteracy is about 35%, and many a subsistence farmer and rural household is trapped in a situation of land-dependence in the absence of relevant skills to enter a trade or otherwise participate in the rural economy. Basic reading and writing skills as well as basic numeracy are at the core of this workshop for (young) adults and adolescents. The ABE grassroots education program follows the lead taken by the Rwandan government in its Vision 2020 to achieve the millennium development goals as well as goals set forth in its poverty reduction strategy paper.

 

Many CIMS members have backgrounds in teaching and education. In addition, they continue to receive training from institutions and organizations alike. While part of the ABE program involves direct teaching seminars in local communities, it also entails the recruitment of education professionals to offer their services in rural ‘centers of excellence’, for which local churches are among our priority partners. Graduates of the ABE program are also to be encouraged to volunteer to systematic integration into a network of rural teachers of basic literacy and numeracy.

 Objectives:

• To launch a literacy campaign and to create a sense of the importance of literacy and numeracy skills among rural populations encouraging them to learn
• To advocate and create a sense of urgency among education professionals to join the CIMS network of volunteer teachers in remote areas of rural Rwanda and to offer basic education sessions to participants
• To increase the literacy and numeracy rates in rural areas and attain a skills level at which students achieve higher self-confidence and the basic skills necessary for greater opportunity and social mobility
• To enhance mutual respect and understanding and to harness community development for greater solidarity and collaboration
• To inject communication, conflict management, and de-escalation skills in individual participants
• To create a secure space for dialogue and instill in participants the respect for equality, justice, and the freedoms of thought and expression
• To receive and distribute tools and learning materials to network members and rural ‘centers of excellence’ and to stock or build small libraries in rural communities
• To systematically increase the number of ABE graduates and to incorporate them into the volunteer teacher and assistant field manager network and to gradually but consistently increase their proficiency and teaching efficiency

 

While it may be difficult to gauge the degree to which literacy and numeracy have an impact on an individual’s overall happiness, one can easily infer that an increase in basic capabilities will lead to the improvement of an individual’s life and advances in community development. Literate individuals are more likely to send their own children to school and are better placed to take an active role in socio-economic activities while staying informed about changes in their daily realities.

 

 

 

ABE participants

 

Anyone wanting to participate in the ABE workshops is welcome to join free-of-charge and regardless of nationality, jurisdiction, age, ability, ethnicity, sex, and sexuality. Participants of greater economic status will be scaled to pay a nominal fee that will help to subsidize the participation of individuals with lesser financial resources. Once enrolled, participants are expected to attend all modules and sessions associated with their ABE training. We expect to attract disproportionate numbers from vulnerable groups such as widows and orphaned young adults in charge of heading households. Word-of-mouth recommendation through ABE alumni will spread to recruit new participants and, as the reach of the program progresses, those who have not yet participated will feel increasingly compelled to do so.

 

Participants will be encouraged to communicate and collaborate freely with each other during the workshop. They will learn to accept opposing points of views and to discuss meaningfully and peacefully while learning with and from each other. In the process they will learn communication, conflict management and de-escalation skills. The workshops will be conducted based on the respect for equality, justice, and the freedoms of thought and expression. Basic literacy and numeracy training will empower participants to shape their own destinies, to become agents for change in their communities and campaigners for education as a fundamental human right. 

 

Centers of Excellence

 

While workshops will be held frequently and rotated throughout remote and less accessible rural areas, it is planned to establish district-level permanent centers of excellence to which enrolled ABE participants will have free access.  Theses centers of excellence will over time grow to build libraries and attract education professionals for lectures and seminars. They will also incorporate elements of the three other CIMS core activities: Family Planning and Reproductive Health, Land Use, and Sanitation, Hygiene, Nutrition. Several communities and churches have signaled their willingness to support the creation of centers of excellence within their communities.

 

At present it is envisioned to establish these centers in MUSANZE, KARONGI, and NGOMA districts, as well as in KIGALI Ville. Reporting to the Board of CIMS, centers will be semi-autonomous, coordinating their activities, exchanging expertise and best practices, and maintaining responsiveness to local needs. They will be under the supervision of a head-master who, as a field manager, will also run decentralized workshops within his or her district. Assistant Field Managers and ABE Volunteers will receive their training in these centers and be able to run workshops at the sector-level. The system will be open for collaboration with domestic and international organizations and government institutions for technical and financial assistance.

Organizational Project Structure

Roles and Functional Descriptions

Field Manager / Headmaster (operating at district level)

 

·         Reports to the CIMS Board and is responsible for district level quality control

·         Gathers information in the feedback process and develops programs to respond to local needs

·         Coordinates activities of assistant field managers within the district

·         Recruits assistant field managers and volunteers and consolidates their regular reports for dissemination to CIMS Board

·         Coordinates training of assistant field managers and volunteers

·         Runs localized workshops or delegates to assistant field managers

·         Manages Center of Excellence administratively and financially (including assistant field manager and volunteer affairs)

·         Maintains community relations (churches, associations, local leadership) and engages in fundraising activities at district level

·         Manages supplies and development of teaching materials

·         Creates and expands local Center of Excellence library

·         Advocates and conducts literacy campaigns at district level

·         Explores potentials for collaboration with national and international organizations, local government institutions, schools and universities

• Manages and maintains the implementation of all field related Policies and Procedures
• Prepares examinations and training exercises and guides post-ABE impact evaluations

·         Chairs weekly team meetings with assistant field managers

 

Assistant Field Manager (operating at sector level)

position requires one month classroom training and five months guided field experience

 

·         Reports to Field Manager / Headmaster

·         Participates in weekly team meetings at district level

·         Collects feedback from communities and conducts needs assessments

·         Coordinates activities of volunteers within the sector 

·         Maintains community relations (churches, associations, local leadership) and engages in fundraising activities at sector level

·         Advocates and conducts literacy campaigns at sector level

·         Chairs public meetings at sector level

·         Chairs volunteer team-meetings on a weekly basis

·         Creates and expands local sector-level libraries

·         Runs localized workshops when delegated by the field manager / head-master

·         Liaises with local vendors to supply food and beverage to workshops

·         Maintains enrollment lists and statistical information on participants

·         Evaluates and consolidates participant evaluations after each localized workshop

·         Collects participation dues based on a scaled fee policy

·         Negotiates about the use of meeting space with local property owners and government representatives

 

 

Volunteer (village / cell level)

Preferably ABE alumni

 

·         Reports to Assistant Field Manager

·         Assesses economic status or participants to suggest participation fee

·         Advocates and conducts literacy campaigns at village / cell level

·         Maintains community relations (churches, associations, local leadership) and engages in fundraising activities at village / cell level

·         Recruits participants and maintains regular communication with ABE alumni

·         Encourages ABE alumni to contribute to the volunteer program

·         Conducts needs assessments and workshop evaluation based on individual and small group discussions

·         Assists field manager / head-master or assistant field master in the organization of localized ABE workshops

·         Assists in the logistical and operational aspects of workshop preparation

·         Liaises with families and small communities in remote areas

·         Identifies vulnerable populations

 

We aim to continuously increase our scope and reach by recruiting new volunteers from our pool of ABE alumni and to help motivated and talented individuals to become assistant field managers capable of expanding the program into new sectors.

 

 

As of August 2009, the ABE literacy program workshops have been

Implemented in ten villages each in Karongi and Kirehe districts,

as well as in 13 villages in Musanze district. Muhanga, Nyagatare, and

Gasabo districts are scheduled to be operational in September.

ABE methodology

 

Because our participants are for the most part young adults and members of vulnerable and marginalized groups, our conceptual approach to teaching basic literacy and numeracy skills will be different from the classroom curricula applied in formal school settings. True to our values and mission, it is our desire to promote peace, reconciliation, and social justice, to empower individuals and facilitate their daily participation in socio-economic activities through education, to increase health and awareness, and to reduce poverty and unsustainable use of natural resources.

 

To that end, and in addition to more conventional approaches to familiarize participants with spelling, grammar, and pronunciation, our workshops will involve self-guided conversations about issues of social and personal concern. Creating a secure space in which individuals can express their thoughts will be vital to the success of the workshop as well as to broader social cohesion in Rwanda. Discussion topics will involve each of the three other pillars of CIMS core activities and also touch on domestic violence, environmental degradation, community violence and conflict, poverty and current events in Rwanda and the world. Through conversation we will explore avenues for cooperation and amelioration of each participant’s individual situation and that of their families and communities. By encouraging each individual to speak and contribute they will together devise new strategies and a better mutual understanding of their common hopes and fears. This will help to foster a sense of community and peaceful collaboration among participants.[1]

 

The teachers and volunteers present in the workshop will apply de-escalation techniques when necessary and facilitate the overall discussion. They will share with the group their own insights and elaborate on the issues raised based on CIMS organizational values and expertise. Key issues, principles, and proposals will be written on blackboard for the participants to see and to copy in their own writing into their course handbooks. Written informational material from NGOs and government institutions and ministries will serve as a basis for guided reading and discussion on a wide range of topics identified during group conversation exercises. Over time, participants will learn to read and write about complex topics that concern them, to speak up, to think analytically, to work collectively, to respect equality, fairness, and the freedoms of thought and expression. The answers the group collectively develops to the crucial questions raised during the workshop will help ABE alumni and their families to navigate through these issues in their personal lives.

 

Regular in-class exercises and homework assignments will be tailored to each individual’s stage of learning so as to maintain motivation and reduce the risk of frustration and resignation. Routine examinations will be administered to measure the participant’s progress. After six months of sessions occurring on three afternoons per week participants will be able to graduate. They are expected to attend all sessions and to give, if possible, written or alternatively verbal evaluation comments on a weekly basis. Teachers and volunteers will also follow-up on workshop progression in short team meetings after each session. The conclusions will be kept in writing and made available at the weekly sector-level volunteer meetings with the assistant field manager.