Literacy Stakeholder's workshop on Strengthening coordination of literacy Strategy
Literacy stakeholder’s workshop on strengthening coordination and final review of the National Literacy Strategy which was on Wednesday 14th August 2013 at Park Star Hotel in Kabul City, Afghanistan. The workshop was chaired by Literacy Deputy Minister, Humayoon Rasa.
In this workshop, the Deputy Minister presented brief information about the national literacy strategy and said: “The National Literacy Strategy provides a road map on how to reach the Government of Afghanistan’s overall vision and objectives for the education sector and human capital development related to the creation of a literate society.”
He added “It is envisaged to provide the government, donors, and other stakeholders with a common vision, guiding principles, general strategy, and detailed plans describing the necessary steps that should be taken in implementing literacy actions. The chapter begins with an overview of the policy basis for the National Literacy Strategy, including the mission statement, and national education goals, followed by a situational analysis of the national context and the current state of literacy and challenges and lessons learned from ongoing efforts in literacy programming.
Then the National Program Advisor at NLD, Enayatullah Safi, presented his presentation to the participants about National Literacy Strategy. The presentation contained a full introduction to the strategy, clarification of goals and objectives, strategic expectations, focal areas, strategy sources, and roles of stakeholders.
He said, “The National Literacy Strategy takes into consideration the literacy goals set by NESP, Education for All (EFA) goals to contribute to an increase in literacy rates across all groups of men and women aged 15 and above, enabling them to attain further education or to pursue technical and vocational skills, in order to contribute to their communities, society, and the economy”.
Objectives of the strategy are as follows:
- Increase national literacy
rates from 34% (18% female, 48% male) in 1390/2011 to 55% (42% female and
67% male) by 1399/2020
- Enable more adults (15 and
above) to gain access to continuing education and lifelong learning after
completing literacy programs
- Increase the number of adults (15 and above) with skills for rural development and better livelihoods acquired through the attainment of embedded literacy.
He added that the literacy Strategic expectation is to reduce the number of illiteracy by 55% by 2020, including Kuchis (gypsies), isolated communities, language minority groups, and people with disabilities, to enable more adults (15 and above) to gain access to continuing lifelong educations, after completing literacy program. Meanwhile to increase the number of literates (15 and above) with vocational training.
The Program Director of NLD, Allah Baaz Jam, introduced the coordination guidelines and process to the participants, saying that coordination is the most important process for the accomplishment of activities.
Guidelines for the strategy contain six sections and twenty-one articles approved by the Ministry of Education, which contains general, guidelines, conditions of agreement, obligations of active organizations, Monitoring and terms to handle complaints, and final provisions.
In strategic guidelines, participants issued some questions which were answered by H.E. Deputy Minister, and also he said that the guideline will be translated into English and will be shared with all the stakeholders and participants.
Workshop Impact:
Strong support for the literacy department in dissemination and introduction of literacy strategy in Afghanistan to partners.
Facilitation and organization of literacy providers to discuss literacy strategy and coordination guidelines.
Pathway is the literacy platform for the future.
Clarification of the literacy objectives until 2020.
Coordination and cooperation for a strong team to discuss literacy strategy in Afghanistan.
Bring the opportunity to all stakeholders to contribute their views and comments on the subject of literacy strategy & coordination guidelines.
Participants:
H.E Humayoon Rasaw Deputy Minister of Education for Literacy, NLD Programmes Directorate, NLD Teacher Training Directorate, NLD Curriculum Directorate, NLD Secretariat, UNESCO, UNICEF, ANAFAE, JICA, GIZ, Save the Children, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Halvetas, CTI, SAB, WFP, NFUAJ.
The workshop came to conclusion with serving lunch at 1:30 PM.
