The concept of functional literacy might be considered to have its ceremonial initiation at the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy in Tehran, Iran, in 1965. At that conference important implications emerged for program development, methodology of teaching, and program content. An effort is made in this…

A general model for strategy design is presented to help community education planners in developing nations: (1) examine the learning needs of communities; (2) make choices among those needs; and (3) invent instructional strategies and delivery systems for the learners. (CJ)

Training, in the article's context, is used to describe programs of preparation and orientation of project personnel and community leaders. Teachers, supervisors, forum leaders, regional and national staffs, and international experts all need training in literacy projects. Some guidelines for a training design include a discussion of six items:…

Program design in nonformal education must take into account the cultural context in which it exists. In developing countries, it can neither reject all values of Western civilization (an impossible task), nor can it embrace Western values without regard to native cultures. The challenge, especially in literacy education, is to become culturally…

After an analysis of eight mass literacy campaigns (USSR 1919-39; Vietnam, 1945-77; China, 1950-58; Cuba, 1961; Burma, 1960-1981; Brazil, 1967-80; Tanzania, 1971-81; and Somalia, 1973-75), a campaign strategy for a mass literacy campaign is proposed. A potentially successful mass literacy campaign has to be both an educational and a political…

Organizing adult education must be done within the context of development policy. Cultural filters should be used in considering theory and research knowledge. A sensitive use of cultural filters also applies to learning from practice. An assumption is that there should be interfacing and interlinking structures of primary education and adult…

The manual is intended for training workshops on program and curriculum development for the post-literacy stages, since many countries successful in literacy work find that even greater challenges await them as erstwhile illiterates emerge from literacy classes as new literates. The emphasis is on programs and curricula to help new literates…