This paper looks at the context in which preparations are under way for CONFINTEA VI, the next UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education. The last CONFINTEA was in 1997, and ever since, a series of international conferences and initiatives dealing with adult and continuing, non-formal and out-of-school education, literacy and basic…

Analysis of African migrations can help to understand prehistoric, historical, ancient modern and contemporaneous migrations. Movements of populations were and continue to be so intense that, for some analysts, they constitute one of the dominant trends of the history and destiny of the very old continent. African and non-African states, whether…

Adult education efforts in Africa are dominated by Western models. One aspect of this domination is a presumption that Western models of adult development can be applied to African contexts. As perspectives on adult development affect adult education programmes, this presumption may negatively impact these programmes in Africa. This manuscript…

Development as a growth process is what every person, nation and state seeks from day to day. The issues of development and better welfare are generally important to the average man and woman, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. Nigeria and other African countries need to instigate the principles and strategies that will bring about…

Widening access to university-level education in Anglophone Africa has been moving away gradually from rhetorical optimism into the realm of political actualisation of collective intentions of community modernisation and growth. This is because university education is being deconstructed to embrace the welfare, self-actualisation and…

This article discusses the 7th World Assembly of the International Council of Adult Education. It also presents a workshop proposal on Environment, Ecology and Sustainable Development, based mainly on the Treaty of Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility. The proposal emphasizes on an inclusive, permanent and…

The International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) is an international institution whose mission is to promote lifelong learning as a necessary component for people to contribute creatively to their communities and to live in independent and democratic societies. In that sense, as an active member of the International Council of the World Social…

Demise of single-party rule in many African nations presents an opportunity for adult educators to influence development of liberal democratic states. The need for adults to be integrated into economic and social structures points to a role for adult education. (SK)

The World Bank is a body that declares its vision to be a world free of poverty. It has long recognised that poverty and illiteracy are closely correlated and that illiteracy is a hindrance to economic and social development. The 180 or so governments that own the Bank have declared literacy to be a human right, so the Bank itself presumably also…

The exploratory research raises questions regarding the learning environment of rural adults in Ghana and Sri Lanka and challenges assumptions regarding adult learners in developing countries. Utilizing an inductive approach, the study hopes to identify the overall principles of rural life-long learning. (MW)

This article is based on a broad study commissioned by Sida (Swedish International Development Agency) on the status and current trends in adult basic education in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The study included a review of relevant documentation in several languages, an electronic survey with key respondents throughout the…

Traditionally women have been signified to be "for others", never for themselves. This conceptualisation is also present in the discourses about literacy. The traditional discourse justifies women's literacy based on the need to improve family health, well-being, educational access, and so on. Thus, it is seen as a tool for other ends…