Many of the programs established for women often perpetuate stereotypical roles. The most useful nonformal education programs for women should provide them with skills and knowledge related to reproductive tasks, productive work, emancipation, and empowerment. Nongovernmental voluntary organizations, especially those run by women, play a critical…

This article looks at how far educational approaches to gender equity can be packaged and exported to developing countries. I analyze current discourses on women's education at international, national and local levels. Drawing on detailed ethnographic data from Nepal, I argue that issues around gender and education need to be addressed as…

The Luce Foundation has pledged grants over the next five years to support existing university-based Asian study centers by supporting efforts to strengthen faculties and library resources and to increase public understanding of the region and its countries. (MSE)

This report, prepared by the UNICEF Office in Kabul, Afghanistan, is on the status of women in Afghanistan and on the problems and issues affecting their integration in the national development process. The report provides a general overview of the relationship between developmental programs for women, improvement of women's status and the…

International Literacy Year, 1990, is intended to alert readers to the persistence of illiteracy. The challenge of illiteracy can only be met by concerted action on the part of all those concerned, acting together to conquer ignorance, eliminate poverty, promote peace, and assert the solidarity and interdependence of nations and peoples. As early…

Significant reductions in adult illiteracy can be achieved most cost-effectively by focusing more resources on the education of women. These monies contribute not only to women's development but also to the educational achievement of their children. Educated adults have more influence on their children's education; the children become literate…

The gap in literacy rates between women and men continually broadens. In 1985, 63 percent of the world's approximately 1,000 million illiterate people were female, compared to 60 percent in 1970 and 58 percent in 1960. A process of social change, including community involvement and mobilization in favor of women's literacy, is needed to sustain…

Midway through this century, Braille was placed within the reach of blind persons throughout the world when Unesco began the major task of adapting Braille to accommodate all languages and dialects. Invented in France between 1825 and 1829, Braille's role as the key to the cultural emancipation of the blind had previously been limited to countries…

The report focuses on the role of education in facilitating effective participation of groups and individuals in development efforts in Africa. Special attention is given to problems of the poor, women, the handicapped, those uninvolved or marginally involved such as unemployed youth, and those living and working in rural areas. The report is…

The recent drive of world educational development has sought to extend to non-Western peoples the benefits of schooling, as conceptualized in Western thought, without reference to the influence of cultural factors. The wholesale spread of Western schooling has caused new problems, especially for women. This paper: (1) presents the methodological…

Drafted for the Learning Technologies for Basic Education project, this document assembles case studies which provide an overview of multichannel learning, or reinforce learning through the use of several instructional paths and various media including print, broadcast, and online. Through the cases, multichannel learning is depicted as an…

This document contains seven papers about and from the International Seminar on Women's Education and Empowerment, which was convened to give women educators and researchers from diverse sociocultural backgrounds an opportunity to examine collectively different education practices and their theoretical implications for empowering women. The…

This seven-chapter monograph elaborates on five components of an expanded vision of basic education. It presents material that deals with aspects of these components: universalizing access and promoting equity, focusing on learning, broadening the means and scope of basic education, enhancing the environment for learning, and strengthening…

This nine-chapter monograph deals with the purpose and context of basic education, starting with the basic learning needs that education must meet. Chapter 1 focuses on the rationale for education for all. Chapter 2 explores the interplay between the educational process and culture, including the complex issues associated with language. Chapter 3…