This booklet, which was produced as a follow-up to the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education, examines literacy and learning strategies. After a brief overview of the workshop from which the booklet emerged, the new convivial approaches to literacy that are being developed through experimentation in many developing countries are described. The learner- and community-based approaches fuse literacy and empowering processes through a single, well-structured participatory methodology. Presented next is a discussion of the importance of basic needs and productive work support that advocates the following: (1) developing activities that respect local knowledge, promote on-the-job training, and relate to people's contexts and cultures; (2) developing an understanding of the pedagogy of the informal sector; and (3) using an integrated approach linking competencies for economic survival with the social equipment for greater effectiveness at the local level. Concluding the booklet are the following four steps toward putting participatory ideology into action: (1) decentralize the creation of books and programs; (2) promote basic learning needs through nonformal strategies; (3) recognize that in addition to reading and counting skills, adults also need functional skills to be self-reliant and productive in local economic development; and (4) promote communities' own knowledge and learning traditions. (MN)