ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 389 - 1/05/2000

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS

Malawi
Church initiates development through literacy

CHURCH-STATE

The role of the Presbyterian Church in Malawi, in the country’s development

Since the attainment of democracy in 1994, the process of development in Malawi has been democratised and promoted as a community-based process. But large numbers of the country’s population find themselves outside the development process.

Living in a democracy has required Malawi’s citizens to change their attitudes and ways of dealing with issues of politics, citizenship, trade, commerce and development. The Church, therefore, noting that it, too, has a role to play in Malawi’s development, must be part of this process.

On-going poverty in Malawi has been one of the causes for continued underdevelopment. This has been partly due to the country’s high illiteracy rate. Today, it is estimated that over 55% of the total number of adults in the country are illiterate. This problem is especially grave among women — it is estimate that 71% of the female adult population remains illiterate, despite concerted efforts by both the government and non-governmental organisations to reduce the problem. The major contributing factor to female illiteracy, is the country’s long time cultural barrier, which values an educated son more than an educated daughter.

Being illiterate, means people are unable to take advantage of the various socio-economic opportunities aimed at improving their lives. They are also unable to participate fully in the country’s civic and development activities. There is also heavy dependency on others, leading to loss of confidence, inability to adjust to new relevant technologies, and even loss of interest in the education of their children. The marginalisation of women has prevented them from accepting higher responsibilities and participation in decision-making processes. This results in a «culture of silence among women».

In an effort to assist the government in alleviating the illiteracy problem, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) — Blantyre Synod, is working towards improving people’s understanding of their role, and the role of the Church in people-centred development. In view of this, it has a development arm called the Projects Office.

The Projects Office is a service organisation of the (CCAP) — Blantyre Synod, initiated in 1992 to respond to the socio-physical needs of the people of Southern Malawi. As a development arm, The Projects Office seeks to raise awareness, and to facilitate and promote the effective involvement of Church and community leaders in community-based development.

The Office seeks to achieve this through community-based programmes, that facilitate training and support community leaders. In all its activities, the Office is working towards socio-economic and environmental sustainablity, and seeks to promote the values of honesty, commitment, transparency, accountability, equality and justice, and implement programmes without regard to religious or party affiliation, race, sex or tribe.

Development Through Literacy Programme

One of the programmes under the Projects Office, is «Development Through Literacy» (DTL) which was initiated to address the problem of illiteracy among women church members who could not participate in church activities, because they could not read and write. The programme now has a broad focus, targeting men and women regardless of their religion, whilst incorporating the component of people-centred development.

The Projects Office sees literacy as a necessary foundation for effective development. It acknowledges that illiterate people have abundant knowledge to offer the process of development. Literacy, therefore, is not just about being able to read and write, it is a tool that empowers people, and opens doors to areas in life which for years have been taken for granted. Keeping records of money, accessing one’s personal information and making use of written symbols to communicate silently, propels individuals into greater confidence, and helps them take control of their lives. These opportunities play a major role in peoples’ lives. The Programme operates throughout Southern Malawi, and maintains forty-two functional adult literacy centres with 95% of beneficiaries being women.

It should be emphasised that it’s the people, themselves, who establish these centres, and the Projects Office comes in to assist in areas where people cannot manage, mainly due to financial restraints.

The Projects Office supports the centres through the provision of teaching, learning materials and training opportunities for voluntary instructors. It looks after their honoraria each month. Since its establishment, the Programme has seen more than 3,000 women and 200 men graduate from the classes.

The programme works through the existing literacy centres to facilitate further development activities. Using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercises, leadership training and village meetings, the Programme works with communities to identify their needs and provides support for action whenever possible.

However, there are numerous social problems that affect the learners, and these include discouragement by friends and sometimes spouses, sickness and deaths disrupting classes. There’s also a lack of teaching and reading material. An inadequate food supply at home is another problem, as it means people have to chose between going to class and going into the fields to work. Usually the latter wins. Another problem is absenteeism — adult learners have many other responsibilities in the community.

Challenges

There is need to address gender imbalance in adult literacy. Most of the Programme beneficiaries are women, as men do not want to register. Research has to be undertaken in this area to establish the underlying factors, so that the DTL Programme can overcome the problem. There is also need to collaborate with other organisations facing similar challenges.

Nevertheless, one interesting factor is that many of the graduates would like to move into another level that offers them English, Civics, Health Education, Home Economics, Family Planning etc., and obtain a Junior Certificate. Even though this conflicts with the original goal of the Projects Office in providing basic literacy skills, it is worth investigating for the Programme’s future development.