SIL has assisted in the establishment of 20 Literacy and Awareness Publication (LAMP) centres in each of the 20 provinces of Papua New Guinea (PNG). These centres, fitted with desktop publishing equipment, provide literacy materials and opportunities for training in local languages. The objective of the LAMP centres is to produce literacy and awareness materials in the 850 or so languages of PNG, taking into account that very few, if any, literacy materials exist in the majority of the local languages and that over 55 per cent of the population aged over 10 is illiterate (1990 census). The centres aim to nurture a literate environment in and around the centres where the written word becomes part of the everyday setting.

Each centre is equipped with an LC III Macintosh computer, a dot matrix printer, a four-inch hand-held lightning scanner, a Risograph RC 6300 digital duplicator and support items like desks and cabinets. SIL provides the training for one trainer per province, who then trains two operators for each LAMP centre. Each centre has two operators. Some trainers of operators are foreign but the majority are from Papua New Guinea.

The literacy texts, produced by the LAMP centres, cover subjects such as healthcare (mother and child, food preparation, disease prevention), hygiene and preservation of the environment. The computer equipment is available for use by local people but priority is given to producing and preparing literacy materials for the Tokples Prep Schools (TPS), adult literacy classes and elementary schools (which are part of a wider national network). The LAMP centres produce two forms of material, one created by local people in the local language and another, more general, article created outside the language group which can be adapted to each context. The latter is a model or "shell" which contains pictures and stories and is already prepared and formatted for computer use. In this way, the story can be easily adapted and translated, new pictures scanned and captions adapted to suit the appropriate environment. Often, centres actually produce shell books themselves which they offer or suggest to other centres for re-appropriation in other contexts. The interactivity of centres means that a wide variety of shell books is evolving. LAMP centre operators are able to see what other centres are doing, how they have created materials and what subjects they are tackling.

Many centres also produce their own material specifically for their local language and context. Such material is not offered to other centres outside the area but is used to involve the community and provide literacy content to the inhabitants living close to the LAMP centre. Materials can also be produced in response to direct local demand. Local people, in this case, actually take part in the elaboration of documents, offering their opinion, taking part in meetings and deciding on issues of topical relevance. Communities, too, are directly involved in selecting members for their centres, deciding on common concerns and organising events in and around the centre. In this way, the centre personnel, through their application of technology, become facilitators for the expression of local processes and knowledge. Operators are connected to each other through the SIL network and can seek assistance in terms of material and personnel if necessary. The centres also serve as resource bases for information and the personnel lend their time, support and ability to maintain local communities alive.

Local languages in PNG are under threat. Their preservation, continued use and employment in literacy programmes is, today, the mandate of the LAMP centres. Local knowledge, like regional language use, is having to fight against the power of widely-used foreign languages, imported goods and the pull of the outside world. Empowering and strengthening local cultures necessarily means preserving local languages. This requires writing oral languages down with their accompanying regional histories, accounts, sounds and tales. The LAMP centres' policy is to use oral knowledge, and the need to write it down, as an entry point to develop literacy materials. The computers, scanners, digital duplicators might be new technology, but the materials produced on this equipment are in local languages based on local customs and culture. Once the materials leave a LAMP centre they are shared amongst the community and, if they are shell books, amongst a large audience in the country. In this way, specific regional knowledge and customs become known to a wider public, allowing many people to discover parts of their own country.

Contact information:
Dr. Clinton D.W. Robinson, SIL, Literacy and Development Liaison Unit
Horsleys Green, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP14 3XL, UK
Tel: 44 1494 682206
Fax: 44 1494 483297
e-mail: lit-dev.uk@sil.org