Assessing the capacity of the non-formal education sector to make all Nepalis literate
©UNESCO/Krishna Malla -Females in an adult literacy class in Rupandehi district of Nepal learning in their mother tongue
Whilst literacy levels amongst young people in Nepal are steadily rising – thanks to ever increasing school retention rates – literacy levels amongst adults remain low. This is especially the case for women. One approach to promoting adult literacy is to offer community based programmes through community learning centres. In recent years approximately 2,000 such centres have been established across Nepal, yet their capacity is often low and these results in lower quality and frequency of programmes offered.
UNESCO has long supported non-formal education (NFE) in Nepal, and has now embarked with the Non-Formal Education Centre in assessing the capacity of the NFE sub-sector within the framework of the Capacity Development for Education for All (CapEFA) project. This analysis is expected to help to identify existing key capacities in the NFE sub-sector and what additional capacities are needed in order to implement effective literacy and non-formal education programmes contributing to ensure literacy related goals of EFA.
“On the basis of the findings from the capacity assessment, we will prepare a comprehensive capacity development action plan and which we hope will bring further CapEFA funding in capacity development for the non-formal education sector”, says Tap Raj Pant from the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu.
The capacity assessment will be adapted from UNESCO’s CapEFA approach to suit the Nepalese context, content and process. As a part of the exercise a series of focus group discussions, data collection campaigns and workshops will be organized in Kathmandu, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar.
A capacity assessment advisory group and a national assessment team were formed to provide guidance on the adaptation and endorsement of the capacity assessment tool and to facilitate the assessment exercise by collecting information and data, assembling viewpoints, suggesting interpretations towards the formulation of the action plan.