The Gambia     Population (approx.) 1 million   Literacy Statistics Overall: 38.6% Male: 52.8% Female: 24.9%   GNP Per Capita (US Dollars) $1,280     Source: The World Bank Development Indicators, 1996; CIA World Fact Book 1997

Country Report presented by Yamundow Jagne-Jobe To meet the urgent need for promoting literacy among girls and women in The Gambia, a special project was introduced and implemented from 1992-1996. The Functional and Post-Literacy Project for Rural Women in The Gambia was supported by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and executed by UNESCO for the Gambian government. The broad aim was to address the problem of inadequate functional literacy programs for women and girls through a work-oriented, grass-roots program for 6,000 women in three districts of Kiang within 3 1/2 years. This project started with a needs assessment survey which revealed that women faced various problems in their communities related to socio-economic, socio-cultural, and political issues concerning agriculture, health, civic education, low levels of income-generating skills, and so forth. The survey was followed by curriculum development and instructional materials development workshops. Primers using the three main languages of the target group (Mandinka, Wolof, and Pulaar) were developed. The primers combined illustrations and language styles that were specific to each of the groups of women. About 90% of the facilitators were women chosen by the communities themselves. Many of the women who attended literacy classes in this project spoke of a newly found confidence in their day-to-day interaction within the family and in the community. One woman gave the example that after she attended literacy classes, the local merchant could no longer cheat her by giving her three kilos of flour instead of four, as he had tried to do in the past. Another woman reported that she has now opened a shop and employed her husband, who previously had to leave the family for work in an urban area. The most immediate constraint of this project was indentified as the women's lack of time to attend classes and an overload of household chores, as well as frequent interruptions due to pregnancies. However, since this project experienced overall success, it served as a model for similar projects elsewhere in the country.   Links to Related Web Sites   Program | Participants | Presenters | Sessions | Countries | Links INTERNATIONAL LITERACY INSTITUTE Graduate School of Education/University of Pennsylvania 3910 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-3111 USA Telephone 215-898-2100 | Fax 215-898-9804 | E-mail: sltp@literacy.upenn.edu Revised: July 6, 1998