Literacy service training center

The GON National Training Center for Literacy Agents (CFCA) and the Nigerien Literacy Service will implement the project. CFCA staff and students, in collaboration with personnel from the agriculture, rural promotion, and public health services and from the Nigerien Cooperative Union (UNCC), will begin to test and develop cooperative literacy training programs. The CFCA will also develop, test, and disseminate in French and in Niger"s five maternal languages one reader for the three services and the UNCC. Other materials to be developed include teaching guides, a manual for evaluating the literacy program, special materials for women (cf. below), and a field research guide. Co-ops in at least two different farming sectors will initially be targeted. Special emphasis will be directed to literacy training for women. The project will train women as literacy agents, special women"s literacy materials will be developed, and female CFCA staff will atttempt to work out a model for literacy training for rural women. To strengthen the CFCA"s institutional capabilities, staff will be trained on three levels. Two will receive U.S. Master"s level training in educational administration and non-formal education, respectively; five will undertake A-level studies at the University of Niamey; and 26 CFCA literacy agents and nine others will receive 1 and 3 years, respectively, of B-level training and will then go on to staff CFCA regional offices. Lastly, the Literacy Service will develop a simple literacy evaluation instrument designed to measure: levels in reading, writing, and mathematics; the administrative efficacy of the literacy campaign; peoples attitudes toward literacy; and the impact of literacy on productivity.