Presents a model for simultaneously addressing the problems of illiteracy and the counseling requirements of the skill training programs in Third World countries. The model includes advisory committees, needs analysis, staff development and training, program assessment, and a placement and follow-up component. (KH)

The author focuses on training practices in Nigeria. Discussion centers on the general approach to management and supervisory training, with particular attention to (1) characteristics of training programs for small, medium, and large companies and (2) the procedures used to arrive at training plans and needs. Evaluation practices are also…

Human survival means more than purely physical survival. Human beings, because of language, also have a cultural nature that must survive. In today's world, all speak, but more than one-fourth of the world's people--and more than half in developing nations--do not have the uniquely human capacity of reading and writing. The diffusion of literacy…

International Literacy Year (1990), sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is a time of great hope and unique opportunity. It is intended to convey two essential messages: (1) education matters and will be decisive in shaping the future of individuals and societies; and (2) there is an urgent…

There is a close connection between illiteracy and poverty at all levels--global, national, and subnational; the countries with the lowest levels of literacy are also the poorest economically. Poverty breeds illiteracy by forcing children to drop out of school to work, and these illiterate people are forced to stay on the lowest levels of the work…

This paper describes the literacy education work being done by two agencies, the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) and the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE). SIDA strives to promote economic growth, economic and social equality, economic and political independence, democratic development, the use of…

This paper attempts to furnish background information on, problem analysis of, and recommendations for developing programs for out of school youth in less developed countries. The paper defines important factors contributing to the general situation of out of school youth in these countries. Out of school youth include those who have no access to…

Scouting is an expanding worldwide youth movement, with more than 16 million members in 169 countries and territories. Its goal is to contribute to the physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual development of young people. Since participation in development is one of the cornerstones of their program, scouts cannot ignore the challenge that…

A number of counter-assumptions can be posited to challenge the usual basic assumptions of the professional literacy establishment. These counter-assumptions include the following: (1) literacy is not just a technical skill neutral across all cultures; (2) culture refers to basic questions about truth and knowledge and varies from one society to…

The importance of research in literacy is that it provides some routes to greater efficiency in literacy provision. Research from the past shows how important reading and writing have been over the centuries. Literacy was often invested with social and moral power as well, and religious literacy was the predominant form of reading and writing from…

Volunteers and voluntary organizations are crucial to the literacy effort throughout the world. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are ideal channels for direct involvement of the people in literacy efforts. NGOs often directly carry out the teaching of reading, writing, and numeracy programs; government efforts usually involve such…

In 1987, the department of Rio San Juan was declared the first "illiteracy-free territory" in Nicaragua, since it had reduced its rate of illiteracy from 96 percent in 1979 to 3.7 percent. This regional literacy crusade was made possible by the facts that the necessary facilities had been provided; a network of consultative committees…

Global figures that reveal the magnitude of the problem of illiteracy in the world disguise great disparities. For example, most of the illiteracy in the world is in developing countries. Therefore, it is preferable, and more appropriate in terms of numerical importance, to concentrate the analysis of illiteracy on developing countries. Such…

The advent of the "information age," and the electronic communication technologies that are part of it, was supposed to replace print. However, this has not been the case, as the amount of print materials being produced and read has increased along with the electronic equipment. Far from replacing established media and communication…

In order to explain the role that the university can play in the struggle against illiteracy, a distinction must be made between "social" illiterate people, who are dominated by oral tradition, and functional, or "uneducated" illiterate people, who usually know how to read and write, but without having sufficient understanding…