Effectiveness of a Functional Literacy Program for Out-of-School Youth in Ethiopia

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Across ages and stages: effects and effectiveness drawn from literacy assessments for children and youth

Proposal

Need. In Ethiopia, millions of young people are unable to attend formal schooling because of poverty, conflict, age, gender discrimination, marginalization and forced displacement, among others. According to the Central Statistical Agency Welfare Monitoring Survey Report of 2017, approximately 46% of the population aged 15-60 are estimated to be illiterate. Although the government of Ethiopia has prioritized education, a significant number of young people remain out of school, and basic literacy rates continue to lag.

Many of these out-of-school youth have migrated from rural to urban areas in search of better livelihood prospects. This presents an obstacle for out-of-school youth who encounter difficulties in their lives because of illiteracy. The absence of literacy skills restricts their ability to access information, opportunities, and resources, thereby also restricting their chances to improve their situations. At the same time, limited literacy skills severely limit young people’s ability to engage in the increasingly digital society that surrounds them.

To tackle this problem, the Ethiopia Ministry of Education emphasizes expanding non-formal education programs at all levels as a trajectory for social, economic and political progress. The government aims to enroll and educate the 17 million illiterate youth and adults during the Education Sector Development Program VI (ESDP VI 2020-2025).

Relevance. According to Butler & Ignatowski (2010), equipping young people with literacy skills provides better tools to utilize digital materials and communication. The USAID-funded Integrated Youth Activity (IYA) has been implementing a comprehensive and integrated functional literacy program, led by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) since 2022. The primary objective is to equip out-of-school youth with the essential literacy and numeracy skills to enhance their educational and socio-economic opportunities, and this will also provide the necessary foundational skills to engage in the growing digital society. By empowering individuals through education, we can bridge the educational divide and foster a more inclusive society. Literacy also improves community connectedness, illustrated by this quote of one recent program participant: “Before the training I didn't know how to save phone numbers and names on my mobile phone, but now I can save contact numbers and recognize calls.”

Intervention. IYA offers flexible basic education services to out-of-school youth between ages 15 and 29 who lack essential reading, writing, and numeracy skills. This program operates in non-formal settings and incorporates activities related to sexual reproductive health, entrepreneurship and digital literacy. The program follows a functional literacy approach, which consists of two phases: Level I and Level II. Participants attend the 6 month program at their nearest training center. Trained facilitators deliver the curriculum in 18 major cities across Ethiopia, offering instruction in the young people’s mother tongues, including Amharic, Afan Oromo, Afarigna, and Af Somali.

Since March 2022, IYF has reached more than13,500 out-of-school youth, of whom 85% have successfully graduated from the Level II session and have shown improvement in their literacy and numeracy skills.

Impact assessed. By addressing the educational needs of out-of-school youth and equipping them with essential skills, this comprehensive and integrated functional literacy program contributes to their daily lives, and this is assured by a formal assessment of out-of-school youth’s change in literacy skills before and after the program.

To assess the program’s impact IYF deploys the adapted Out-of-School Youth Literacy Assessment (OLA) tool, created by the Education Development Center (EDC). OLA is a robust tool designed to quickly assess the foundational literacy skills of youth and adults who are not enrolled in formal schooling. OLA has been used in various relevant contexts, validated by experts in psychometrics and youth literacy, and recommended by USAID (Honeyman & Fletcher, 2019).

To comprehensively understand the project's impact, 240 youth living in 8 cities of the country completed the OLA before and after literacy training. Open ended questions were incorporated to understand their pathways and social status.

Impact found. The study found that the program led to significant improvements across all literacy areas, with a 53 percentage point increase overall. The percentage of participants scoring above 75% rose from 4.9% before the program to 87% after its completion. Youth became more adept at utilizing digital tools such as SMS, social media, and email. Integrating life skills, entrepreneurship training and sexual reproductive health education led to significant improvements in reading, writing, and numeracy skills. This evidence serves as a strong indication of the program's effectiveness in enhancing the literacy skills of young people. Qualitative data provides another dimension of the program’s effectiveness. For example, one participant said “before enrolling in the literacy program I was unable to read or write which left me feeling frustrated and dependent on others for even the simplest tasks. I couldn't even recognize letters, and writing a sentence was impossible for me. However, after completing the program, I can write sentences on my own. I can even fill out bank forms. Gaining literacy has not only improved my skills but also boosted my confidence in managing personal affairs and interacting with the community.” The presentation will provide detailed OLA results in letter reading, real word reading, word reading, silent reading and reading comprehension, and will present related qualitative findings.

Advice offered. This paper presents the accomplishments, difficulties, and insights gained from the collaboration between IYF and local implementing partners in IYA's functional literacy program for out-of-school youth. The focus will be on progress of out-of-school youth after the program, specifically how much the program improved literacy levels and how well youth participants can apply their new literacy and numeracy skills in their everyday lives including utilizing digital tools. The program's success factors will be highlighted, offering insights for future improvements. The presentation will also share data-informed changes made to project approaches, lessons learned, and best practices for promoting literacy in contexts such as those found in Ethiopia.

Authors

• Meseret Emamenew Gizaw, International Youth Foundation

• Tsigereda Bekele Belay, INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FOUNDATION

• Linda Fogarty, IYF