Role of Functional Literacy in Poverty Alleviation of Rural Women in Pakistan: Some Empirical Evidences

Abstract

Thi s study examines the impacts of the women functional literacy programs on the improvement of llteracy, knowledge, reduction of poverty and capability development, particularly in the rural and poor conu11lmities of Pakistan. This study is designed to seck knowledge on how fu nctional literacy could help in making non-litera tes poor nmll women functionally literate, al the same time provide them with income-generating ski lls in order to improve their living standards and enhance their capabilities to achieve fUl1ctionings they have reason to value. It may be worth mentioning that the terms' poverty' in this research stud y, is used to mean capability deprivation, and never to imply solely income poverty. Non-formal f1.1l1cl iona i literacy programs were set up in poor communities .vith the aim of providing literacy and livelihood skills to the poor and illitera te women. lt was intended to make poor women able to read, wri te, compute and interact adeCJuately with the community. The functional literacy programs were intended to help in achieving the UN 's MillenniuIll Development Goals (MDGs) of tiniversal basic education by catering those who co uld not achieve formal education; reducing acute poverty through livelihood and life-skill. To understand the whole phenomenon of functional literacy in teJl11S of women [Joverty alleviation, case studies of BUl1yad Foundation literacy Project and the Sustainable Livelihoods in Barani Areas Proj ect (SLBAP) in Punjab were taken for analys is . The research was conducted in th e six villages of three di stricts of Punjab, Pakistan namely Hafl zabad, SiaUcot and Gujarat. The study was descriptive in natl.lre. A sample of 134 learners was selec1ed from 1hree di stricts. Data was co llected by using an Interview schedule. The entire sample successfully completed their four months literacy and 4 month skill -development course. However, the in-depth study of these projects reveals that the overall required change has not been occurred despite positive policy response and allocation of resources towards government and NGOs. The restilts of the study established a weak relationship between participation in the func tional literacy classes and improvement in soc ial and economic lives of func tional literacy learners. lroni cally, the components of poverty all eviation and 'women development of these programs provide more disappointing results that is a matter of gTeat concern to the policy makers and development practitioners. II Findings from the research reveal that most of the functional literacy adult learners in the six villages of three districts have acquired varied degree of reading, writing, calculation and income-generation skills through the functional literacy classes. Data also shows that most of the literacy learners lost the literacy and practical skills to a large extent after completing the program. This could be attributed to a number of factors including the curriculum design, teaching methods, workload of the learners, age and the characteristics the literacy learners and the teaching-learning environment. Learners complained about short duration of the program which due to time constraint, failed to deliver the proposed inputs. The functional learners faced challenges such as poor infrastructure, non-availability and late delivery of teaching and learning materials, poor remuneration of their facilitators, poor monitoring and evaluation systems, difficulties in time management and health constraints on the part of the learners. Empirical observation in Hafizabad and Sialkot District reveals that micro-finance has been proved important element of development in both rural areas where the biggest clients of micro-finance institutions were females. The credit market is really workable for the poor in the rural areas. This indicates that adult education programs should go beyond basic literacy learning and credit facilities should be linked with as a significant component of the development. So far no serious efforts have been made on the part of researchers, development policy makers or donor agencies to explore the causes of poor performance of functional literacy projects particularly with the special focus on women empowerment. There is no one simple solution to alleviate poverty because it is dynamic process based on many interrelated factors. Educational strategies may influence the different dimensions of poverty i.e., income, health, social exclusion etc. But as it is not the panacea for lack of development policies, it alone cannot end pOVeIty. The ovelall nricIO-economic policies and current socio-economic, political and cultural environment, which enable people to utilize their skills, influence a great deal in the success of educational interventions.