ICU’s Livelihoods team has been visiting Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) groups in northern Uganda this week to deliver educational materials for our Adult Literacy program. The supplies support the programs’ mission of providing literacy, numeracy and writing training for members of VSLA groups.
The materials include large pads of paper, chalk, tape and a chalkboard eraser. Each group will also soon receive a blackboard, something that FAL facilitator Phillip Okello says will play a significant role in helping group members practice their writing.
“Most group members don’t know how to read and write so this program will help them learn to,” he said. “It is important to be practical and these materials and lessons can help them gain more skills, especially when it comes to business.”
As a new facilitator, Phillip credits the Livelihoods training that took place earlier this month as providing him with information to better serve the group.
He explained that facilitators were taught to develop their own literacy and numeracy lesson plans that they will be able to use when working with program participants. Because of the LRA conflict, many adults in northern Uganda have not had proper access to education or any access at all in many cases. FAL exists to provide basic skills and to empower VSLA members to maintain better records of their spending, savings and income generating activities.
Over 4,000 community members are participating in Village Savings and Loan Associations as of July 2013. 1,233 of these individuals participate in our Adult Literacy programs as well.
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