08.08.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:10 pm by nadia
TEACHERS FOR RURAL SCHOOLS: A CHALLENGE FOR AFRICA
Mulkeen, A.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) (2005)
This paper is based on country case studies done in
conjunction with the World Bank in Lesotho, Malawi,
Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania, during 2005. It highlights
the difficulties of ensuring good quality teachers in
isolated rural schools, and considers the implications for:
teacher deployment policy; teacher utilisation, and teacher
management and supervision.
It finds that in rural areas:
* teacher deployment practices leave fewer teachers, more
unfilled posts, and more unqualified teachers
* teacher utilisation practices result in larger class
sizes at early grades. In other cases teachers without
adequate preparation and materials are left trying to
handle multigrade teaching. At the same time, qualified
teachers may be found working with very small classes
* limited teacher management systems may result in higher
absenteeism, and shorter working hours. In addition the
systems to ensure and develop the quality of teaching
(inspection and support services) are often weaker in rural
areas. In effect, the weakest teachers receive the least
support.The author concludes that there is a clear need
for both a better categorisation of schools, and a more
systematic monitoring of the relative situation of rural
schools.
TO SEE THIS DOCUMENT, PLEASE GO TO:
http://www.fao.org/SD/ERP/addisababa/Papers/Rural%20Teacher%20issues%20paper%20(A.Mulkeen)_ENG.doc
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Posted in Uncategorized at 7:09 pm by nadia
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR RURAL PEOPLE: A RENEWED CHALLENGE McGrath, S. Network for Policy Review Research and Advice on Education and Training (NORRAG) (2005) With seventy percent of the world‚s poor living in rural areas, it is essential that poverty strategies consider the issue of skills development in rural areas. This collection of papers from the 2005 meeting of the Working Group for International Cooperation in Skills Development offers the perspectives of international development agencies on their experiences of delivering skills development initiatives in rural communities. Aimed at policy makers and practitioners, each paper describes the different approach and programmes of each agency, discusses the successes and limitations and constraints involved in each approach, and identifies areas for future work and reforms. Papers in the collection cover the following topics: * the FAO/IIEP collaboration on education for rural people * the ILO‚s training for local empowerment approach * the approach of the European Training Foundation in promoting skills for local development in Central Asia * German experiences in technical cooperation in developing countries * French skills for rural employment in Sub-Saharan Africa * skills development and capacity building by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) in West Africa * the World Bank‚s attention to the role of tertiary education in supporting African countries‚ national agricultural innovation systems.
A number of elements are identified as necessary for skills development in rural areas, including: * the importance of both technical and generic transferable skills, including social and communication skills, self- organisation, bargaining, and entrepreneurial skills * the importance of developing the political and organisational skills of farmers‚ organisations * the need to support and build on existing skills, innovation and knowledge systems of farming/rural communities * the need to build capacity: for individual farmers and their organisations, for skills providers and other service organisations, for national departments and agencies, and for international organisations * skills development needs to be seen in conjunction with a set of other inputs, such as micro-credit * the importance of offering flexible training delivery in the proximity of rural households. TO SEE THIS DOCUMENT, PLEASE GO TO: http://www.fao.org/sd/erp/Documents2006/Paper%2010.doc
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08.03.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:28 pm by nadia
What is Poverty?
We use the term “poorest” or “very poor” to refer to people living on less than $1 per day or in the bottom half of those living below their nation’s poverty line. We use the term “poor” to mean those living in poverty above $1 per day or in the upper half of those living below their nation’s poverty line.*
* Microcredit Summit Campaign dataWhat Causes Poverty?
Poverty is a macro problem, with causes as wide as they are deep. Political instability, natural disasters, corruption, socio-economic disparities and prejudice, lack of access to education and lack of infrastructure are just a few of the key reasons that people all over the world are poor and remain poor.
What are the Effects of Poverty?
While the causes of poverty might be macro, the effects are felt on a micro level, creating hardship for communities, families, men, women and children.
Its worst attribute is that poverty breeds poverty; it is virtually impossible to break free from its grasp. If one cannot afford proper nutrition or health care for one’s family, children grow up at greater risk of acquiring a life-threatening or disabling disease. If one cannot afford to educate one’s children, they will have few avenues for a life different than that of their parents. If one cannot afford to buy one’s own land or home or livestock, there are few opportunities to build assets that will last over time.
Most of the world’s poor are self-employed. Without the security of formal jobs, each day they work from dawn to dusk, whether by raising chickens, selling produce in markets or weaving baskets. All or most of this money goes toward basic survival; however, there is little to no money left over to improve their quality of life or expand their businesses. Thus, living in poverty almost always means that the harsh reality of today will repeat itself tomorrow.
Why Can’t the Poor Improve Their Own Lives?
In many cases it’s because many of the world’s poor have little access to the financial products and services that help those in the developed world bridge the gap when times are tough. Without life or health insurance, diseases and illness go untreated and the death of an income earner is a dramatic hardship for a family. Without access to loans or credit, shop-owners cannot buy products in bulk and farmers cannot buy machinery or even seeds after a natural disaster or a poor yield the season before. Without access to savings accounts, money is hidden in walls or floorboards where it can be stolen or lost in a flood or fire.
In many cases local money lenders are the only available source of capital. They provide loans to smooth incomes during rough times or to help individuals improve their small businesses, but they do so at exorbitant annual interest rates, often from 300 percent to 3,000 percent. Under this system, virtually all of a borrower’s financial gains are passed directly to the money lender. Individuals are unable to reap the rewards of their own hard work.
http://www.unitus.com/sections/poverty/poverty_pov_main.asp
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