Africa

The Uganda Rural Literacy and Community Development Association (URLCODA) was founded in 2009 by the Uganda Community Libraries Association (UgCLA). The community aims to provide information services via publications and special activities targeted at the needs of local populations. Most of the initiatives aim to promote literacy and are planned to be relevant to a set of predetermined objectives.

On 3 September 2012, law LI 2195 under the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) Act was passed in Ghana. It was followed by the launch of the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Qualifications Framework (NTVETQF) on 23 October 2012. An eight-level framework was designed to meet the needs and adjusted to the reality of the Ghanaian education system and labour market. Qualifications provided by the programme should not only to merge with existing Ghanaian qualifications but also improve and modernize the Ghanaian education system to ensure further developments in the future (UIL, n.d).

The Farmer Field Schools (FFS) initiative is a participatory approach to education that promotes hands-on learning through active engagement. Its non-formal nature involves experiential learning techniques and participatory trainings in the fields, encompassing the full cycle of growing and cropping. The main objective of the introduction of FFS as an alternative to the conventional extension approaches was to sharpen farmers’ knowledge and skills through season-long FFS training in farmers’ demand-driven technology (Bunyatta and Mureithi, n.d; FAO, 2001). The initiative was introduced in Kenya in 1996, with four FFSs opening in Kakamega District, Western Province. Since then, hundreds more have been opened, mainly in Western Province (Kakamega, Busia and Bungoma), Coast Province (Kilifi and Kwale) and Central Province (Kiambu). Initially, the programme focused on maize; however, it has developed to include other crops and livestock production.

Lifelong learning villages are an initiative implemented in Mali by a French non-government organization Jeunesse et Développement, enabling young adults to participate in global development projects, with support from the British Embassy, the Stromme Foundation, Mali Development Group, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, and DVV International. The establishment of vocational training and learning circles within the villages referred to as VITAL (‘Villages de l’Apprentissage Tout Au Long de la Vie’, French for ‘Villages of Learning Throughout Life’) aimed to increase the level of literacy and provide knowledge and skills that would benefit the local population (UIL, 2015).

Kenya Vision 2030 is a development programme implemented between 2008 and 2030. Its objective is to transform Kenya into a ‘newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and secure environment’ (Kenya Vision 2030, 2021).