Our Programs

Literacy for Women in Africa

BSK has an adult literacy program dubbed literacy for women in Africa. This program mainly targets a group of women of child-bearing age (15 years and above) who have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write.

BSK has an adult literacy program dubbed literacy for women in Africa. This program mainly targets a group of women of child-bearing age (15 years and above) who have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write.
Other persons targeted by the programme include men, young girls, and elderly women. This could also include women who have already had the opportunity to learn to read ‘second chance.’

Turkana County has low literacy levels of 20% considering that it has a population of 926,976 speakers of the language. Non-literates account for 741,580.

The Literacy for Women in Africa programme is currently being implemented in the County with 20 active adult literacy classes spread across Loima, Turkana Central, Turkana North, and Turkana South sub-counties. The program has grown tremendously since 2018 when it began with 10 pilot classes. So far, 1920 learners have been trained with 65% of them being women.

The reason why the program majorly focuses on women is that in the marginalized communities women or girls are denied a chance to go to school, as priority is given to men. Women are seen as people who carry out house chores, bear children, go through practices e.g. female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriages thus denying them a chance to access education or any form of schooling.

The uniqueness of this program is that it is a non-formal mother tongue-based education meant to impact adult learners with basic reading and writing skills. The main goal of the program is to enable the marginalized communities to read the Word of God in their heart language and be transformed by it.

BSK partners with the Church to implement this programme. The Churches provide venues that are used as classes, they identify passionate people who are trained as teachers, and they assist in monitoring. The Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education office has also come in handy in helping learners to transition to formal schooling to learn other subjects.

other Programs & projects

Open the Book & Programme For Pastoral Instruction PPI

Braille Bible Distribution to the VIP’s Programme

Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH)

Mwimbi Bible Translation

Young Samaritans Programme

Literacy for Women in Africa

Bibles Eagles Club

African Biblical Leadership Initiative (abli)

Marginalized Children

 

Gikuyu Study Bible Project

Banyala Bible Translation Project

Teso Bible translation project

 

Turkana women and girls empowered with literacy skills

Written by BSkenya

July 12, 2018

Turkana is the second largest county by land mass in Kenya and is considered one of the poorest with 88% of the people living below the poverty line compared with 45% nationally. Illiteracy levels are high with only half of the school going children being enrolled nationally below the national average of 95% report, 2018 by Charity Save the Children. The adult literacy rate in the county is at 20%.

A literacy teacher Mr. Nicodemus Esekon learning the basic use of blackboards

In an effort to address the illiteracy issue among the Turkana women in this community, Bible Society of Kenya held an empowerment workshop for literacy teachers in Lodwar so that they may conduct trainings in Turkana County.

The workshop was attended by literacy teachers together with their assistants. These teachers will ultimately teach adult learners in the marginalized areas among the turkana community. The twelve days intensive training was done in partnership with Summer Institute of Linguistics consultants who played a crucial role in developing the turkana learning materials as well as conducting the teachers training. Mr. Bernard Oketch, a government official from the Directorate of Adult and Continuing Education Turkana County was present and he addressed the characteristics of an adult teacher.

The intensive training tackled different areas of learning that will enable adult learners know how to read and write in their mother tongue and ultimately understand Scriptures in the ngaturkana Language.

The teachers were equipped with knowledge and skills on how help the learners use the ngaturkana learner’s primer, pronounce syllables, read stories and comprehend the same. Further training included teaching adult learners to apply life-skills, conduct income generating activities, nutritional enhancement, proper hygiene standards, and environmental conservation that will help improve their lives.

This project targets vulnerable women who are mostly young school drop outs and adult mothers. We trust that it will bring positive transformation in the women’s lives, help them to make informed decisions and choices, reduce gender misrepresentation in leadership roles and reduce 10% of infant mortality rates among children below 5 years.

Participants of the literacy teachers training pose for a photo after the training

The introduction of 10 pilot literacy classes will help the government reduce the gap of illiteracy among adults hence propel the goal of availing basic literacy to all.

The training culminated in all the participants being commissioned to teach adult learners. They were equipped with teaching materials including primers, alphabet charts, teachers guides and blackboards.

Bible Society of Kenya thanks her donor the Finnish Bible Society for enabling women in Africa to attain literacy skills.

You May Also Like…

God’s Unfailing Love

God’s Unfailing Love

"We love because he first loved us." - 1 John 4:19 This simple yet profound verse sums up God's relationship with...

Nurturing a Bible Reading Culture

Nurturing a Bible Reading Culture

In a world of uncertainty and chaos, the Bible stands as a beacon of light and guidance. Its timeless truths offer...

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *