Literacy Hub Takes Off Under Afghan Ownership
FrontLines - February 2009
Four years ago, USAID started a Web portal called the Literacy Hub to bring literacy
information to policy makers and educators in the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) region. Now the countries of the region have assumed control
over the service.
Afghanistan is the first country in the region to take over control of the Hub, which aims to promote reading and other literacy skills. The transfer
of control to the Afghan ministry of education at the end of October 2008 signaled that the effort had reached the holy grail of development projects—sustainability.
“The transfer of ownership from U.S. to regional hands shows that beneficiaries value the Hub enough to commit their own resources to its continuation,
thus ensuring sustainability and
regional ownership,”
said Vijitha Eyango, senior education advisor in USAID’s Asia Bureau, who has directed the project since its inception.
The Hub’s Web portal includes a database of best practices, links to literacy Web sites, a calendar of global literacy
events, on-line tutorials for literacy professionals, and literacy research.
“The governments have shown an extraordinary commitment
to carrying this initiative
forward,” said Sakil Malik, director for international development
at the International Reading Association, which has run the Hub since 2006.
The BMENA Literacy Hub—www.literacyhub.org—is an online peer-reviewed, professional
literacy community and resource center. It pulls together resources in English and Arabic. It also provides a central repository of literacy information for the region, allowing education officials, teachers, and students to share best practices, critique literacy research, and engage with their counterparts throughout the region. Literacy rates are low in the BMENA region, a swath of Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries
stretching from Morocco to Pakistan. Numbers vary widely depending on the country; and women are far more likely to be illiterate. In Saudi Arabia, for example, 13 percent of men over age 15 are illiterate as are 24 percent
of women. In Afghanistan, 57 percent of men and 87 percent of women are considered illiterate. Some 5 million primary school age children region-wide are not in school.
Regional governments agree that literacy is key to prosperity. “Despite all the problems, conflicts,
and differences in the region, literacy is one issue that really brings people together,” said Malik.
To ensure a smooth transition, Afghanistan education officials received USAID-sponsored training on line and in two sessions
held in the region. USAID also trained BMENA government
representatives, who are now serving as the Hub’s steering committee and will rotate every two years.
“Ultimately, the most important
goal is to encourage all literacy
initiatives in the region to use the Hub as the gateway for knowledge sharing and capacity building,” said Mohammad Sarwar Hussaini, deputy minister
for literacy in Afghanistan’s ministry of education.
The BMENA government representatives
are planning to enhance country-specific pages and train literacy professionals in their own countries on how to use the Hub. Plans for translation of the site and its materials into Dari, Pashto, and other regional languages are also underway.
In addition to Afghanistan, the BMENA countries and regions are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
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