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New Training Methods Boost Women's Literacy
FrontLines - November 2009
By Karima Rhanem
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A USAID literacy program is helping thousands of Moroccan women to read and write Modern Standard Arabic. MSA is used for all official written material, including laws,
utility bills, and street signs.
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FIGUIG, Morocco—A new
way to teach Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA) is empowering
women and changing literacy
programs across Morocco.
The teaching model,
developed by USAID and
Morocco’s State Secretariat
for Literacy and Non-formal
Education, simplifies the
approach to becoming literate in
the official, national language.
MSA is used for all official
written material, including
religious writings, laws,
utility bills, street signs, and
transportation schedules.
But mastering MSA is
not easy, even for native Arabic
speakers. This is particularly
true in Morocco where the
dialect, known as Derija, is quite
different from standard Arabic.
Fatima Tabarit, 60, speaks
only Tashalhit (an indigenous
Amazigh, or Berber, language
unrelated to Arabic), and–like
many Moroccans—has little
knowledge of Derija, let
alone MSA.
USAID introduced a program
called Advancing Learning
and Employability for a Better
Future. The literacy component
of the program helps train
women to read and write the
Arabic alphabet in their native
dialects and then to transfer their
new literacy to MSA.
By first learning to use Arabic
writing in the language they are
fluent in, the women are more
confident, attend class regularly,
and learn more quickly.
“I can read the water and
electricity bills; I can understand
the bus signs in the street; I can
count from one to 10; I can take
a taxi and travel alone; I can note
Shumisha’s [cooking classes on
television] recipes; I can discuss
with my husband and children
several issues. Yes, I can read
and write,” Tabarit said while
watching a satellite news show
that is broadcasted in MSA
throughout the Arab world.
The new USAID approach to
literacy has achieved attendance
and retention rates of more than
90 percent within the pilot group
of 400 women in the 16 target
provinces.
The program also informs
women about Morocco’s new
Family Code, the law’s defined
status for women.
“I was not in favor of the new
legal status for women because
I simply did not know what it
was or how it was improving
our lives. Now I think that every
Moroccan woman should learn
about its content,” Khadija Lhafi,
25, said.
Some Moroccan local
associations as well as regional
educational academies have
adopted USAID’s literacy
training modules. Now about
24,000 Moroccans in the Grand
Casablanca Region, including
10,100 women, benefit from
literacy training methods
developed by USAID and
its partners and demand for
training has increased
throughout Morocco.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
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