UNESCO Chair Workshop in Ethiopia
An International Workshop on Adult Literacy and Learning for Sustainable Development was held on 20th May at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, organised and hosted by Turuwark Warkineh and the BDU UNESCO Chair team. Funded by a UEA GCRF discretionary award, Bahir Dar University and UNESCO, the workshop provided an opportunity for very rich interactions across cultures regarding literacy in Ethiopia, Nepal, Malawi, Senegal and Afghanistan.
From UEA, former PhD students, Ahmmardouh Mjaya (now lecturing at Chancellor College, Malawi) and Demelash Woldu (now at UNESCO Addis Ababa) came to present on their research, along with current PhD student Helene Binesse who was conducting field research on literacy and diabetes in Senegal and Sushan Acharya from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. UNESCO Kabul funded five literacy experts to come from Afghanistan and discuss ideas for the country’s literacy strategy.
The workshop also enabled academics working in adult education and community development from all over Ethiopia to come together to share ideas for developing the training and policy strategies. Immediately after the workshop, these lecturers representing nine different universities with adult education departments decided to set up a national adult education association so that they can hold similar workshops in future.
A highlight of the workshop was a presentation by Mamo Kebede Shenkute, a famous figure in Ethiopia who ran the first literacy campaign in 1962. He told the history of adult literacy in Ethiopia through a tour of all the materials he had developed over five decades – several of the researchers and policy makers present had been involved in the first campaign as school students.