Evaluation: ALEF method is a powerful tool for empowerment
- Adam Bott
- May 15
- 3 min read
In ALEF’s Empowerment Groups, when individuals share their experiences and feelings [...] they find common ground and gain strength. When they further interact with the themes of the lessons, sharing personal experiences related to life’s challenges, they learn about their rights and see ways forward in improving their lives, both individually and collectively. ALEF’s approach, and collaboration with its very committed partners to implement the approach, enables most participants to improve their lives in ways that are significant to them. - Carol Benson & Erina Iwasaki, MLE International
As ALEF grows and the method is more widely adopted, it is important to confirm that the unique approach we have developed, together with our partners, over the years rests on a sound scientific basis and leads to measurable impact. In 2024, we asked the research and evaluation firm Multilingual Education (MLE) International to conduct an external review of the results and effects of the ALEF method.
The evaluation was led by Dr Carol Benson, a researcher in multilingualism and mother tongue-based education in low-income countries and former associate professor of education at Columbia University in the USA, and Dr. Erina Iwasaki, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame with a focus on educational policy and minority languages.
Based on a thorough analysis of ALEF's goals and method through course materials and interviews with key staff, MLE planned a two-part investigation that aimed to provide a comprehensive picture and allow everyone involved, not least the participants themselves, to make their voices heard.
The results of the first study, based on over 400 participant testimonies from three different countries, were released in June 2024. Now MLE has presented the final report from part II, an extensive field study of ALEF project partnerships in DR Congo and Uganda.
MLE visited our Ugandan partner CACI in August 2024, observed several study groups at each course level and interviewed participants, group leaders, coaches and project staff. In DR Congo it was not possible for MLE to be present on site due to the security situation in South Kivu, so ACDC staff received training in data collection and then carried out field visits over several groups in November. All lessons and interviews were filmed. MLE interviewed coaches and project staff directly by videolink.
In addition to interviews and lesson observations, MLE had access to the results of annual skills tests at the individual and group level, hundreds of texts written by study groups based on group discussions, and questionnaires about participants' living conditions, attitudes, abilities and participation in civil society.
Based on this wide-ranging data, the report authors conclude that the ALEF method succeeds in combining the pure literacy skills-learning with real empowerment that leads to meaningful and lasting change. Participants learn to read, write and count, but the key to being able and daring to implement this new knowledge in everyday life is the sense of community fostered in the group by discussing, analyzing and taking action together:
”This evaluation explores the ways that ALEF brings about skills development and
empowerment for participants, their families and their communities. We find strong evidence that ALEF’s approach connects literacy and empowerment through lesson content and methodology as well as through opportunities for participants to form groups for savings and income generation. In ALEF’s Empowerment Groups, when individuals share their experiences and feelings—for example, their shame at not being able to read prescription bottles, their experiences of being discriminated against, their difficulty in understanding children’s school reports—they find common ground and gain strength. When they further interact with the themes of the lessons, sharing personal experiences related to life’s challenges, they learn about their rights and see ways forward in improving their lives, both individually and collectively. It is unlikely that these discoveries would come about if lessons were simply about alphabets and mathematics processes. This evaluation finds clear evidence that ALEF’s approach, and collaboration with its very committed partners to implement the approach, enables most participants to improve their lives in ways that are significant to them.”
Read the full report here:
