In February we travelled to Kimpese in southwest Congo-Kinshasa to conduct a week of intensive training for staff of the organisation BCPAD, who for the last five years have been running study circles using the ALEF method in the Kikongo language. This year, BCPAD has decided to expand the adult education programme so that over a thousand new participants a year in forty different villages around the province will have the opportunity to join a literacy and empowerment group!
Among the participants in our workshop were 20 newly recruited ALEF coaches. They practised lesson structure and technique and exchanged ideas on how to best meet needs of adult learners living in poverty. Coaches are the backbone of every ALEF programme. They are the ones who, in turn, train facilitators, monitor and support their work, solve problems, and ensure through regular field visits that the course is living up to expectations.
In the short film below you can listen to some of the workshop participants give their perspectives on literacy, empowerment, the ALEF method, and their hopes for the future of the project.