Togo & Benin, ACATBLI

The partner organisation

The local organisation Association Chrétienne pour l'Alphabétisation et la Traduction de la Bible en Langue Ife (ACATBLI) operates in the Plateaux region of Togo and the provinces of Tchetti and Doumé in Benin. ACATBLI has been working in the field of informal education, language translation, gender equality and agriculture since the 1990s. The organization works among the Ife people who live in both Togo and Benin. Before the 1980s, the mother tongue of ife lacked a written language. ACATBLI has been involved in developing a written language together with international actors.

​

ALEF has collaborated with ACATBLI since 2010 and has jointly produced course material according to the ALEF method. In 2024, the textbook for the first level was revised.

 

The situation

The Ife people are a group of just over half a million, who live in small villages and towns on the savannahs of central Togo and in Benin. Their main city in Togo is the city of Atakpamé, which is located 160 km north of the capital Lomé on the Atlantic coast. In Benin, they live in the area around the small towns of Doumé and Tchetti.

​

More than half of all young people and adults among the Ife people have never been to school. They live by farming, but the soil is rocky and poor, and rain is often scarce. Poverty is widespread and many people are repeatedly affected by various diseases. Since the majority of adults in many villages have never been to school, it is not uncommon not to send children to school because they do not realise the value of having gone to school.

 

The courses

In year 1, you learn basic reading and writing in ife. They talk about common everyday challenges and make decisions about how to deal with them.

​

Year 2 focuses on how to use the four ways of counting in everyday life, while continuing with reading and writing. At this level basic French is introduced, which is the official language of Togo and Benin.

​

In the 3rd level, you read longer texts. You also learn to read and write in French, and to interpret various documents in French that you come across in everyday life, such as school certificates, birth certificates and medical records. The groups also learn modern farming methods and how to start and run an agricultural cooperative and/or a savings cooperative.

​

The impact

You can read more about the impact of the project under the tab "Impact" on this website.

​​​