Literacy Support PDF  | Print |  E-mail

The Operation Upgrade literacy programme is designed to achieve social change through literacy and adult basic education. Adult educators are trained to teach mother tongue literacy, English as an additional language, and practical numeracy.  For literacy and language learning they use a problem-posing approach based on learner needs.  They use their own materials and materials from Operation Upgrade to do this.  

Themes in lessons can range from practical issues like cholera and water purification, clearing garbage from the streets in slums, opening a bank account, and using an automatic teller machine, to human rights issues around woman and child abuse, land ownership, how local government works, family health and nutrition, food security and running a class project to generate income. There are many themes.
 

HIV and AIDS and literacy learning

The educators in training on the HIV and AIDS course make a list of the AIDS topics they want to cover in literacy lessons.  Then in groups they plan lessons on the basis outlined above.  After the course they make their own lesson plans that incorporate some of the HIV/AIDS topics.

EMSENI Community Centre

We have set up a community centre in KwaNibela, called Emseni Community Centre. (“Emseni” means Place of Kindness.) We have built two large rondavels there, one to accommodate our staff and visitors, and one for storage.

The UNESCO Confucius Prize

“The UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy was awarded to Operation Upgrade of South Africa, for the “KwaNibela Project”, and continues the Organisation’s 40-year history of commitment and change.