[September 09, 2011] Adopt the Power of 'Reflect' for Adult Education Tweet Sep 09, 2011 (Public Agenda/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- A call has gone to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to adopt innovational practices like the REFLECT model which is a unique adult literacy and a social human development approach to quality literacy education. This has become imperative as the country strives towards the attainment of the goal of 'Education for All'. REFLECT, the acronym is for Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques. It was developed by ActionAid International. It enables beneficiaries to identify and plan literacy lessons without having to use primers and other predetermined reading materials which have to be produced every year at huge costs. The call was contained in a statement issued by Pamoja Ghana Reflect Network on the occasion of this year's United Nation's International Literacy Day. The day which is observed on September 8 each year seeks to draw global attention to the Power of literacy as a tool for personal empowerment and a means to total human development. The statement signed by Mrs. Millicent Akoto, National Coordinator for Pamoja Ghana Reflect Practitioners' Network, reiterated the position of UNESCO which sees literacy as a human right issue and at the heart of basic education for all, and as such very essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. It however acknowledges that literacy for all with regard to children, youth and adults is still an unaccomplished goal. UNESCO statistics indicate that one in five adults is still not literate and about two-thirds of them are women while 67.4 million children are out of school. It must be emphasized that literacy though essential, is very expensive in terms of cost. It therefore requires that innovational practices are adopted to ensure that quality literacy education is provided for the achievement of 'Education for All' and this is where Reflect becomes very important. Reflect uses Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools like maps, calendars, matrices and diagrams for discussions to identify communities' perceived needs while the participants develop literacy skills and work concurrently with other community members to address the needs so identified. Pamoja Ghana Reflect Network noted that apart from its cost effectiveness, the Reflect model can be easily adapted for all social development programmes in all fields including Social Work, Community Development, Community Health Education, Parenting, Research, Training and Facilitating both in the formal and informal sectors. Reflect is an innovative participatory tool that human resource managers and social development workers need for identification, analyzing and prioritization of needs. It allows for planning and evaluation of projects and programmes within all social sectors. This is what makes Reflect a very powerful tool and a process, which is very cost effective. It is for this reason that many African countries including Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Sierra Leone have adopted Reflect for adult literacy. Pamoja Ghana Reflect Network hopes in celebrating this year's UN International Literacy Day, the Government of Ghana will consider adopting this internationally proven tool and process for its numerous development agendas within the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, particularly for Districts Assembly projects and for Non-Formal Adult literacy education programmes in the country. In another development, Pamoja Ghana Reflect Network has lauded the spirit of volunteerism by some Ghanaians who are working tirelessly to improve the rate of literacy among their compatriots in deprived communities. In their quest to put smile on the face of people in such communities, these volunteers tend to sacrifice their careers in order to contribute to development programmes in their local communities. Pamoja Ghana Reflect Network, mentioned one such Ghanaian as Mr. Roland Kofi Mbui, a native of Saboba in the Northern Region of Ghana, who is currently the Executive Director of Rural Integrated Literacy and Development Programme(RILADEP). A statement released by Pamoja Ghana Reflect Network, stressed that on an auspicious day like the UN International Literacy Day, it is befitting to acknowledge the exploit of fellow citizens who are leading the crusade to improve literacy in deprived communities. The statement said Mr. Kofi Mbui, who is 36 years old with the burning desire to improve on the literacy rate in his community abandoned a promising career as Sales and Marketing Executive in the financial sector and relocated to his home area in 2008 to work with RILADEP an NGO into the Konkomba, literacy project and other developmental activities. One remarkable thing about Mr. Mbui's decision was that he was fully aware that RILADEP has virtually collapsed leaving only the security officer, driver, and cleaner and the entire community to their fate. But he was determined to revive it, because it was one organisation which has brought many Konkomba people to the limelight. Through Mr. Mbui's purposeful decision and with the support of Mary Steele and other well meaning citizens who are supporting in cash and in kind, RILADEP has acquired five motor bikes for its district supervisors and revived over seven hundred literacy classes across Ghana. It has also reprinted almost all the primers and story books for readers, printed ten thousand copies of Bibles and re-opened its library to the public. As the Executive Director of RILADEP, Mr. Mbui's main objectives are to sustain the impact of the project among the people and improve the financial base of the organisation through income generating activities. Mrs. Millicent Akoto, National Coordinator for Pamoja Ghana Reflect Practitioners' Network noted that RILADEP which is a member of the Network deserves commendation and a pat at the back on this UN International Literacy Day for its contribution to raise literacy standard in the northern Ghana and the country in general. Mrs. Akoto added that "building a project definitely requires money but exhibiting the spirit of volunteerism and dedication tend to make the difference, and this is exactly what Mr. Mbui has proven in his crusade to revive RILADEP. My name is Roland Kofi Mbui, a native of Saboba in the northern region of Ghana. Mbui Roland Mbui, had his basic and secondary school education in Saboba. In 1994 after the wake of the northern conflict involving Konkombas and three other ethnic groups, he found it difficult to access further education for lach of funds. After engaging in some menial jobs, he raised some money and left for Accra in 1995. He attended remedial classes to better his grades. In 1997, he enrolled in a private institution Academy of Business Administration to study Marketing, and later applied to the Institute of Professional Studies (I.P.S, Legon) in 2000, and studied for The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK. He has since worked with a number of organizations including the Finatrade Group of Companies, Kinaparma company in the pharmaceutical industry and Barclays Bank as a Direct Sales Agent. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]