Literacy for Social Change

ProLiteracy’s international partner programs work on a range of community development projects—everything from digging clean water wells and overseeing reforestation projects to promoting human rights, starting health clinics, and forming business ventures. As program participants work on these projects, program staff incorporate reading, writing, and math lessons into discussions. We call this combination of literacy instruction with community development projects Literacy for Social Change.

ProLiteracy’s instruction manuals, the Literacy Solutions series, contain drawings of real-life situations that learners will encounter while working on their community projects. A list of questions related to these pictures is used to get participants talking about plans for accomplishing their projects. In the course of the discussions, key words and important ideas become the basis for literacy lessons.

ProLiteracy’s Literacy for Social Change focuses on six action areas:

Health
Medical facilities and services, as well as campaigns to prevent or treat disease

Economic Self-reliance
Micro-enterprise, micro-credit or agricultural projects, and improvements to community infrastructure

Environment
Projects that protect natural resources or alleviate the impact of environmental degradation

Education
Basic literacy or educational programs and schools for children or adults

Peace
Events that resolve conflict or increase understanding among disparate populations

Human Rights/Status of Women
Systematic efforts to advocate on behalf of human rights and to decrease abuse and exploitation of women