Community participation and sustainability of functional adult literacy (fal) programme: a case of Busia district, Uganda

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to establish the relationship between Community Participation and Sustainability of Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programme in Busia District. The study was motivated by reports of high learner-instructor drop out rates as well as poor mobilization for the programme by local leaders which threatened sustainability of the FAL programme that had previously performed well. Specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of resource mobilization, community involvement in decision making and information sharing on Sustainability of this programme. The study was conducted in 5 rural Sub Counties and one Town Council in Busia District. During the study, 57 FAL instructors and 60 Adult Literacy learners were interviewed. A cross sectional descriptive research design was used and primary data was collected through interviews and observations. The socioeconomic data collected was analyzed both qualitatively (descriptive statistics) and quantitatively (Pearson Product Moment Correlation) using SPSS software. The study findings showed that fifty five (55%) of the adult learners contributed to the FAL program through provision of land for demonstration purposes, 3.3 percent constructed structures for FAL classes, 5 percent sold commodities from IGA projects, and 13.5% mobilized people in the community to join FAL classes. Resource mobilization for the FAL programme was mainly carried out through development of grant proposals, self-contributions, running small businesses among others. In addition, there was a significant positive relationship (p > 0.001) between community involvement in decision making and sustainability of FAL programme. Most of the Adult learners (54%) had attended meetings to discuss FAL programme issues for at least 4 times in 12 months. There was also a significant positive relationship (p > 0.001) between information sharing and sustainability of the programme which implied that information sharing improved the sustainability of FAL programme. While this study has bridged the information gap on how communities in Busia District enhanced sustainability of FAL programme, there is need to increase funding to the programme by both Government of Uganda and other stakeholders for its successful and sustained implementation, involve adult learners in the decision making processes, enhance information sharing and put in place strategies to provide FAL graduates with some forms of employment.