ALE Country Profile
Mozambique
Country Information
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Background to ALE
The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for overseeing ALE in Mozambique. This ministry works closely with UNESCO, DVV International and other partners to develop and implement policies and programmes aimed at improving adult literacy and education. Some of the initiatives include developing a new curriculum for youth and adults, providing training for educators, and establishing learning centres in areas with limited access to education.
The main ministries and government departments working in the field of ALE include:
- Ministry of Education and Culture
- Ministry of Agricultural Environment and Fishing
- Ministry of State Administration and Public Function
- Ministry of Work, Gender and Social Action
- Ministry of Health
Adult literacy was one of the priorities post-independence in Mozambique. Since then, several national adult literacy campaigns have been carried out to mobilise the population for literacy related activities. The effects of the war and the economic crisis in the 1980s had a negative impact on admission to non-formal education and Adult Learning and Education (ALE). Non-governmental providers, such as associations, community groups and religious organisations provided some opportunities. The programmes undertaken by these organisations were on a small scale but sought to innovate in the provision of education services for women, youth and adults.
Policy framework
Since 2000, the country had no policy framework or strategy for the ALE sector but with support from DVV International and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a National Strategy for ALE was developed covering the period 2010-2015. However, its implementation was hampered by consistently low budget allocation. The Strategy was extended to 2018 to bring it into line with the National Education Strategy.
Mozambique set about developing a new Education Sector Strategy. A sector analysis was completed in April 2019, which informed the process. ALE is one section of this national strategy, as opposed to having a standalone framework as in the past. DVV International worked in partnership with all stakeholders to ensure that the ALE component of the strategy was responsive to the needs of the sector. It also took a leading role in supporting and lobbying for the inclusion of civil society voices from the ALE sector in the Strategy.
Mozambique's Adult Education Strategy reflected in the Education Sector Plan (2020-2029), prioritises literacy and skills development, including integrating skills with literacy and numeracy, and aims to boost education in communities through new learning centres.
The Government of Mozambique is passionate about reducing illiteracy among citizens. To achieve this, they are running various ALE-related programmes such as the Literacy Programme, Family without Illiteracy Programme, and deploying rural extensionists and community health workers. The country’s main focus is still on literacy and numeracy - provision of skills to learners to be able to read, write and make calculations.
The main challenge of the ALE system is lack of financial resources. 3% of the total budget of the Ministry of Education and Culture is allocated to the ALE sector and there is a need for increased allocation to combat the lack of training of ALE practitioners.
Some universities and academic institutions offer courses for diploma and master’s degrees, such as:
- Eduardo Mondlane University – Education Faculty
- Pedagogic University
These are two public institutions that offer courses for youth and adults in literacy and numeracy, as well as training trainers to work in the ALE sector. These academic institutions cooperate closely with the government for the promotion of ALE. They also participate actively in the ALE Team Working Group, Monitoring and Supervision of the sector and in Conducting ALE studies and trainings.
Civil Society actors such as DVV International, VSO , Progresso, Right to Play, OJOLISC, AJUCOM, APFM and AMODEC invest a lot of effort in ALE-related areas such as:
- Integrated Adult Education
- Financial Education
- Digital Literacy
- Faith-based Education
- Climate Change
- Agriculture
- Small Business and Savings
- Food and Nutrition
- Health
- Income generation
- Agri-business
- Community Development
- Women’s empowerment
Civil Society Organisations are organised under the umbrella of MEPT (Mozambican Coalition for Education for All) and are members of national ALE Working Group.
The private sector institutions are yet to come to the table in support of ALE. Advocacy is ongoing to convince them of the vital role that ALE plays in national development.
Please contact us if you find any mistakes on this page: info@mojaafrica.net
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