Julia Preece Lifelong Learning and Development A Southern Perspective

Lifelong Learning and Development
Also available in the Continuum Studies in Educational Research Series:
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Childhood and the Philosophy of Education Andrew Stables
Rethinking Citizenship Education Tristan McCowan
Citizenship Education in Japan Norio Ikeno
Learning Communities and Imagined Social Capital Jocey Quinn
Childrens Lives, Childrens Futures Paul Croll
Teaching Creativity Derek Pigrum
Lifelong Learning and
Development
A Southern Perspective
Julia Preece
Continuum Studies
in Educational Research
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Julia Preece 2009
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1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
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ISBN: 9781847062918 (hardcover)
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Preece, Julia.
Lifelong learning and development: a southern perspective/Julia Preece.
p. cm. -- (Continuum studies in educational research)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84706-291-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4411-4334-1 (e-book)
1. Adult education--Economic aspects--Developing countries.

2. Adult educationEconomic aspects--Southern Hemisphere. 3. Continuing
educationEconomic aspects--Developing countries. 4. Continuing
educationEconomic aspects--Southern Hemisphere. I. Title. II. Series.
LC5261.P74 2009
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I dedicate this book to my father Peter Preece. He probably
does not agree with one word of what I have written but
it is partly thanks to him that I made my first journey to
Africa some ten years ago, a continent that
has captured my heart.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
1. Introduction 1
2. Postcolonial perspectives 17
3. Historical and philosophical foundations for
lifelong learning: perspectives from the South 33
4. Development and lifelong learning 50
5. Globalization implications for lifelong learning in the South 67
6. Lifelong learning in the South in the digital age 84
7. Feminist perspectives on lifelong learning 101
8. Case studies Pakistan and India 117
9. Case studies Tanzania and Lesotho 135
10. Lifelong learning and development moving forward 153
Notes 164
References 165
Index 179
Foreword
In his recent publication Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent

World, physicist and philosopher David Peat (2008) puts a powerful but
compelling case for gentle action as a more effective, non-invasive way of
bringing about positive, engaged and sustainable change. Peat also high-
lights the many cases in which rigidity and failure to understand complexi-
ties have resulted in disastrous results from well-meaning interventions
from local to international levels.
This book on Lifelong Learning and Development evokes a similar case
for engaged social action without any pretensions to providing ultimate
solutions. Throughout the book, Julia Preece holds our hands and walks us
carefully through a complex array of standpoints: globalization, postcolo-
nial theory, African Renaissance, regional and international development
protocols, gender and feminist perspectives, African indigenous philoso-
phies and values, a critique of development, open and distance learning . . .
All in an effort to take us into the inside of a case she is determined to
make . . . which is a case for the social purpose of lifelong learning.
The book acknowledges that lifelong learning is not an easy topic, and
has, in many instances been quite an elusive one. Paradigmatic shifts and
switches between education and learning have often occurred when many
countries in the global South are still locked in higher and more complex
battles with the highly invasive, and still overwhelming presence of the west-
ern paradigm that continues to determine the apparatus for value-coding
in every capillary of their lives. Somewhere between the tensions in citizen-
ship as civic knowledge for electoral purposes, and effective, lived capability
to propose and demand action lies the critical intellect of this author
who presents us with this theoretical and conceptual critique of the core
discourses surrounding and shaping the lifelong learning discourse.
Doing this from the perspective of the global South no doubt posits its
own challenges at this point in time. In generational terms, the twenty-first
century is one in which the voice of human agency is emerging from the
x Foreword
margins, forcing into the mainstream both critical and constructive per-
spectives that are facilitating the gradual transformation of ethos, ethics
and practices. Strong development perspectives on the relationship between
the North and the South, between mainstream science systems and the
suppressed others, and a distinct tone of defiance and impatience begins
to ring out at the default drive in contemporary practices that endorsed
indifference as its core philosophy.
In many parts of the global South, there is an emerging realization that
new directions in the philosophy and sociology of development, of science,
and of intellectual practice today are emerging, not from the academia but
from questions raised by grassroots movements, making knowledge an
intrinsic part of democratic politics. It is within these emergent perspectives
that propositions for indigenous directed partnerships, an integrative para-
digm shift, and renegotiation of human agency are being articulated (see
Odora Hoppers 2008, Fatnowna and Pickett 2002, Prakash 1995).
This cannot make it easy for an academic whose blood identity is not
from Africa or the global South. The question then becomes, how does a
human being with a different origin enter an arena of evident marginaliza-
tion and participate fully in the project of human emancipation? To me,
the answer lies in Martin Luther King Jrs assertions that change does not
roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through struggle. Human
progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step towards the goals
of justice requires sacrifice and struggle, tireless exertions and passionate
concern of dedicated individuals. It is here that we find Preeces dedicated
commitment to stand on the side of the dispossessed, the subaltern, and
from there, invest in this profound exploration around the question of life-
long learning and development at this point in time.
She of course recognizes the impact that colonization and the inherent
violence of dispossession have had on peoples identities, cultures and life
experiences. But what she does is to posit this understanding against the
complexities of institutional structures, textual representations and power
relations that are responsible for reproducing that vicarious domination,
and that works to consistently make its true cruelty appear as benevolence
under the rubric and pretensions of development. How then can indige-
nous values, ways of knowing and seeing enter into the play in a manner
that can influence the contemporary moment?
The answer to this lies in undertaking a comprehensive and multifaceted
exploration in which both the structural and the personal, the philosophi-
cal and the pragmatic can be tossed into one stage, and made naked so that
the citizen can at last begin to understand their true dimensions. It is only
Foreword xi
when this mask is removed that authentic contemplation of the possibilities

can be undertaken.
Postcolonialism then becomes more than post-structuralism. It is simulta-
neously a political philosophy and a strategic project of re-historicizing the
lived worlds of the dispossessed millions and insertion of new texts, regis-
ters and discourses. In Julia Preeces ever conscientious and optimistic eyes,
contemporary positions are neither monolithic nor static. They are fluid
and ever changing. The challenge for lifelong learning in the global South,
is for it to not only recognize the degree to which education systems in the
former colonies are still dominated by ideologies, curricular orientations,
pedagogies and policies that are compliant with the colonial Metropole but
also to undertake systematic efforts to dislodge this default drive.
As she has stated, citing Audrey Lorde: The masters tools can never dis-
mantle the masters house. In this book, she has definitely made her choice.
Revitalization of the mind requires a revitalization of language as the path-
way to revitalizing thought and contributing to the ecology of mind in a dif-
ferent dispensation. This book on lifelong learning and development is an
exercise in precisely this!
Catherine Odora Hoppers
References
Fatnowna, S. and Pickett, H. (2002), The place of indigenous knowledge systems in
the post-postmodern integrative paradigm shift, in Odora Hoppers, C. (ed.),
Indigenous Knowledge and the Integration of Knowledge Systems: Towards a Philosophy of
Articulation. Claremont: New African Books Ltd., pp. 209236.
Odora Hoppers, C. A. (2008), Education, Culture and Society in a Globalizing World:
Implications for Comparative and International Education. Keynote address at the
British Association for International and Comparative Education annual confer-
ence on Internationalisation in Education: Culture, Context and Difference.
Kelvin Conference Centre, University of Glasgow. 46 September 2008.
Peat, D. (2008), Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World. Pari: Pari
Publications.
Prakash, G. (1995), Introduction: after colonialism, in Prakash, G. (ed.), After
Colonialism. Imperial Histories and Post-Colonial Displacements. New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, pp. 320.
Preface
My motive for writing this book derives from several different sources.
In 2003 Maria Torres wrote a powerful critique of the way lifelong learning
appears to be promoted as an educational discourse for the North (those
advanced industrialized countries that are commonly characterized as
OECD countries) while the educational discourse for the South (those
formerly colonized countries that are at the bottom of World Bank develop-
ment index league tables)1 is largely confined to basic education. The sec-
ond stimulus came from my reading of a text from the Southern African
Development Communitys Technical Committee on Lifelong Education
and Training. Its definition of lifelong learning seemed to offer a distinctive
perspective that I felt was missing in documents such as the European
Memorandum on Lifelong Learning. A further stimulus came from various
literatures related to the African Renaissance and traditional lifelong learn-
ing histories of continents like Africa and South Asia. These observations
were enhanced by reading the literature that documents ongoing tensions
between a broad, social purpose concept of lifelong learning and the nar-
rower skills-for-human-capital focus, manifested throughout academic and
policy documents in the North. Finally, while some of the social trends
that have prompted the lifelong learning agenda are identified as relevant
beyond the northern hemisphere (see, for instance, Youngman 2002),
there are a number of distinctive development issues that require more
focused and context specific attention to how lifelong learning should be
developed in different regions. Lifelong learning does exist in the South
and is constantly changing informally, but it needs to take different forms
to enable people to participate more effectively in their own and wider
societies. In recent years, there have been some efforts, largely through
UNESCO, to begin to formulate ideas about a lifelong learning policy
agenda for formerly colonized countries. This debate has been further
stimulated as we approach the preparation phases for the sixth Interna-
tional Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) to be organized
by UNESCO in May 2009.
xiv Preface
However, many of the publications related to countries classified in the

Human Development Index as developing have been criticized for not
providing a conceptual analysis of lifelong learning that is grounded in the-
oretical or philosophical underpinnings. This book is a response to those
concerns. It is based on my own perceptions that the spiritual and philo-
sophical traditions of some southern nations that embrace concepts such as
the collective and interconnectedness rather than individualism auger an
inherently different vision for lifelong learning. This vision may also reso-
nate with many writers in the global North. But it may be easier to capture
in societies whose philosophical heritage is grounded in a different history.
Perhaps there is potential to draw on this heritage to argue for a distinctive
perspective for lifelong learning that acknowledges the present realities of
globalization and development, but which also recognizes the influence of
pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial experiences on current identities.
In so doing, maybe a more relevant and self-sustaining vision for lifelong
learning can emerge.
In writing this book I must, however, acknowledge one obvious caveat.
I am a white European. Although I have now either lived or worked in Africa
since the year 2000, and listened to arguments and debates at international
conferences from the formerly colonized countries, I cannot pretend to
truly know or speak for the multitude of voices in the global South.
This book is an interpretation, an attempt to contextualize and theorize
some of the concerns and debates that are currently simmering among the
more marginalized populations. In the process of writing, I am conscious
that there are tensions between embracing indigenous philosophical world
views and the hybrid nature of the contemporary world that evoke many
contradictions and questions. I have tried to recognize these tensions, but
my focus is primarily on drawing attention to perspectives that are less
frequently acknowledged.
Finally, a point of semantics. Shorthand terms such as developing coun-
tries the global North and the global South, low income countries,
advanced industrialized countries all create their own hidden agendas
for meaning. In the absence of any universally agreed term for those coun-
tries which have been colonized and continue to be subjected to domi-
nance by international donor agencies I prefer to use the terms South and
North or West since these are the words that Maria Torres and others
from the South use most frequently. These terms have symbolic representa-
tion, rather than geographical accuracy. I use the term more in a political
sense to illustrate different perspectives and to highlight the need to rec-
ognize diversity and marginalization.
Acknowledgements
A book is never a single author endeavour. I would like to express my

gratitude to colleagues in the Department of Adult Education at the
National University of Lesotho for generously granting me time, during my
first year of appointment, to write most of the chapters. In particular I wish
to single out Manthoto Lephoto who kindly read each draft chapter in turn,
providing valuable feedback and encouragement.
Chapters 8 and 9 would have been impossible without the support of
particular individuals. First, Salma Maoulidi from Tanzania who so kindly
posted a range of literature that provided the basis for my analysis of the
Tanzanian context; and second Shaheen Attiq-ur Rahman from the NGO
Bunyad in Pakistan, along with her family and colleagues who shared with
me their time, humanity and resources in order to ensure I had a compre-
hensive understanding of this remarkable project.
My appreciation also goes to Shirley Walters of the University of the West-
ern Cape in South Africa and Stanley Mpofu of the University of Zimbabwe
who both so willingly agreed to read the full set of drafts before I made my
final manuscript submission. Any errors remaining are of my own making.
My special thanks goes to Catherine Odora Hoppers, a writing giant in
the area of indigenous knowledge and African perspectives, for so unwaver-
ingly agreeing to write the foreword for this book before she had even
started to read the chapters. That is trust indeed, and a great honour for me.
Lastly I wish to express my thanks to Anthony Hayes of the Professional
and Higher Partnership. Without his invitation to produce the book in
the first place, coupled with prompt feedback after every chapter, I doubt
I would ever have considered such an undertaking. It has been a rewarding
experience for me. I have learned a lot and very much enjoyed the writing
process.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Lifelong learning (LLL) has been acknowledged as a need and a principle for
education and learning systems worldwide, and is being actively embraced by the
North for its own societies. However, LLL remains an uneasy topic for national
governments in the South and for international cooperation agencies which con-
tinue to prescribe narrow basic education ceilings for poor countries.
Torres 2003:20
The essence of this book is to respond to the above concern, expressed by

Maria Torres in her study of the status and current trends in adult basic
education in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Adult educa-
tion is not the only aspect of lifelong learning, of course, but it is the locus
for much of the literature on this topic. In this opening chapter I outline
the context and discussion arenas in the South for lifelong learning. I start
by briefly summarizing how lifelong learning evolved in the North and
some of the semantic tensions surrounding ongoing debates. I then review
some lifelong learning discourses in the South, and the core concerns that
those debates highlight, including some key conferences where these issues
are discussed.
I critique the World Banks recently articulated agenda for lifelong learn-
ing and development vis--vis voices from the South that identify the need
to respect broader development challenges. In the last section I summarize
how the book will position its own agenda for lifelong learning through the
theoretical and conceptual positions of the ensuing chapters.
My core argument is that in spite of the influence of international aid
agencies for pursuing narrow, neo-liberal, market-focused goals for lifelong
learning, it should be possible for countries in the South to articulate a
coherent vision for their own learning societies that embrace indigenous
philosophical world views, but in a way that also recognizes the hybrid
nature of the contemporary world. In so doing, perhaps countries in the
2 Lifelong Learning and Development
South can have a voice on the world stage that contributes to both theoriz-
ing and operationalizing lifelong learning for all.
Lifelong learning in the North
The conceptualization and operationalization of lifelong learning has

evolved over a number of decades. Literature from Europe claims a long
pedigree of ownership over the concept itself, dating back to a British pol-
icy document for adult education by the Ministry of Reconstruction in 1919,
where education was identified as a necessarily continuing aspect of life.
Two key texts, among others, are often cited, starting with Lindeman in
1926 and Yeaxlee in 1929 as being the first people to write about learning
for life. More recently two UNESCO commissioned reports: Faure et al.s
(1972) Learning to Be (with a focus on lifelong education for both devel-
oped and developing countries p. 182) and the DeLors (1996) Report
Learning the Treasure Within (denoting the conceptual transition to lifelong
learning) are seen as instrumental to progressing this topic during the
latter part of the twentieth century. These reports are still cited globally
in defence of a broad vision for lifelong and life-wide learning on the
grounds of equity and quality of life (see Medel-Aonuevo 2001 for exam-
ple, in relation to South Asia, and 2006 in relation to Africa). The reports
denote learning that takes place from cradle to grave and that occurs across
the whole spectrum of life experiences, encapsulated in the De Lors Report
concepts: learning to be, to do, to know and to live together.
These documents advocate lifelong learning for both developed and
developing countries. However, Medel-Aonuevo (2006) points out that
while the nineties saw a re-emergence of lifelong learning discourses in the
North they coincided with a UNESCO world conference Education for All
in Jomtien in 1990. This conference introduced a range of goals which
came to be known as the EFA goals. They followed the principles of lifelong
learning by identifying targets for early childhood education, universal pri-
mary education, life skills, literacy and gender equality. However, since
many of the targets specifically related to countries receiving international
development aid, EFA became the discourse for the South, while lifelong
learning was adopted as the discourse for the North. This chapter will refer
later to this phenomenon in its analysis of some key conferences.
The impetus for these UNESCO documents holds true today. They were
based on an identified need for continuous learning to equip people with
the resources to deal with a fast changing and uncertain world: the need to
Introduction 3
update skills, knowledge and understanding in response to changing labour

markets, new technologies and the increasing economic competitiveness of
this globalized world. The UNESCO publications followed a broadly social
agenda designed to embrace equity and capture the notion of all kinds of
learning for all ages and beyond formal provision, for economic growth
and social development. Lifelong learning would be a key instrument for
developing a learning society which would embrace new forms of learning
and ways to formally recognize that learning.
Documents from the Organisation for Economic Community Develop-
ment (OECD) during the 1970s, (for example OECD 1973) however, pro-
moted the term recurrent education in support of economic growth and
particularly the preparation of workers through on-the-job training and the
idea of full-time education in later life, though by 1996 the OECD was also
using the term lifelong learning.
When the European Memorandum for Lifelong Learning came onto the
scene in 2000, lifelong learning and its dual relationship to citizenship and
employment were synergistically combined. The definition in 2000 was as
follows:
[A]ll purposeful activity, undertaken on an ongoing basis with the aim of

improving knowledge, skill and competence . . . To adjust to the demands
of social and economic change and to participate actively in the shaping
of Europes future. (Commission of the European Communities (CEC)
2000:3)
The two purposes are promoting active citizenship and promoting

employability (p.5). Moreover: high quality basic education for all, from
a childs youngest days forward is the essential foundation (p.7). But in
spite of the purported dual thrust of page five, page seven elaborates:
Basic education, followed by initial vocational education and training,

should equip all young people with the new basic skills required in a
knowledge-based economy. It should also ensure that they have learnt to
learn and that they have a positive attitude to learning.
The overall emphasis of the Memorandum is strictly European, and in

a competitive economic relationship to other strong economies. As a result
of this memorandum, all members of the European Union were required
to produce their own national policy documents. In the United Kingdom
responsibility for lifelong learning was located in the Ministries of Trade
and Industry and Education and Employment, thus politically embedding

learning in the context of productivity. Although not all European docu-
ments shared precisely the same vision for lifelong learning there were
indications that economic competitiveness was the main driver for policy
agendas.
The semantic shift over the years from education to learning implicitly
put responsibility for acquiring skills, knowledge and understanding onto
the individual rather than the provider, and suggested a move away from
the traditionally linear teacherstudent relationship. This shift also opened
up the notion that learning could take place anywhere, any time, anyhow
and that the emergence of learning societies and learning organizations
would create different learning relationships between educators, trainers,
learners and providers (Edwards et al. 1998). On an academic note Jarvis
(1998) points out that while education is a public phenomenon, learning
is done privately and happens all the time; as such one cannot technically
legislate for learning. Nevertheless some features of how lifelong learning
policies in the North have changed the way education and learning are
made available can be seen in the policy vocabulary of transferable credit,
credit accumulation, national qualifications frameworks, learning centres,
Open and Distance Learning (ODL), learning pathways, learners as
consumers. Recognition of, and the experience of, learning is no longer
confined to the documented outcomes from formal institutions. We are all
part of a learning society now.
There are several critiques surrounding this evolution. M. Young (2003)
is concerned with observations that the link between national qualification
frameworks and learning quality is unproven; King (2006, 2007) points out
that the word skills covers an enormous variety of learning outcomes with
no real evidence as to what the skills really achieve or how transferable they
are to different contexts. Griffin (2002, 2006) argues that the discourses for
learning and learning societies have been articulated as political manipula-
tions to reduce state responsibility for educational provision; and, of course,
there is the inherent tension in advocating learning for competitiveness
while at the same time espousing the goal of equality, highlighted particu-
larly by Welton (2005).
The meanings behind all these concepts are fluid, however. Coffields
(2000) two volume edited collection explores ten different models for life-
long learning and learning societies.
On the one hand, the most dominant, skills growth model is concerned
with creating a more flexible, accredited and multi-skilled labour force in
order to enhance economic performance. On the other hand personal
Introduction 5
development and social learning models are more popular with adult
educators. The latter model, in particular, focuses on encouraging individ-
uals to participate in social life for the common good. This is also a feature
of policy debate for lifelong learning, often manifested as social capital2
and as a way of promoting neighbourhood renewal and social cohesion.
However, social capitals interpretation and application in relation to life-
long learning is hotly contested and used by both neo-liberals and transfor-
mationalists alike. This has implications for using the idea as a form of
social control in development terms.
Closely allied to social capital is the interest in lifelong learning for
active citizenship. Again, there are several perspectives on how active citi-
zenship should be interpreted. On the one hand a simplistic vision of civics
knowledge and understanding about voter rights might be the preferred
option of government policy; on the other hand many advocate a more
empowering, critical citizenship focus that would enhance peoples under-
standing of and ability to participate in decision making about their lives.3
All these discussions also take place in academic and policy fora in the
South, as evidenced by the Cape Town conference Lifelong Learning, Higher
Education and Active Citizenship in 2000 at the University of the Western Cape
and reported in the International Journal of Lifelong Education.
In spite of these tensions and continued academic arguments for a
broader social vision for lifelong learning, especially in relation to adult
education and learning, a scan of current policy documents in industry-
focused countries suggests that the narrower, vocationalist, skills agenda
for employability is winning the day. Concerns about unemployment and
economic downturns may even turn a government agenda quite sharply
from its traditional approaches to, and philosophies about, learning, as
is evidenced in Japan (Okamoto 2001).
The above is a simplistic rundown of some of the core debates in litera-
ture emanating mostly from the North. However, the ideas are all subject to
critique about what exactly is meant by the different users of words such as
employability, skills, learning societies, citizenship and so forth.
This book is not going to repeat these arguments and discussions since
they have already been well covered.4 The above summary serves as a back-
drop, however, to the issues that I want to focus on. These are that the domi-
nant agenda of the North appears to be premised on an assumption
that the South has nothing to contribute to the lifelong learning debate.
Furthermore it seems that largely economistic interpretations of the devel-
opment needs of the South are influencing international aid agendas for
how learning should be construed and for whom it should be provided.
Finally, it will be argued later in this book that the Norths philosophical
heritage and historical past is different from some of the philosophical tra-
ditions and historical experiences of continents like Africa and South Asia.
These traditions and histories may have implications for how lifelong learn-
ing is interpreted or developed in the latters countries, while recognizing
that they must also be contextualized within the contemporary world.
The mission of this book has two goals. I want to argue, first, that it is
important to influence the current uncritical assumptions about lifelong
learning that the North might bring to bear on the South. Second, the
contribution of southern contexts and debates to wider discussions has
the potential to influence a more global vision for lifelong learning that
embraces all circumstances and situations.
Indeed the debate starts with a quote from Torres (2003:34) who expands
on the four pillars of the 1996 Delors Report:
Learning to be, to know, to do and to live together is not enough. Learn-

ing to adapt to change is not enough. Learning to change, to proactively
direct or re-direct change for human well-being and development,
remains a critical challenge and the mission of education and learning
systems, especially in todays highly inequitable world.
In the case of Africa, its recent political representation through the

African Union, and promotion of the New Partnership for Africas Develop-
ment (NEPAD) as a contribution to cultural revivalism, perhaps signifies an
opportunity to respond to this call to proactively direct change.
The remainder of this chapter looks at some of the lifelong learning dis-
cussions taking place in or with the South. Ensuing chapters expand these
debates by exploring postcolonial frameworks for analysis, philosophical
and historical contexts, contemporary debates on development and glo-
balization, issues to do with gender, the digital divide and its impact on
modes of learning.
Lifelong learning in the South
The lifelong learning development context for countries in the South has
been cited as not so different from that of the rest of the world (Youngman
1998). However, the emphasis and priorities for some of the challenges
to be addressed influence where people put their energies. Issues include
large-scale poverty especially in rural areas, unemployment, famine, conflicts,
Introduction 7
illiteracy, poor access to basic health and other services, the highest inci-
dences of HIV infections in the world, as well as concerns for democracy,
gender inequalities, environmental degradation, conflict zones, low pro-
ductivity, access to, and drop-out rates from, school.5 While these challenges
are not confined solely to the South, they represent the basis for develop-
ment aid and frame their lifelong learning needs. They dominate and
submerge more positive features of life in the South and ignore context-
specific agendas. Moreover continents like Africa and South Asia are only
conditionally in control of their own development. Their power relation-
ship with the dominant agendas of the North is contingent and subordi-
nate, particularly in terms of policy and expenditure for education. So
claims from these countries that lifelong learning existed through tradi-
tional education structures long before colonialism (see Chapter 3, for
example) are seldom recognized by external funders.
Palepu (2001) discusses how disjunctions between grass-roots concerns
(including those that connect with traditional values and knowledge sys-
tems), and donor attempts to transfer western models to the recipient
countries tend to minimize rather than enhance lifelong learning opportu-
nities. Torres (2003:144) points out that even the educational language of
international development agencies for countries in the South has the
effect of predetermining how policy agendas are formulated. The effect is
to create an educational ceiling for countries in the South:
Goals formulated in terms of universal primary education, improving

the quality of education, reducing illiteracy rates, reducing school rep-
etition, reducing school drop out or preventing school failure activate
very different mindsets, policies and expectations than goals formulated
as universal basic education, literacy for all, improving the quality of
learning, ensuring retention in school, ensuring school success and
striving towards lifelong learning for all.
Medel-Aonuevo (2001:15), in support of this argument, challenges min-

imalist expectations for learners in the South: The focus on the learner
should not unduly lead to a narrow view of individuals needing to learn
so that they should survive. She points out that the issue of survival has
wider implications, so that basic skills learning should be matched by a dis-
cussion on social, political and economic structural changes that have to be
addressed.
Similarly the concept of literacy is often misunderstood both in relation
to lifelong learning, basic learning needs and in relation to its contribution
to poverty reduction. Literacy is no longer defined simply in terms of the

ability to read, write or count. The organization Balid (2007:7) summarizes
three main approaches to literacy. The functional approach is most closely
associated with a focus on economic issues and benefits, in other words
helping people acquire sufficient skills to enhance their income generation
abilities. This is the model followed by most government agencies. The
transformative approach is concerned with consciousness raising and social
transformation, while the socio-culturally situated approach recognizes
there are many literacies which are embedded in the learners immediate
environment. Literacy initiatives build on those pre-existing practices. The
most common practical element of both the transformative and socio-
culturally situated models is what is known as the REFLECT6 method. This
draws on the work of the Brazilian activist and educator Paulo Freire who
coined the term conscientisation (an approach that encourages collective
reflection, awareness raising and action to challenge injustices).
REFLECT methods aim to help learners critique their circumstances with
a view to identifying and solving problems for themselves, thus enabling
them to have ownership over their own learning and motivation to go on
learning. Archer (2005) defines a number of benchmarks to evaluate liter-
acy in terms of its broader development goals. These include: to boost live-
lihoods, improve incomes, protect the environment, deliver clean water,
fight killer diseases, promote civic participation and democracy, reduce the
spread of HIV/AIDS (p.2). He emphasises that literacy should be seen as
a continuous process that requires sustained learning and application (p.3).
Acquisition of literacy, does not necessarily, in itself, lead to lifelong
learning, but it is a fundamental component of lifelong learning where
continued and progressive opportunities for relevant post-literacy activities
are provided. Indeed, Torres (2003) includes in the list of todays basic
learning and literacy needs the practical skills of using a computer and
searching for information on the internet, as well as acquiring wider social
skills such as tolerance, responsiveness to change, critical thinking and
problem solving skills.
National responses outside Europe and North America to the above
demands and contradictions, in terms of lifelong learning policy agendas,
have been uneven. Singh (2002) identifies legislation relating to lifelong
learning in Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia, although
it is inconsistent in its approach and not necessarily grounded in a concep-
tual basis for lifelong learning.
In some cases adult education policies simply claim that adult education
is a core feature of lifelong learning. Okech (2004) highlights that Ugandas
Introduction 9
Education Policy White Paper uses lifelong education interchangeably

with continuing and further education. Ethiopias Adult Education Policy
(Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 2006) places adult education in
a lifelong learning orientation. Other education policies argue that early
years education and non-formal education are the foundations for lifelong
learning, as in Lesothos Education Sector Strategic Plan (Government
of Lesotho (GOL) 2005). Lifelong learning, if it is defined, is usually in
general terms, such as in the Namibian National Policy on Adult Learning
(Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture 2003):
Adult learning is part of the wider concept of lifelong learning, which

refers to all learning activities undertaken throughout life, in many differ-
ent venues. The concept covers the continuum of early childhood devel-
opment, primary and secondary school, higher education, vocational
training and adult learning. It provides the basis for comprehensive poli-
cies for the development of education and training systems. (p.3)
Nafukho et al. (2005) support this broad, holistic approach to lifelong

learning as development and also highlight the need to consider lifelong
learning in formal, non-formal and informal types of learning, especially
since school is no guarantor of initial education in many countries.
However, perhaps more significant is the Southern African Development
Communitys (SADC) Technical Committee on Lifelong Education and
Training, formed in 1994.
This committee produced its own definition of lifelong learning:
A key purpose of lifelong learning is democratic citizenship, connecting

individuals and groups to the structures of political and economic activity
in both local and global contexts. (cited in Aitcheson 2003:165)
The Technical Committee was concerned with positioning Southern Africa

within the globalized world, not just its own region. It also recognized the
absence of basic education as a guaranteed foundation for lifelong learning
across many parts of the region. The definition would therefore have to
cover the whole spectrum of basic education, secondary education, higher
education, out-of-school education, adult education and skills develop-
ment as well as providing the foundations for lifelong learning through
literacy and adult basic education (p.164).
The differences in this definition from the European Memorandum
are ones of priorities and intention. Democratic citizenship is now at the
forefront; individuals and groups are included in the target audience; finally,
people are to be connected to local and global contexts. In many ways this is
a more visionary and inclusive understanding of lifelong learning than the
one provided for Europe. It is less individualistic, less possessive and more
interested in connections than competition. In my paper titled Beyond
the learning society: the learning world? (Preece 2006) I argued that
these interpretations could also be seen to reflect the social situatedness of
Africa as standing in a different world view from countries in the North.
The philosophical world views of Africa (and indeed South Asia see
Pattanayak 1980 for instance) are more likely to have a spirituality element
(as discussed in Chapter 3) and emphasize connectedness rather than indi-
vidualism, and to include an interest in the transmission of cultural values
as part of learning society and lifelong learning. These value systems are
discussed in more detail in Chapter 3, as is the historical context for tradi-
tional approaches to lifelong learning. These observations do not mean
that there is complete resistance within Africa to global influences, indeed
there is evidence to the contrary in the behaviours and attitudes of younger
generations (Preece and Mosweunyane 2004), but they do suggest that
countries in the South would like to be a mutual player in the wider world
in a way that might complement and balance the dominant trends.
Unlike the European Memorandum this particular SADC definition was
not embedded in a political framework. It has not, for instance, signifi-
cantly influenced the South African Governments predominantly instru-
mentalist lifelong learning focus and the committee itself has now ceased to
operate because of a financial crisis. The above literature provides a starting
point for envisioning a southern vision for lifelong learning that reflects
debates emanating from a range of conferences in this part of the world.
Key conferences in the South
Lifelong education, and lifelong learning, have been the subject of confer-
ence discussions in Africa and South Asia since the 1970s. Many of the con-
ferences have been organized by UNESCO and usually have an adult or
higher education focus.
The struggle to articulate a balanced vision to embrace both vocational-
ism and human development was already being articulated in 1975, in
Nairobi. This was at a UNESCO sponsored seminar on the structure of
adult education in developing countries where the final report highlighted
that lifelong education should have an overall goal of improvement in the
Introduction 11
quality of life at individual and group levels (p.6) and that it should not
be narrowly interpreted as referring only either to national or strictly eco-
nomic needs but also for individual growth (UNESCO 1975:23).
It is worth detailing here the plethora of conferences that have mush-
roomed since the 1990s. They represent a growing interest among coun-
tries in the South in a concept of lifelong learning that both recognizes
diverse value systems and attempts to place formerly colonized nations on
an equal dialogue with their colonizers.
As has been stated earlier, the 1990 World Conference on Education
for All (EFA) in Jomtien, Thailand set the scene for what was to prove
a North-South divide in terms of lifelong visions and targets. At the time
it was a milestone in international dialogue on education for development.
It was premised on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asserting
the right to education for all and was, in part, a response to the setbacks
of the 1980s where many countries in receipt of development aid had been
forced to reduce public expenditure on education as a result of imposed
structural adjustment policies. The consequence of those policies was a
massive deterioration in education provision with consequent increases in
poverty and illiteracy among other inequalities. The outcome of the 1990
conference was a World Declaration on Education for All and a Framework
for Action to meet Basic Learning Needs, with six targets to reach by the
year 2000. Article 1.4 of the declaration placed basic learning needs firmly
within a lifelong learning framework: basic education is more than an end
in itself. It is the foundation for lifelong learning and human development
on which countries may build, systematically, further levels and types of
education and training (UNESCO 1990:34).
The Jomtien EFA targets were reaffirmed at the next EFA World Educa-
tion Forum in Dakar, 2000. Since the targets had not been met, the Jomtien
agreement was replaced by the Dakar Framework for Action and once more
the education goals were framed within a lifelong learning context, refer-
ring to the De Lors (1996) concept of learning to know, to do, to live
together and to be with a renewed EFA achievement target of 2015. The
goals themselves included early childhood care, access to free and compul-
sory primary education, meeting the learning needs of all young people
and adults with appropriate learning and life skills programmes, improving
levels of adult literacy, eliminating gender disparities and improving the
quality of education. Learning would include participation of civil society,
accountability, programmes to promote peace, understanding, tolerance,
prevention of violence and conflict, gender equality practices, action to com-
bat HIV/AIDS, harnessing new Information Communication Technologies
(ICTs), improving the status and professionalism of teachers and learning

environments (UNESCO 2000).
Prior to this, in 1997, UNESCO organized its fifth conference on adult
education, CONFINTEA V, which resulted in a Hamburg Declaration and
Agenda for Action. Again adult education was contextualized in the life-
long learning discourse of the: right to education and the right to learn
throughout life . . . requiring each and every individual to continue renew-
ing knowledge and skills throughout the whole of his or her life (p.4),
and requiring all societies to take responsibility to create opportunities
for lifelong learning, with provision for recognition and accreditation
(UNESCO 1997:3). The lifelong learning agenda continued to be wide
ranging, with reference to democracy, quality, right to literacy and basic
education, gender equality, the world of work, environment, health and
population, culture, media and ICTs, rights of different groups, economics
and international cooperation.
This was followed by a UNESCO world Conference on Higher Education
in 1998 at the University of Mumbai, India entitled Lifelong Learning,
Active Citizenship and the Reform of Higher Education, specifically relating to
a CONFINTEA working group on Adult Education and Universities. The
conference produced the Mumbai Statement on Lifelong Learning, Active
Citizenship and the Reform of Higher Education, once more framing life-
long learning within a broad framework:
We see a key purpose of lifelong learning as democratic citizenship,

recognising that democratic citizenship depends on such factors as
effective economic development, attention to the demands of the least
powerful in our societies, and on the impact of industrial processes on
the caring capacity of our common home, the planet. (UNESCO 1998:
item 3)
In the same year the Conference of Ministries of Education for African

Member States (MINEDAF) held their own conference in Durban on
Lifelong Education in Africa: Prospects for the 21st Century. The Durban State-
ment of Commitment placed Africa firmly in the frame for lifelong as
opposed to basic education: We commit ourselves to an expanded role
for education which should be a lifelong process, a continuum which tran-
scends schooling systems and which focuses on the building of a learning
society (UNESCO 1998a:4).
Wider economic agendas, however, stimulated by increasing globaliza-
tion and the growth of economic competitiveness in the North were being
Introduction 13
offset by growing concerns about poverty in the South. So, while in 2000 the
Commission of European Communities produced their Memorandum
for Lifelong Learning with a view to enhancing Europes economic growth,
the United Nations Millennium Summit of 2000 formulated eight interna-
tional development targets which became known as the Millennium Devel-
opment Goals (MDGs). These were signed up to by the World Bank, the
IMF, Heads of State and other international development agencies. The
MDGs deflected attention away from the broader EFA targets of countries
classified as developing. Education goals were reduced and sealed the
shift in international aid to what has been criticized as a narrow educa-
tional focus on universal primary education.
Although subsequent conferences followed in the South (such as the
2001 Beijing International Conference on Lifelong Learning: Global Perspectives in
Education and the 2002 SADC conference on Adult Basic and Literacy Educa-
tion in Peitermaritzburg, the 2002 UNESCO and MINEDAF conference in
2002 on Issues and Strategies for the Promotion of Adult Education in the Context
of Lifelong Learning, and the CONFINTEA V Mid Term Review in 2003), it
has been difficult for the participating countries to re-insert themselves into
the dominant, instrumentalist lifelong learning discourses. This may be
because the key players have been adult educators; it may be that the adult
education interest in a broader and more humanistic agenda has failed to
capture the interest of economistic discourses (framed as poverty in the
South and economic competitiveness in the North); it may be that the adult
education discourse has never been able to give itself a distinctive enough
identity for policy makers to be willing to compartmentalize its multifarious
agendas. It may be that adult education is too empowering:
Promoting lifelong learning in Africa entails the creation of literate soci-

eties, the valuing of local knowledge, talent and wisdom, the promotion
of learning through formal and non-formal education, and taking the
best advantage of the new information and communication technologies
and the dividends of globalization (UNESCO and MINEDAF 2002:1).
In the lead up to CONFINTEA VI Education Ministries are being asked

to prepare reports on their countrys current state of the art in relation to
adult learning and education. Within the CONFINTEA guidelines only
fleeting reference is made to lifelong learning and the learning society,
though it is emphasized that adult education and learning should be a con-
tinuous process. The case for a more global vision for lifelong learning has
yet to be made substantively. This book hopes to contribute to that case.
Other visions for lifelong learning and development
In spite of the fragmentary nature of initiatives to date, there is growing

evidence, as Chapters 8 and 9 elaborate, that governments beyond Europe
and North America are generating a renewed interest in the application of
lifelong learning to education policies. Its usage is uneven and not clearly
defined. This lack of clarity has provided the World Bank with a window
of opportunity to position itself to: articulate a comprehensive strategy
for education and the knowledge economy. That strategy will then need to
be translated into concrete operations in specific countries (2003:109).
The specific countries, of course, will be those in need of development aid.
Lifelong learning, if left to the World Bank will be reduced to a narrowly
economistic base:
Lifelong learning from early childhood to retirement is education for

the knowledge economy and it is as crucial in transition and developing
economies as it is in the developed world. (2003: backcover)
For the World Bank document economic sustainability is the starting

point not human rights. There is little discussion of the notion of lifelong
learning itself and barely a reference to adult education literature. Fleeting
reference is made on page four to the value of social capital for improving
education and health outcomes, increasing tolerance and equity and the
decrease of crime and tax evasion (!). Moreover technology is seen as
the panacea to lifelong learnings underdevelopment: Once the internet is
available to learners in all countries, learners will no longer be at the mercy
of poorly qualified teachers (p.41), even though this particular approach
has been challenged as inappropriate and unrealistic for the felt needs of
many rural communities in Africa (for example, Shaba 2008).
The main World Bank focus is on acquisition of skills technical, leader-
ship, communication, maths, science, methodological and analytical (p.22).
These concepts contrast sharply with the range of lifelong learning needs
identified by other writers. Hoppers (1996) for instance advocates that edu-
cation should address: peace building, the role of civil society, community
involvement, womens participation in politics and human rights issues and
conflict management, social justice, world complexities and sustainable
development, as well as economic growth. Torres (2003:134) provides a life-
long learning agenda as follows:
Children, youth and adults must learn to survive and preserve their own
health, to work, to produce and to earn a decent living; to develop their
Introduction 15
full physical, intellectual and emotional potential; to organize, enjoy and

nurture a healthy family; to communicate with others orally, in writing
and through other means; to participate in the local and the broader
society; to protect nature; to engage in personal and social change and
development; to be aware of their rights and obligations; to make
informed and responsible decisions; to share and to be useful to others;
to be aware of differences and to respect them in all spheres (age, gender,
culture, language, religion, ideology); to have a dialogue, to argue and to
negotiate, to deal with conflict, to search for and to discriminate informa-
tion; to direct change and to adapt to change; to take advantage of all
education and learning opportunities and means; to enjoy learning, to
learn with and from each other, and to continue learning.
While such an agenda could arguably be relevant to all nations its broad
purpose and perspective for lifelong learning is essential in contexts of con-
flict, exploitation, ethnic tensions, extreme poverty, poor access to basic
necessities, services and social security nets. When those same nations also
possess unexploited riches of indigenous knowledge, cultural, spiritual and
social values it is important to find ways of harnessing the best of what is
already in existence in order to build on and support positive social, as well
as economic, growth.
It is perhaps inevitable that the World Bank agenda will want to promote
neo-liberal policies and to focus on the cost of lifelong learning. But the
danger of this agenda that is also framed within a discourse of equity
and development means that other voices are silenced and delegitimized.
Governments that rely on international aid to promote their agendas for
future growth and social cohesion must tailor their plans to the dictates of
external agencies who demand an uncritical transfer of their own agendas.
This book hopes to provide a theoretical and conceptual critique of some
of the development discourses related to lifelong learning and frame those
critiques in historical and philosophical perspectives that have particular
resonance for formerly colonized countries in the South, with a view to
encouraging a relevant but contemporary vision for lifelong learning and
development.
Chapter 2 introduces postcolonialism as a critical theory for framing
lifelong learning debates. Issues of uncritical international transfer and
the importance of context in relations between the North and South will
introduce Chapter 3 which looks at philosophies and traditional values for
lifelong learning emanating from Africa and South Asia, drawing on the
ideologies of Nyerere and Gandhi, examples of indigenous knowledge
practices and expressions of lifelong learning through proverbs and folk
tales. Traditional structures and values, the impact of colonialism and the
postcolonial period will introduce new revivalisms such as the African Ren-
aissance, its expression through NEPAD and critiques of that. Chapter 4
critiques related discourses of development from postcolonial perspectives
while Chapter 5 explores globalization in southern contexts, looking at the
role of social capital, interpretations of social justice and the implications of
these interpretations for lifelong learning. Chapter 6 deals with current
trends for ODL and the implications of this with regard to the digital divide
with reference to some current initiatives in low-and middle income coun-
tries. Chapter 7 addresses global feminist concerns about lifelong learning,
with a particular reflection on southern feminist perspectives. Chapters 8
and 9 critically analyse case studies of lifelong learning policy and practice
from Africa and South Asia in the context of the earlier chapters on postco-
lonialism, development, globalization and gender. Finally Chapter 10 draws
some conclusions and suggests policy implications for lifelong learning that
take account of the reflections across the book.
Concluding summary
This chapter has argued that it is time for formerly colonized countries
in the South to contribute to a global vision for lifelong learning. This is
argued for two reasons. On the one hand southern perspectives may con-
tribute to strengthening the human and social development core values
for lifelong learning that are often hidden in contemporary neo-liberal
discourses. On the other hand the wide ranging socio-political democratic
challenges in many such countries require more than an economistic vision
for learning. An agenda which embraces indigenous values but also frames
lifelong learning in a context that interfaces with unequal starting points
for initial education is essential if countries in the South are to have the
opportunity to develop a level playing field with other parts of the world.
This book addresses some key issues to do with historical and philoso-
phical world views, postcolonial critiques of globalization, technology and
development and pays attention to issues of gender. Case studies from
Africa and South Asia are analysed from these frameworks with a view to
producing some policy recommendations.
Chapter 2
Postcolonial perspectives
Introduction
In Chapter 1 I argued that the lifelong learning literature is dominated by

both policy and academic perspectives from the North. Furthermore there
is a dearth of theoretical and conceptual analysis of lifelong learning that
elaborates on distinctive philosophical world views of people in the South,
particularly among formerly colonized nations. The absence of such litera-
ture means that the needs of the South are disregarded in most contempo-
rary lifelong learning discourses. Even when individual African writers,
such as Omolewa (2002), argue that their countries have their own historical
tradition of lifelong learning, these traditions have been either trivialized or
ignored in the history of education that is written by dominant voices in the
North (Mulenga 2001).
The South represented primarily by formerly colonized nations who
continue to receive development aid from their former colonizers is
therefore in a weak position to influence the dominant literature on educa-
tion-related issues. This is partly because their voices or not heard or their
texts are made invisible, and partly because such nations are already con-
strained by conditional aid agendas; their unequal power relationship
with their former colonial masters means that country policies which
depend on external financial support are often heavily compromised
often to the extent that externally influenced policy agendas insufficiently
address context-specific socio-cultural, political and environmental concerns
(though government policies do not necessarily reflect peoples behaviour,
of course).
There are now signs that lifelong learning agendas for the South may
also be determined externally, using rationales derived from western world
views. Influential organizations such as the World Bank and the UK Depart-
ment for International Development (DFID), operate within a neo-liberal,
capitalist and market-driven rationale that is more likely to serve the inter-
ests of northern economies than the broader interests of their beneficiar-
ies. We already see evidence of this in, for example, the recent World Bank
document on lifelong learning.
So for countries in the South to challenge dominant perceptions, we
need an explanatory theoretical framework that makes sense of their par-
ticular historical context. This includes re-narrating the experience of colo-
nization, from the viewpoint of the colonized, and the implications that has
had for current development issues in relation to lifelong learning. It means
recognizing the impact that colonization had on peoples identities, cul-
tures, their claims to indigenous knowledge, their experiences of racism
and the ongoing effects of a relationship that was built on oppression and
violation of basic human dignity. This includes understanding the institu-
tional structures, textual representations and power relations that enabled
domination to operate so effectively under a banner of benevolence, mani-
fested through discourses of development. At the same time indigenous
values, traditions and practices need to be repositioned in a way that can
influence the present. This also means recognizing that the precolonial
past cannot, and should not, be recreated in any pure sense since the con-
temporary world is, to a greater or lesser extent, a hybrid of globalized rela-
tionships. Nevertheless we need to understand how to identify the structures
that created inequalities in the past in order to discover how we may poten-
tially be change agents in our future destinies.
This chapter, therefore, offers a theoretical framework that can provide a
way of critiquing dominant discursive strategies for lifelong learning, while
at the same time creating space for alternative voices. The goal is to make
visible what has previously been made invisible. It is a perspective that has
been adopted by many writers wishing to re-narrativize and challenge dom-
inant literature about formerly colonized nations and their populations.7
It is for this reason that I have chosen to use postcolonial analysis as my
main strategy to both critique dominant theoretical positions that impact
on countries in the South and provide a platform for articulating an alter-
native vision that takes account of context and different world views. I start
by providing a brief overview of some of the key concepts that are associ-
ated with the postcolonialist literature. After outlining how postcolonialism
emerged in response to criticisms of earlier theories (dependency and
Marxist) I explain the main principles behind postcolonialist theory and its
associated links to poststructuralism. This will include reference to feminist
perspectives, concepts of development and globalization all of which are
elaborated in later chapters. All theories have their critics, of course, and
Postcolonial Perspectives 19
I also attempt to answer some of these concerns. Finally I identify ways in

which postcolonialism can help to analyse and reposition lifelong learning
and other development texts in southern contexts.
Key concepts
Ashcroft et al. (2000) provide a helpful dictionary of the most common

terminologies associated with postcolonial studies, which are supplemented
here by Loomba (1998) and R. J. C. Young (2003). We start with the word
colonialism itself whose meaning has changed dramatically since colonial-
ism began 400 years ago as an expansion of Europe. Rather than some form
of benign civilizing initiative, colonialism is now revealed as a particularly
violent form of dispossession, oppression, control and cultural exploitation
resulting from the implanting of settlements on distant territory (Ashcroft
et al. 2000:46). It is now seen as coterminous with the development of a
modern capitalist system of economic exchange whereby the colonies were
established primarily to supply raw materials to their colonizers. The proc-
ess of colonialism was predicated on racism, colonialist discourse, imperial-
ism and an essentialist construction of colonized peoples as other. Other
words associated with this process are ongoing attitudes of Orientalism and
neo-colonialism whereby the other remains subaltern and inferior.
Said (1995) coined the term Orientalism in 1978 in relation to formal
studies of the Orient. He explains how knowledge about people and their
cultures were represented in opposition to and other than the values,
beliefs and cultures of the West. Said articulates how this relationship of
knowing the other is written about and represented through language
and media. It is based on a relationship of power and domination whose
texts result in hegemony (summarized by Ashcroft et al. 2000:116 as domi-
nation by consent).
Racism is an ideology that classifies humans as mentally, culturally and
socially inferior according to physical, biological or genetic characteristics.
Racism and issues of race can be claimed to form the basis of inequitable
power differentials and colonialist discourses that continue to play them-
selves out in various subtle and not so subtle ways in contemporary society.
As we shall see, in the definition of colonial discourse, racism becomes
a common-sense thought process that is embedded in Eurocentric learned
belief systems and behaviours of the white person.
Colonial discourses are behaviours, rationales and texts that assume cer-
tain truth values about history, literature and language. They are a system
of knowledge and beliefs about the world within which acts of colonization
take place (Ashcroft et al. 2000:42). Loomba (1998) elaborates by empha-
sizing that knowledge is connected to power relations and how they operate
through discourse. Ultimately the colonized may also come to believe in
this discourse because it is rationalized as truth and people learn to behave
in a way that reinforces this belief system. In Foucaults (1980) words
this becomes a form of disciplinary power. Colonial discourses, including
Orientalism, can have the effect of silencing resistance to dominant ver-
sions of truth.
Imperialism has been discussed in terms of its pre-emptive stage for colo-
nial rule and also as new imperialism in relation to current international
forms of global governance (Tikly 2004). Essentially it is a form of colonial-
ism without the physical settlement of one country into distant territory.
Loomba (1998:6) argues that direct colonial rule is not necessarily present
in imperialism because it is characterized by economic systems of penetra-
tion and control of markets that create relations of dependency. However,
Ashcroft et al. (2000) continue to emphasize the inequalities of this rela-
tionship in terms of implied notions of superiority as well as domination.
It can, therefore be interchanged with the concept of neo-colonialism.
While neo-colonialism indicates a distinction in terms of time (happen-
ing after decolonization) it also represents a range of ongoing, controlling
behaviours by former colonizing countries and other superpowers that
include monetary controls, influences over educational institutions, condi-
tional aid and the spread of global capitalist economies.
Finally, the term subaltern is most commonly associated with Gayatri
Spivak who refers to the subaltern group, whose identity is its difference
(1995:27). The subaltern is, by implication, according to Ashcroft et al.
(2000) someone of inferior rank. In postcolonialist terms it is also someone
who is a member of the former colonized peoples.
Postcolonialism
Postcolonialism has became popular since the 1990s with a number of edu-
cationists who attempt to move beyond the more economistic focus of other
critical theories in Third World politics such as dependency theory and
neo-Marxism. Dependency theory has its origins in the academic discipline
of Development Studies. As such its focus has largely addressed economic
concerns. Dependency theory will be addressed in more detail in Chapter
5 but principally it critiques the human capital, skills deficit approach of
modernization proponents who assumed that backward, underdeveloped

countries simply required an injection of industrialization-related knowl-
edge and skills in order to bring them up to the level of advanced industri-
alized OECD countries. We can still see the results of modernization theory
being applied to education in terms of its policy focus on skills for employa-
bility. Dependency theorists argued that countries were being disadvan-
taged by the modernization agenda due to a range of political and ongoing
exploitation factors that perpetuated a state of being in a dependency
relationship to the former colonizers for their development needs. Post-
colonialists have argued that the simplistic, binary, colonizercolonized
relationship of dependency theorists requires a more complex and nuanced
understanding of the power relationships between countries in the North
and South, based on a wider range of issues which include culture, lan-
guage, context and the nature of knowledge.
Postcolonialism also moves beyond, but borrows from, neo-marxist
notions of production and control through capitalism. The postcolonial
analysis argues, for instance, that capitalisms search for expanded markets
is an extension of past colonialisms, and a primary feature of current eco-
nomic exploitations of the South, manifested in trade agreements, the way
raw materials are purchased from the South in order to feed production in
the North and then to be returned to the South in the form of goods to be
purchased by the latter.
The postcolonialist project draws heavily on poststructuralism, in parti-
cular Foucaults notion of power, discourse and knowledge (1980) and his
explanation of disciplinary power as a function of individuals and institu-
tions. Since Foucault is so influential for postcolonial analysis I highlight
some of his arguments that have been adopted in postcolonial literature.
Foucault: knowledge, power and discourse
For Foucault discourse encompasses societal beliefs, attitudes, values, lan-

guage and behaviours. Concepts of history derive from these discourses.
Since they only represent a partial view of history, Foucaults term historic-
ity has been coined to allow re-historicization of history by those whose
voices have been silenced in the telling.
Policies, rules and regulations of any society follow the dominant dis-
courses of those societies. Such discourses are held in place by a complex
network of power relations, to counteract their vulnerability to resistance
and change.
Most people are so embedded in their societal belief systems that they
neither question their societys dominant values nor realize how much
they themselves are naturalized into them. So certain behaviours become
entirely predictable and unquestioned in their own social environment.
Their behaviours are normalized (Fairclough 1989, Foucault 1980). This
perspective reveals how the colonizer lived and believed in the justification
of his or her behaviour and attitudes to the colonized other. R. J. C. Young
(2003) explains, for example, how the westerner views people in the non-
western world more as a mirror of themselves and their own assumptions
than the reality of what is really there (p.2). Hickling-Hudson (2006) and
Ware (1996) also link this normalization concept to the way whiteness, for
the white westerner, comes to mean normality and superiority to blackness.
Eventually even people on the receiving end of domination can be so
controlled by these normalizing discourses that they may come to accept
or even believe in them (Hall 1996). Foucault called this disciplinary
power. This is a form of self-regulation where people monitor their own
belief systems in accordance with external expectations as if they are being
watched from an imagined, all-seeing gaze. By policing themselves in this
way, it can be argued, people are taking away their own will to resist because
they internalize domination as normative and as common sense. They
become players in the dominant ideology: Discourses define what is
normal and what is normal is then seen as in need of normalization or con-
formity to the norm (Ramazanoglu 1993:22). This kind of self-surveillance
is held in place through institutional structures, conditions and hierarchies
where discourses become rationales for maintaining the status quo: Power
is a persistent registration of truth (Foucault 1980:93). Educational institu-
tions have often been cited as primary mechanisms for reproducing the
status quo in favour of the elite. The colonial education system reinforced
such hierarchies in favour of the colonizers mission. Such an interpreta-
tion of power is one way of exploring how colonialism sustained its hold
over societies.
Peoples positions within power relationships are multiple, however. They
play different roles according to the social composition of the participants
in any interaction. The potentially unpredictable combinations of power
relations and discourse interactions (as the mechanisms for power rela-
tions) render the possibility of resistant forms of discourse and the possibil-
ity of changing power relationships.
There are times, therefore, when individuals and groups may find their
own sense of personal agency (self-determination) which enables them to
move beyond their location of oppression. Individuals and groups also
acquire personal experiences and memories and attach individualized

meaning to those memories. While they may function within a certain dom-
inant discourse, they experience different discourse interactions so each
personal experience and understanding of themselves and their world is
unique. Chapter 3, for example, explains how the value systems of African
nations are manifested in proverbs and folk tales that pass from generation
to generation. These have the potential effect of destabilizing the colonial
project. The exposition of marginalized experiences among marginalized
societies is one way of showing the inadequacy of certain dominant ration-
ales for explaining normality. The work of postcolonialism seeks to do pre-
cisely this on behalf of formerly colonized nations, particularly in relation
to knowledge.
Dominant knowledge is not necessarily a universal truth, but it serves the
interests of its institutional members (Foucault 1980:52). Other forms of
knowledge are often subjugated and disregarded by those with authority to
know (and reinforced through particular uses of language, text and institu-
tional rules). This subjugated knowledge is often privileged to marginalized
social groups who have an experientially different view of the world from
the dominant. Indigenous knowledge comes under this category of subju-
gated knowledge. This is traditional knowledge derived from context-specific
experiences, world views and practices. The postcolonial project seeks to
reposition indigenous knowledge in order to contribute to a broader under-
standing of events and thinking generally in the ongoing development of
formerly colonized peoples and nations. Again Chapter 3 will address this
more fully. Bishop (1995) demonstrates, for instance, that culturally there
are different counting systems around the world. But a combination of
trade, administration and education discourses of former colonizers uni-
versalized a counting system that was beneficial for their purposes.
Such alternative, subjugated knowledges, are the potential power bases
for resisting the dominant social order. The consequence of recognizing
subjugated knowledges can lead to an increased sense of self and more pos-
itive learner identity at an individual and collective level. I argue in future
chapters that indigenous knowledge needs to be integrated into the life-
long learning agenda for the South.
The postcolonial project
Postcolonialists both borrow from and elaborate on Foucault. While

Foucaults conceptualization of power, knowledge and discourse provide
a useful analytical framework to develop the above definitional positions, it

is argued that postcolonialism is a strategic and more political development
of poststructualism. Foucault, in essence, represents eurocentric concerns
and consequently fails to address the multifarious and context-specific
experiences of race, gender, culture and identity. Postcolonialism, there-
fore, focuses on the issues that directly concern the experiences of coloni-
zation and its ongoing effects since the formal process of decolonization.
It particularly aims to re-historicize the story of colonialism, deconstruct
texts about the South written by the North and insert new texts that reflect
knowledges and world views from the South.
The aim is to redress the imbalance of whose voice is heard and also
explain how contemporary positions are fluid, contestable and ever chang-
ing. Postcolonialism is both a critique of the way history has been told
and a way of analysing and challenging how formerly colonized peoples are
represented, marginalized, made invisible, violated and exploited through
media, text, power relationships and actions, in the past and present.
Furthermore, the postcolonial era is an integral feature of globalization
which necessarily creates new forms of interdependence, transcultural and
international workings of multinational capital (Loomba 1998:12). This
too must be analysed in relation to the historical context of colonialism.
The postcolonial project is identified in the literature as representing
both a political philosophy and a historical dimension. It has emerged as a
reaction to a range of theories which have failed to capture the complexi-
ties of the relationship between colonizer and colonized. It also has a com-
parative element, enabling analysis of a range of interdisciplinary features
such as language, politics, history and culture to highlight the multifaceted
experiences of the colonized. It specifically privileges issues related to the
experience of colonization and explicitly challenges perspectives from
former colonizers.
But postcolonialism also responds to ongoing neo-colonial texts and
forms of imperialism. Colonialism did not cease with the Independence of
formerly colonized nations. Colonial behaviour is manifested in the contin-
uing actions, behaviours and attitudes of countries who now distribute
various forms of development aid to low income countries. At its simplest,
postcolonial in historical terms means since Independence was technically
bestowed on countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But this is a tech-
nical shift in status, rather than a reality experience for most of those
countries. Indeed, it has been argued that many formerly colonized coun-
tries are now in a dependency relationship with their former colonizers.
The post in postcolonial therefore has often been likened to the other
posts such as postmodernism and poststructuralism, in terms of going
beyond rather than superseding the earlier status of colonialism. The his-
tory of colonization and how those experiences were told by colonizers
has stimulated a desire to rewrite (re-narrativize) those histories from the
viewpoint of the colonized.
Postcolonialism has therefore emerged as a way of critiquing other domi-
nant western theories such as globalization and development. In particular
it challenges the neo-liberal capitalist dimensions of market flows and con-
trol of consumerism (Rizvi et al. 2006; Tikly 2004). The political emphasis
in postcolonialism exposes the inadequacies and neo-colonialisms of devel-
opment rationales for developing countries, challenging the assumption
that there is only one way to develop and that development means
only certain things as defined by international development indicators
formulated by the World Bank. These issues are discussed in more detail in
Chapters 4 and 5.
Critiques of postcolonialism
This postcolonial agenda has also been critiqued for a number of reasons.
First, it is argued, postcolonialism is still a theory which is heavily domi-
nated by western influences (Loomba 1998). The very language of English
means that postcolonial analysis is always an interpretation, controlled by
the language of the colonizer. In Audre Lourdes famous phrase: The mas-
ters tools will never dismantle the masters house (1983, reproduced in
2003:25). Furthermore, because of the very nature of todays globalizing
world, and the hybridity of culture and identities, the postcolonial agenda
cannot recover the past in any pure sense (Spivak 1990). The past has
already been changed and the present is already a fusion with the past.
Equally, as Loomba (1998) discusses, every colonial encounter is different,
so how can the postcolonial experience be encapsulated in a theoretical
position? Moreover, the borrowing of postcolonial analysis from a theory
which is heavily eurocentric weakens its value for some. For example, using
the concept of difference taken from poststructuralism, deflects attention
from the more embedded issues of inequality within this word.
Indeed, the very nature of academic theory that claims to speak on behalf
of, or for, the marginalized and dispossessed is a contradiction in terms.
Postcolonialism has been criticized for being an abstract language of the
academic elite diaspora, so the subaltern never really speaks. Indeed,

how can a white person speak at all on behalf of the colonized? Spivak
(1990:6263) answers this:
You will of course not speak in the same way about the Third World
material, but if you make it your task not only to learn what is going on
there through language, through specific programmes of study, but also
at the same time through a historical critique of your position as the
investigating person, then you will see that you have earned the right to
criticize, and you be heard [sic]. You have to take a certain risk . . . and
you will probably be made welcome, and you can hope to be judged with
respect.
She further explains (p.108) that while one may not be able to speak as if
one were in someone elses shoes (taken from the German word vertreten)
one can attempt to speak on behalf of others as a political representation
(encapsulated in the German word darstellung).
From my position as a white westerner, I hope that I have earned the right
to be heard and contribute to the debate, albeit without the authenticity of
one who has experienced colonization firsthand.
Finally, it has been argued, postcolonialism does not exist, since the
colonial experience is ongoing for many nations around the world (Shohat
1992 in Hall 1996). Even the historical concept of post is often challenged,
since the time relationship between colonization and cessation of coloniza-
tion is not always marked by a historical moment and certainly not the same
historical moment. Many countries and peoples can claim to have been
colonized (including, for example, indigenous populations in relation to
Australia and North America and the countries of Scotland, Wales and
Ireland in relation to England).
Cultural politics
But the difference for postcolonial analysis is that, in Girouxs terms, it is

cultural politics (1992:4243). It takes a strategic position against the
more dominant voices and discourses that trivialize or ignore alternative
philosophies, life-worlds and meanings. It draws on poststructuralism to
demonstrate how western power relations manifest themselves through dis-
courses (institutional structures, internalized behaviours, ideologies and
language uses) which are held in place by hegemonic rationalities. But it
goes further to reposition, challenge and expose those discourses that are
claiming to work on behalf of populations and nations in a dependency
relationship with those with authority to know specifically in relation to
the experiences of formerly colonized nations.
But rather than adopt a binary divide between colonizer and colonized,
postcolonialism addresses the in-between spaces, the grey areas where
identities and relationships are not simply one or the other. The postcolo-
nial space is necessarily one of intersections between cultures. In the post-
colonial space discourses and identities are hybrids, words are adopted,
used, misused and reinscribed so that nothing is what it seems. As Loomba
(1998:241) states: In order to listen for subaltern voices we need to uncover
the multiplicity of narratives that were hidden by the grand narratives, but
we still need to think about how the former are woven together. So seem-
ing certainties are destabilized, in terms of knowledge, truth or geographi-
cal location.
The postcolonial may be a refugee, a migrant, a displaced or homeless
person, an academic struggling to make sense of research that is de-scribed
by the West, a government or organization that is trying to secure or negoti-
ate conditional aid to help it pursue its own goals. The postcolonial may
also be someone trying to recapture precolonial values, philosophies and
identities in order to position him or herself with dignity in an atmosphere
of disrespect, to challenge racism that is expressed as benevolence or wel-
fare or social justice. Context-specific experiences are therefore important
to postcolonial analysis, in order to avoid universalizing or essentializing
the postcolonial.
Postcolonial subjectivities
In terms of identity a particular feature of the postcolonial subject is

explored through the concept of subjectivities and intersubjectivities.
Individuals build up an understanding of how they are expected to relate to
others and how they are expected to behave through their exposure to
certain discourses. Multiple identities form as a result of exposure to multi-
ple discourses and over time a person builds up an accumulated sense of
self. Subjectivity is a term used by poststructuralists to explain how the indi-
vidual, as both a subject (user) and object (on the receiving end) of dis-
courses, forms a view of his or her relationship to others. Weedon describes
this as: the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the indi-
vidual, her sense of self and her ways of understanding her relation to
the world (1987:32). This self-image is a consequence of power relations

being played out alongside immersion in certain societal belief systems.
Like everything else in the interplay of discourse and power, subjectivities
are not only multifaceted but they are also constantly changing. They are
an outcome of different social constructions in the context of prevailing
political climates.
In the postcolonial experience Werbner (2002) relates subjectivity to
African contexts which, in contrast to eurocentric emphasis on autonomy
and self-determination, places a higher value on the interdependence of
subjects: Being implicated with significant others has a special importance
for their own consciousness (p.2) . . . the self is, of course, the relational
self, implicated in interdependence with significant others, both living and
dead (p.15). In the postcolonial moment: the subjective is implicated in
the intersubjective (p.2) as a political, moral and existential experience.
Werbners edited book enables a range of authors to describe particular
African contexts where the individuals identity is intertwined with the con-
sequences of transcultural influences.
Subjectivities are constantly in progress, changing, borrowing, exchang-
ing, creating new identities as a result of their cultural heritage and inter-
face with the wider world so that postcolonial agency is a hybrid. One
example by Behrend (2002) in the same book narrates the story of how a
Kenyan youth appropriates the colonial practice of taking photographic
portraits for control and surveillance as a means of shaping new identities
for himself by buying American fashion clothes, photographing himself in
various poses, then selling the clothes in order to pay for a new set that
can be photographed, and so on. Because he is too poor to have more than
one set of clothes he uses them to create other forms of existence and
also position himself on his own terms in a postcolonial world: Thus Peter
and his friends appropriated not only clothes and poses but also a critical
and reflexive attitude towards their own social and political situation in
Mombasa (Behrend 2002:60).
While this story may seem rather far removed from a lifelong learning
mission, it symbolizes the challenges that many people face in postcolonial
situations. On the one hand individuals have to find spaces for re-creating
themselves in an environment that can neither claim ownership over the
effects of globalization, cultural hybridity or even their own political history
without borrowing from their colonizers. On the other hand the story
demonstrates how individuals and their relationships can be re-created to
form a particular way of appropriating the materials and products that
hover seductively over their lives. Lifelong learning is a part of helping
people make sense of the world around them, a way of critiquing and con-
tributing to social development. By understanding the tensions and con-
flicts that affect the postcolonial world, and giving space for self-expression,
this learning can be channelled to stimulate positive change.
So postcolonialism appropriates Foucaults concepts of discourse and dis-
ciplinary power to analyse issues that matter to the colonization experience.
It re-narrativizes history; it challenges literature written by the North and
West about the East or South; it exposes hegemonic discourses and
behaviours that reveal ongoing and unequal power relations related to pol-
icy development, conditional aid, concepts of development; it highlights
the inequalities of globalization as a process and a perspective and reveals
the hidden agendas of neo-colonial behaviour.
It also appropriates aspects of neo-marxist theory in criticizing the role of
capitalism through multinational corporations and their ongoing exploita-
tion by the North of raw materials from the South that are used to manufac-
ture and produce goods that are then resold to the South, or exploitation
of cheap labour in the South (for example, call centres) to serve the needs
of those in the North.
Postcolonialism also pays particular attention to feminism and gender,
often critiquing the way western feminisms universalize the needs and
challenges of women from formerly colonized nations without reference to
their specific colonial histories and contemporary contexts.
Feminist postcolonial perspectives
Chapter 7 discusses in more detail how feminist perspectives are now

addressing lifelong learning issues. But in view of the particular position
that women in the South occupy in relation to their gendered and colo-
nized position of other it is important to introduce here the issues sur-
rounding intersections of race and gender for formerly colonized women.
As will be argued again in Chapters 4 and 7, women of colour reject those
western feminisms that universalize womens oppressions without recogni-
tion of African and Asian womens particular experiences of colonialism:
Whereas Western feminists discuss the relative importance of feminist ver-
sus class emancipation, the African discussion is between feminist emanci-
pation versus the fight against neo colonialism (Holst Petersen 1995:251).
Feminist postcolonial literature concentrates on three aspects of marginal-
ization their shared experience of colonization with their male counter-
parts; the need to challenge patriarchal oppressions within precolonial,
colonial and postcolonial eras; and the need to challenge the production
of Third World woman in western feminist texts (Mohanty 1995:259).
So, on the one hand feminist discourses speak on behalf of formerly
colonized women to question neo-colonial authoritative discourses such as
those of international aid agencies that fail to recognize indigenous knowl-
edges and cultural practices as part of the development mission; on the
other hand they identify patriarchal oppressions, such as discriminatory
laws about rape or ownership of property, that often conflict with the wider
mission to decolonize their nations and reinstate positive African value
systems.
Their third agenda is to reprioritize those concerns with which the West
is obsessed such as the wearing of the veil by Muslim women or the prac-
tice of circumcision or Sati (widow burning) in some cultures. Mohanty
points out that it is not that these issues should be ignored, but that they
need to be understood with respect to the: complexities and conflicts
which characterize the lives of women of different classes, religions, cul-
tures, races and castes in these countries (1995:260). Many feminists from
the South have written, for example, in defence of women wearing the veil,
turning this apparently oppressive concept into one of identity and also
exposing the contradictions in attempting to force its removal. R. J. C. Young
(2003) summarizes these contentions:
The nature of the western response to the veil is to demand and desire its
removal, so that strategies of liberation in the name of saving women sup-
posedly forced to wear the veil coincide uncomfortably with the colonial
violence of the veils forcible removal. (p.86)
Postcolonialism, education and lifelong learning
So how does the postcolonial project contribute to a new agenda for educa-
tion and lifelong learning? From a historical perspective postcolonialism
unearths the effects of inequitable and selective education systems. It also
shows how most education systems in formerly colonized nations are still
dominated by ideologies, curricula, structures, languages, pedagogies and
policies of their former colonizers. All these practices have implications for
cultural and intellectual development and lifelong learning. While there is
a bank of literature that addresses issues surrounding indigenous knowl-
edge the range of texts that specifically apply postcolonial analysis to life-
long learning discourses is scant.
Mulenga (2001) provides a lengthy review of Julius Nyereres contribu-

tion to adult education as a philosophy and guiding framework for a life-
long learning agenda in Tanzania and this will be discussed more fully in
the next chapter along with the contribution of Gandhi to similar philoso-
phies in India. Lingard and Pierre (2006) undertake a postcolonial analysis
of St Lucias lifelong learning policy. They frame their analysis within a rec-
ognition that the final document was in constant tension with attempting to
produce a policy that was owned by the people of St Lucia in the Caribbean,
alongside the need to attract sufficient funding from international donors
in order to implement the policy. The Ministry terminated an external con-
sultancy to produce the policy in order to conduct a more consultative and
locally owned process that would produce a consensus for the final report.
But this document is ultimately analysed as a compromise one which fails
to address the concept of indigenous knowledge and which necessarily
embraced the human capital rhetoric of lifelong learning in the context of
global competitiveness. Nevertheless, the policy is hailed as a partial success
in that it strengthened national capital to mediate the effects of donor
agencies (p.299). Lingard and Pierre (2006:295) describe their analysis as
an aspirational politics in the face of development discourse challenges.
In similar fashion Biccum (2005) analyses in detail some of the promo-
tional literature on development by the UK Department for International
Development. He exposes how the vocabulary of poverty and globalization
is repackaged and marketed as a modernized version of the nineteenth
century civilizing mission (p.1005). He demonstrates how DFIDs narrative
of development fails to acknowledge the responsibility of globalization for
the new era of poverty, by using a discourse which instead suggests a benev-
olent attempt by the beneficiaries of globalization to help the poor. What
Biccum highlights is the spaces in-between the literature what is left out
in the narrative reveals more than what is actually said.
It is this kind of analysis that enables us to critique lifelong learning texts
such as those produced by the World Bank, and also to explore the relation-
ship between texts on development and globalization that interface with
learning agendas such as information communications technology, dis-
tance learning, health and environmental education concerns and other
civilizing missions such as ostensibly emancipatory arguments for women in
relation to traditional cultural practices. Issues may include: what counts as
knowledge and who owns that knowledge; what other definitions are there
for development, what would a gender-sensitive perspective on lifelong
learning reveal about policy needs; what are the context-specific goals for
lifelong learning for countries in the South; how does the language of the
North mis-represent the South in its policy documents and descriptions

of need?
But it is also important to emphasize that postcolonial analysis recognizes
the hybrid nature of contemporary society. The aim is to expose western
interpretations of oppression on behalf of populations in the South which
serve to marginalize and control in the name of welfare and liberation.
It also aims to expose western interpretations of welfare and liberation in
the name of development and western interpretations of lifelong learning
in the name of globalization and social justice. The discourses that are used
in the South and North for education, globalization, lifelong learning and
development need to be scrutinized for their authoritative claims but also
understood in their reality contexts of continued dependency relationships.
Concluding summary
This chapter has summarized the main aspects of postcolonial analysis as

a way of departing from more Eurocentric theories and providing a multi-
disciplinary framework for exposing colonialism and neo-colonialisms.
It does this through critiquing texts, western world views on matters affect-
ing people in formerly colonized countries and highlighting issues of race,
culture, identity, gender, ethnicity and other forms of oppression that are
implicated in strategies for development. While trying to avoid reinstating
binary divides in opposition to colonial perspectives, postcolonialist analy-
sis may take a strategically essentialist position in order to re-narrativize his-
tories and experiences that remain hidden in dominant discourses.
The following chapter identifies the educational, philosophical and
cultural histories that were largely erased by the colonial endeavour. They
provide the foundations from which will be argued a distinctive vision for
lifelong learning in the South, albeit contemporized by current globaliza-
tion and development contexts.
Chapter 3
Historical and philosophical foundations for

lifelong learning: perspectives from the South
I am we; I am because we are, we are because I am

A person is a person through other persons
Zulu and Sesotho proverbs
Introduction
Chapters 1 and 2 have made a number of claims. On the one hand, I have
argued that the dominant, neo-liberal, lifelong learning agenda emanates
from the North at the expense of the needs and discourses of the South.
On the other hand, the tendency of northern donor agencies to focus on
a basic education agenda, rather than the wider notion of lifelong learning,
for the South reflects a more deeply embedded issue of colonial interfer-
ence in the affairs of formerly colonized nations. Third, there are indica-
tions that there are different philosophical outlooks in the South, for
education and lifelong learning, from dominant messages in the North.
So it is time for people in the South to have a louder voice in the lifelong
learning debate and reverse the unequal relationship between these two
hemispheres by extending the platform from which southern ideologies
emanate. The postcolonial framework provides a discursive space that
reveals how colonialist and neo-colonialist behaviours undermine other
ways of knowing which could contribute to formulating alternative visions
for lifelong learning. Postcolonial analysis gives us the tools to re-historicize
the experiences of formerly colonized peoples and re-narrativize what is
important for them.
From this position we can then interrogate contemporary discourses
for development and globalization that impact on contemporary agendas
for education and learning. Considerations of gender and information
technology issues will also be part of that interrogation. Before these
dominant positions can be revisited from alternative standpoints, however,

it is necessary to re-narratavize (make visible once more) those alternative
historical and philosophical perspectives of formerly colonized nations
that were largely dismissed, rejected or exploited in the colonial project.
It is from understanding these foundations that we can begin to construct
a more relevant agenda for the South and offer a more global vision for
lifelong learning generally.
In attempting this mission Chapter 2 acknowledged that we cannot
speak for the so-called subaltern, but we can recognize the damage caused
by colonialism. In the process we do not resurrect a precolonial past. This
is neither possible nor desirable. We are seeking to make connections that
help people to move forward in a way that enables cultural ownership over
lifes challenges and solutions. For example Nyamnjoh (2002) argues that
culture and tradition are not frozen or stagnant. People are constantly
renegotiating tradition with modernity. In doing so they may create new
identities and adapt philosophical perspectives but never completely reject
their heritage.
This chapter begins that process. It starts with a recognition that a few
thousand words cannot hope to do justice to the multifarious differences in
tradition and behaviour across several continents and their many countries.
Their only shared history is the experience of being colonialized. While
some reference is made to South Asia, the focus is on literature from African
writers. These examples serve to illustrate issues and differences from domi-
nant Eurocentric or North American positions, rather than claim a universal,
oppositional perspective for all formerly colonized countries in the South.
Nevertheless, in the postcolonial mission to challenge dominant discourses,
I draw on some characteristic tendencies that a number of indigenous writ-
ers highlight in relation to their precolonial histories, indigenous knowl-
edges and value systems and the impact that colonialism and the ongoing
denial of these realities has had on their individual and collective identities.
Put simply the basic argument of this chapter is that western philosophi-
cal foundations for lifelong learning are premised on capitalist notions of
individual fulfilment and wealth creation for profit. While not all western-
ers subscribe to this perspective it is the basis on which lifelong learning
policies are promoted learning for employability, individualist notions of
the self and personal gain. However, this perspective sits uneasily with many
African and Asian concepts of the self, its interconnectedness with commu-
nity and a much more spiritual context for living. These are extreme gener-
alizations but they introduce some of the tensions for the development and
globalization agendas that affect a number of populations in the South.
Historical and Philosophical Foundations 35
They highlight how western internalized ways of seeing the world come to
influence dominant agendas as if they are common-sense universals, but
nevertheless remain in tension with alternative world views.
This chapter tries to sketch out some of the perceived differences and ten-
sions as articulated by mostly African writers, substantiated by a few exam-
ples of how uncritical western transfer of knowledge systems can entangle
and alienate potential learning in different cultural environments.
It can be argued that education in many formerly colonized countries is
characterized by several stages, starting with traditional education systems
that were largely transmitted orally. Mission schools began in the 1840s but
continue to this day. The period of colonial administration from the 1850s
was followed by the process of individual countries gaining Independence
between the 1960s and up to the abandonment of apartheid in South Africa
during the early 1990s. The post-Independence era comprised develop-
ment aid policies of the 1970s followed by stringent structural adjustment
demands of the 1980s and more recent conditions for development aid in
response to globalization issues.
We look at some precolonial practices for lifelong learning. At the same
time we examine some philosophical perspectives that underpin traditional
learning systems and which still impact on contemporary world views
in Africa and South Asia. The emphasis is on trying to make sense of the
tensions between these differences and those of the northern hemisphere,
particularly in relation to concepts of knowledge, being, relationships and
the role of spirituality. This is accompanied by a brief summary of the impact
of colonialism on education systems as a preface to the challenge by post-
colonial writers for an African Renaissance and revival of indigenous knowl-
edge systems.
Precolonial traditional education
One of the major concerns of some African and South Asian educationists
is to challenge histories of education and lifelong learning that implicitly
assume there was no education in their countries before colonialism. For
example, Teffo (2000) shows that some scientific inventions were errone-
ously credited to European nations such as medicinal properties in herbs
and the wheel which actually emanated from Mesopotamia. Teffo also pro-
vides evidence of sophisticated iron making in Nigeria and an astronomical
observatory in Kenya which is dated at 300 bc. In similar fashion Nafukho
et al. (2005) claim that Ethiopia and the Nile valley had written forms of
education before Europe and that there were advanced centres of learning
in Timbuktu and Djienne in the eleventh century.
Aside from these claims all indigenous societies practised their own edu-
cation systems. Where this education is acknowledged by western writers
the tendency is to dismiss it as primitive without examination of its under-
lying value systems or purposes. The learning was usually by oral rather
than written transmission but was nonetheless organized and purposeful.
Teaching was holistic in approach; methods were interactive. For instance,
Datta (1984) describes how tribal legends and proverbs were used to pass
on cultural heritages, riddles served to test judgement and analysis, tasks
were set to encourage initiative. Indeed, as Okech (2004) argues in relation
to Uganda, this learning was already lifelong learning since adults and chil-
dren of all ages participated. It was also life-wide learning in that it took
place across society as well as according to chronological age. At the onset
of puberty there was a set range of activities for each age group and sex
to prepare them for adulthood and societal expectations for behaviour.
In many African countries these latter activities were called initiation schools
and they are still practised today alongside more formal, westernized systems.
Kaschula (2001) explains that songs and poetry were used for political
education and, referring to Shona ritual performances in Zimbabwe, the
oral nature of the learning was even an unspoken sub-text during the
colonial period to give people a sense of identity in their struggle against
cooption into the dominant western culture (p.xxi).
Pattanayak (1980) also indicates similar approaches in India: India has
a long tradition of oral transmission of knowledge: people may have been
illiterate but they were not uneducated. He cites a number of artisans, lit-
eracy geniuses, philosophers, experts in architecture, astrophysics and
astronomy who were technically illiterate (p.38).
There are some variations across the different countries and within
societies. Callaway (1975) cites how indigenous education in Nigerian
Yoruba society would vary for the offspring of a chief, compared with, say,
that of a blacksmiths son in the war camp of Ibadan. In Yoruba society it
was felt that each child was born with an innate destiny so no child would
be forced to learn a particular profession, rather they were encouraged
to follow their own interests as their natural abilities developed and there
were no initiation schools.
McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh (1975) explain how Ghanas holistic
apprenticeship system would train individuals for particular professions,
ranging from occupations like blacksmith to farmer, doctor, priest, soldier,
herbalist, drummer or weaver. Here, for instance, a goldsmith apprenticeship
might start at age 8 or 9, learning the names of particular tools, followed by

a period of observation, perhaps moving from village to village in order to
perfect the skills, and learning the significance of each item so that by the
end of his course the apprentice had acquired not only the artists knowl-
edge of everyday activities, but also an understanding of the history and
right use of the language and proverbs of his community (p.5). Such tradi-
tional education was characterized by the goal to produce useful members
of society educating for good character, health and knowledge about the
communitys history and beliefs.
Indigenous knowledge
Indigenous knowledge is the name given to traditional knowledge of this

nature. It is now an authoritative part of Africas Renaissance call and seen
as a foundation for the creation of counter-hegemonic discourses against
western imperialism. Odora Hoppers (2002) highlights that indigenous
knowledge represents a rich and varied cognitive and practical heritage that
is more than woven baskets for tourists. It includes the technologies that
create these and other artefacts as well as the process of knowledge genera-
tion by resource rich but economically poor local communities (p.9).
Forde (1975) explains that this type of education was intimately tied to
the social life of the people both materially and spiritually, it was multiva-
lent in terms of goals and methods, being both gradual and progressive in
order to conform to physical, emotional and mental development. It was
holistic and lifelong in nature, not compartmentalized into different sub-
ject areas, but essentially relied on nurturing the ability to memorize.
So myths, legends, epics, tales, historical poems, proverbs, songs and plays
all constituted learning mechanisms. It was an intensely moral upbringing,
to build strength and agility, moral character and wisdom a shared objec-
tive by the whole community hence the proverb it takes a village to raise
a child. Learning about the land, its grasses, its natural resources for heal-
ing were all part of understanding our holistic relationship to the earth as
humans.
Education took place in the home and community and virtually all
adults were potential teachers. It encompassed philosophy, arts, maths,
astronomy and farming. It included understanding patterns of traditional
behaviour such as the relations of reciprocity, a complex etiquette for
everyday negotiations and greetings at various times of the day. The inter-
connected nature of the educational exercise reflected a world view of the
interconnectedness of persons, their reverence to community of lineage,

remote ancestors of oral history, immediate forbears, those who were living
and those yet to be born (Callaway 1975:28). There is evidence that this
philosophical outlook is practised further afield. Sreemathy (2002), from
India, supports this notion of oneness with the universe, by citing ancient
thoughts from the Sanskrit language: Great men see the universe as one
family (p.215).
The essentially rural and enclosed nature of this upbringing could be
criticized for its lack of opportunity for comparison and slowness to respond
to change. Similarly, as Ntseane (2006) points out, the issue of gender
power relations in male and female roles and responsibilities needs to be
seen in modern contexts. Others have argued that the oral nature of the
education inevitably included a dynamic contribution to culture as sayings
and stories would be adapted through the generations in response to new
circumstances. The issue here is not to suggest that such traditional systems
should be reinstated instead of more westernized world views, but that the
cultural identities and self-respect that emanate from ones cultural history
should be given due recognition. Houtondiji (2002) points out that many
indigenous knowledge systems were so marginalized and repressed by colo-
nizers that Africans still hegemonically undermine their own heritage with
consequences for their sense of place in society.
So traditional knowledge needs to be recognized as valid and even sub-
jected to further experimentation and testing so that it can be developed
and integrated into modern societal needs.
There is another aspect to this hidden heritage, however. According to a
number of African writers, this communalist tradition of lifelong learning
reflects some philosophic world views that set African people apart from
westernized attitudes to learning and the construction of knowledge itself.
While there are potential synergies in these arguments to other world views
such as in Asia, for illustrative purposes the focus here continues to be
Africa.
African philosophical world views
There is some debate over whether a distinctive African philosophy exists.

This partly depends on what constitutes philosophy. Philosophy is generally
described as an activity of reasoning and reflection on any subject (Fordjor
et al. 2003:188), or an exploration about the purpose of life, nature of
human conduct and complexities of human relationships and experiences
(Letseka 2000:181). Janz (1997) argues that for philosophy to be African

it must have some expression of the African life world (p.225), while
Oruka (1991) claims that there are African philosophical tendencies such
as ethno-philosophy (a set of shared African-centric beliefs) philosophic
sagacity (beliefs of special members, or sages in African communities),
nationalist ideological (politically focused philosophy for African liberation
from colonialism) or professional philosophy (a more eclectic version that
borrows from Europe and Africa).
Chukwyudi Eze (1997) argues that there are as many African philoso-
phies as there are nations. He suggests there are some features that are
characteristic of, but not necessarily unique to Africa, but the single most
important factor that drives African philosophy is the colonial experience
and the casting of Africans as a subhuman race by western philosophers
such as Hegel and Marx. African philosophy, like postcolonialism, then,
emerges partly in opposition to the casting of its continent and its people as
other or less than in the perceptions of dominant discourses. Letseka
(2000:179182) perhaps summarizes most succinctly when he says that the
main role of African philosophy is:
. . . to speculate about and provide a conceptual interpretation and analy-

sis of human problems and human experience in the African context . . .
The task of African philosophy is therefore to speculate about the com-
munality of the individual in the African setting . . . conceptual frame-
works for analysing the humanness that botho and ubuntu capture . . .
communal ethics on how these ought to impact on human conduct.
While not all Africans or generations of Africans share the intensity of

these perspectives, there is a sufficient body of literature that characteristi-
cally associates African philosophical world views with concepts such as
connectedness, communalism, interdependency and intersubjectivity.
It is from this position that I offer some interpretations and analysis of
African conceptions of the interrelatedness of humanity, and their implica-
tions for lifelong learning. I explore some of the issues surrounding the
commonly associated southern African terms of ubuntu or botho and how
they compare with western philosophical viewpoints. I then look at how two
prominent figures in Africa and India advocated their concepts of lifelong
learning as a challenge to the dominant messages of their colonizers. Finally
I begin to discuss the implications for these perspectives and histories for
todays lifelong learning contexts a discussion which now continues
throughout the ensuing chapters.
Ubuntu
Letseka (2000:182) claims that the concept of ubuntu, or botho (roughly
translated as humanness) is fundamental to African socio-ethical thought.
It emphasizes the prioritizing of human relationships in terms of giving
respect and showing concern for others. This emphasis is predicated on
a sense that we are all connected through the spiritual world so that we
all have a mutual obligation to respect the living, the dead and those yet
to be born. These concepts are expressed through proverbs such as the
Nguni proverb umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (from the Zulu language) or
the Sotho proverb motho ke motho ka batho (from the Sesotho and Setswana
languages) roughly translated as a person is a person through other
persons, or: a person depends on others just as much as others depend on
him/her. The proverbs emphasize the communal embeddedness and con-
nectedness of a person to other persons. So the focus on relationships is
more than an external expression of greetings though these are an impor-
tant expression of ubuntu in African cultures but it is a relationship that
operates at a soul-level.
Ntuli (2002) emphasizes that this cosmic way of seeing the world bears
strong similarities to recent western notions of quantum physics and the
notion of there being an interconnectedness, a relationship between the
spiritual, natural and human world, where human beings and the phenom-
enal world can be seen as extensions of each other (p.56). Ntuli explains
ubuntu as defining the individual in terms of his or her relationship with
others . . . individuals only exist in their relationships with others so that
individual signifies a multiplicity of personalities that correspond to the
multiplicity of relationships that an individual has. So in ubuntu terms,
being an individual means being an extension of others (p.56). And oth-
ers may also include the dead and the yet to be born.
The nature of the individual in traditional African thought is paramount
to the concept of ubuntu. Teffo (2000) talks about the communal conception
of an individual in African settings, so that what happens to an individual
happens to the whole group and vice versa, expressed in the proverb cited
at the beginning of this chapter: I am because we are and since we are,
therefore I am. While individual effort is important, it is in the interests
of the wider community that it holds most value; hence, the attraction of
cooperative community farming rather than commercial farming, which
serves to profit a few.
The spiritual dimension locates the individual in the presence of a
supreme being at the centre of communal life. All activities must promote
the existence of the community and put its interests before the self. While
there is evidence that these values are changing in urban settings and
through globalization influences, the influence of ancestors, the extended
family and traditional democratic process of decision making remain pri-
mary value systems in many African contexts. These values include the duty
of everyone to teach and learn, the strong providing for the weak, harmo-
nizing individual interests with community interests.
Fordjor et al. (2003) confirm these belief systems, particularly in the con-
text of rural Ghana today. They describe how humanity and society are seen
as inseparable from religion and the community so that the individual
exists for society and society for the individual (p.190). The aims and
objectives of traditional Ghanaian adult education were to enable the indi-
vidual to understand his or her place in the family, the community and
nation as a whole. So the individual was valued for what he or she does and
not what he or she obtains in life (p.189). This has implications for a life-
long learning agenda that might be advocating self-fulfilment rather than
community relations. Fordjor et al. argue that there is little mention of
community or society in western philosophies.
On a more spiritual level Goduka describes how, in her Xhosa culture,
truths are explained by the ancestors through proverbs, myths and folk
tales which act as educative: easily remembered summaries of important
ideas and experiences that are part of the shared cultural knowledge of
indigenous communities (2000:76): All human beings are connected
not only by the ties of kinship and community but also by the bonds of reci-
procity rooted in the inherent interweaving and interdependence of all
humanity (p.71). So this concept of humanism places the community
rather than the individual at the centre, but also links the living individual
with the past and the future, thus creating a moral obligation to consider
and respect all things, living or dead.8
There is therefore more than one vision for society and lifelong learning
agendas somehow have to accommodate this.
Nyamnjoh (2002) offers a personal experience and interpretation of
his Cameroonian proverb which reinforces the Sotho and Zulu proverbs.
He offers two interpretations of the proverb a child is one persons only in
the womb. Drawing on his own upbringing which was supported by a range
of different relatives who held different kinds of responsibilities for the
various stages of his education and learning, he explains that individual
achievement is not simply credited to the individual, but also to those
who made the achievement possible, so that once the individual leaves the
mothers womb he or she also belongs to the wider community without
necessarily being constrained by that community. But Nyamnjoh also recog-

nized that individuals have multiple identities, particularly in the context
of globalization where a multitude of contexts can influence the individual
as a child of the community. So there is a second interpretation of the
proverb that a child can grow away from his or her origins, but never
completely erases the influence of his or her original community. In this
interpretation cultures can build on tradition, merge with new cultures but
still remain distinctive:
The way forward lies in recognising the creative and instersubjective ways
in which Africans merge their traditions with exogenous influences to
create modernities that are not reducible to either but superior to both.
(p.135)
This perspective perhaps symbolizes my own ambition for a lifelong learn-

ing agenda that can build on the best from the past in the context of
a future that sees beyond dominant western ways of knowing. The combina-
tion of indigenous knowledge heritages and their philosophical founda-
tions helps to challenge western philosophies which are based on Cartesian
concepts of the individual self existing separately or independently from
the rest of society.
Western knowledge systems and the colonial period
Goduka (2000) emphasizes that Cartesian rationality excludes and margin-

alizes other ways of knowing, because it only recognizes knowledge that has
been disconnected from environmental relationships, cultural practices
and spiritually centred wisdoms (p.63).
Other western philosophical viewpoints which have served to build up
the dominant agenda for education and lifelong learning include those of
Kant. Masolo (1997) describes a Kantian philosophy of the free man as
self-directing, someone who tries to preserve himself and his own distinct
nature as an individual . . . to preserve the coherence and continuity of
his thought against the flow of the multiple and unconnected ideas which
are his perceptions, sensations and imaginations (p.290). Western knowl-
edge is fragmented and taught in segments; the individual is a separate
entity from his or her surroundings. Western philosophy is therefore able
to premise its social values of industry and productivity within a capitalist
framework that promotes individualism, self-actualization and wealth crea-

tion in isolation from social, historical or political circumstances.
The western lifelong learning project therefore is premised on assump-
tions of a universal way of seeing the world, or one superior knowledge
system. While the European Memorandum, cited in Chapter 1, embraces a
concept of lifelong learning for active citizenship as well as wealth creation,
education messages overall focus on the individual rather than the commu-
nity or collective issues. This can have alienating consequences for develop-
ment goals as Ntseane (2006) observes when she critiques the way HIV/AIDS
prevention messages in Botswana inappropriately target women at the
expense of their relationship to their male partners and address individual
concerns with death and dying, rather than collective concerns with the
impact of the virus on other members of society. Chilisa (2005) raises
similar issues about how western research methods and questions position
knowledge of HIV/AIDS outside the reference framework of many social
groups in Botswana, resulting in inappropriate educational messages and
distorted pictures of the pandemic. The SADC definition for lifelong learn-
ing, also cited in Chapter 1, suggests that we need to take more seriously
this collective, holistic and connected understanding of society within
African perspectives.
The colonial period essentially transported the education systems and
values of the colonizers into the countries that they invaded. The period of
colonial rule lasted from the 1850s until the 1960s for most countries
and as late as 1994 for South Africa. The colonial discourse of the time was
officially a civilizing one. The justification for this role was partly embed-
ded in Eurocentric philosophical and ideological standpoints that claimed
a universalist ideal of the rational man supported by philosophers like
Hegel who depicted the African as an inferior savage. African indigenous
ways provided, therefore, both a rationale for invasion under the civilizing
mission and also a target for destruction and replacement of indigenous
values with Eurocentric ideologies.
The historical reality, however, of the colonial mission was structured
around a capitalist intention to exploit raw materials for trade. Education
opportunities were highly selective. So while missionaries rewarded Chris-
tian converts with literacy skills in order to read the Bible, a few others
received education on a selective basis in order to secure the needs of the
colonial administration. In Uganda, for example, Atim and Ngaka (2004)
describe how the advent of formal schooling was limited to childhood learn-
ing and largely eroded the beliefs that had previously been cultivated
through traditional education and culture. While some technical expertise

was introduced for building brick houses and sanitation, these primarily
served the needs of missions: There was neither conscious educational
planning to extend technical skills to Ugandans nor formal declaration of
educational policies (p.22). Instead there were attempts to introduce inap-
propriate farming methods. Moreover cash crops such as coffee and cotton
were introduced as raw materials to serve the European market rather than
cater for the needs of the indigenous population. Money was introduced
as a: tool for compelling people to work for the colonial government or
capitalist enterprises which were the only reliable source of the badly
needed cash (Babikwa 2004:41). Other legal, political and socio-economic
structures systematically destroyed precolonial socio-economic values. In spite
of, or perhaps because of, these measures the colonial administration left
large sectors of rural populations leading a subsistence peasant life, so that
the majority of African countries were very poor at Independence with few
qualified doctors or teachers. At Independence, for instance, Tanzania had
only two engineers and twelve doctors, with 85 per cent of the adult popula-
tion illiterate. Botswana had only 40 graduates and was one of the poorest
countries in the world.
While Atim and Ngaka (2004) do acknowledge some infrastructure
improvement for adult education provision in Uganda after World War II,
the pattern of development across Africa was uneven. In the majority of
cases post-Independence educational development largely followed the sys-
tems that had been developed during the colonial administration, prima-
rily because development aid was contingent on this happening. Nevertheless
there were initiatives among individual leaders to incorporate more indi-
genized approaches. Two examples are outlined here, (one of which was
initiated prior to Independence). Ultimately both had their limitations in
the context of a rapidly changing world and in the face of more dominant
development agendas from the North. They nevertheless reflect socialist
concepts of lifelong learning that were, arguably, in many ways more imagi-
native and responsive than efforts in the North over the same periods.
Alternative concepts of lifelong learning from the South
Chapters 4 and 5 address more specifically the processes of development

after Independence in formerly colonized countries, but the efforts of two
key figures need to be highlighted here in relation to culturally and context-
specific visions for lifelong learning. Both were developed in opposition to
colonialism, though at very different points in history.
Mahatma Gandhi, influenced by his experiences in and out of India,

developed a strategy of education for rural reconstruction during the 1940s,
though his philosophical ideas first emerged prior to 1914. Gandhis prin-
ciples for life were based on four pillars: truth, non-violence, sarvodaya
(welfare of all) and satyagraha (non-violent action). These principles encom-
passed the spiritual, moral, political, economic, social, individual and col-
lective. Although drawing on his extensive travels and recognition of other
political and philosophical perspectives, Gandhi never completely rejected
his own traditions. He claimed that western civilization had made ordinary
Indian villagers poorer and less healthy because their traditional handi-
crafts skills had been replaced by modern machinery where factory workers
slaved in appalling conditions. Gandhis goal was to make village communi-
ties self-sufficient and self-governing through an education system that was
both practical (learning traditional crafts and their productive processes)
and moral (based on spiritual communal life, truth and non-violence).
He was deeply critical of the colonial system of education and its association
with an utterly unjust government primarily because it was based on a for-
eign culture to the almost entire exclusion of indigenous culture, ignored
the culture of the heart and the hand, and was being delivered through
the foreign medium of English (paragraph 871 in Bose 1996 ). He, how-
ever, believed in a casteless society but combined with the spirituality of
ancient India, expressed in the words swaraj and swadeshi. Swaraj, roughly
translated, means independence, autonomy or self-rule within a spiritual
communal life and swadeshi approximates the notion of self-sufficiency or
self-reliance (Burke 2000:2). The translation of truth from the Indian word
satya means a form of absolute truth in relation to God and morality, while
non-violence from the Indian word ahisma encompasses the concept of
active love.
Gandhis strategy for achieving his revisioning of civilization was through
developing self-reliance within village communities. Each village would be
self-sufficient for daily living but would also have an interdependent rela-
tionship with other villages for mutual exchange:
Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus every village will be a

republic . . . having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has
to be self-sustained and capable of managing its own affairs . . . In this
structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever-widening,
never-ascending circles. (cited in Burke 2000:2)
Each village would have a school, a theatre, hall and water. Education would
be a cooperative relationship between student and teacher where each
would learn from the other. His focus was on the welfare of people, rather
than institutions or systems. It was an openly communalist view in opposi-
tion to western competitive materialism. Emphasis would be placed on
selflessness and responsibilities rather than rights; wealth would be used
for the benefit of wider society rather than individual gain. Gandhis vision
for education was a lifelong process for both children and adults. Although
it was introduced in 1937 as a scheme for educational reform, by Independ-
ence in 1966 it was no longer part of Indias five-year education plans, in the
context of a new era for development.
Gandhis vision was in response to the circumstances of the time, particu-
larly in opposition to the perceived destruction of Indian culture and dig-
nity as a result of colonialism. But many of his concepts are reflected in the
African philosophical concerns discussed earlier in this chapter. They also
bear strong resemblance to the educational philosophy of the Tanzanian
philosopher and politician Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
Nyerere shared Gandhis commitment to education for self-reliance,
integrated with a collective system of productive work and the concept of
building autonomous, self-sufficient villages. Like Gandhi, Nyerere believed
in the worth of every individual irrespective of skin colour or other charac-
teristic. While these notions of equality nowadays do not signify anything
extraordinary, in the context of colonialism, they were revolutionary. His
vision drew on the values of ubuntu (translated to harambee in Kiswahili)
and his educational philosophy was embedded in the Kiswahili concept
of ujamaa (roughly translated as familyhood, the traditional element of
African society). Again, like Gandhi he was a fervent critic of the way colo-
nial education had cut Africans off from their own history, value system,
cultural origins and sense of identity. Ujamaa would be realized through the
construction of self-contained village communities, collectivization of agri-
culture, large-scale nationalization and a focus on rural development. His
ideas are encapsulated in the Arusha Declaration of 1967, where he advo-
cated the goals of adult education and education for self-reliance in the
context of national development. Education, he stated:
has to foster the social goals of living together and working together for
the common good. It has to prepare our young people to play a dynamic
role and constructive part in the development of a society in which all
members share fairly in the good or bad fortune of the group, and in
which progress is measured in terms of human well-being, not prestige
buildings, cars, or other such things whether privately or publicly owned.
Our education must therefore indicate a sense of commitment to the
whole community and help the pupils to accept the values appropriate to
our kind of future, not those appropriate to our colonial past. (Nyerere
1967:6)
Adult education within this context was seen as a liberation from ignorance
and dependency, raising of consciousness, inspiring a desire for change.
It was firmly embedded in the concept of lifelong learning. In Nyereres
vision education has no end (Mulenga 2001:459).
Nyerere introduced many practices that were later adopted in western
community education initiatives, such as using primary schools for adult
education classes, teacher training for adult education and the initiation of
a national literacy campaign. Adult literacy rates improved from 15 per cent
in 1967 to 91per cent by 1988 and nearly every child was in school. But his
overall project failed to capture the required widespread imagination and
enthusiasm of village communities. There are several possible reasons for
this. Mulenga (2001) suggests that Nyerere (like Gandhi) was too intent on
resurrecting lost cultural tradition in the face of the needs of a rapidly
changing world. There was therefore a contradiction in his goals to encour-
age critical thinking and the desire to conform to an idealized past. Perhaps
also, the pressures of development agendas from the International Mone-
tary Fund (IMF) and World Bank during the 1980s added contradictory
restraints to his essentially anti-capitalist agenda, so that the early gains of
his initiative ultimately deteriorated.
Learning from the past: implications for lifelong learning
Louw (2001), among others, acknowledges the contradictions in Africa

between the concepts of ubuntu in the face of increasing violence, corrup-
tion, poor governance and divisions between ethnicities, genders, the elite
rich and mass poor. But he also points out other extraordinary tendencies
in African countries where mass civil war has not broken out in the face of
wider injustices. He highlights the incidents where reconciliation and con-
sensus have prevented mass destruction of societies such as the ending
of apartheid in South Africa, where Truth and Reconciliation committees
encouraged all sides to admit their atrocities to their victims as a means
of moving towards peace. A recent power sharing agreement in Kenya,
after disputed elections caused ethnic tensions that erupted into riots and
mass killings, was made possible, it could be argued, through the spirit of
ubuntu. Van Hensbroek (2001) suggests that the concept of ubuntu is per-
haps an aspirational concept. The romantic ideology of a golden past for
formerly colonized nations is no more real than it has been for any society.
The difference, however, is that these nations were not allowed to grow on
their own terms. Colonialism and ongoing imperialist agendas for educa-
tional development create resistances to potential futures because they are
not owned by their own peoples. The potential for hybridity, for Africans to
merge their traditions with exogenous influences (Nyamnjoh 2002:135),
is therefore often lost.
So what can we extract from these histories, to help us develop a cultur-
ally relevant and philosophically supportive lifelong learning agenda for
countries in the South and perhaps globally? We have a number of tensions.
The global agenda is unashamedly capitalist, the southern tradition is much
more concerned with collectivization; tradition in rural areas, where the
majority still live, remains strong. Further the language of colonizers is not
the language of the colonized. It can be seen throughout this chapter that
it has been difficult to translate exact meanings for concepts and words
that provide the core of everyday life in diverse cultures. The overriding
message from African and Asian writers, however, is the need to be given
space to articulate those value systems that resonate with indigenous cul-
tural identities as a starting point for moving forward. This message must
somehow be integrated into the world context of development aid and glo-
balization. Ntuli (2002) poses a series of questions for indigenous knowl-
edges that are pertinent to a lifelong learning project for the South. Some
of them are replicated here:
z What are the important practices relating to the management of natural

resources, agriculture and health?
z How do they relate to western explanations and concepts?
z How do people learn, teach and experiment?
z What changes have taken place in the traditional cosmo-vision? (p.634)
To which can be added: what can we adapt and build on for lifelong learn-
ing in todays world?
Chapters 4 and 5 explore these issues within current socio-political cli-
mates before we look at some more practical and country-specific concerns
for lifelong learning in the South.
Concluding summary
This chapter has argued that education in the South did not begin with
colonialism. Evidence from African and South Asian societies indicate there
were sophisticated and organized forms of learning, for which the whole
community took responsibility. They were largely unwritten and relied on
oral transmission and memory for their continuity, but covered the whole
curriculum in an integrated way. The focus was on preparation for life
within defined cultures and communities. The philosophical foundations
for such education were embedded in a world view that saw nature and
human beings as having a cyclical relationship between the living, the dead
and yet to be born, bound by a spiritual core that sought to harmonize liv-
ing with the natural environment. Colonialism rejected these value systems
and replaced any educational input with a more Cartesian, individualistic
and disconnected approach to education under the guise of civilization.
Colonial interests primarily served the educational needs of their capitalist
administration, so that national development was partial and largely
neglected the majority rural communities. At Independence, the coloniz-
ers formal curriculum and philosophical heritage has continued to prevail
across formerly colonized nations with consequent effects on cultural iden-
tity, self-esteem and progress. The postcolonial project attempts to redress
the imbalance of these interventions by arguing for recognition of both the
histories of formerly colonized nations and integration of their aspirational
beliefs into current development agendas. The final section of this chapter
introduced some questions by Ntuli that may contribute to the develop-
ment of a lifelong learning agenda for the South and a more global and
holistic vision for learning societies.
Chapter 4
Development and lifelong learning
Development is too important for thinking and research to be dominated by ideas

and support mainly emanating from orthodoxy within the developed world. The
lives and welfare of five billion of the worlds population are at stake, as well as
the understanding, cultural enrichment, and harmony in the world as a whole.
Orthodox economic thinking and practice and the Washington Consensus are too
dominant at present, reinforced by the wealth and operations of the Bank, the IMF
and the major aid donors. The world needs broader thinking and research, espe-
cially that informed by the realities on the ground, drawing on the perceptions,
research and professional skills of all the social sciences and especially from third
world professionals reflecting their views of issues and problems in their own
countries.
Jolly 2007:12
Introduction
The concept of development implies some form of time-related evolution,

growth, progress or maturity. Learning on a lifelong and life-wide basis is
therefore more appropriate for development than merely initial or basic
education. The above excerpt from Jollys keynote address to a recent con-
ference on development suggests that countries in the South should be
allowed to take charge of their own development needs and by implica-
tion, one might argue, through a lifelong learning framework. This impera-
tive is so strong that it seems inconceivable there is so little literature that
specifically addresses these two concepts together. This is partly because
Development as a field of study originates primarily from the discipline
of Economics. The relatively large body of policy literature that discusses
education and development often frames this discussion around the measur-
able benefits of initial education to development in economistic terms or
concentrates on quantifiable issues to do with participation and attainment.
Development and Lifelong Learning 51
One exception is the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO
2002) which explicitly recognizes the link between a holistic vision for
education for all ages and development in terms of human welfare as well
as economic growth (although the report is still primarily a resource for
statistical data). The document also mentions lifelong learning but does
not make a conceptual link between this and education, or conceptualize
lifelong learning at all. Similarly, where lifelong learning and development
are interlinked in policy or similar framework documents, the two terms
are usually introduced unproblematically, although we shall see that one or
two academics, such as Odora Hoppers and Shirley Walters, interrogate
their interrelationship.
I mentioned in Chapter 2 that lifelong learning contributes to helping
people make sense of the world around them, and is a way of critiquing and
contributing to social development (sometimes called active citizenship).
I also argued in Chapter 1 that the SADC definition for lifelong learning
provided a more context-specific and social focus than the one provided by
the European Commission. It is important to recognize these differences as
both a resource for critiquing the dominant policy perspective on lifelong
learning and also to avoid the uncritical international transfer of perspec-
tives from the North. Because of their colonial histories formerly colonized
peoples must recreate their sense of self on their terms and within their
own cultural context. So critical analysis is an important part of learning
because it facilitates understanding of the tensions and conflicts that affect
postcolonial situations. This kind of learning can create space for agency
(self-determination) to stimulate positive change.
I have further argued that the dominant discourses that are used for
education, globalization, lifelong learning and development on behalf of
the South need to be scrutinized for their authoritative claims. Often it
is the silences in texts (what is left out) that create distorted realities. By
revealing contemporary development requirements and possibilities that
go beyond the dominant discourses we can move nearer to identifying how
lifelong learning can contribute to alternative visions for development, as
well as be a feature of the development agenda itself.
We have also seen that lifelong learning existed in the South prior to
colonialism, as preparation for life in particular contexts but through dif-
ferent world views. Certain world views value interconnections between the
living, the dead and those yet to be born. Traditional lifelong learning in
most contexts was interrupted by colonialism rather than facilitated a situ-
ation which has continued in the postcolonial period, resulting in a devel-
opment agenda that is embedded in western/northern principles without
reference to indigenous values, skills, knowledge and understanding.

Although there are some measures to redress this imbalance in future
development agendas, such as the NEPAD, this partnership is still subject
to ongoing conditionalities imposed by the international aid community
that do not sit easily with African philosophical positions. The result tends
to be resistance or at best an ongoing tension on the part of the general
populace in beneficiary countries to external development discourses,
rather than a participatory relationship which builds on the best of the past
in order to seek a way forward.
Following this argument we need to scrutinize the philosophical intent,
but also the failures of alternative development paradigms of leaders like
Nyerere and Gandhi. They were oppositional visions in the face of over-
whelming disintegration of peoples cultural identities, their world views
and traditional means of sustainability. Gandhis approach was to combine
spirituality with practical learning for community well-being and self-
sufficiency by reverting to traditional productivity. His goal was to nurture
the culture of the heart and the hand. Nyereres was education for self
reliance using the Ujamaa concept of village as family. Both Gandhis and
Nyereres philosophy for development and education focused on the col-
lective. This required a commitment to the whole community rather than
the individual. The focus was human well-being rather than profit. Their
positions contrast starkly with the World Bank and other donor agency
concerns with competitiveness, modernization, and marketization. But
their ideological downfall perhaps reflects the need for a more hybrid view
of development that acknowledges the need to interface with a fast chang-
ing and globalizing world. Lifelong learning somehow has to capture south-
ern and context-specific world views within this wider framework.
This chapter continues the above arguments by highlighting tensions
between those dominant, normative discourses for development from inter-
national aid agencies, and southern perspectives. It provides a brief review
of the evolutionary process of development discourses since the 1950s and
their approach to education and knowledge. It draws particularly on writers
such as Escobar, Ferguson, Odora Hoppers and Tikly all of whom share
postcolonialist concerns about the impact of neo-liberal ideologies on for-
merly colonized countries. A review of recent World Bank attempts to meas-
ure social capital as a missing link in development agendas precedes
some alternative visions for development including the gender dimension.
I conclude with some reflections on how lifelong learning (as opposed
to initial or basic education per se) can contribute to a culturally sensitive
development agenda, before moving onto Chapter 5 which discusses the
globalization dimension for lifelong learning.
Development discourses
Rural development projects are to be found scattered liberally across the African
continent and beyond; and in nearly every case, these projects seem on inspection to
be planned, implemented, and justified in very nearly the same way as they are in
Lesotho. What is more, these projects seem to fail with almost the same astonishing
regularity that they do in Lesotho.
Ferguson 1994:8
The way development need is constructed by those with the power to name
and control development has become the focus of much attention in recent
years. Ferguson conducted a systematic analysis of international develop-
ment agendas for Lesotho, demonstrating how the language of develop-
ment texts constructed the country as a development problem by providing
images of Lesotho that would match the development agenda of the time.
The texts then became a way of controlling the development process itself.
Ferguson cites an extract from a World Bank text written in 1975 that
described Lesotho as a traditional subsistence peasant society, virtually
untouched by economic development, and implying that its migrant labour
system only started in recent years even though migration to work in South
Africa has been in existence for generations. Yet Ferguson finds an Encyclo-
paedia Britannica text of 1910 that describes Basutoland as one of the
greatest grain-growing countries of South Africa and as a thriving society
(in Ferguson 1994:26).
Ferguson points out how Lesotho is actively promoted by the World Bank
as a peasant society where:
the farmers are distinguished from one another by their relative

receptiveness to new ideas and development (hence lead farmers,
progressive farmers, etc.). Political parties almost never appear, and
the explicitly political role played by development institutions such
as the Village Development Committees is ignored or concealed . . .
(p.66)
By using only certain words to describe Lesotho, it is represented as a coun-

try with a geography, but no history . . . bureaucracy, but no politics (ibid).
By removing politics from the concept of development the discourse
removes the possibility of a political analysis of the issues that caused under
development in the first place. In other words the country of Lesotho is
given the right deficiencies to meet the proposed solution.
Ferguson argues that development the externally imposed project to

reform peasant society and expand the capitalist mode of production, rarely
achieves its objectives, but it still exists, producing similar results of develop-
ment failure. Development projects never manage to solve the problem
they identified because the problem is being defined in a way that serves
predetermined solutions, and ignores other, associated realities:
Impediments to development of the national economy are thus located

in lack of roads and markets, lack of training and education, lack of agri-
cultural inputs . . . problems which loom largest in other, non-develop-
ment accounts, such as structural unemployment, influx control, low
wages, political subjugation . . . parasitic bureaucratic elites, and so on,
simply disappear. (Ibid)
Escobar (1995), among others, questions the unquestioned desirability of

development as a project that aims to replicate the world of industrializa-
tion, including increase of urban communities, agricultural technology,
individualistic values and so on. He, too, shows how development theories
consistently produce hegemonic discourses that help countries to see them-
selves as undeveloped and thereby desiring to be developed according
to the dictates of those producing the knowledge about development.
Furthermore, development discourses, it can be argued, create contradic-
tions and discontinuities of thought through a continuous desire by their
agents to dominate those identified as in need of development, as the above
example implies.
So what are these discourses that have consistently failed to achieve their
proclaimed goals, and what do they have in common? Youngman (2000),
Tikly (2004) and others have described Developments evolutionary proc-
ess and it is summarized here.
With the post-World War II reconstruction era of the early 1950s emerged
a desire, particularly in North America and Europe, to find new markets
and secure cheap raw materials for production. The interest in those
countries subjected to colonial rule was based on strategic considerations
by industrialized first world nations of how to access new resources and
prevent such countries from partnering with the emerging communist
countries of the second world. So the third world was born. The previ-
ously designated primitive, uneducable savage, suddenly became an object
for education and development, at least to a level that would enable
exchange through domination and exploitation.
Development became the new hegemonic rationale for colonial interfer-

ence. Knowledge about poverty was constructed by the West in its own
image, with universally applicable solutions. Aid was conditional upon third
world countries transforming themselves to be like their first world counter-
parts, but without being subject to the same benefits that first world coun-
tries apply to themselves. For instance, Escobar (1995) reports that when
European countries were in need of support to facilitate post-war recon-
struction, aid from America to Europe was unconditional and loan free.
It has also been claimed that many dictatorial regimes in the South were
supported when it suited the strategic interests of the West and North.
In other words, the development discourse created space for only certain
things to be said and done, and certain significations of meaning attached
to words and actions. So villager signified someone who doesnt under-
stand and the Muslim woman as someone who is oppressed through the
forms of power that have appeared to act not so much by repression but
by normalization; not by ignorance but by controlled knowledge (Escobar
1995:53). Robinson-Pant (2001) reinforces how this process is still continu-
ing when she describes how current development material for literacy
classes uses images that reinforce the dichotomy between developed and
undeveloped peoples and behaviours. She describes how sequential pic-
tures in educational material start by depicting the male white westerner
as in charge and local people as lacking discipline move to the final picture
where villagers become organized and attentive in response to the civilizing
westerner (p.313). This, she argues, fails to recognize that different cul-
tures have different ways of organizing themselves as well as different
priorities.
Odora Hoppers (2001) identifies different development decades where
the discourse may change slightly, but always retains the same civilizing
mission, in the context of a capitalist economy, to make people believe they
are undeveloped. So the 1960s was a decade for modernization theory and
central government planning. The answer to development was enhanced
physical infrastructure, machinery and export of raw materials. Education
would concentrate on giving people the right skills and attitudes for profit-
based work. The rationale now was that profit-based economic growth
would have a trickle-down effect on the poor, thus developing whole nations.
As has already been mentioned, this approach failed to take account of the
existing nature of societies.
Odora Hoppers (2001:23) gives an example in Ethiopia of the long-term
negative effect of 1960s development projects. The initiative cited here
demonstrates the donor agencies self-serving motives for Ethiopias devel-

opment needs and the way they were able to exploit support within the
country itself: The Awash river . . . was developed in the 1960s to provide
irrigation for Dutch, Israeli, Italian and British firms (and for very wealthy
Ethiopians) to grow sugar and cotton. But this:
development stopped the August flooding which covered the basin with
rich soil and which provided grazing for the Afar people. The tribe was
forced into less fertile parts of the valley which became seriously over-
grazed. When drought struck the Wollo region in 1972, 25-30% of the
Afars died.
Dependency theorists emerged during the 1970s. They did not challenge
capitalism per se (Offiong 1980 for example) but argued that western capi-
talism was blocking capital accumulation in formerly colonized nations
because industrialized countries were importing raw materials, using them
for manufacturing goods and then selling them back to the colonized
periphery at profit-making prices which simply impoverished developing
nations even more. Although countries such as Tanzania attempted to
develop alternative systems, (as outlined in Chapter 3) the numbers were
too few to impact on the modernization approach overall.
In terms of education, mass literacy campaigns were adopted in many
countries along with an expansion of formal schooling. Non-formal educa-
tion and extension work (community-based, primarily agricultural educa-
tion for farmers) served as lifelong learning components at this time. It was
provided to cater for those without places in the formal system, for those
who had already missed out in the past and also as a means of providing
extended skills instruction. But the overall, top-down development approach
remained problematic.
The oil crisis of the 1970s produced a further strain on countries with
fragile cash economies and delimited the amount of financial support on
offer by international agencies. The development aid answer in the 1980s
was to intensify the market and privatization, leading to what has become
known as the Washington Consensus, or neo-liberalism. It was argued that
government interventions and social welfare support were an impediment
to the free market, independency and economic growth. The solution
was to cut government spending on public services and allow the market to
find its own equilibrium. Poor economic performance in the South was
now the result of too much government spending, emphasis on physical
infrastructure and social support systems. World Bank and IMF lending
became conditional on stringent structural adjustment programmes that

demanded reduction in spending on public services, greater emphasis
on foreign investment and exports and a focus on user fees for essential
services such as education and health. Entrepreneurialism, and its associ-
ated individualist focus on profit and personal gain, was identified as the
basis for growth for poor economies.
Since countries in the South were already in debt and were already disad-
vantaged by the market process that exploited raw materials, the result was
a massive increase in poverty, and reduction in educational participation
rates with consequences for health and production generally. Non-formal
education from this period relied heavily on the spread of civil-society
organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to help plug
the gap in public services.
The impact of such development policies continues. Jolly (2007), in
his keynote address to an international conference on development in
Scotland, provides a damning indictment of the outcomes of IMF condi-
tional lending policies. Citing from Barrow and Wha Lee (2005) he states
that the IMF has not been effective at promoting economic growth and
has had a statistically significant negative effect on economic growth (p.5).
He pointed out a number of reasons that were given to blame the result on
countries themselves, such as countries were failing to implement correctly
or fully, or there were issues of corruption, instability and war, so that: As
time progresses, the reasons given become the consequences of failures of
adjustment, self-fulfilling prophecies (Jolly 2007:7).
The 1990s and early part of the new millennium decade saw what has
become known as the post-Washington consensus (Tikly 2004:180). This
approach still supports the free market but is influenced by two emerging
concerns. On the one hand, the increasing threat of terrorism for countries
in the North has focused both Europe and North Americas attention on
the notion of good governance and security. Bagoyoko and Gibert (2007:10),
for instance, highlight the concept of African security as a new legitimacy
for EU policies in Africa, based on the concept of three pillars commu-
nity (the social environment), common foreign and security policies
(military interventions) and police and the judiciary (issues of crime). So,
they argue, Europe is now defending itself through a focus on security in
Africa, rather than simply on its previous interests around trade. The dis-
course of security creates an even greater rationale for European interven-
tions and control.
On the other hand, recent academic debates and civil-society voices
concerning the omission of gender and environmental concerns, and the
concept of social capital as a missing link in development have introduced

new discourses and arguments for economic growth and dominance. Both
these positions result in a discursive reintroduction of the need for state
interventions.
Space does not allow for exploration of all these issues, but since social
capital, in northern discourses, has been linked to lifelong learning, and
the World Bank became particularly interested in the concept as a new
development issue, we will discuss it in a little more depth here.
Social capital
The concept of social capital came into its own during the 1990s. Writers
such as Fukuyama (1995) identified it as a feature of successful entrepre-
neurship in Japan and Putnam (2000) saw it as an explanation for the
decline of civic virtue in America. It has become an explanatory variable for
both neo-liberalists and socialists and has as many critics as protagonists.
The World Bank, partly in response to criticism of its neo-liberal recipes for
developing countries began to identify social capital as the missing link in
development agendas, using econometrics to measure social capital per
household (see Grootaert 2001, for example).
Social capital is broadly defined as social networks, the reciprocities that
arise from them, and the value of these for achieving mutual goals (Schuller
et al. 2000:1). But any concept that deals with relationships is also con-
cerned with power and the inequalities that derive from that. Any network
of social groups can be both exclusionary as well as mutually beneficial.
Partly for this reason different types of social capital are identified. Research
suggests that different kinds of social capital serve different purposes. Field
(2005) offers the following distinctions.
Bonding social capital relates to close community and family ties
something that many African communities have in abundance though
there is evidence that urbanization, new socio-economic demands caused
by HIV/AIDS and the formal education system itself are all loosening those
ties among younger generations. A study of attitudes to active citizenship
rights and responsibilities among post-Independence young adults in
Botswana, for instance, revealed that while they still retained their extended
family links, Botswana youth would be more inclined to be selective about
their community responsibilities and would more freely question the tradi-
tional values of their elders than former generations did (Preece and
Mosweunyane 2004).
Bridging social capital is identified as a situation where people move

beyond their immediate social ties and build new links across communities.
Field suggests this is likely to create more heterogeneous networks
where there is a wider and cross fertilization of knowledge and ideas. The
Botswana findings indicated that young people make some use of bonding
social capital as they form interest groups that may extend beyond their
immediate communities.
But it is Linking social capital (networks that extend beyond commu-
nities into broader institutions and organizations) that is perceived as the
most useful for wider exposure to information and knowledge and there-
fore potential interest in lifelong learning. Field (2005:34) suggests that the
wider the network circles, the more loose and open ended they are, with
consequences for both formal and less formal learning: It seems probable
that looser networks will promote those affective and social competences
that are best suited to coping with change and disruption. The extent, or
nature, of which networks serve which purpose and for what ultimate gain,
is not easily identifiable, particularly in relation to context.
Field explored the relationship between social capital and participation
in lifelong learning in Ireland. His results were inconclusive. He suggested
that people with broader social connections were probably more likely to
be interested in participating in organized learning, though this observa-
tion would be subject to other context-specific influences, such as the well-
researched fact that the primary motivator for participation in learning
during adulthood is usually linked to extended initial education. This suggests
that extended participation in learning may be a key factor in developing
the necessary prerequisite to building linking social capital rather than the
other way round.
This latter factor seems to have bypassed much of the development policy
literature which concentrates on universal primary education or at best basic
education targets.
The World Bank (2003a) interprets the above levels of social capital in
terms of macro-, meso- and micro-networks and norms in order to explain
how social capital affects well-being and the relationship between social
capital and economic gain. It is interesting to see the subtle changes in
interpretation that this literature puts on the definition of social capital
compared with the more process-focused definition of Schuller et al.
(2000). Grootaerts (2001) focus is on the ability of actors to secure benefits
by virtue of membership in social networks or other social structures (p.1)
(my italics). Criteria such as the impact of local associations on household
welfare and poverty; role of associations in the accumulation of assets,
access to credit (p.3) are of greater interest to the Bank than relationships
of mutual support in times of crisis, peer influences on learning motivation
or civic roles and responsibilities, participation in political decision making
etc. Although some research in the South speaks positively about the link
between social capital and poverty reduction (such as Ortiz 2007 in the
context of Latin America), the variations in what is looked for mean that
initiatives to nurture or apply social capital to development tend to be
viewed economistically, rather than through a more holistic social develop-
ment approach.
It might be argued, therefore, that social capital is potentially useful to
explain how people use their social links to further their own lives. As such it
is a contributory factor to understanding how peoples social values form and
develop in relation to their personal development, including attitudes to
learning. But it remains context-specific and it is not clear how much social
capital is a contributor to, or outcome of, development or lifelong learning.
Alternative visions for development
Novelli and Popez Cardozo (2008) address a critical feature of develop-

ment and education in relation to conflict situations. They raise two impor-
tant points, among others, that are relevant to this and the ensuing chapter.
First, there is an urgent need to ensure that education (and by implication
lifelong learning) explores conflict within a broad and global context of
development and international relations, framed within a critical theory
framework. Second, it is important to recognize that not all education has
a positive effect on development. They, and many others (for example,
Harber 2004) cite a number of situations where education has been used as
a weapon for oppression and inequality. So not all forms of education are
good for development.
It is refreshing, therefore, to note that the UNESCO Education for All
Global Monitoring Report (2002) cites Amartya Sen in support of a more
holistic view of education and development. While Sen does not address
lifelong learning specifically, he provides a political economy approach to
constructing some broader visions for education and development within a
social justice framework.
Development as freedom
Development can be seen . . . as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people
enjoy. Focusing on human freedoms contrasts with narrower views of development,
such as identifying development with the growth of gross national product, or with
the rise in personal incomes, or with industrialization, or with technological
advance, or with social modernization. Growth of GNP or of individual incomes
can, of course, be very important as a means to expanding the freedoms enjoyed by
the members of the society. But freedoms depend also on other determinants, such as
social and economic arrangements . . . as well as political and civil rights.
Sen 1999:3
Sen discusses development as either a fierce process (which deliberately

neglects democracy or social safety nets) or a friendly process (which
includes concerns with political liberties and social services). Although he
prefers the friendly approach he is not advocating an alternative to capital-
ism. But he does argue for a change of focus to consideration of a range of
freedoms that are constituent components of development (p.5), rather
than simply aiming for the end product of economic growth. This, he says,
is because it is the capabilities of people to lead the kind of lives they value
(p.18) that influence the extent to which they can exercise self-determina-
tion to help themselves or contribute to wider development issues. His
substantive freedoms include participation in politics, education and
health care. Major sources of unfreedom are poverty, tyranny, poor eco-
nomic opportunities, social deprivation, neglect of public facilities, repres-
sive states. But the emphasis on leading the lives that people value creates
space for diversity.
Capabilities are the range of things people can do, the knowledge and
skills needed to act independently for productivity or personal welfare
consumption. Poor education or knowledge about how to challenge ineq-
uitable systems perpetuate exclusion and isolation. So capability unfree-
dom creates a dependency role for people who are then locked into
a vicious cycle of low skills that prevent better paid employment, thus per-
petuating the cycle of need for the next generation.
Participation helps to determine the range of things people can be
including participation in social life and inclusion in decision-making
processes. Education is a critical feature for participation in all aspects
of life. So wherever the right to education is denied, this becomes a social
justice issue, which affects peoples life chances in a multidimensional way.
Included in this vision is the empowerment of women, where education will
increase a womans social standing, decision-making power in the family,
ability to be independent, knowledge of the outside world, skill in influenc-
ing group decisions.
This vision for development broadens the scope for lifelong learning in
that it reflects education as a multidimensional process. But even Sen does
not specifically recognize the need for continuous learning to achieve the
above freedoms. Moreover he expends a considerable number of words on
justifying womens education for economic purposes or for the health-
related benefits of reduced fertility. While these may be desirable outcomes
(depending on other socio-cultural factors) they do not in themselves
address social relations of power and domination which are major concerns
of postcolonial analyses and of more recent feminist arguments.
Gender
Development projects have affected women differently from their male
counterparts. One issue is the impact of urbanization and migration of men
to cash economies away from home. This means that women work longer in
and out of the home and their responsibilities have increased without being
given the skills to deal with changes. Furthermore, schools in many instances
are not girl friendly environments. Indeed women and girls education
is often neglected where there is competition for basic human needs.
Feminists have been pointing to womens invisibility in development dis-
courses since the 1970s. In recent years international development agencies
have adopted the economic rationale for womens education also recogniz-
ing that womens earnings are more likely to be used to support the family.
This approach fails to recognize the complexity of patriarchal relations and
does not address the wider lifelong learning issues already articulated in
this book.
For instance Parthasarathy et al. (2007) explain how international aid
agencies have adopted micro-credit as a magic bullet development strat-
egy to solve all the problems of women. Micro-credit is a form of commu-
nity-managed bank where small sums of money are collected and shared
out as loans on a rotational basis to help women start up small businesses.
But the authors point out that this is now offered at the expense of literacy
and any awareness raising of the root causes of their poverty, and also
without the necessary discussions that enable women to see how the micro-
credit arrangement itself can trap women into further dependency
arrangements since the basic structures that prevent them from accessing
credit in the normal way, or the market, remain in place.
Gender concerns for development and education were given a major
boost in 1995 after the World Conference on Women in Beijing. This con-
ference highlighted the growth of women maintained households and the
anomaly that while women in most countries of the South constitute a sub-
stantial number of agriculture workers, it is usually the men who receive
agriculture training. It was also argued that gender concerns with educa-
tion stretch beyond participation rates. They include issues to do with atti-
tudes, curriculum and gender-sensitive learning environments.
The different dimensions of gender-based development theories are dis-
cussed by Visvanathan (1997). They follow the above development trends
and are also critiqued for emanating largely from the North. So the con-
cept of Women in Development (WID) is closely related to modernization
theory which unproblematically depicts traditional societies as male domi-
nated and modern ones as democratic and egalitarian. The WID answer to
gender development issues is to introduce legal and administrative changes
that integrate women into economic systems.
The Woman and Development approach (WAD) follows the dependency
theory arguments about capitalism failing to recognize womens productive
as well as reproductive role in society. This argument claims that the intro-
duction of capitalism reinforced the subordination of womens status in
agrarian societies because property was controlled by men.
Gender and Development (GAD) developed during the 1980s, with an
interest in how women are oppressed in all sectors of society and a focus on
womens rights and power relations between men and women. Chapter 7
will address southern critiques of feminist movements in more detail, but
suffice to say for now that during the 1980s voices of women from the South
emerged through a number of organizations. One of the most prominent
was Developing Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). This
organization critiques the impact of development from the perspectives
of women living in the South. The focus shifts to concerns with political
consciousness raising, basic rights, equal share of caring for children, grass-
roots mobilization and transformation of institutions, structures and
relations that perpetuate injustice (Visvanathan 1997:1732).
The latter approach to gender and development is concerned with inter-
secting issues to do with class, race, ethnicity and religion and political
organization of women, but in a way that encourages men to recognize
their shared experiences of domination. So for women, development issues
are as much to do with political participation and legal rights as they are to
do with maternal, child nutrition or credit issues. Adult and lifelong educa-
tion, it is argued, stretches beyond adult literacy programmes and must
enable women to employ strategies that are helpful to them in their daily
lives (International Labour Organization (ILO) 1996:318). This includes
education and training for sustainable use of resources and protecting the
environment; support mechanisms for life skills, opportunity for drop-outs

to continue education, entrepreneurial skills, self-employment skills, and
retraining programmes. So, to accommodate gender concerns, even when
development relates to the economy it must be critically contextualized in
a lifelong learning framework.
Lifelong learning and development
In recent years international aid agencies such as DFID and the World Bank
have begun to introduce the concept of lifelong learning into their devel-
opment agendas, but their representation of the relationship between life-
long learning, knowledge and understanding of wider issues is inconsistent.
Where there is a link they relentlessly pursue an economistic agenda. The
World Banks 2007 document surprisingly recognizes indigenous knowl-
edge and quality of life in the context of social development, but without
one reference to lifelong learning. Its 1998 document actively promotes
lifelong learning in relation to knowledge, but primarily for its effects on
economic productivity: It is lack of knowledge that causes markets to col-
lapse (1998:7). It also identifies a deficit model of knowledge for develop-
ing countries: Knowledge about attributes . . . such as quality of a product,
diligence of a worker . . . informational problems . . . are fewer and weaker
in developing countries (ibid). This denies the existence of alternative
knowledge systems and creates a false reality of knowledge construction in
the South.
Jolly supports this observation by referring to the World Banks establish-
ment of a Global Development Network in the late 1990s which ignored
the fact that the third World research associations had already been in
existence and operating with great professionalism for some 25 years (Jolly
2007:11). Similarly Odora Hoppers (2001) observes how the Bank fails to
look at higher education in the South as a knowledge producer, (and there-
fore its potential to develop a lifelong learning society), instead preferring
to focus on how higher education can cut its costs.
A few writers have begun to envision a postdevelopment era. Their argu-
ments follow similar tendencies. Escobar (1995) talks of privileging local
cultures and knowledges, promoting localized grassroots movements, mov-
ing away from western modes of knowing, encouraging hybrid cultures,
looking for other ways of building economies, finding ways of meeting
needs that are not strictly for profit and the market (p.189). Robinson-Pant
(2001) also talks about bottom up grassroots social movements and looking
for ways of forming new knowledge from such movements. This emphasis
moves away from universalist approaches, and towards localized, context-
specific solutions to local problems, encouraging reflexivity and critical
awareness. It supports initiatives such as REFLECT which adopt a critical
literacy approach to development and where literacy is secondary to aware-
ness raising. The approach encourages communities to develop local litera-
cies through shared exploration of concerns which are meaningful to them.
Odora Hoppers (2001) calls her vision a post-victimology perspective,
asking for a new vision of education and its link with development by con-
ceptualizing: a future that acknowledges plurality and diversity, a life-giving
and life maintaining future (p.33). She, like Escobar, asks that education
should go beyond serving the interests of capital and questions the basic
premise of the development discourse: Are rural people living off local
resources really backward vis--vis urban people in the North who are con-
suming global energy and natural resources at unsustainable levels? (p.35).
Her 2006 paper Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Development articu-
lates the need to find a way of retaining the best of modernity (gender
equality, technology, democratic ideas) while avoiding its defects (secular-
ism, intolerances, injustices, unsustainability). She repeats some of the
above arguments, within a lifelong learning framework that engages with
reflexive praxis and an expanded citizenship. By this she means reflection
and action for human rights, rather than passive responses to external
agendas. She cites the following community-based examples of non-formal
education which encourage this approach.
In Sri Lanka a rural development project uses adult-educator facilitation
techniques to work with indigenous knowledge as the starting point for
mutual discussion for change. In India an NGO called Nirantar only intro-
duces literacy with women once they have identified their learning needs
subsequent to discussions about wider social and power issues in their lives.
In the Philippines a fishing community is given deeper understanding
about how to address the consequences of deforestation due to commercial
logging and its effects on their depleted fish stocks: The adult education
project set out to assist the local people to understand and comprehend
what is really going on . . . it took on a multi- and pluri-disciplinary form
ranging from health, to social, environmental, and macro-economic aware-
ness (p.13).
Such approaches, it might be noted, bear strong similarities to traditional
lifelong learning of precolonial times, with the added factor of critical
awareness in relation to wider global issues and contexts. For Odora Hoppers
lifelong learning requires a combined critical literacy approach which
includes raising awareness of historical forms of disempowerment, chal-

lenging hierarchical forms of knowledge transfer, helping people articulate
their own visions for the future and also developing networks with other
groups to foster social change.
These alternative visions for development all require a localized, ongoing,
lifelong learning approach to education. The emphasis is on ownership of
the learning process and learning to acquire the skills to actively promote
change (and includes, in some cases, reconstruction) rather than becom-
ing passive recipients of top-down initiatives. From a development-aid per-
spective, of course, there are risks. Decisions and solutions may not fit the
dominant capitalist agenda, or the market needs of the North. Potential
decisions to acquire skills and knowledge through alternative value systems
or exploration of how local resources can be exploited for local develop-
ment may not produce a desire to catch up with the North or West. They
also have implications for globalization and international relations. The
conundrum of how to intersect the local with the global is the subject of
Chapter 5.
Concluding summary
This chapter has argued that internationally led development projects bear
contradictions and discontinuities that serve neo-liberal agendas of domi-
nation and control, primarily from Europe and North America. The effect
of external development has meant that the recipient populations do not
own their own development process. This results in implementation fail-
ures and resistances to change as well as a failure by the developers to
recognize indigenous knowledge, skills and understanding that could be
the missing link between aid agendas and development achievements.
While social capital may be a potential resource for enhancing develop-
ment, its relationship with lifelong learning needs further examination.
Lifelong learning, as a means of making continuous connections with an
ever-changing world and developing the critical capacities to effect change
from within, is undervalued in development discourses. The challenge is
to use continuous learning to integrate locally applicable development
with wider and more global relationships. There is also the risk that new
approaches to sustainability and development may not serve current capi-
talist agendas. Chapter 5 discusses how globalization contributes to the
development project as a hindrance to and a potential resource for life-
long learning in the South.
Chapter 5
Globalization implications for lifelong

learning in the South
Introduction
As I started to write this chapter I had recently returned from some

fieldwork in one of the remote mountainous regions of Lesotho. We had
accessed the villages in a four-by-four vehicle. The residents were busy
harvesting, primarily through manual labour but with the aid of some oxen-
drawn carts. We had come to interview the herd boys who had been receiv-
ing evening literacy classes after their work in the fields and tending cattle.
Each village consisted of a cluster of traditional thatch-roofed rondavels.
We conducted our research in one of these rondavels by evening candle-
light and wrapped ourselves in blankets to keep out the winter cold. The
floor was carpeted with animal skins. This was also how and where the herd-
boys acquired literacy. During the day I watched people accessing the
village standpipe for water, while other children returned home from school
via a minibus. Other than that minibus and our vehicle the normal forms of
transport were donkeys or horses. We would have to travel for an hour back
to the tarred road and a small town in order to get electricity, a signal for
our cellphones or other communication technologies. If we drove another
four hours back to Maseru, the capital city, we would see multinational com-
panies, crowded traffic, internet and fast foods.
This experience provides a poignant resonance with the early pages
of Chapter 4. It both reinforces the contradictions of the development
agenda that fails to develop and provides a stark contrast to the dishar-
mony of postmodernity. The village was largely self-sufficient and sustaina-
ble, its members working collectively and in harmony with the natural cycles
of their local environment. Yet the herders aspired for more. They wanted
literacy and electricity and the opportunity to make choices about their
futures; but those choices might, or might not, entail a departure from
their traditional lifestyles, depending on their individual ambitions.
Odora Hoppers (2006a:4) highlights two contradictions in relation to

Africas place in the globalization agenda:
Africa is not only concerned about its marginalization and thereby uncrit-
ical assimilation into the existing global order. She is also concerned with
injustice IN that global order, and thus her own moral trajectory as she
seeks to participate in it. The continents struggle clearly articulated in
the charters of the African Union is to consolidate and affirm its pres-
ence, but also its identity in a world order that has, for centuries worked
to compromise it.
On the one hand Africa is not perceived by the rest of the world as having
anything to contribute to wider global agendas. On the other hand most
Africans do not want to become a carbon copy of westernization because,
as other chapters have indicated, westernization is perceived as robbing
Africans (and countries and populations in similar situations of marginali-
zation) of their identity. Chapter 3 identified indigenous philosophical
world views of humanness and connectedness. In different guises these are
increasingly becoming aspirations in western discourses that are concerned
with the sustainability of the planet and scarce natural resources. The
ubuntu spiritual obligation to the living, the dead and those yet to be born,
and sense of collective responsibility to share what one has with those who
have not, provide antidotes to the consequences of environmental degrada-
tion and poverty construction by profiteering multinational companies.
The literature on globalization talks of another world from the one
mentioned above. It is premised on a notion of constricted time and space
brought about by new technologies, fast-moving capital and rapid change,
and where events in one region can have significant consequences on
distant regions of the globe. An ever increasing, deepening and widening
reach of networks of social activity and power creates the possibility of
action at a distance at ever-increasing speed (Held et al. 1999:14). Changing
modes of production and new forms of labour create the need for different
and continuous learning strategies, articulated through the discourse of
lifelong learning. This is a world of competitiveness, constant expansion
and market-driven consumerism. While it is described primarily as an eco-
nomic phenomenon it also impinges on politics and cultures. The sover-
eignty and power of nation states is seen to be diminishing relative to the
power and control of multinational businesses and international agencies
of policy and legislation. Consumerism and media technologies affect cul-
tures and identities and disseminate dominant patterns of behaviour across
Globalization 69
the globe. Even education has become a commodity to be sold internation-

ally and in competition with local provision.
With a few exceptions, the main globalization literature barely makes
reference to developing or Third World countries since they are largely
irrelevant to the global capitalist agenda, except, perhaps, as an exploita-
tion resource for cheap labour or raw materials and, increasingly, a cus-
tomer base for northern concepts of education.
Definitions do not change significantly, though opinions as to the nature,
extent or even reality of globalization as a concept can vary. It is experi-
enced as a discourse, a process, a perception and a code word to deflect
attention away from neo-colonialist intentions. It is identified as an evil and
a good, but rarely explored in relation to marginalized regions like Africa
or to lifelong learning. Among the recent exceptions to this is a book by
King and McGrath (2002) which specifically addresses both concepts with
a view to promoting education, training and development in Africa to help
the continent compete in a globalized world. Odora Hoppers (2006a), too,
explores the link between literacy and globalization in the form of African
learning societies. A few others (for example, Kellner 2000, Tikly 2007)
develop critical theory or postcolonial perspectives of globalization. Others
(like Rizvi 2000) remind us that some formerly colonized countries, such as
Malaysia, have spent a considerable portion of their budget on education
and have indeed embraced the globalization concept, while still retaining
a distinctive national identity.
Chapter 4 noted the development literature that emphasizes the need for
localized, community-based learning to ensure relevance and ownership.
This chapter attempts to link that debate with the ones concerned with glo-
balization. I summarize some of the core perspectives about globalization
and its link to dominant lifelong learning discourses. I then discuss some
critiques, constraints and opportunities for countries in the South, particu-
larly in terms of their colonial histories and contemporary development
agendas for education. Finally we look at how indigenous practices and
value systems, particularly in relation to African world views, might inter-
face lifelong learning with globalization so that nations in the South are
players in, rather than victims of, its effects.
Definitions
Held et al. (1999) provide a widely used synopsis of the varying positions on
globalization under three schools of thought articulated as hyperglobal-
ists, sceptics and transformationalists.
Hyperglobalists are largely concerned with an economistic focus but

include both neo-liberal advocates and socialist antagonists. They are con-
vinced that we are moving rapidly towards a single global marketplace
and a borderless economy as a result of transnational networks of produc-
tion, trade and finance. They argue that these networks break down the old
continental divisions because elites participate across national boundaries
and multinational companies draw their labour from all parts of the globe.
Similarly mechanisms for global governance are controlled by world organ-
izations such as the World Bank and IMF. Hyperglobalists agree that there
are winners and losers in this scenario, exacerbated by the decline in state
welfare protection policies, but they disagree on the extent to which this sit-
uation should be challenged. For instance, right-wing conservatives argue
that there are always winners and losers in capitalist societies. Those who
are able to embrace international markets will benefit from increased
opportunities and the trickle-down effect will benefit all. Socialists, how-
ever, claim that an unregulated market encourages exploitation and fails to
protect the poor and vulnerable from abuse of their labour. We can see this,
for example, in the increased use of temporary, part-time workers who are
not protected by labour laws or pension schemes. Lifelong learning for
hypergolobalists will lean towards a homogeneous concept of learning that
feeds ideas of convergence.
Some people see the emergence of global civil-society movements as
a potential antidote to the stranglehold of multinational corporations
a form of globalization from below. More will be said of this later.
Hyperglobalists take a largely ahistorical perspective for globalization and
attribute it to a linear process of change brought about by enhanced
technology.
Sceptics take a more historical view, arguing that world trade flows are
changing, rather than dramatically increasing. For instance, as Held and
McGrew (2000) point out, during the colonial era some of the advanced
capitalist countries actually engaged more with trade in their countries of
colonization than they do now.
For the sceptics trade is becoming more regionalized and concentrated
among advanced capitalist states. Sceptics also question the declining power
of national governments referring more to clash of civilizations mani-
fested, for example, in fundamentalist reactions to western imperialism
rather than global governance. The invasion of Iraq is an example of such
polarization. The result is fragmentation of regions (such as in Central and
Eastern Europe) and continued NorthSouth inequalities. So while there
are distinct phases of intensified interaction between national economies
Globalization 71
and heightened levels of internationalization (such as G7 summits and

trade agreements), these are merely reorganizations of patterns that have
always existed. Sceptics might perceive lifelong learning as a concept that
ignores the needs of the South.
Transformationalists suggest that the picture is more complex and globali-
zation cuts across all domains in interconnected ways, including military,
legal, criminal and ecological ones. There are historically unprecedented
patterns of connectivity but the changes are uneven and also unpredictable.
There are discontinuities; globalization fragments as much as it integrates
and generates as much conflict as it does cooperation. In this view rapid
social, political and economic changes are reshaping societies and nation
states so there are new patterns of global stratification, convergence and
marginalization (Held et al. 1999:8). With the increase of multinational
corporations, transnational social movements and international regula-
tions, nation states are having to adapt their role in response to global rules
which are not always of their own making. The impact of globalization is
not necessarily uniform because it is mediated by internal structures, poli-
cies and unequal power relations between nation states. Lifelong learning
for transformationalists develops unevenly across the globe and is influ-
enced by a range of external factors such as nations relationships with each
other and with financial decision makers such as the IMF.
For Tikly (2007), among other postcolonialist writers, Transformational-
ists have not gone far enough in exploring the educational implications
of, and some of the tensions inherent in, this vision of globalization. For
instance the stratifications are often along lines of race, culture class and
gender, thereby repeating old colonial patterns of marginalization. More-
over, he says, the transformationalists insufficiently recognize the continu-
ing impact of historical forms of globalization in the form of colonialism.
For instance, formerly colonized nations have been responding to external
rules not of their own making for a long time. Among transformationalists
the jury is out as to when globalization started or whether it is entirely
a westernization phenomenon, though Rizvi (2000) explicitly links the his-
torical evolution of globalization to neo-liberal capitalism and global rela-
tions of power and their highly localized impacts.
At the same time the discontinuities in globallocal relations and the rise
in social movements open up possibilities for resistances and for new play-
ers and directions.
In spite of these various positions there is a general understanding, of
some of the key influences on globalization and lifelong learning as well as
the negative environmental consequences.
Economic influences
Jarvis (2007) lists a number of driving forces for globalization from the
point of view of advanced capitalist countries. These include the liberaliza-
tion of trade, development of information technology, economic competi-
tion from Japan and also the fall of the Berlin wall. The resultant economic
discourse makes it seem that there is no alternative to global capitalism.
The connection between a policy focus on lifelong learning for competi-
tiveness and globalization is attributed to the way industry has changed
from a Fordist to post-Fordist mode of production. This change was stimu-
lated partly by the effort to find less energy dependent forms of production
in response to the 1970s oil crisis. The microchip became the new raw
material. Advances in technology have changed the speed and nature of
production and innovation. Fordist models were based on an assembly line
of mass production and standardization of goods in order to keep costs
down. Large numbers of workers worked in the same location and each
took responsibility for a small piece of the production line. They took orders
from the same hierarchical management structure and required minimal
retraining.
Post-Fordist modes of production are said to be motivated by increased
competition for profit margins, combined with technological advancement,
so that some jobs are now accomplished through the microchip, new jobs
have been created that relate to the microchip industry and new means of
communication have created the possibility of compiling and disseminat-
ing information in such a way that information has become an industry in
itself. The desire for cheap labour in order to maintain profit margins and
the technological possibility of outsourcing this labour across the world has
resulted in a fragmentation of workforces. Lifelong learning is directly
related to the need for constant retraining to keep up with rapid changes
in production and more dissipated management styles. Workers themselves
should now think for themselves, work in teams, be flexible to change and
innovation, and have the capacity to learn quickly. These are now the
imperatives of a learning society. Yet the outsourcing of labour to countries
that are not in a position to reciprocate indicates that the rationale for this
is a discourse based on profit, not the need for more creative workers. What
is most useful to multinational companies is fragmented workforces that
cannot easily unionize themselves or develop organized resistance to chal-
lenge their working conditions.
Associated with these scenarios Morrow and Torres (2000), among others,
point out how education itself now works on the same principle of mobility.
Globalization 73
Distance education (the subject of Chapter 6), for instance, has become
a marketable product. As a result electronic literacy itself is a skill that has
to be acquired in order to learn further. Chinnammai (2005) expresses
concerns about the impact of technological learning systems on the ability
of Third World countries to both acquire and create knowledge, when
they first have to rely on the West to even teach them the new mechanisms
for learning in the first place. Indeed, since the 1980s the World Bank
reduced its support for higher education in the South, even though, as
Hickling-Hudson (2006) states, higher education is widely acknowledged
to be an essential feature of lifelong learning. The globalization of educa-
tion, therefore, is unidirectional, with consequences for control, policy
making, curriculum and transmission of culture.
Cultural influences
Jarvis (2007) describes culture as:
all the knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs, values and emotions that we, as
human beings, have added to our biological base. It is a social phenome-
non; it is what we as a society or a people, share and which enables us to
live as a society. In order for humanity to survive, it is necessary that we
should learn our culture. (p.24)
The implication of such a statement for formerly colonized countries is

that the erosion of indigenous cultures does untold damage to peoples
sense of identity and purpose in life. Fear of losing culture, then, is an emo-
tive feature of globalization, in terms of educational provision as well as
lifestyle. Burbules and Torres (2000) attribute cultural influences to the
way global media, via cable, satellite, film and internet are transported
across the world and into peoples home environments. Nigerian videos,
for instance, are played in Malawian homes, and American images are dis-
tributed wherever satellite TV is available.
While many talk of a homogenization of culture and domination of media
influences, there is strong evidence from a number of writers that cultural
identity is more complex and fluid than this. Featherstone (1995) discusses
two possible ways in which culture, as a naturally dynamic phenomenon
may respond to external influences. Either a dominant culture extends out-
wards and incorporates various different cultures into their dominant one,
or there is a compression of cultures where, through a process of con-
quest and unification, there is assimilation into a common culture (p.6).
He suggests that hybridization is more likely to be the rule, albeit unevenly

so. This is supported by Luke and Luke (2000) who describe how youth in
Thailand appropriate clothing and music from different cultures to create
their own distinct brand of both. They claim that this is simply a natural
organic process:
Hybridity, then, is not an invention of postmodernism, globalization, and

postcolonial theory. Rather it is a social and cultural formation born out
of complex and intersecting histories that often predate direct contact
with the industrial and imperial West. (pp.2834)
Globalization processes may intensify the opportunity to create new hybrids

but, as the story of Kenyan youths, described in Chapter 2 of this book,
indicate, it is an ongoing and often highly personalized process which
can express itself as resistance to domination as much as participation in
a changing world.
Jarvis (2007), too, suggests that as the world becomes more of a global
village, local areas are rediscovering what makes them distinctive so they
are actively seeking to retain their own language, customs and traditions.
These observations must be viewed with caution, however, when we
remember that many of the economically poorer countries which are sub-
ject to conditional aid are not totally free to define their own agendas.
Chinnammai (2005) once more relates this concern to current trends to
sell educational provision to countries in the South. He highlights how
western style education systems can be a new form of cultural imperialism
since their focus is largely on the creation of money rather than preserva-
tion of cultures. He stresses that globalization should direct education to
studying cultures of the world, rather than its preoccupation with the West.
Political influences
On a political level global structures such as the United Nations and IMF
create international laws and pressures on nation states to sign interna-
tional agreements, so that the nation state is no longer a sovereign agent
but an arbiter attempting to balance a range of internal and external pres-
sures and constraints (Burbules and Torres 2000:10). Again, the fact that
the majority of countries in the South have always been in this position is
sometimes forgotten. The MDGs are a prime example of both pressure to
conform and global homogenization of what counts as development.
Globalization 75
While most of these pressures represent globalization from above that

is pressures and influences from the dominant power holders there is also
evidence of what has been termed a globalization from below movement
of counter-organizations that highlight the negative behaviours of multina-
tional companies and challenge the dominant global order by using
globalization instruments (such as technologies of time, space and global
reach) to further concepts of democratization and justice. Burbules and
Torres (2000) stress that positive political influences include the greater
globalization of democracy, an increase in civil societies working at an inter-
national level and an expansion of the human rights agenda. As a widely
publicized example, Kellner (2000) recounts the story of two British activ-
ists who used the internet to take on McDonalds in a libel case to expose
their involvement in environmental degradation and unethical advertising
practices. Well-known global social movements include such organizations
as Greenpeace. Kellner uses these scenarios to highlight the educational
potential of technology to challenge the privileging of western cultures and
knowledge systems from a critical theory perspective.
There are also examples of international educational networks that
precisely attempt this at a truly global level. The Non-Governmental Organ-
ization, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), has a world-
wide membership. It organizes, among other things, email conferences
that engage adult educators from the South in conversation with other
parts of the globe. While the communication is in the European languages
of Spanish, English and French, ICAE attempts to reach a wide audience,
including Francophone and Anglophone Africa. Hence the preference for
email over more complicated internet uses.
On a more controversial level, the same technology is used for military
action by superpowers and terrorist organizations alike, each with their own
brand of political rationality and social justice. Novelli and Lopes Cardozo
(2008) point out the contradictions of when the neo-liberal global econ-
omy locks out many groups from the benefits of globalization (such as, for
example, when the West insists that Iran should not develop its nuclear
technology). This simply increases the likelihood of illicit activities among
the excluded. Fundamentalist groups are cited as one example. The authors
emphasize that not enough attention is paid to how education can be both
a victim and perpetrator of conflict.
At an environmental level, there are many instances of the negative rip-
ple effects of global practices on periphery populations and societies which
are receiving little benefit from actions by the inner circle of globalists.
Environmental consequences on distant parts of the world

Beck wrote as early as 1992 of the high-tech risks of societal behaviours,
that are no longer tied to their place of origin, and the pauperization of the
Third World through transferring hazardous industries to poor countries.
Referring more widely to atomic accidents he states: The affects even
include those not yet alive at the time or in the place where the accident
occurred but born years later and long distances away (p.22). One cannot
help wondering whether the African principles of considering our connect-
edness to the dead, the living and those yet to be born would not have some
importance in teaching us about learning to live in a globalized world.
Beck further points out that scientific knowledge is ephemeral. It is situ-
ated within a time, place and hegemonic discourse. For instance, informa-
tion about toxins is particularly open to social definition and construction.
When it comes to assessing risk, that knowledge itself is political rather than
ethical. It is constructed to suit the economic and exploitative purposes of
the knowledge providers. He points out how people in formerly colonized
countries are forced to accept the invisible threat of death from toxic
chemicals such as pesticides sprayed on cotton and rice fields, when such
a threat is in competition with the visible threat of death from hunger
(p.42).
Examples abound of how delicate ecosystems and resources are threat-
ened and irreversibly damaged by multinational corporations undertaking
deforestation. Yearly (2000) emphasizes that countries like Bangladesh are
more likely to suffer flooding on a massive scale, or at least more devastat-
ingly in view of their more fragile infrastructure than advanced capitalist
societies; similarly African countries are more prone to drought as a result
of global warming caused by emissions in far-off lands. As Held et al. (1999)
point out the intrinsically global character of these common ecosystems
means that spatially separated social actions and networks can become
bound together in powerful ways (p.378) again reflecting the African
philosophy of interconnectedness. Attempts to address emissions that are
contributing to environmental catastrophes, however, are done on terms
dictated by the North.
Negative effects of globalization mechanisms and behaviours
The unregulated, market-led dynamics of financial flows, with limited social

safety nets or state intervention to redistribute wealth has resulted in a con-
centration of wealth among a rich minority such that the UNDP Human
Development Report of 1999 reported that the top 20 per cent enjoy
Globalization 77
82 per cent of the expanding export trade while the bottom 20 per cent
benefit from barely more than 1 per cent (in Khor 2001:33). In particular
southern materials and resources, including their traditional knowledge
systems, are exploited by the North in terms of patenting or extracting raw
material for profit.
Odora Hoppers (2006a), while acknowledging the potential of greater
international connectivity, lists a string of negative consequences as a
result of unfettered progress. It has in some cases resulted in heightened
nationalism, re-imposition of borders, uneven transformation of finance,
currency, trade, employment and social systems, marginalising the poor
recasting their deprived condition as a natural collateral damage expected
along the path of progress (p.13). Globalization has heightened illicit trade
in children, women, weapons, drugs and laundered money. Furthermore
although the global language is English, less than 10 per cent speak it in the
world. This homogenization process ignores indigenous knowledge, even
to the extent of patenting sterile hybrid seeds to replace indigenous seeds.
Such actions deliberately instil dependency on multinational companies to
provide more of the same: transformation of global economies to knowl-
edge economies therefore does not guarantee economic growth with
equity or respect for diversity either within or between nations (p.18).
Other inequalities relate to gender, race and ethnicity, particularly for
migrants and refugees.
Steans (2000) and Manicom and Walters (1997) address issues to do with
the division of labour for women in the South. The majority of women in
the South work in the informal economy. Globalization has further frag-
mented the labour force with part-time and home-based work. While this
kind of work favours women, it continues to mean their work load is unreg-
ulated and often not recognized in the formal economy. Furthermore, the
lack of access to finance and credit reduces womens capitalist ventures to
micro-credit systems, further marginalizing them from global flows and
denying them opportunity to influence such markets.
In terms of race the cultural imperialism of globalized outsourcing of
labour can be seen as another form of racism in that it represents a form of
subordinated inclusion with potential to inferiorize those that it includes.
This is reflective of an extension of colonial practices. Tikly (2007) observes
that other forms of new racism include western interpretations of cultural
conflicts in distant lands that have come to replace biological notions of
racial superiority.
The importance of lifelong learning for the marginalized in order to raise
their consciousness and empower communities to challenge such destruc-
tive tendencies is highlighted by most educationists. Yet the dominant
lifelong learning model for the South on offer by the World Bank is one
that simply advocates learning according to western visions of economic
growth. The current emphasis is on minimum basic education which inevi-
tably fails to provide the extensive range of learning skills to operate in the
globalized world described above, whether for economic growth or some-
thing more. The counter-proposals in the education literature vary in their
approach to capitalism but all share a concern that education systems for
countries in the South must be lifelong and wide ranging not narrowly
confined to a basic literacy scenario if such countries are to become par-
ticipants in the network society.
Computer literacy in particular has now become an essential resource
along with the necessary infrastructure to provide the means for global
exchanges. But, as my introductory paragraphs highlighted, the nature of
such articulated global involvement is far from global in reality. Policy agen-
das for lifelong learning need to incorporate opportunities to critically
appraise this plethora of influences in order to enhance international toler-
ance and understanding on all fronts and work towards an ethical and
socially just world.
Lifelong learning options
Tikly (2007) reminds us that a postcolonial perspective needs to take

account of how previous forms of globalization for countries in the South
displaced indigenous education, commodified European languages, and
only gave a minority of people access to higher levels of education. Lack of
education restricted participation in the global labour market. Even bound-
aries of the nation state were often created by colonial forces. Conditional
aid impacts on national policy development, with consequences for local/
global interactions. While no country is immune to external influences, the
South has been disproportionately disadvantaged.
The majority of academic, as opposed to policy, proposals for lifelong
learning in the South include the following features: development of criti-
cal awareness in relation to the status quo, the need to make provision for
learning opportunities that go beyond basic education and include elec-
tronic literacies, and the repeated plea to start at a local level in order to
empower individuals and societies to understand and act effectively in a
globalized world not of their making.
Variations in how this should be done reflect either an acceptance of
the capitalist economy as the only way forward but in recognition of
Globalization 79
context-specific learning needs of micro-enterprises and the informal sec-

tor or, in the case of Africa, the advancement of a more Africanized form
of economy. The third strand is to develop the globalized, critical civil-
society movement.
Civil society
Tiklys answer is to build a more effective civil society that will facilitate
critical perspectives and self-empowerment. In the African context he sug-
gests we should explore successes within the continent for comparative
study. Chapters 8 and 9 will look at some lifelong learning initiatives in this
respect. Merriam et al. (2006) focus once more on community empower-
ment, using adult education principles of creating space to listen to learn-
ers, encourage awareness raising of inequities, taking a critical stance and
fostering collective learning and action.
From a gender perspective Manicom and Walters (1997) and Moghadam
(2000) cite transnational networks as a means of creating the possibility for
women to gain global perspectives on their local experiences, and advance
the status of women legally, personally and economically. Feminist popular
education is an example of community-based learning that draws attention
to critiquing globalization from a feminist perspective, exploring the
gendered nature of poverty and how feminized forms of labour have con-
tributed to economic globalization. This feature of problematizing and
addressing the root causes of poverty, discrimination or marginalization is
one that resonates across radical adult education movements but has rarely
been taken up within a lifelong learning framework. This is discussed in
more detail in Chapter 7.
Enterprise
Mayoux (2004) and King and McGrath (2002) emphasise the promotion
of pro-poor growth. In Mayouxs case this means addressing underlying
inequalities in power and resources which distort the market for poor entre-
preneurs. Amutabi et al. (1997), too, argue for training that addresses the
needs of the informal sector, where most people work and live. They also ask
for more focus on the interrelatedness of society and human values, rather
than human capital a war cry that resonates across many continents.
For King and McGrath (2002) new lifelong learning practices entail start-
ing with the reality that few African countries work in a post-Fordist mode
of production. They argue for greater attention to education for sustaina-

ble livelihoods but within a broader context of understanding globalization
and its focus on competitiveness and know how skills. They emphasize the
need to inculcate abilities of knowing how to learn and access information.
The skills necessary for this process include the ability to critique and apply
data, analyse causes and relationships, experiment, take personal responsi-
bility for learning, work together and achieve consensus. This is learning
that takes us well beyond basic education. They offer two scenarios for
economic sustainability. Either African societies should rely on their natu-
ral resources and availability of cheap labour (but also run the risk of con-
tinued exploitation) or they should take the high road and leapfrog into
higher technology, problem-based and transdisciplinary models of learn-
ing and work (p.31).
It could be argued that this latter approach at least partially reflects
traditional African apprenticeship systems, but now situated in a context
of technological change and critical thinking in relation to wider society.
This approach depends on the degree of local sensitization and sense of
ownership over the enterprise. King and McGrath suggest a targeted skills
and infrastructure development approach. This, of course, was the colonial
technique and resonates unfavourably with a population that already
feels marginalized. It may be more appropriate, therefore, to aim for a
mass computer literacy campaign on similar lines to the more successful
post-Independence literacy campaigns of countries like Mozambique and
Tanzania. Odora Hoppers (2006a) singled these countries out for their
success because the campaigns adopted pluralistic approaches that encour-
aged concepts of citizenship and cultural identity. If a similar campaign
were linked to local languages and the application of technologies that are
adapted to limited electrification systems and addressed in the context of
traditional subsistence existences sufficient local ownership of the learn-
ing process might be possible. For instance, on a smaller scale, Malawian
farmers are using their cellphones to communicate with distant contacts in
international markets so they know what internationally compatible prices
to charge for their products.
Africanization
Odora Hoppers (2006a) is less specific about how lifelong learning should
develop in relation to globalization, but is clear on what the learning should
embrace. She points out that the existing flood of information in the glo-
balized world must also be relevant for Africa (and by implication for other
Globalization 81
countries in the formerly colonized South). In other words, Africa (and by

implication countries in the same position as Africa) should find a way of
inserting their own knowledge into world systems:
Learning to be and learning to live together from an African point of

view represents a total struggle for regaining dignity and respect while
contributing new philosophies of human connectedness such as Ubuntu
into the common global pot. (p.4)
And, critically, of ensuring a policy link between the local and the national
or international:
The clues to the future cannot be found in the failures and successes of
individual village programmes per se . . . it is the degree to which the ini-
tiatives feed back into the national vision that can make the difference in
terms of their chances of going to scale. (p.27)
It seems that technology has the potential to make this feedback loop to
record critical awareness and provide counter-arguments to dominant
development messages. Writers are already in agreement that new educa-
tional strategies are needed to counter globalization from above. This
entails new literacies and ways of recording information; building on the
local but using technology to promote that knowledge and understanding
in international forums and using an approach to literacy that connects
critical thinking to politics, economics and wider social relations. The
danger is that a mass technology literacy campaign could become a techni-
cal exercise rather than an awareness raising exercise. The way in which
Africa and other marginalized countries or societies record, interpret and
transmit information will affect their ability to participate in opportunities
that globalization brings about or to mitigate the negative effects of globa-
lization. All the evidence of previous successful literacy campaigns has
indicated that literacy must be linked with a broader, critically aware, devel-
opment goal so that its relevance is immediately apparent.
In terms of entrepreneurship, rather than emulate dominant practices
in the West or North, societies in the South should exploit alternative ways
of using capitalism for example stimulating the development of coopera-
tives rather than private businesses. Cooperatives are a feature of many
community development projects, but they have often been created with-
out the necessary educational input for business management or critical
appraisal of markets or other factors that might impinge on maximizing
their cooperative efforts within their societal contexts. For communities

like the mountain village, mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, we
need an opportunity to see what people value and how they want to inter-
face with the wider world and why. They can only make those choices from
a critical perspective and can only contribute their own voices if they have
learned to use appropriate technologies of communication. A critical liter-
acy includes exploring issues of social justice and the right to live in peace,
sustainably, in health and without fear of violence. This applies to computer
literacy as much as other forms of literacy.
However, while countries in the South must take the initiative to make
globalization work for them, this cannot be done without cooperation from
international donor agencies and a reappraisal of North-South relations.
It is the responsibility of countries in the North to critically assess their
motives for engaging with developing countries. Mohamedbhai (2002), in
the context of higher education, suggests, for instance, that Northern uni-
versities would be more developmentally useful to the South if they were to
collaborate, rather than compete with southern institutions for courses
and students.
Educating people to question simple imposed solutions to look at how
and why exploitation exists and what societies can do about it includes
educating the globe. A broader vision for lifelong learning in the context of
development for a globalized world requires a greater questioning of how
globalization may work for the common good. It may also require develop-
ing informed, value-based leadership grounded in sound ethical principles
(Preece 2003).
A critical resource for this kind of understanding is information literacy
using computer technology a resource that the vast majority of people in
the South simply do not have. The digital divide is the subject of Chapter 6
in a bid to assess how to progress this important agenda.
Concluding summary
This chapter has provided a postcolonial perspective on various interpreta-

tions of globalization in relation to its negative and positive implications for
formerly colonized countries. Advances in global connectivity have created
possibilities for hybridization of cultures, identities and economies to offset
mass neo-colonization of communities and nations. However, without a life-
long learning perspective that encourages critical appraisal of wider social
impacts of unfettered networked societies, and without more equitable
Globalization 83
access to network possibilities, learning will be unidirectional, such that

development will continue to fail because ownership of the development
process will remain with those in control of the globalization agenda.
A critical aspect to narrowing the lifelong learning gap between the North
and South is the generation of mass computer literacy and access to related
technologies. This will create space for alternative philosophies to have a
platform on the global stage. But this must also be done in the context of
ethical leadership and critical engagement with the North who must reas-
sess their motives for an equitable and socially just world.
Chapter 6
Lifelong learning in the South

in the digital age
Introduction
In the previous chapter I suggested that ICTs need to be adopted and

adapted by countries in the South in a way that harmonizes rather than
ignores indigenous values. By using technology as a resource to support
local cultures, it is more likely that those cultures will feel able to embrace
the changes that inevitably flow from those technologies. I cited the exam-
ple of Malaysia where there is evidence of a certain synchronicity between
access to global forces made possible through technology, and the mainte-
nance of cultural identities, languages and behaviour that are owned at
a national level.
In spite of success stories from East Asia, a review of at least 65 books
and papers on ICT for countries in Africa and South Asia, reveals a highly
repetitive list of issues related to the digital divide, with no quick fix solu-
tions as to how to bridge the yawning gap between those who have access to
cyberspace and those who have not.
This chapter focuses on technology in relation to lifelong learning,
though the topic is much wider than that of course. In its most general
terms, the ability to take part in lifelong learning is linked to the ability
to know how to learn, where to obtain information, how to access it and
how to use it in a way that builds on existing knowledge and contributes to
ongoing development and growth. The lifelong learner is both a recipient,
seeker and creator of new knowledge, skills and understanding. By implica-
tion the lifelong learner must have the means and know-how to access (and
ultimately contribute to) knowledge sources in a variety of forms. In the
globalization age this includes being able to learn at a distance from those
knowledge sources, in a variety of learning environments. In a lifelong
learning context learning should be possible at a time, place and pace to
suit the individual.
Lifelong Learning in the South in the Digital Age 85
This chapter therefore also discusses the implications of ODL provision

for learners in the South since this is a fundamental feature of the use of
technologies in educational contexts, particularly in relation to the global
Education For All agenda. The two concepts are increasingly interrelated as
distance learning providers continue to deploy more sophisticated digital
communication systems for their learners.
Learning at a distance, learning through a variety of media, including
those which are technology-based, have been part of both formal and non-
formal learning provision for at least 50 years in countries around the
globe. The technological difference in recent years is the scale and speed of
transmissions that are now possible via the internet and cyberspace. The
pace and global reach of this technology poses both a threat and an oppor-
tunity for learning, depending on which side of the digital divide one sits.
The digital divide
While ICTs are synonymous with the notion of computers and the internet,
they encompass a wide range of resources. Telephones, radio, TV, video,
tape recordings and fax machines are all forms of technology. Their digital
versions emerged more recently.
In its simplest form, the digital divide is conceptualized as the gap between
the information rich and the information poor, brought about by inequali-
ties in access, distribution, and use of information and communication
technologies between two or more populations (Wilson 2004:300). This
definition can be expanded. Ashcroft and Watts (2005) describe the divide
in terms of social (human and physical resources within countries), global
(between countries) and democratic phenomena (where people are denied
opportunities to participate in public life that is transmitted through ICT).
Shade (2002) refers to more complex issues of access where the social infra-
structures of societies affects their ability to produce as well as consume
information. This reflects on the socio-demographic features of popula-
tions such as their economic status, educational background, age, gender,
ethnicity, language and location. It also represents the absence of social
networks or community groups with whom to interact technologically.
Furthermore access includes the availability and affordability of technical
infrastructures that encompass electricity, telephone and internet service
provider connectivity, satellite facilities, the physical devices of computers
and telephone terminals, and software tools of browsers, email systems,
and search engines. Shade adds that governance also impacts on the digital
divide since decisions about ICT availability and operation are political as
well as economic.
Wilson (2004:300303) adopts a strategic restructuring model to explore
ICT dynamics further. In doing so he distinguishes between the different
divides in terms of physical, financial, cognitive, design, content, production,
institutional and political access. Physical access relates to geographical
proximity and number of landlines per population. Finances are concerned
with the ability to pay for services. Cognitive access refers to ICT skills;
design includes the relationship between user need and ability of the hard-
ware and software to meet those needs (such as facilities for people with
disabilities); while content relates to the actual material contents relevance
and suitability for users (such as language, usefulness of information in
relation to context). Wilson considers production in terms of who produces
the content. The information superhighway is almost exclusively unidirec-
tional from North to South. Polikanov and Abramova (2003) cited later
in this chapter make the same point. Institutional access is closely related to
this issue and is described by Wilson as the variety of organizational forms
and regulations that have emerged around the world as contending groups
struggle to structure access to digital content in particular ways (ibid) for
example, particular kinds of schools, cyber cafes and other bodies.
Finally in addition to political leadership, political access means that
the consumer has access to the institutions where the rules of the game are
written, rules that govern the subsequent allocation of scarce ICT resources
(ibid. 303). Wilson makes an interesting distinction between information
technology and other applications like mobile phones, distance education
or internet telephony. While these are seen as benign, ICT is much more
of a political football:
ICT is like land or capital, which has differential impacts when diffused
differentially across nations and social groups . . . [M]anagers and benefi-
ciaries of large, state-owned ICT monopolies who understand that liberal-
ized ICT diffusion will threaten their social status and power seek to block
the liberal diffusion of these new resources and to maintain control of
ICT distribution through their own reliable channels. (Ibid. 4)
He catalogues and analyses the interplay between the charismatic leader-

ship of local information champions and political and socio-economic
relationships in a number of developing country scenarios in the complex
struggle to drive forward ICT agendas.
Wilson also suggests that as technology infrastructure improves in

advanced industrialized countries those countries increasingly underesti-
mate the extent of the access challenges for others. This challenge includes
the lack of trained personnel to use, teach or maintain ICTs. Furthermore,
even when ICT is available the bandwidth is so inadequate that internet
connections are frustratingly slow.
A variety of statistics emphasizes the extent of some of the above chal-
lenges. For instance the World Bank (2006) reports that in 2004 internet
users in Sub-Saharan Africa were just 15 per 1,000 compared with 117 per
1,000 in Europe and Central Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa had 103 fixed or
mobile phone subscribers, while Europe and Central Asia had 730 per
1,000. Data for 2002 show that in all only 8 per cent of households in low-
income countries had fixed phones, compared with 59 per cent in upper-
middle-income countries (pp.6, 24). For Lesotho less than 1% of the
population owns a computer or has access to the internet. Only 8% own a
telephone and fewer still have access to electrical power (GOL 2005:1).
Coupled with these facts internet service providers are expensive and
power supplies unreliable in most developing countries even in locations
where connectivity exists. For instance a Nigerian academic colleague
reported to me in 2008 that electricity supply in Nigeria was operating
somewhere between 10 and 60 per cent of the time. Less than ten of the
countrys 100 universities (of which eight are private) is likely to access elec-
tricity for as much as 60 per cent of the time.
It is commonly reported that a computer costs the average American one
months wages, while a Bangladeshi requires more than eight years income.
Being able to read is an assumed fundamental requirement of the digital
age, though we shall see later that there are examples to challenge this con-
ception. Nevertheless, on a global scale in 2008, 60 per cent of the world
continues to be classified as illiterate and half the world lives on less than
USD$2 a day. In the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa only 18 per cent have
received some form of secondary schooling and 38 per cent of people over
the age of 15 have had no formal schooling at all. In Mali, Grace (2004)
reported that less than half its adult population can read and more than
70 per cent live on less than one dollar a day.
Only a fraction of the population in low-income countries pursues higher
education degrees compared with between 3050 per cent in OECD coun-
tries. Even when people are literate, they may not be among the worlds
10 per cent who have sufficient grasp of the English Language to be able to
read internet content, 90 per cent of which is in English.
The list goes on. Wilson (2004) describes how industrialized countries
hold 97 per cent of the worlds patents. Tanzania, as an example of Sub-
Saharan Africas debt crisis, spends four times more on repaying debts
than on education.
A primary additional learning issue for this population is that of informa-
tion literacy. Candy (2002) describes this as being able to recognise when
information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effec-
tively the needed information (p.6). The necessary higher order thinking
skills in addition to practical know-how of the technology itself include criti-
cal thinking plus capability of distinguishing useful from useless resources,
reliable from unreliable sources and sensible from silly knowledge claims
(p.7). These are literacy skills that reach far beyond basic education. Since
the technology is changing all the time, knowing how to use a computer is
in itself a lifelong occupation.
Some studies specifically address gender issues in relation to technology
and learning opportunities in developing country contexts, though the
lack of research is also highlighted. There are two main issues reflected in
existing studies. First, in many countries only 30 per cent of girls complete
primary education compared with 60 per cent of boys. Second, boys out-
number girls in using computers. This trend relates to the gendered nature
of classroom behaviour generally. For if access is not controlled in school
settings then boys will push to the front and take possession of limited
resources. A recent DFID (2004) study also revealed that girls and boys
use computers for different motives. Where girls choose to use computers
more functionally to achieve certain goals, and to work together, boys are
more competitive and enjoy playing with computers as a technology for
its own sake. Girls often look for information on reproductive health and
sexuality. Since their lives are often more restricted they view the computer
as a communication point with the outside world, while boys prefer to
download music or pictures.
At adult and higher-education level women constitute only 23 per cent
of university enrolments. They are more likely to take up computers for
open and distance learning, though men use telecentres more than women.
A number of writers maintain that this discrepancy in usage reflects
womens workloads and multiple roles which limit their ability to access
such centres, including the fact that women are less likely to have disposa-
ble income to pay for the facilities. These experiences reflect once more
the problematic model of profit-motivated services over ones that focus on
social justice motivations.
Gulati (2008) takes a more critical look at the way gender issues are inad-
equately addressed by externally funded technologies. She cites an example
of a radio programme in Nigeria that intended to provide education to

a rural nomadic Fulbe community on animal husbandry. However, the
funders failed to recognize either the gendered power relations within their
communities for accessing radios or womens work cycles, so that the pro-
grammes did not reach their intended audiences.
The challenge to bridge the digital divide is enormous. Some suggest that
there are more pressing demands such as ensuring people have basic levels
of education, addressing basic living needs and political instability; there
are more accessible, reliable and user-friendly resources that can be used in
educational projects such as radio, TV or tailor designed print-based
media. A major concern is that money spent on developing ICT is money
that is not spent on food, shelter, health care and basic education. Lelliot
et al. (2000) even warn that ICT could be negatively used in some countries
with unstable democracies as an instrument of repression rather than
liberation, particularly in contexts where most of the population has yet
to acquire the skills of criticality or self-direction for learning. Already as
a learning tool, most information via the internet is not culturally sensitive
or relevant to the majority of learner needs in the South. The chicken and
egg question here, of course, is that the longer that countries in the South
do not engage with ICT, the more removed they are from influencing
its content. As is often the case, the South is obliged to learn to use the
masters tools in order to dismantle the masters house (from Lourde 2003,
cited in Chapter 2).
There is also insufficient commitment from the North to facilitate a nar-
rowing of the yawning gap in social inequalities or infrastructure. It is now
widely acknowledged that if left to market forces alone, the social justice
and development issues of ICT connectivity will not be met. The privatized
ICT world is not interested in funding unprofitable connections for remote
rural areas, funding the additional training or website material that caters
for the language needs of poor communities. A major World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) held in 2003, with a follow-up in 2005
aimed to explore how to overcome the digital divide between countries.
The summit failed to come up with a set of principles that would recognize
ICTs in the context of social equality, poverty reduction or participatory
democracy. Instead the summit reaffirmed the primacy of the market and
ignored the political issues associated with the above inequalities.
What would a postcolonial analysis of the digital divide in relation to life-
long learning emphasize? Certainly it is a western tool of communication,
dissemination, domination and control of information. Responses such
as the WSIS serve to reinforce the argument that the West or North has no
interest in levelling the playing field of knowledge ownership and power.
While the dominant industrialized nations compete in the cyber market to

engage with ICT production, as opposed to mere consumption, they merely
train people in the South as ICT fodder. In other words a selective few
will be minimally trained to operate repetitive computer tasks to serve the
global capitalist administration in order to oil the wheels of the market.
Northern universities can exploit the few rich elite in formerly colonized
nations by offering expensive access to digitally transmitted courses which
promote westernized philosophies and agendas. The not so rich can have
a secondary opportunity of benefiting from franchised courses that are sold
to the South. Since quality is an ideological given for countries in the North,
accreditation from these courses enhances the status of the learner, irre-
spective of the usefulness of the content for development purposes.
While the North continues to diffuse its own technology to the South,
it deflects attention and resources from pursuing alternative technologies
that may interface more adequately with geographical, cultural and infra-
structural domains in the South. The language of donor support for such
countries emphasizes market-driven ideologies, encapsulated in notions
of entrepreneurialism, rather than social justice or poverty reduction.
Concepts such as Africanization of technology are simply not explored. So
countries in the South continue to import second-hand computers because
they cannot afford new ones. Meanwhile organizations in the North even
create their own industries to perpetuate this differential in technological
support, in the name of charity and good will. It is left to the recipient coun-
tries to rationalize this second-hand gift to populations that are grappling
to maintain their basic survival needs.
It will be seen later that political motivations in the South can also coun-
terbalance this interpretation of the digital divide. There are, however, few
in-depth studies on the complexity of constraints in relation to ICT and
lifelong learning for developing countries. Adam and Wood (1999) con-
ducted a qualitative study to capture how people make sense of and take
advantage of ICT in Sub-Saharan Africa. They looked at the social and tech-
nical constraints in terms of key players and stakeholders and also the influ-
ence of external factors such as marketing strategies, foreign investment,
political and other natural crises. They highlight issues such as donor agency
constraints on educational initiatives that are often inappropriate and
ignore the fact that lack of attention to indigenous knowledge and capacity
building within the continent is a major cause of failing progress. They
also highlight the need for sound policies and willingness to tailor ICT to
national requirements such as health and agriculture services. Limitations
in management understanding and support networks underlie many of the
more practical limitations of access, connectivity, and technology that has

not been designed for hot, humid and dusty environments with unreliable
power supplies:
What seems to be lacking is awareness of what is possible . . . Any leapfrog-

ging in ICT will depend on the attitudes and abilities of the users and
policy makers and the ability of each country to overcome the large num-
ber of social, political, technical, infrastructural and economic challenges.
(p.314)
Examples of good practice
What is possible depends on education levels, visionary leadership, and

politics as well as economics. There is a plethora of externally funded case
studies that cite short-term success stories, and a few isolated examples of
more sustained success.
A well-publicized success story is the Grameen Bank micro-credit system
and phone company in Bangladesh projects that were directly linked to
poverty alleviation goals. They were initiated by Professor Muhammad
Yunus who initiated a banking system that would provide smaller loans
without the collateral required by commercial banks. He installed cellular
phones in 45,000 villages. Individual villagers acquire a small loan from
the bank in order to purchase one of the phones and become a village
telephone service provider. The initial borrower pays back the loan from
income generated by his or her service provision to other villagers.
Professor Yunus followed this up with a village computer and internet pro-
gramme so villagers can now use email for a fraction of the cost of a long
distance call and farmers can track market prices over the internet to ensure
they receive a fair price for their goods.
Another well-known example is the Indian hole-in-the wall project.
An internet kiosk was installed in a poor Indian neighbourhood. Illiterate
children learnt to use the computer without any instruction. Such projects
challenge the claims about attitudinal barriers and the need for a minimum
level of basic skills. They indicate that there is potential for addressing the
digital divide irrespective of the literacy levels of potential users.
Chandrasekhar (2001) describes how a state-wide area network in Andhra
Pradesh, India was networked to 23 district headquarters in order to man-
age village records, monitor public grievances and employee performance in
state government. Other wired village projects include an Indian healthcare
project agreement between the Indian government and Apple computers

to enable nurse midwives to collect data and provide health information.
Another wired village project provided villagers with agricultural, medical
and education information at village facilitation booths, with positive
impact on public awareness raising. These projects demonstrate the poten-
tial of ICT to help improve governance, empower the poor and improve
public services. But they also raise issues of skills, costs, and the need to per-
suade relevant professions to adopt ICT as a tool. The healthcare project
was eventually discontinued due to lack of computers.
There are success stories of school-based internet projects. Kawooya
(2004) discusses a number of different initiatives to connect schools to the
internet. SchooNet Uganda is an externally funded NGO providing school-
based telecentres. Kawooya argues that this is a more sustainable solution
than setting up separate community-based systems. The school has an exist-
ing administrative structure that can maintain user access. The majority
of community users, however, prove to be people with prior computer
knowledge, such as civil servants and medical personnel. The schools are
considering using solar energy as an alternative to unreliable electricity
supplies.
But, as Flor (2001) argues, technological intervention alone will not
bridge the digital divide in relation to lifelong learning. Someone has to
install relevant content and programme support. Equally, Hawkins (2002)
argues, there is a need for ministerial policies, a non-competitive telecom-
munications infrastructure and community involvement.
Wilsons (2004) extensive analysis of information technology innovation
in developing countries revealed that there is a complex dynamics of
tangled social, political and economic relationships that are simultane-
ously local, national, regional, and global (p.xii) and which require cross-
sectoral collaboration if initiatives are to succeed. Wilson examined ICT
initiatives in Brazil, Ghana and China. Success stories were invariably driven
by local information champions who struggle daily to overcome local
apathy as well as entrenched opposition to the revolutionary reforms they
propose (p.xii). Political leadership was an essential ingredient but so
was belief in the value of ICT for betterment. In the case of Ghanas patri-
monial political system two information revolutionaries worked together.
One was a government minister looking for a competitor to drive down the
prices of Ghana Telecom. He supported a private sector individual to build
his own ICT industry. The entrepreneurs political connections, combined
with his own technical expertise, paved the way for him to by-pass the
national telephone system and set up his own direct international satellite
link. So for Wilson, access also means political access.
It has been argued by a number of writers that education for all is a pre-
requisite for developing the necessary discerning skills to be able to travel
effectively in cyberspace. Less complicated technologies such as mobile
phones, radio, cassettes and TV are more reliable, do not require electricity
and can usually be accessed in remote regions. For such populations, open
and distance learning which uses accessible, and portable resources is more
realistic. It will be seen, however, that distance learning itself is a technical
and technological skill which suffers similar constraints of quality and
ownership.
Open and distance learning
Perraton(2000) defined distance education as an educational process in

which a significant proportion of the teaching is conducted by someone
removed in space and/or time from the learner while open learning is an
organized educational activity, based on the use of teaching materials, in
which constraints on study are minimised either in terms of access, or of
time and place, pace, methods or study, or any combination of these (p.13).
Increasingly a combination of open and distance learning is offered by
educational institutions, so that learners may benefit from some face-to-
face contact with their tutors, while taking responsibility for learning inde-
pendently in a more extensive way than those undertaking classroom-based
courses. Within these definitional parameters, then, open and/ or distance
learning fit into the remit of lifelong learning.
One of the most famous, and earliest providers of distance learning was
the Open University in the United Kingdom which started in the 1970s.
A number of northern universities now market their online courses in the
global market place. Several have established satellite institutions in coun-
tries which do not have the same level of technology within their own uni-
versities. The Malaysian Limkokwing university, for instance, has installed
itself in Botswana and Lesotho in apparent competition with the national
providers. Other universities may franchise their courses to universities in
the South or offer online degrees or courses to anyone who has the means
to pay for and access the learning materials.
Institutions in the South, however, often use Open and Distance Learn-
ing (ODL) for a broader set of reasons than the more limited higher-
education focus among advanced industrialized countries. Lephoto (2007),
for instance, highlights the interpretation by the Association for Develop-
ment in the Education of Adults (ADEA) of ODL as a philosophy of learning
based on the principles of encouraging access and equity. In the South ODL
is often a compensatory, or alternative means of basic education for people

who are otherwise unable to benefit from the formal system. Distance edu-
cation is part of extension work for adults engaged in literacy, health or
agricultural updating. It has also been widely used as a strategy to upgrade
teacher qualifications without having to remove teachers from the class-
room. Sometimes learners study the same curriculum as their formal edu-
cation counterparts, others access targeted equivalent curricula to cater for
their particular context. Participants may be non-formal education literacy
learners in remote rural areas, farmers learning about new farming tech-
niques or community members gaining up-to-date knowledge about health
issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria or other diseases. Lesothos draft policy
on ODL, for instance (GOL 2008), includes topics as varied as literacy,
teacher education, civic education, consumer and family life education,
nutrition, sanitation, professional and managerial skills development,
human rights and survival skills. Media may include radio, computers, TV,
print or more traditional forms such as drama and songs.
Open and distance learning is part of the African Unions and NEPADs
commitment to education in Africa. A number of African states have ODL
policies. Zambias college of Distance Education has been in existence since
the early 1970s, The World Bank has funded the African Virtual University
and there are similar initiatives for Francophone Africa. Indias five-year
plans have referred to ODL since 1986 and Indias Indira Gandhi National
Open University is one of the largest open universities in the world.
Pakistan runs a Peoples Open University to support rural basic education.
There are at least 25 open universities across the South and a growing
number of universities that have distance education departments. The
Canadian based Commonwealth of Learning has a special responsibility
for supporting ODL initiatives in developing countries, particularly in the
promotion of technology-based teaching. Lephoto (2007) cites a number
of free, online resources that have potential adaptation for uses in Africa,
such as the Open Educational Resources Movement and Free Open Source
Software. Networks such as the Distance Education Association for South-
ern Africa (DEASA) actively collaborate to develop and promote ODL.
Perraton (2000) estimates that between 10 and 20 per cent of all univer-
sity students study at a distance in developing countries. The number of
learners at primary and secondary education levels studying at a distance is
also considerable. Lesotho, for example, has a population of approximately
two million. Its national Distance Teaching Centre caters for well over 6,000
learners a year for literacy programmes alone, while the countrys university
provides for over 2,000 students who study by distance mode at diploma
and degree levels.
The advocates of this mode of learning emphasize its flexibility with

regard to time and place. Learners can pace themselves, continue to earn
money, which reduces the debt burden of study, and often learn new tech-
nological skills in the process. When such learning is linked to the internet,
there are opportunities for online discussion groups at different time slots,
as well as access to online learning materials. Other advantages are the per-
ceived cost-effectiveness of catering for large numbers without the need for
a central study base.
Perraton (2000) conducted an extensive analysis of the processes, myths
and realities for ODL in resource starved countries. ODL has had a check-
ered history in competition with formal education particularly in the face
of diminishing financial resources, especially during the structural adjust-
ment years of the 1980s and early 1990s. After an initial spurt of activity
during the 1970s, primarily through radio, it has relatively recently come
back into favour with funding agencies, partly influenced by the interna-
tional development targets for education which are in danger of not being
met in many countries. The educational rationale is that it is potentially
possible to substitute teachers with print, broadcasting or other media.
Other factors may also come into play in the development of distance learn-
ing systems. In Latin America, for example, radio schools were chosen
because they were not centrally controlled, and could therefore benefit
local political motivations. China, for opposite reasons, developed a cen-
tralized and dedicated TV broadcasting system.
There are a number of positive outcomes from multimedia ODL initia-
tives. Televized schooling in Mexico enabled access to education among
remote rural communities since the late 1970s. SchoolNet Africa in Zambia
is a recently funded alternative high-school programme using print-based
and digital satellite TV. Radio has been particularly successful. Siaciwena
and Lubinda (2008) identify interactive radio instruction in Zambia that
uses community radio stations in six community supported learning cen-
tres at basic and high-school levels. The project has increased enrolments
and has strong community support.
In spite of this and other success stories about the effectiveness of radio,
particularly in reaching the rural masses for extension, agriculture or health
education, most ODL programmes that are home-grown rely on print-based
media. Where computers are available, their most common usage is email.
The economic rationale for ODL is that the above teaching strategies
reduce the need for capital expenditure on educational buildings, and the
potentially large-scale distribution of materials reduces the cost of produc-
tion: Economies of scale become possible, provided there are enough stu-
dents to justify the manufacturing cost of the first group and student contact
is kept down in order to contain the costs of the second (Siaciwena and
Lubinda 2008:118).
Perraton notes, however, two issues which offset these economic arguments.
First, the introduction of computer technologies significantly increases cost,
especially where there is no basic infrastructure already in place. Second,
ODL courses often have high student drop-out or failure rates, thus reducing
the economies of scale argument. And, as Lephoto (2007), among others,
points out, increasingly, providers are recognizing the need for dedicated
learner support mechanisms and at least some face-to-face contact. If ODL
is to achieve its full potential, with or without computer technology, it has
to address a number of pedagogical challenges.
Pedagogical challenges for ODL
Where ODL programmes are certificated, Perraton (2000) and others high-
light low completion rates and poor exam performance outcome indicators
that suggest the need to address quality assurance, pedagogical and curric-
ulum issues within ODL programmes.
On the one hand pre-prepared printed texts may be the only source of
learning material that learners use. Most mainstream educators lack the
training and expertise to produce well-designed material that has to play
the role of facilitator/teacher as well as content dissemination. Programmed
instruction, for instance, may provide information but not necessarily social
skills or challenge the learner to question. The lack of social interaction to
encourage critical analysis or sharing of experiences can delimit higher
order capacities such as critical thinking and problem solving. The limited
range of media in most ODL programmes also delimits the opportunity to
address a range of learning styles. In this respect Yang (2008) suggests
that ODL should promote collaborative learning, guided reading, and
self-paced learning activities. While the influx of material from overseas
may address some technical aspects of online teaching material, however,
they usually suffer from what Braimoh and Osiki (2008) identify as neo-
imperialist, cultural dilution from institutions that are more interested
in profit than development or the socio-cultural context of the learners
themselves.
On the other hand, in terms of using digital media to compensate for
lack of face-to-face interaction, learners and teachers have to acquire a new
set of skills before they get as far as content matter. As Johnson (2007:458)
says, Learning to participate in, and learn from, electronic discussion is
a challenge in itself, and this can become particularly difficult when cul-
tures and attitudes to learning may place particular emphasis on the role of
teacher as expert.
Addressing the digital divide for lifelong learning

in the South
If we dont develop this, we are really going to be behind.

Individual cited in Grace 2004:3
There are some (for example Lelliot et al. 2000) who suggest that, for eco-
nomically poor countries, leapfrogging into the digital age is an inappro-
priate use of scarce resources. In the face of extreme poverty, hunger,
corruption, disease, minimal educational achievements, inadequate citizen
participation and other disadvantages this is a defensible position. But tech-
nologies have proved themselves to be important resources to combat these
very concerns. The issue is not whether technology is a good thing or not
it is whether technology can be harnessed on a sufficient scale to make a
significant, positive difference to those countries most in need of its bene-
fits. And how to do this in a way that enhances indigenous identities and
ownership rather than exposes vulnerable mass populations in the South
to more control and exploitation by those who currently have power and
influence, whether from elite pockets of individuals in the South or from
dominant systems in the North?
As Polikanov and Abramova (2003:51) state:
Africans must join the cyberspace as generators of ideas, rather than as

mere recipients. Only this full integration will ensure mutually beneficial
e-commerce, enhance education and provide for the adequate cultural
development of the region. Otherwise, the internet will become a new
form of dependence, some sort of cultural imperialism and cyber neo-
colonialism, which will further deteriorate the position of the African
continent in the world.
On a macro-level Perratons analysis suggests that expansion of ICT is

as much about political will as it is about resources. That political will is
influenced by capitalist and power considerations that impact on decision
makers in both the North and South.
On a micro-level there is need for more nuanced research that addresses

socio-cultural and quality assurance issues in order to capacity build and
strengthen arguments for digital literacy on a mass level.
Most of the literature concentrates on micro-level development. For
instance Vasudeva Rao (2006) argues that ICT introduction works best
when it is integrated with more traditional methods and total literacy cam-
paigns as a holistic approach to literacy, consciousness raising and partici-
pation through cultural groups, songs, discussion groups, audio-visual aids
and much interaction between technology educators and the learners. All
this must be in the context of sensitive orientation, cognizance of local cul-
tures, listening to and incorporating local views. Progress must be unhurried
and integrated with rural infrastructures at grass-roots level. The practice of
developing communally owned facilities where the profit from user pay-
ments is ploughed back into local communities could be a cost-effective
model for such communities. In other words, it is not necessary to have one
PC per person in order to develop ICT technology expertise in the first
instance. Similarly, the advancing nature of technology itself means it is
already available in wireless form, thus reducing the expensive necessity for
telecommunications infrastructures.
Coupled with this scenario Dahlman (2007) emphasizes that developing
countries need to take charge of their own knowledge creation so that local
solutions are found for local problems. He cites an example of developing
new agricultural seeds that are adaptable to local conditions, rather than
relying on the commercially motivated versions that are offered by external
sources.
Other suggestions address the private sector directly. So Chandrasekhar
and Ghosh (2001) propose that the profitable IT sector should be heavily
taxed to pay for infrastructure development. This development could ini-
tially focus on equipping particular professions such as the health sector
which would then disseminate the benefits of enhanced health capacity
among poor communities.
In terms of capacity building the focus must be on training teachers
and instructors to use ICT and develop their own teaching materials.
Educational Institutions and funders from the North would serve the
South more effectively if they concentrated their energies on supporting
capital investment for technology infrastructure and then enabling south-
ern-based institutions to manage their own educational development,
rather than franchising their own northern structures and systems into
culturally alien soil.
Macro-solutions are hard to find in the literature. Importantly IICD

(2007) emphasizes that the above identified support must align itself with
political awareness raising and financial planning for sustainability. In view
of Wilsons (2004) observations there is a need to find rationales that per-
suade political decision makers of the economic and social advantages of
supporting ICT innovation. Wilson develops an argument for the economic
costs of not being connected. This manifests itself in terms of higher costs
of good and services, poorer access to information about the market,
employment, investments. This approach, he adds, would have to be linked
to democratically responsive governance and respect for the rule of law,
taking us back to Lelliott et al.s (2000) concerns. It may additionally be
possible to appeal to the self-interests of politicians by arguing for the
potential of countries in the South to own their own destiny in terms of
knowledge creation.
The UNDP (2001) Human Development Report asserts that OECD coun-
tries should create more equitable global rules to address the digital divide.
This includes recognizing fairer use of intellectual property rights and seg-
menting the market so that developing countries could obtain technologies
more cheaply: [D]eveloping countries should not be forever held hostage
to the research agendas set by global market demand (p.8).
The challenges, therefore, are huge. But they are directly linked to a life-
long learning agenda for the South which takes us far beyond discourses of
profit, competitiveness and marketization. They centre on issues of democ-
ratization, social justice, human rights and human dignity. A global lifelong
learning approach is a critical solution to these changing societal needs.
But it must be sensitive to context, enhancing local ownership of content,
means and process. It must respond at a level of international consciousness.
This latter point was a concern highlighted in the definition for lifelong
education emanating from southern Africa, as discussed in Chapter 1.
Concluding summary
This chapter has explored some arguments for and against introducing
ICTs as a component of lifelong learning into countries in the South. While
the infrastructure constraints that impact on the digital divide are enor-
mous, there are indications that politics, power relations and profiteering
emanating from elites in the South as well as traditional concerns with
competitiveness in the North contribute in a significant way to maintaining
the divide. But this topic also continues the arguments of earlier chapters.
That is, a more communal approach to solving problems of resources, a more
culturally sensitive and context-driven approach to curriculum development,
greater recognition of the potential for home-grown solutions, and a greater
social justice perspective from the international community will all contrib-
ute to enabling capacity to grow from within. Market-driven agendas divert
attention from seeking alternative solutions and fail to address the com-
plexity of how inequalities are created in the first place.
The position of women has been a concern for most of the topics dis-
cussed so far. The next chapter will address some of those concerns more
fully in relation to lifelong learning discourses on a global scale. The subse-
quent chapters will look in-depth at two case scenarios taken from South
Asia and the African continent, with a view to analysing the extent to which
southern models of lifelong learning are evolving.
Chapter 7
Feminist perspectives on lifelong learning
We need education that promotes democratic participation and solidarity, values

pluralism and guarantees equal opportunities for women and girls of all ages . . .
that understands and respects our cultural, ethnic, and sexual orientation, physi-
cal disabilities, and lifestyle differences . . . that understands the centrality of gen-
der relations and sexuality in the HIV/AIDS epidemic . . . that develops the
capacities of women and men to be environmentally friendly and to feel and act as
part of nature . . . that promotes gender justice which considers women and men
as equal political and social subjects in the private and public spheres.
GEO, ICAE, REPEM, DAWN, FEMNET 2003:33
The above quotation came from a publication by the UNESCO womens

caucus as part of UNESCOs mid-term review of the international adult-
education conference CONFINTEA, which meets every 12 years. The cau-
cus is formed of different womens organizations from around the world,
but particularly focuses on gender justice for women in the South. The
above concerns are not limited to once-only educational provision. They
reflect the needs of a lifelong process of raising awareness among men and
women, learning to participate in community affairs, learning to be critical
and live together as equal citizens.
This chapter summarizes and expands the arguments relevant to wom-
ens lifelong learning needs that have already been articulated in earlier
chapters. Key issues include access to basic education, the work-home inter-
face, technology and the tensions between northern and southern dis-
courses for women. The chapter focuses on poststructuralist and postcolonial
feminisms that highlight various theoretical positions as articulated by
women academics in the South. This leads to a discussion of gender as a
category of analysis, how gender interfaces with contemporary discourses
for lifelong learning among women in the South and how a number of
high profile womens NGOs are moving forward in the struggle for gender
awareness in development terms. The chapter finishes with some reflec-

tions on selective lifelong learning policies and practices that address wom-
ens issues.
The core arguments are twofold: on the one hand there is a lifelong
learning need to raise public awareness of issues to do with gender justice
across all spheres of life; on the other hand women and girls need ongoing
learning opportunities to acquire the necessary skills, knowledge and
understanding to help them challenge gender injustices and articulate
their positions, needs and rights to participate as equal citizens.
Feminists lifelong learning concerns
The UNESCO (2005) Global Monitoring Report identified that of the

771 million adult illiterates in the whole world the majority live in develop-
ing countries. Of these illiterates 64 per cent are women. The female per-
centage of adult illiterates in Sub-Saharan Africa is 61 per cent, in the Arab
States 64 per cent, Central Asia 70 per cent, South and West Asia 64 per cent
and in East Asia and the Pacific 71 per cent. Participation rates in tertiary
education in most of these areas are reduced to single figures.
The dominant feminist and lifelong learning literature is associated with
writings from women in the North. Such literature fails to address southern
concerns related to racism, colonialism and neo-colonialism, with the impli-
cation that women are represented as a unitary category. As was mentioned
in Chapter 2 a major concern among southern women is to challenge the
production of the Third World Woman . . . in . . . Western feminist texts
(Mohanty 1995:259), and re-prioritize those particular concerns of oppres-
sion (for example, widow burning, circumcision, wearing the veil) about
which the West is obsessed in relation to southern women. Mohanty stresses
that these issues should not be ignored but they must be understood in con-
text, and in relation to other priorities such as poverty, access to credit and
education of any kind. She argues that western feminists fail to capture the
complexity of issues which affect the lives of different women in specific
societies. In order to change acts of oppression it is important to understand
them more effectively in order to adopt appropriate strategies for change.
There is a second factor that accounts for the continuing tension
between northern and southern views. Unlike the tendency among western
and northern feminisms, women in the South prefer not to isolate men
from discussions about women and social justice. This is partly in recogni-
tion that, as members of nations which have experienced colonialism, and
Feminist Perspectives on Lifelong Learning 103
continue to experience neo-colonialist interventions, both men and women

in the South have suffered oppression and domination; both men and
women understand issues to do with power, control and loss of identity in
the context of racism and social stratifications. Furthermore, women in the
South argue very strongly that in view of the patriarchal nature of most
societies, it is essential that men take responsibility for understanding and
addressing unequal and unjust gender power relations. Men and women
must work together to tackle all forms of oppression and build dialogue in
order to enhance understanding of the roles that men and social institu-
tions play in oppressing women.
So feminist discourses in the South play a dual role to question neo-
colonial discourses, especially those that fail to recognize indigenous knowl-
edges and cultural practices in relation to development, but also to challenge
patriarchal oppressions that are enshrined in various laws and attitudes.
This entails a more nuanced understanding of the tensions between patri-
archal oppressions, the processes of decolonization itself and the need to
maintain positive cultural values among those which may sometimes con-
flict with the feminist agenda for reform. A major mission for women in the
South, within these tensions, is to get their voice heard.
Chapter 4, for instance, highlighted that the denial of girls and womens
right to education is a social justice issue which affects their life chances
in multidimensional ways. The feminist vision for lifelong learning in the
context of development regards education as a multidimensional process,
where education and ongoing learning will increase a womans social stand-
ing, decision-making power in the family and ability to be more independ-
ent, broaden her knowledge of the outside world and help her to acquire
leadership skills. The right to lifelong learning for women in the South also
starts with the right to literacy and basic education with ongoing opportuni-
ties for post-literacy.
Furthermore Chapter 6, in relation to technology and the digital divide,
showed that the low basic education completion rates, and multiple work-
loads of women and girls means that they often have limited access to com-
puters or other technological advancements.
In spite of tensions of focus between the North and South, however, femi-
nist literature around the world resonates with many of the principles of
postcolonialist perspectives. For instance feminists are generally concerned
with struggles to occupy a historical space for women, issues of identity, how
women are positioned and position themselves, the construction of knowl-
edge, voice and authority. Feminist teaching styles favour pedagogies that
challenge the status quo and engage in critical analysis in relation to power,
oppression and domination. Like postcolonialist literature, feminist peda-

gogies aim to privilege alternative and in this case womens experiences,
recognize diversity, and enable women to critique normative assumptions
about identity and roles. In opposition to male-dominated versions of
knowledge and public space as the arena for knowledge and debate, they
validate womens experiences in the home and highlight the interconnect-
edness of public (outside the home) and private (family) lives. Black femi-
nists in particular challenge notions of lifelong learning which claim to be
about self-direction, autonomy and independence. Instead they position
alternative models of lifelong learning that embrace interdependence and
degrees of autonomy, which recognize commitment to others, rather than
individualism. All these concerns resonate with postcolonialist thinking
and reflect a greater reality for many women who play a central role in
family upbringing, and for whom independence is often a matter of degree
rather than an absolute position.
Poststructuralist and postcolonial feminisms
Poststructuralist feminisms recognize the individual experience of oppres-

sion and privilege and how those experiences constantly change according
to context. They recognize the intersection of multiple power relations and
discourses (of class, race, disability, ethnicity, caste etc.) and the complex
disadvantages those intersections can produce. By looking at the use of
language, agency and resistance in particular contexts poststructuralist
feminisms engage with the nuances and subtleties of power and how we all
contribute to the norms of our societies through these discourses. Through
this kind of analysis we see the significance of social context and its impact
on self-esteem, identity and voice.
Similarly, the concept of how knowledge is framed is also challenged.
Black feminist writers such as Hill Collins (1990) discuss knowledge for black
women in terms of motherwit and wisdom. Many of these forms of knowl-
edge draw on experiential understanding and intuition, rather than notions
of objectivity and scientifically proven knowledge. They also recognize the
role of emotion as a means of reinforcing or affirming truth and reality,
since, it is argued, there is no such thing as pure objectivity. All knowledge
is context-specific and framed by world views. There are only regimes of truth
as explained by Foucault (1980) and discussed in Chapter 2. Pedagogical
styles that encourage this kind of learning and knowledge creation include
sharing stories and feelings and confronting those storytellers with a view to
raising consciousness and effecting social change (hooks 1994). Such teach-
ing explicitly rejects the notion that emotions interfere with applying logic
or gaining an accurate understanding. Indeed recognition of emotions and
their impact enables us to highlight contradictions in seemingly objective
knowledge. This can be done partly by recognizing our positionality in
terms of class, race, disability or other social category both as teacher and
learner. We can then work with these different positions through a shared
critique of our experiences and understandings. Through this degree of
openness we enable the marginalized to have an equal voice and demon-
strate their authority in producing legitimate knowledge.
McEwan (2001:94) adds the anti-colonial stance that we should, in
particular:
[D]estabilise the dominant discourses of imperial Europe, including

development. These discourses are unconsciously ethnocentric, rooted
in Western cultures and reflective of a dominant, Western world-view.
There is now a considerable Third World feminist literature that both

builds on and reinscribes poststructuralist positions. I identify them here as
postcolonial feminisms since they share the same political goal to reposi-
tion women whose central experience has been one of colonialism.
Postcolonial feminisms focus on the ongoing struggle against colonial
interference, racisms and the micropolitics of work, home and family but
from the perspective of women. These feminisms embrace analytical frame-
works that take account of colonial histories and contemporary postcolonial
experiences. Postcolonial feminisms seek to challenge oppressive cultural
practices without rejecting their cultures and they seek to engage men and
women to work together for positive change.
Mohanty et al. (1991) produce a compendium of writers from the non-
European Third World who critique the conventional meanings that are
attached to feminism. Their central issue is the association of feminism
with cultural imperialism and a narrow definition of gender that has been
framed by middle-class white experiences in the West. Mohanty (1991:11)
points to the fundamental difference for women of colour as the contrast
between a singular focus on gender as a basis for equal rights, and a focus
on gender in relation to race and/or class as part of a broader liberation
struggle.
In other words, especially for women in the former colonies, there are addi-
tional forms of oppression that need to be taken into account when examin-
ing gender relationships. For example, as was highlighted by Ntseane (2006)
in Chapter 3, western style messages for HIV/AIDS prevention have assumed

that women simply need to be given the message: Say no to men you
have the power. But this position ignores cultural interpretations about the
causes and origins of HIV/AIDS. It also fails to recognize that men and
women need to explore together how they can find shared solutions. So the
message divides, rather than unites men and women in the fight against
AIDS. It assumes HIV/AIDS is simply a gender power issue (in Chilisa and
Preece 2005).
Feminists who want to signify their rejection of northern or western ide-
ologies in feminisms use alternative terminologies. The concept of woman-
ism therefore may be used by Asians and Africans. Africans will also use the
terms Africana womanism and African feminism.
Africana womanism is a term often used by women of African origin, both
diasporic and indigenous. Its focus is on explaining how colonial ideologies
have imposed western patriarchal gender discrimination on societies
that did not, prior to colonialism, necessarily identify with such power dif-
ferentials. For example, Mohanty (1991) and Ntseane (1999) highlight
that women in third-world countries have played a far more equal role
in the production of food and livelihoods than middle-class white women.
This perspective challenges the common assumptions that are made in
western feminisms about public (outside the home)/private (inside the
home) divides for gender roles. The Africana womanist position is explained
by Yaa Asantewaa Reed (2001) in a discussion with Hudson-Weems. Hudson-
Weems argues that from the perspective of Africana womanism the solution
to gender inequality is seen as already lying within African philosophy:
Essentially the Africana womanist position is that the framework for

a world free of patriarchal oppression already exists within the traditional
African philosophical worldview if only the Africana woman will claim
it. (Hudson-Weems in Yaa Asantewaa Reed, 2001:175)
This implies that indigenous philosophies, for example the concept of ubuntu,
rather than cultural practice, should be the starting point for repositioning
gender power relations. Similar arguments could be made for Asian cultures
and philosophies.
African feminism is defined by Mekgwe (2003:7) as a discourse that:
[T]akes care to delineate those concerns that are peculiar to the African
situation. It also questions features of traditional African cultures without
denigrating them, understanding that these might be viewed differently

by the different classes of woman.
Feminist positions are often defended through the use of proverbs and
folk tales. Dube (1999) refers to a Setswana myth, about a hen scratching
the ground for a lost needle, as a way of highlighting the complexities, dan-
gers and possibilities of defining feminist endeavours in postcolonial Africa.
Yaa Asantewaa Reed (2001:169) draws on the well-known African proverb
it takes a village to raise a child as demonstration that men and women
together come from a communal past where responsibilities are collective.
Mohanty (1991:10) summarizes these arguments as follows:
Third world feminists have argued for the rewriting of history based on
the specific locations and histories of struggle of people of colour and
postcolonial peoples, and on the day-to-day strategies of survival utilised
by such peoples.
Issues that affect women in relation to lifelong learning include migra-

tion and urbanization and increased working hours for women as they
take part in the market economy as well as their continued responsibility
for home matters. This means that traditional lifelong learning patterns in
the community are disrupted and younger generations do not receive the
forms of community education that they used to. At the same time women
do not receive new learning opportunities to deal with these socio-economic
changes.
Chapter 5 pointed out that globalization processes have feminized cer-
tain forms of low-wage labour through increasing part-time and home-
based work, resulting in poor regulation and less opportunity for formalized
training. The majority of women in the South work in the informal econ-
omy, further removing them from training opportunities, marginalizing
their work status and ability to access finance so that they are prevented
from competing in the wider market. Ntseane (1999) for instance reports
the comments of one female workers entrepreneurial efforts in the infor-
mal economy:
As an entrepreneur, I feel that the training we receive does not address

our felt needs. I request . . . closer cooperation between our trainers and
us to ensure that we will tell them what we really need. I dont know how
to write but every time I attend training workshops I am given books and
pencils and asked to keep records. Of course when they visit they dont
find anything in their book. That is why they say we are not interested.
(p.78)
Ntseane points out that:
[T]rainers in particular have to understand why women are in business,

what their problems are, and how they think they might be helped.
Business concepts are new in the culture that has a history of sharing and
group solidarity . . . there is a lack of programs that allow women to trans-
form . . . awareness into strategic gender needs, such as developing their
position in society into action, aiming to create more rights for women,
and creating control for resources. (Ibid)
Dyer (2001) also shows in Lesotho that where women are employed outside
the home, it is in low-paid, exploitative conditions where male-dominated
union support for improving womens working conditions, career advance-
ment or training is weak.
Feminism is not a fixed position. While its central theme is womens
experiences of gender power relations, there are many ways of addressing
this issue. Indeed there is a tendency for many women in the South to talk
about gender rather than feminism.
Gender
Gender in lifelong learning discourses among southern activists was

reconfigured as gender learning justice during the 1990s. This theme has
been gathering momentum since then. Conferences where gender and
education issues have been highlighted include the World Conference on
Education for All in Jomtien 1990; the World Conference on Population and
Development in El Cairo 1994; the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing
1995, CONFINTEA V in 1997 and its mid-term review in 2003, the World Con-
ference Against Racism, Xenophobia and All Forms of Discrimination in Durban
2001, plus other world social forums throughout the new century.
Perhaps the most common reason for using gender as the framework for
analysis is to demonstrate that the issue of power relations is a shared one
between men and women:
Gender is a concept that deals with the roles and relationships between
women and men. These roles and relationships are determined by socio-
cultural, religious, political and economic factors, not by biology. In other
words, gender refers to socially constructed roles and responsibilities

assigned to women and men in a given location and the social structures
that support them, all of which are subject to change over time. (Pant
2003:7)
Gender refers to the interaction between men and women and draws our
attention to those issues that have brought about unequal relations. Thus
the concept of gender helps to focus on lifelong learning that encourages
attention to issues of curriculum how stereotypes, language and images
perpetuate power differentials.
Gender analysis enables us to see the specificity of context as a tool for
both understanding the local context and promoting gender equality
(ibid: 10). Learning contexts that encourage critical awareness raising can
use gender analysis to reveal how relations between men and women impact
on who has access to and control over resources, how learning programmes
differentially affect men and women (such as the timing and location of
courses as well as content or classroom behaviour). It is also a tool for iden-
tifying socio-cultural opportunities and constraints for improvement.
Gender is the focus of analysis in Thetelas (2002) description of sex dis-
courses and gender constructions in her study of police interviews with
rape victims conducted through the language of southern Sotho. Her dis-
cussion is concerned with the way that gendered use of language constrains
the womans ability to accurately describe her experience of rape. Women
and men in some societies are expected to use different vocabulary in rela-
tion to sex. This expectation reinforces gender power imbalances and
impacts on the way the legal system deals with rape cases:
I use evidence from this study to suggest that one of the key issues in
examining language and the law in southern Africa is that of the relation-
ship between language, culture and the police interview rooms and court-
rooms since these institutions are not only legal domains but also domains
where cultural power relations are contested. (Thetela 2002:180)
Thetela identifies the southern Sotho words that women are expected to
use to describe sexual intercourse compared with the ones that men use.
For women the language of sexual behaviour is less explicit, and as result
conveys the impression that sexual behaviour is always a benign, accepting
activity for the woman. Consequently she is not empowered to use the
vocabulary that more accurately describes the process of rape. Words that
women are expected to use include ho arolelana dikobo, meaning to share
blankets; ho bapala, meaning to play; ditaba tsa motabo, meaning activities
of motabo (a form of snuff). In the police interview, Thetela describes how

the interaction between police officers and the rape victim, in terms of the
behaviour and language that each uses, conveys an image that the woman
has no case to claim she has been raped. The victim, in her description to
two male police officers, is embarrassed to use explicit words because it is
not culturally acceptable. The following interview translation shows how a
police officer chides her, when she asks if her mother can explain for her
what happened:
Look here young woman, you are the complainant, and not your mother,
or was she present when the two of you were having sex? An allegation of
rape is a very serious matter and not a joke. Tell us in his own words as
he said them. (p.183)
Thetela (2002) explains that the police officers access to different vocabu-
lary enables him to overlay the victims reluctance to use embarrassing
words in describing the rape by:
use of the swear word kota [meaning sex] . . . , by means of which he holds
both the victim and the alleged rapist equally responsible. This allegation
does not only embarrass the victim, but also discursively reproduces rape
as a non-criminal activity. (p.184)
Such context-specific nuances can only be captured at micro-level analysis

and need to be addressed through participatory teaching methods with
dialogue and discussion.
The Beijing Womens Conference in 1995 was a watershed for progress-
ing the agenda for gender reform. The strategy to address the wide-ranging
nature of gender concerns is called gender mainstreaming. Two years after
the conference the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
defined gender mainstreaming as:
The process of assessing the implications for women and men of any
planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes, in any
area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the concerns and experi-
ences of women as well as of men an integral part of the design, imple-
mentation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all
political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit
equally, and inequality is not perpetuated. (ECOSOC 1997, in ILO 2002)
The definition is founded on the principle that men and women have dif-
ferent needs which should be recognized in all walks of life but recognition
requires concrete actions and appropriate policy behaviour.
There are now several international womens organizations that have
taken advantage of globalizations technologies to organize themselves to
promote gender mainstreaming and address gender learning justice issues
across the world.
International womens organizations
One of the leading promoters of womens organizations and their activities

is the ICAE, based in Uruguay. ICAE is an international NGO that formed
in 1973. It is a global network that now connects with regional and national
networks in more than 75 countries and has consultative status with
UNESCO. It links women, organizations and educators working with grass-
roots women from all over the world to promote learning as a tool for active
and informed participation. The ICAE womens programme played a major
part in the Beijing conference to mobilize the agenda for equality and
empowerment of women and to raise consciousness of marginalization,
patriarchal structures and oppression. ICAE also played a significant part in
encouraging civil-society organizations to lobby their governments for rep-
resentation in the CONFINTEA VI country reports on adult education and
lifelong learning.
In 2000 ICAE formed a Gender and Education office (GEO). This office
plays an educative and lobbying role. Its main aim is to highlight and ana-
lyse the educational dimension of gender-oriented activities. It works with
civil-society organizations and governments through workshops and public-
ity. The GEO holds international seminars focusing on womens right to
education and to strategise and provide space for advocacy in the struggle
for womens rights. A monthly electronic magazine Voices Rising provides
regular updates on international events, issues and concerns to do with
public policy, reproductive rights and democracy in relation to lifelong
learning issues.
The Popular Education Network of Women (REPEM) is a regional net-
work of activists and academic women in Latin America and the Caribbean,
specializing in womens adult education. It has been in existence since the
1980s. It works closely with ICAE and GEO and since 1994 its focus has
been on advocacy and leadership development. The network works for
social, economic and gender justice through national, regional and global
organizations. It aims to influence public policy on gender and education
issues, promote womens leadership, citizenship and empowerment, and
influence social and economic policies at government level. GEO and
REPEM worked together at the CONFINTEA conference in 1997 to increase
the visibility of womens issues for lifelong learning. They also formed
a womens caucus at the Beijing conference in 1995 and again at the World
Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Geneva in 2000 to high-
light a broader, lifelong learning vision for womens education.
The Asian South Pacific Bureau for Adult Education (ASPBAE) also
concentrates on advocacy work and womens empowerment, with a focus
on poverty eradication, gender justice and sustainable development. One
of their concerns is to highlight the need for quality education that chal-
lenges inequalities for women:
Access to education is not enough. Advocacy for womens education

also requires advocacy for education that is of high quality and is relevant
to the lives of women. Education of poor quality does not change the
status of women. Education must help women to be critical of their
situation. Teaching methods must be participatory, otherwise it will rein-
force hierarchies. (Khan and Mohamed 2003:60)
Moghadam (2000) identified 1985 as a turning-point in national wom-

ens groups and the emergence of global feminism. One of the best-known
feminist networks to emerge during that period was DAWN. Based in Fiji it
represents a wide range of feminist groups from the South. The network
focuses on biases and deficiencies in international development agendas.
Other womens organizations that support and promote womens rights,
education and lifelong learning issues, include the African Womens Devel-
opment Communication Network (FEMNET), the Asian Womens Resource
Exchange (AWORC) an internet-based womens information services and
network and The United Nations Development fund for women (UNIFEM)
based in the Arab states.
The future for lifelong learning for women in the South
[W]omen have to be everywhere. Some of us must work at the local level and others
at the global level. The challenge is to create linkages between these two levels; that
is to say, to improve our capacity for articulation.
Eccher 2003:40
So what are the prospects for a more gender-sensitive lifelong learning

agenda for women in the South now? What impact have these organizations
had on progressing the lifelong learning agenda for women?
At one level the above organizations have made womens issues much
more visible. International aid agencies such as the World Bank and DFID
in the United Kingdom highlight the relationship between education for
women and improved health and welfare indicators for families. But these
are based on economic arguments rather than social justice issues. The
concern of womens organizations is to point out that critical education
(rather than the mechanisms of literacy alone, for instance) has the poten-
tial to raise awareness of gender power relations and gender justice. Such
learning is more likely to address the discrimination that denies women
their agency and self-determination or freedom to enjoy the life they want
to enjoy.
Demand is growing for culturally sensitive and relevant learning that
recognizes the indigenous knowledge and heritage of nations and their
various ethnic groups; learning that facilitates womens access to educa-
tional opportunities that will lead to womens equal participation in society.
Some progress has been made but with limitations.
The Beijing conference in 1995 resulted in the Beijing Declaration
and Programme for Action (PFA), identifying education as one of twelve
critical areas of concern for women. GEO-REPEM developed 11 indicators
to monitor equity and access of young and adult women to formal education.
These included womens sexual education, training and citizenship partici-
pation and education for pregnant women or mothers. The indicators were
used across a range of countries, with follow-up actions, including leader-
ship training workshops for women.
The PFA education goals were supported by the Dakar World Education
Forum in 2000 which produced four educational targets relevant to wom-
ens education. The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all
forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ensured agreement
from 173 countries in 2003 that educational provision should extend
beyond primary education, and included measures to compensate womens
livelihood and care needs so that they have equitable and relevant learning
opportunities.
These targets and agreements, however, were superseded by the MDGs
which produced far fewer women-focused agendas in spite of widespread
recognition of the relationship between poverty and womens education.
The MDGs ignore the complexity of structural, attitudinal and legal con-
straints for women. Instead they provide more general targets for universal
primary education and poverty reduction. The only explicit reference to
womens empowerment is subsumed under the goal to eliminate gender

disparity in primary and secondary education. Adult education is not con-
sidered as a development goal at all. As a result few country poverty reduc-
tion plans address gender-specific indicators for poverty reduction or
womens literacy needs.
Even the CONFINTEA 1997 Agenda for the Future goals have been cri-
tiqued for their focus on accommodation and adaptation where learn-
ers remain largely passive recipients of education rather than a focus on
transformation where learners would be enabled to reconceptualize their
situation and effect change against discrimination and injustice (Hlupekile
Longwe 2003:1124).
So, much work is still to be done, but the visible presence at international
fora has made some progress. With such active political engagement across
the international NGO world, has lifelong learning policy and practice in
the South become more gender-sensitive?
Analysis of policy and practice
There is plenty of evidence at local levels to show the positive impact of

literacy and post-literacy classes on womens social and economic empower-
ment and the impact of increased knowledge and understanding of health
issues on family nutrition and well-being. Where these programmes have
included consciousness raising to challenge oppressive or unfair employ-
ment practices the outcomes have been remarkable. Chunkath (1996), for
instance, describes the impact of a post-literacy project in India among
women working in stone mining quarries. A Government decision to grant
quarry leases to the women resulted in considerable opposition from con-
tractors and other villagers. Women undertook literacy classes to enable
them to understand simple accounting processes and the literacy tutors set
up a womens support group to help them through the interim phase of
resistance, harassment and threats by the wider community:
The women slowly gained in confidence and were able to handle con-
flict-ridden situations. They stood up to the contractors and middlemen
and asserted their rights. They went to the banks and deposited money,
they went to the government offices to get their permit slips, and they
took decisions about how their money could be spent. (p.123)
A more recent UNESCO publication (Pant 2003) explores good practice

examples of basic education and lifelong learning in the Asia Pacific Region,
in the form of Community Learning Centres (CLCs). These are non-formal

institutions managed largely by NGOs, religious institutions and other com-
munity members in an attempt to promote gender equality through holis-
tic lifelong education (p.1). One example is cited from China three poor
townships in the counties of Longsheng, Tiandong and Rongshui Miao.
Educational activities were integrated with cultural activities that reflected
national arts, cuisine, history and architecture. Training via distance educa-
tion, workshops and demonstrations covered a wide range of agricultural
productions alongside literacy classes. Women were used as trainers and a
cascade model of training was encouraged among the beneficiaries. Women
also set up credit cooperatives. Local government departments collabo-
rated with womens organizations and schools and training was provided
flexibly at times that coincided with the natural cycle of work needs. Key
features of the programmes contribution to the lifelong learning needs of
the people included the combination of vocational and technical skills
training with literacy, plus an integration of these activities with the cultural
concerns which encouraged women to participate.
Chapter 8 discusses in more detail, in this respect, another organization,
Bunyad, in Pakistan. But in general Pant emphasizes some key features for
a successful CLC as involving a participatory approach that mobilizes com-
munity resources, engages in strong partnerships with other local organiza-
tions and focuses on capacity building the local community. Successful
attention to gender equality is the outcome of an integrated literacy and
skills training approach that starts with a commitment to gender equality,
establishes partnerships with local groups working with gender equality
issues, develops learner-led and gender-sensitive teaching and learning
materials and monitoring systems, capacity builds local people, develops
credit and marketing facilities, involves women in decision-making struc-
tures and as role models and caters for other domestic and child care
needs.
On a more macro, national level Mehran (1999) draws on a UNICEF-
devised empowerment framework to assess the extent to which Irans
lifelong learning policy and practice facilitated the development of a new
Muslim woman (p.202) or whether the policy merely entrenched tradi-
tional beliefs and practices towards women. She grounds her analysis in
the Muslim lifelong learning proverb Seek knowledge from the cradle to
grave, from which the Iranian government demonstrates its commitment
to enhancing lifelong educational opportunities for its population. Since
female literacy rates started from a very low base in the 1980s, the focus of
lifelong learning for women has been primarily literacy training.
The UNICEF Framework for Equality and Empowerment of Women

measures five levels of empowerment, starting with welfare (meeting basic
needs); access (to resources and means); consciousness raising (gaining
awareness of the problem); participation (in decision making); and ulti-
mately control (high level participation and planning) (p.204).
Mehran examines the nature of provision availability, and the language
and images of standard textbooks for literacy and post-literacy training to
explore how many of the empowerment levels are addressed. She concludes
that the first and second levels of empowerment are adequately covered,
since access and literacy levels have increased. However a gender analysis
of the reading materials reveals a mixed picture in terms of consciousness
raising, where the majority of images and texts reinforce traditional stereo-
types for Iranian men and women and division of labour, but which no
longer necessarily reflect the reality of many womens lives in Iran. How-
ever, the post-literacy readers indicate a conscious and deliberate effort has
been made to introduce independent women whose identity and character
have been formed due to their own toil and struggle in life (p.212) along-
side attempts to address taboo subjects and myths about gender roles and
behaviours. Nevertheless there is no evidence to suggest that women are
being encouraged to engage at a level of critical analysis or active participa-
tion and control in literacy classes. Progress for womens issues, therefore,
can be painfully slow.
Concluding summary
This chapter has reviewed the theoretical position on lifelong learning for
women in the South from a mainly postcolonialist perspective. This posi-
tion highlights the need to understand southern womens issues in context,
in order to avoid misrepresenting those issues. Much work has been done
during the last ten to fifteen years to raise awareness in public fora of the
need to address womens educational concerns in a holistic lifelong learn-
ing context. While international development targets do highlight the rela-
tionship between basic education and improved development indicators
for women, there is less emphasis on gender justice and human rights issues
or on the notion of lifelong learning as a gender-specific project. Selective
examples of good practice and analysis of policy indicates some progress is
being made but women need to be constantly vigilant in making womens
issues visible among decision makers. Again the argument for a holistic
approach to lifelong learning is emphasized.
Chapter 8
Case studies Pakistan and India
While the majority of content in this book has referred to African writers,
philosophies and concerns, some references have also been made to South
Asia. This chapter takes a case study approach towards two separate scenar-
ios where lifelong learning is specifically identified as a primary aim of
either practice or policy or both. In the first instance I look at an NGO,
called Bunyad in Pakistan. In the second instance I focus on the State of
Kerala in India. Their contexts and policies are outlined. I analyse in turn
to what extent the two case studies appear to address the lifelong learning
issues related to philosophy, development, gender, globalization and tech-
nology described in earlier chapters.
The sources of information for these case studies are mainly policy docu-
ments and reports, including the latest, state-of-the-art CONFINTEA VI
country reports. During a brief personal visit to Bunyad I additionally
obtained research reports, the organizations own extensive literature on its
philosophy and practice including annual reports. For Kerala, although
I did also briefly visit the State recently, I have drawn primarily on policy
documents, national and state reports together with a recent, substantive
and detailed review of Keralas literacy and lifelong learning approach
(Clayton 2006).
Pakistan
The Pakistan Ministry of Educations preparatory report (Saleem 2008) for

the CONFINTEA VI meeting in 2009 provides country-wide statistics and
information in relation to adult education. Lifelong learning is not men-
tioned in this document. Bunyad is identified in this report as a key pro-
vider of non-formal education in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Geographically Pakistan has borders with China, India, Afghanistan and
Iran. Its terrain varies from high mountainous regions in the north and
west to irrigated plains and deserts across the East including the provinces
of Punjab and Sindh. Urdu their main language is spoken by 75 per cent
and the rest speak local languages. English and Urdu are the countrys offi-
cial languages. The vast majority (96.3 per cent) follow Islamic religions.
Pakistan operates a federal structure of four provinces plus some federally
administered tribal areas and units of districts. Education policy is formu-
lated at federal government level with implementation at provincial educa-
tion department level.
Pakistan is placed on the Human Development Index in the position of
138 out of 177 countries. Literacy rate is now officially estimated at 55 per
cent, of which the female percentage is 42 per cent, reducing to as low as
14 per cent in rural areas. While the numbers living below the official
poverty line has decreased in recent years to one quarter of its population
and population growth has slowed to 1.9 per cent by 2005, the overall popu-
lation of 159,061 million (Saleem 2008) translates into a significant number
of 40 million living below the poverty line and 56 million adults who are
illiterate.
Just over 65 per cent live in rural areas and the life expectancy of males
and females is 64 and 66 respectively. Labour force participation is quoted
at 30.2 per cent, indicating that the majority of inhabitants live through
subsistence farming. The education system is three tier starting at primary
(divided into two age levels 510 and 1013), secondary school (ages 1315)
and higher secondary (ages 1517). Adult literacy officially starts at age
15 and higher education from age 18. There are also vocational schools at
higher education level. The medium of instruction at primary level is Urdu
or in the local language. Participation at primary level is officially universal,
though child labour is rampant, particularly among industries such as
carpet weaving, soccer ball and surgical instrument making. Participation is
estimated as 66 per cent (of which 82 per cent are male). By secondary level
gross enrolment is only cited as 40 per cent and a mere 4 per cent of the
total population participate in higher education.
There are large gender disparities at all levels of participation. Womens
economic activity is largely unrecognized even though women take respon-
sibility for the family farm which includes activities such as livestock tend-
ing, weeding, planting and threshing rice, alongside other household
chores and maintenance of large families (Attiq-ur-Rahman 2006). Gender
violence and abuse is also rife, particularly among poor families.
Although adult literacy was highlighted as early as 1970 in Government
education policies it was not until 1990, International Literacy Year, that
substantial funding was provided. In December 1992 the national education
Case Studies Pakistan and India 119
policy pledged to achieve a literacy target of 50 per cent by 1995 and 70 per
cent by 2002 (Saleem 2008). The current Draft National Education Policy
2008 (cited in Saleem 2008) supports the expansion of education at elemen-
tary and adult literacy levels, with plans to launch a large-scale non-formal
education basic education programme and develop minimum quality
standards and equivalence scheme between formal and non-formal curric-
ula. However, there is no separate budget for adult literacy and Bunyads
literature points out that less than 10 per cent of the whole education
budget is set aside for adult and community education.
The Punjab is the third most densely populated province containing
56 per cent of the population across 35 districts. The CONFINTEA report
cites the literacy rate of the Punjab as 73 per cent, though Bunyad docu-
mentation suggests this figure is lower.
The Punjab has a literacy and non-formal education department, headed
by the Secretary of the Government, and the head of each district is the
Executive District Officer Literacy (EDO literacy). Literacy centres and
non-formal basic education schools in the Punjab are run by NGOs under
the supervision of the EDO Literacy. The CONFINTEA report states that
NGOs hire the services of literacy and non-formal basic education (NFBE)
teachers and receive some funding from the literacy department for
monitoring.
The Bunyad literature frames its activities within a lifelong learning ethos
with the aim of building self-reliance, using literacy as the starting point.
Bunyad
Literacy is the beginning of a lifelong continuing education process

Attiq-ur-Rahman 1998:9
There are a number of evolving definitions for literacy in the Pakistan pol-
icy documents. Bunyad provides its own three definitional levels for literacy
as follows:
Basic level: learners learn how to read and write their name, alphabets,
and how to count
Middle level: learners display basic reading and writing skills and com-
pute simple mathematical problems
Self-learning level: learners read and write at their levels and apply their
literacy to everyday life (Bunyad 2006:13).
Bunyad Literacy Community Council was founded in 1994 as a non-profit

organization with the overall aim of social development amongst the poor-
est of the poor using literacy and education of women as its starting point.
Poor families are usually agricultural labourers or tenants, carpenters, street
vendors, servants, drivers or workers in carpet weaving factories. Bunyad is
now a provincial level NGO which has received international recognition
for its activities (Attiq-ur-Rahman 1998:5).
The scale of this operation is significant. Bunyad works in more than
20 districts and 2,000 villages and, by 2006, it had successfully enhanced the
literacy levels of more than 400,000 children and adults. An equally signifi-
cant number of people have benefited from post-literacy and continuing
education activities, including developments in social, political, health,
environmental education and income generation. The organization has
a vision and mission statement, a devolved management structure that
reaches down to district and village levels and operates a number of sepa-
rately funded projects that embrace a multisectoral approach to poverty
reduction.
Bunyad envisions a literate, enlightened, tolerant and just society in
which all individuals enjoy the rights and opportunities to realize their full
potential in striving to attain both individual and collective goals (Bunyad
2006:3).
Its mission is empowerment of underprivileged, marginalized groups
particularly rural women and children through literacy, education and eco-
nomic empowerment to improve the standard of life and enhance their
capacity to be self-dependent (ibid).
The headquarters is now the Institute of Community Education (ICE) a
central training resource and hub for materials production, with its own
formal school, resources for training in new technologies and agriculture-
related activities, a central research base that hosts internships from local
universities, initiates fund raising and new projects. Agricultural products
from the institutes 8-acre site are also sold as a means of helping to finance
the organizations running costs.
Bunyad develops its own readers to supplement the Government pre-
scribed basic education learning materials. The aim of this supplementary
material is to address life skills and empowerment needs (health, hygiene,
sanitation, farming, reproductive health, gender awareness raising, civic edu-
cation, human rights, recreation, community development). These materials
are supported by a library, newspaper and website.
The programmes development structure is centred around a staged com-
munity development approach that starts with needs analysis, sensitization
and the formation of village and family education committees focusing
on mobilizing entire communities, appointment and training of teachers

as facilitators and community change agents, including initial teacher
training in non-formal education methodology (usually a teacher is a locally
identified woman with primary education certificate). The approach
includes monitoring, evaluation, ongoing teacher training, assessment and
certification of learning outcomes, partnerships with NGOs and other com-
munity-based organizations. Learning activities and timing of classes are
negotiated with local communities so they are relevant and fit in with daily
and seasonal life cycles. The end result is a CLC.
The CLCs are responsible for mobilizing communities, providing rele-
vant learning opportunities to local development needs, improving income
generating opportunities, quality of life and creating a learning atmosphere
for participants so they will be motivated to continue learning. Literacy
teachers are pivotal in this process since they are both community anima-
tors and educators.
Post-literacy learning materials are an important feature of maintaining
motivation to continue reading and seek information. Bunyad produces
a newspaper that provides news as well as educational information on
relevant development topics. It has also introduced ICT training, a Library
and a website of information resources and reading materials covering
a range of development topics ranging from health to agriculture to civic
information. All this is duplicated on CD for those who do not have access
to the internet.
During my visit to one rural school the community was in the process
of linking an electricity wire from one of their houses so that computers
could be used in the classrooms.
Income generation is an important stimulation for lifelong learning. Micro-
credit schemes are developed alongside relevant business and accounting
skills to facilitate sale of goods and expansion of micro-businesses; these pro-
grammes are supplemented with human rights, gender awareness and con-
fidence building courses. Goods produced in these micro-credit schemes
can be exchanged between villages, thus creating a network of small entre-
preneurs. The majority of micro-businesses are livestock related. Others
include embroidery, goat farming, agriculture a small shop or transport
business. In a few cases a school is a business. In 15 per cent of the learning
centres, the community has generated sufficient income to pay for the
running cost of their non-formal schools, including the salary of their
teacher.
Decentralized information and resource bases are called BERTIs Basic
Education Research Training Initiatives that have responsibility for a
number of village-level CLCs. The BERTI aims are to promote human and
community development through lifelong learning and provide opportuni-

ties without discrimination of caste, creed, age and sex (Bunyad 2006:26).
The BERTIs provide guidance and counselling, awareness raising of rights
and mobilization of communities to support non-formal education for out-
of-school children, youth and illiterate adults. In effect, a one-stop shop for
community-based needs, but framed within the context of education. Many
are now networked to the Web. They concentrate on capacity building,
have their own teams of trainers in non-formal primary and basic education
and are managed by a committee of local people with representation from
community leaders and the CLCs for which they are responsible. Some
BERTIs have become self-sustainable through income generation activities
and small payments from community members. Attiq-ur-Rahman (2002)
cites one effective BERTI in Muzzfargarh:
. . . who from a small group went on to construct their own schools, super-
vised 250 centers of . . . [basic education] program, disburses loans to
marginalized neo literate women, physical disabled physiotherapy to
local children, construction of latrines in 30 family houses, on a revolving
loan basis, has a small library. Teacher trainings collecting information,
giving awareness raising issues to their loaning centres are all part of the
work of this BERTI who from oblivion has become an independen[t]
NGO serving its community. (p.39)
The ultimate aim is for all CLCs and BERTIs to become self-sustainable.
Thus the Bunyad vision is for a ripple effect of ever widening circles
of self-reliant and sustainable communities, generated through basic and
post-literacy, then continuing education leading to self-directed lifelong
learning for individual and community development including financial
sustainability from the products of local enterprises:
Lifelong learning not only depends on literacy skills. It also rests on the
provision of resources and opportunities for further and continuing
learning. The richer the learning environment, the greater will be the
opportunity for conscious commitment of lifelong learning and being
willing to take full advantage of the learning opportunities and choices of
society which requires that people be autonomous learners depending
on their own strength. (Attiq-ur-Rahman 1998:18)
Within these communities additional targeted projects may include those

specifically addressing child labour, or, in urban areas, street childrens
needs. Part of the aim of these projects is to raise the consciousness of

employers as well as families of the hazards of child labour and persuade all
the stakeholders of the benefits of an educated child for future prosperity.
Successes have included children who have been allowed by their employ-
ers and families to spend some time in school while still working to support
the familys income needs, and creating a safer working environment for
the children. By this approach, Bunyad hopes to convert child labour into
child work by which not only the child continues working in a healthy envi-
ronment and learning skills but also gets rights like education (Bunyad
2006:14).
The challenges behind this initiative have been enormous. Attiq-ur-
Rahman (2002:5), the founder of the organization highlighted, for instance,
some socio-political cultural hurdles in the form of a feudal landowner sys-
tem that controls its peasantry and is not necessarily motivated to change
the status quo:
Decision making undertaken by a handful on the lives of millions can be

seen in our rural area in a most frightening form. Where the omnipotent
large land holder manipulates all the state machinery and takes on politi-
cal preview, not allowing schools to function in his area, hampering power
sharing with the people, is seen in all its glory in Muzzafargarh district of
Punjab where Sardar Kakar Jatoi gave over 415 squares of land in a trust
for the development of education in his district. After his death it was
quickly usurped by the large landholders who quickly distributed the said
land to the favourites for voting purposes rather than for education.
An impact study by Noor and Tarrar (2002) indicated, too, that there were
many resistances from political groups and men wishing to maintain the
status quo and who were against the idea of female education, even in the
Education Department itself which looked with disdain on non-formal
education as a methodology and were initially suspicious and unhelpful
(Executive summary).
How do Bunyads philosophy and activities compare with the vision for a
southern concept of lifelong learning as articulated in this book?
Bunyads approach to lifelong learning and development

There are some striking resemblances between Bunyad and Gandhis own
philosophy of education for rural reconstruction. The education curriculum
on offer is both practical and moral in its broadest sense, and concerned
with the collective as well as the individual. The concept of village self-
sufficiency and interdependence with neighbouring villages is also reminis-
cent of Gandhis philosophy, as is his focus on education for self-reliance.
As with Gandhi, Bunyad is aiming at a bottom-up approach to indepen-
dence. The extent to which villages are capable of managing their own
affairs perhaps depends on wider political and socio-cultural forces, but the
BERTIs and CLCs are envisioned as providing the practical and informa-
tion resources to facilitate social harmony and elimination of the causes
of poverty.
Bunyad, however, is also aware of its context in an ever-changing world.
So development takes on gender awareness and technological change as
clear targets. Programmes target women and girls because they are margin-
alized, but also because they are the preservers of culture and transmitters
of values for the next generation. It is commonly accepted that if you edu-
cate a mother, then you educate the family. Practical literacy and skills are
combined with awareness raising of gender issues to both the female learn-
ers and the wider community. Indeed, in recognition that womens needs
will not be addressed without first sensitizing the male community and fam-
ily leaders, an ongoing process of dialogue and persuasion is an integral
feature of all learning initiatives. Community preparation for the ensuing
learning opportunities is a carefully crafted process which can take many
months. Skills activities are not add-on extras but embedded in the literacy
and other learning activities, all of which are negotiated and provided on
the basis of perceived need for livelihood improvement. At the same time
communities are constantly motivated to progress, so as not to be satisfied
with minimum achievements. So information technology and the opportu-
nities that provides for global, as well as local, networking is built into the
overall consciousness raising of the Punjabs connection to a globalized
world. The website information in Urdu and English makes Bunyads pres-
ence also visible to that wider global world.
The size and scale of Bunyads operation, and the work of a few core
individuals, has meant that there are measurable achievements in peoples
lives, such that some have progressed into activities that stretch beyond
their immediate villages.
As a model for lifelong learning and development-as-empowerment,
which addresses the reality of poverty and illiteracy, while at the same time
creating possibilities for continuous progression, Bunyad scores highly.
It is making a difference in adverse circumstances. Its focus on human wel-
fare and quality of life stretches beyond instrumental notions of literacy
or lifelong learning. It interprets development according to Sens (1999)
definition of the concept as an expansion of freedoms to live the life that

people want to enjoy. By involving higher education institutions the lifelong
learning loop is maximized, with future potential for open and distance
learning.
This project and its achievements, however, highlight the enormous
challenge to provide a holistic development model of lifelong learning
that can influence policy makers. Bunyad is heavily dependent on the vision
and energy of its founding leader. It is also still heavily dependent on
a patchwork of funding sources, all of whom still have their own agendas,
thus making it difficult for the organization to weave a constant path of
progression that meets learner development needs. The concept of lifelong
learning is not evident in Pakistans national policy plans which indicates
there is not yet a policy understanding of the relationship between literacy,
development and context for lifelong learning. The goal of self-reliance,
when it is starting from such a minimal resource base, takes a long time.
Bunyad itself estimates a minimum of five years per learning centre before
tangible signs of independence can bear fruit. Lifelong learning, in this
context is still fragile.
The next case study shows what is possible when initiatives are under-
pinned by political will and support. Keralas continuing education centres
bear many resemblances to Bunyads BERTIs and CLCs, though they are
framed within a context of unusually high literacy levels as a result of
several national and state-wide campaigns, initial funding support from the
Indian Government as well as on going state-level support.
India
Indias report for CONFINTEA VI (Government of India (GOI) 2008) has

multiple references to lifelong learning, which situates it in a very different
political context from Pakistan. India has a total population of 1,165,577,000.
It is ranked 128 out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human development
index for 2008, and 122 according to the CONFINTEA report. Adult literacy
is calculated at 61 per cent (men at 73 per cent and women at 48 per cent)
and life expectancy is age 64. The school system is three tier, as for Pakistan.
Attendance at secondary school is identified as 54 per cent for males and 46
per cent for females. Population growth rate is at 1.7 per cent. Its National
Policy on Education, modified in 1992 (GOI 1998) emphasizes education
in the context of strong commitment to humane values and social justice
. . . international cooperation and peaceful co-existence (pp.46). Its 1992
revisions include a focus on lifelong education . . . universal literacy . . .

open and distance learning . . . womens participation in vocational, tech-
nical and professional education (pp.68) and a cultural heritage that val-
ues learning:
Our ancient scriptures define education as that which liberates that is it

provides the instruments for liberation from ignorance and oppression.
In the modern world, it would naturally include the ability to read and
write, since that is the main instrument of learning. Hence the crucial
importance of adult education, including adult literacy. (p.11)
The document lays the foundations for post-literacy and continuing educa-
tion, including skills upgrading but also framed by conscientisation and
critical awareness (GOI 2008:7). These are words rarely associated with
government policy for learning. Policy implementation is devolved to indi-
vidual states supported by a combination of national and state budgets.
Adult literacy is defined under the National Literacy Mission as func-
tional literacy with the following all encompassing characteristics that
include awareness of national and global issues, action for change as well as
skills for work and life:
z Achieving self-reliance in literacy and numeracy;

z Becoming aware of the causes of their deprivation and moving towards
amelioration of their condition through organization, and participation
in the process of development;
z Acquiring skills to improve economic status and general well-being;
z Imbibing the values of national integration, conservation of environ-
ment, womens equality and observance of small family norms etc. (cited
in GOI 2008:71).
Indias overall approach to literacy and lifelong learning is a holistic venture:

literacy programmes cannot and should not be implemented in isolation
and exclusion of other developmental programmes (GOI 2008:75).
Keralas continuing education programmes are cited a number of times
as good practice in the CONFINTEA report.
Kerala State
Kerala, a fertile and densely populated state in the far south-west of India,
has a population of 31,841,374. Its terrain includes coastal waters and
a network of rivers and backwaters. The majority (60 per cent) are Hindu,
with 20 per cent Muslim and 20 per cent Christian religions. A predomi-
nance of cash crops include coconut, rubber, pepper, cardamom, nuts, cof-
fee, tea, spices, rice and tapioca and there is a growing tourist industry.
Kerala ranks top among Indias 15 biggest states with literacy figures esti-
mated to be around 90 per cent in rural and 93 per cent in urban areas,
although womens literacy is reduced to 86.8 per cent in rural areas, where
the majority still live. Life expectancy is higher than Indias average, at 67.2
for men and 72.4 for women. Attendance at primary school is 97 per cent
with drop-out rates at only 1 per cent till grade 8. While in India the majority
only receive four years of education, the norm in Kerala is between seven
and ten years. It is described by Clayton (2006:76) as a social welfare state,
providing free schooling, health care, financial support for the unemployed
and working poor. While 13 per cent still live below the World Banks pov-
erty line of less than $1 a day, it has the highest literacy rate across all the
Indian states and high levels of civic participation.
Although some tribal villages and coastal areas are still extremely poor,
with low education levels, and child labour still exists, Clayton (2006) sum-
marizes the main ingredients for Keralas relatively high literacy rate as ben-
efiting from a combination of positive popular support for education in
principle, supported by a left-wing government, substantive land reforms
(land redistributed from large landowners to landless labourers) and large
state investments in the education system. Clayton (2006:20) cites from
Raman (2005) the significance of landownership for motivation to literacy:
When every family owns a piece of land, no matter how small, they have
a sense of belonging . . . They can plan for the future, and education of
their children becomes a part of that planning . . . If you live by the road-
side, what tomorrow do you have to think about?
An interesting feature of Keralas pre-Independence era was the establish-

ment of 47 rural libraries with the slogan read and grow (Pillai 2003). By
1977 the Kerala State Library Council was formed and it now has responsi-
bility for 6,000 libraries. In every village libraries acted as community cen-
tres hosting arts and sports clubs, womens groups, a nursery and childrens
section, radio and television as well as books.
The Kerala State Government has alternated, since Independence in
the late 1950s, between Congress and communist-led coalitions, most of
whom have prioritized education and health. Approximately 37 per cent
of the States annual budget is spent on education and health. Its model of
development emphasizes the social rather than economic dimension and

several of the States eight universities maintain a strong commitment to lit-
eracy and adult education beyond the normal remit of degree-level work.
The Kerala State Higher Education Councils (2007) draft includes among
its goals inculcating in the learner certain core competencies and skills
that would promote lifelong learning, living together and living produc-
tively both in society and within the self (p.4). The document recognizes
the needs for skills and income generation, but emphasizes that society
also needs thinkers, dreamers, philosophers, scientists, artists, policy mak-
ers, administrators, politicians, statesmen and others to facilitate the onward
march of civilization (ibid).
Building on the library councils work a structure for lifelong learning is
now institutionalized across the state. Kerala is divided into 14 districts with
councils (panchayats) at three levels which subdivide into district, block and
village (or grama) panchayats. At village level panchayats are represented by
elected villagers from each ward. Panchayats make decisions about develop-
ment schemes including education, and have responsibility for mobilizing
communities and coordinating activities at their respective levels. Commu-
nities may lobby panchayats to provide what they want. Each panchayat has a
standing committee for education which includes primary, non-formal and
adult education. The village education committee acts as a support group
for their community-owned Continuing Education Centre (CEC). The cen-
tres are run by a trained, prerak and assistant prerak who act as resource
persons and motivators for the community, including encouraging non-
literates to attend classes and other individuals to progress to higher levels
of learning or employment.
The aims of the CECs are to facilitate smooth transitions from literacy
to post-literacy and continuing education phases in an integrated way.
Activities and resources include a compulsorily available literacy and post-
literacy programme. There is also a library and reading room, group discus-
sions, vocational skills and updating courses, extension facilities for other
departments (such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry) for whom education is
not their core business but where education constitutes a component of
their work. Other activities include sports and leisure, information centre,
income generation courses and a range of adult education programmes.
The Equivalency programme is for adults and out-of-school children who
wish to extend beyond elementary literacy up to standard ten (junior sec-
ondary). The Quality of Life Improvement programme comprises programmes
designed to enhance the well-being of citizens and addresses topics such as
health, population, environment, legal, citizenship, development schemes,
employment opportunities. The Individual Interest programme provides

courses in response to community interests relating to social, cultural, spir-
itual, physical or artistic pursuits. Monthly meetings monitor progress and
serve as a forum for new ideas. Each CEC serves 22,500 people, of whom
5001,500 may be neo-literates. A second tier of CEC, a nodal CEC, oper-
ates in similar fashion to Bunyads BERTIs in that it has a monitoring,
supervision and training relationship to the village-level CECs.
An example of how preraks and CECs can work for the interests of the
community is given in a UNESCO case study (Unescobkk 2008) which
describes the implementation of an agricultural literacy programme for
poor, lower caste women who were studying a level-one equivalency course.
The prerak complained to the municipality that some people were illegally
holding 2.5 hectares of fertile land. The municipality retrieved the land
and gave it to the CEC. The women were each given a timetable and fixed
area of land. Their produce was sold at the CEC and prompted the demand
for an agriculturally relevant literacy programme. The outcome of this pro-
gramme resulted in further production and sales for the CEC and its com-
munity members.
The Indian government supports CECs fully for their first three years,
then equally shares funding with Kerala State for the following two years.
Thereafter the CECs are sustained by a combination of State support, local
membership fees ( a corpus fund) and income generation activities. There
are 3,500 CECs and 500 nodal CECs of which 10 per cent are run by NGOs.
Nair (2002) claims that the sequence of events leading up to this holistic,
integrated and grassroots-led approach to lifelong learning is embedded
in a history of socio-political movements and communist inspired freedom
struggles since the 1950s which have created a culture of civic participation.
These movements included the rural libraries already mentioned, trade
union movements, youth organizations and NGOs. Even in 1970 literacy
levels in Kerala were estimated at more than 80 per cent and the state was
therefore not included in Indias mass literacy campaign of this time.
A key motivator for literacy that still plays a part in current initiatives
is KANFED (Kerala Association of Non-formal Education) which emerged
in 1977 as an offshoot of the library movement. It led various literacy
programmes such as the Farmers Functional Literacy Programme and a
Rural Functional Literacy Programme. KANFED targeted marginalized
and vulnerable populations, produced its own reference books, books for
neo-literates, a fortnightly newspaper and monthly wallpaper as well as
other reference books. A Literacy Forum was founded in 1981 for those
interested in adult literacy and allied areas.
Prompted by KANFED, Kerala introduced a State Resource Centre in 1993

to provide technical and academic support to non-formal and continuing
education programmes, including training and learning materials and
research.
KANFED played a prominent part in promoting the goal for total literacy
in the state of Kerala. They were lead players in Keralas first national cam-
paign to this end in 1991, along with the establishment in 1990 of the
Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority (KSLMA). This campaign included
door-to-door contact, mass mobilization of volunteer teachers, high-profile
and sustained publicity through songs, plays, mass media, poems, paintings,
folk art, local newspapers, religious bodies, universities and public gatherings.
As with Bunyads efforts, human rights and critical consciousness raising
were an integral part of its programme, along with increasing peoples
understanding of Keralas changing socio-economic context (Clayton 2006).
The initial campaign was followed up in 1999 with the implementation of
the current CECs lifelong learning approach, with support from Indias
National Literacy Mission. The KSLMA works in collaboration with pancha-
yats and universities to provide training, monitoring, research and develop-
ment, involving other departments such as fisheries and health.
Another prominent organization is the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad
(KSSP) which started in the 1980s as a voluntary organization to popularize
science and now has 40,000 members. They contributed to the total literacy
campaigns and had a specific aim to improve the quality of life of ordinary
people and make science accessible and useful. Amidst ongoing motiva-
tional publicity KSSP engages with a number of development concerns in
order to help poor people. It has contributed to income generation and
cost-saving initiatives such as soap making and construction of cheap ther-
mal cookers. It has helped to train volunteer literacy facilitators and involved
the grassroots to provide ideas about how to successfully publicize literacy
campaigns.
Other contributing organizations include a peoples college, Mitrakiketan,
which provides formal and non-formal education, the Quilon Social Service
Society which operates in coastal areas with adult education as one of its
activities, the Shramik Vidya Peeths (SVPs) which provide literacy and voca-
tional training courses, including income generating programmes for work-
ers and their families, and the Laubach Literacy Trust which runs a training
centre and library with primers and follow-up books for neo-literates.
A recent Information Technology Policy (Government of Kerala (GOK)
2007) follows similar aspirations for improved quality of life to those
already identified. Unlike the dominant messages of ICT for economic
competitiveness, here ICT is seen in a more holistic context in sustaining

the democratic ethos of the Indian society and ensuring a high level of
transparency and accountability in governance while also acting as a cata-
lyst for the all-round economic prosperity and social uplift of its people
(p.3). Significantly, if we remember Wilsons (2004) comments about the
political and territorial nature of the ICT haves as discussed in Chapter 6,
Keralas policy aims to encourage the wilful participation of the digitally
privileged sections in the efforts to prevent the less privileged sections from
getting marginalized in the transformation process (p.4). Its ICT policy
takes cognizance of the need for local identity and relevance: ICT can be
of value only when locally relevant content is made available in local lan-
guages; this is singled out as a high priority (p.6) and referred to again in
relation to indigenous knowledge: protection of traditional knowledge is
a priority area (p.10). Clayton (2006) highlights that E-literacy campaigns
have already become part of Keralas lifelong learning agenda since 2005,
though it was not evident from this review whether any of the above organi-
zations were appropriating ICT for wider networking.
Although Kerala still has large numbers of unemployed and poor people,
who may or may not be literate, and womens status and access to the
employment market is not equal to mens, Keralites life chances and
choices are wider than those, for instance, in Pakistan or the rest of India.
One benefit of enhanced education means that many of Keralas educated
population migrate to the Gulf states and contribute to the economic needs
of families back home, so that the number of households with poor people
is reduced (Clayton 2006). Voter participation is high and educational par-
ticipation is almost equal between male and females. Kerala therefore also
scores highly in relation to most of the concerns of this book.
Keralas approach to lifelong learning and development

What Kerala has shown is that to achieve a longer life span, to prevent starvation
deaths, to avoid child labour or begging, it is not necessary to have a large per
capita income. What you need is a society devoid of major conflicts, universal
school education, equality for females and respect for individual dignity. Those
who are trying to emulate Kerala should note the need for social changes rather
than putting faith in hastily devised economic/educational plans . . .
Varghese 1998 cited in Clayton 2002:23
While Clayton (2006) articulates concerns that the bureaucracy of Keralas

lifelong learning structure is beginning to override the enthusiasm and
momentum of earlier literacy campaigns, Kerala States mode of operation

presents an alternative image of lifelong learning that is grounded in social
development, rather than economic competitiveness, and is making a con-
scious effort to retain its distinctive cultural identities even when interfac-
ing with the effects of globalization. Environmental awareness campaigns,
for example, resulted in mass resistance to the building of a new expressway
and to campaigning against Coca Colas excessive use of groundwater.
It might be argued that this lifelong learning focus is simply an evolution-
ary stage in the dominant skills agenda. There are similarities in the above
CEC structures to a number of continuing education sector initiatives in
the 1980s in Britain, for instance. But those were not grounded in a lifelong
learning discourse that is concerned with continuous updating. Here, in
Kerala, that discourse is part of its people-centred development strategy to
facilitate grass roots led growth and ownership of that process within a
wider globalized world. The communist tendencies of progressive govern-
ments facilitate this ethos and allow for the growth of social welfare as a
prerequisite to economic welfare. By implication this paves the way for more
communally owned and socially relevant knowledge and advancement. It is
noticeable that the CECs are not funded by international donor agencies,
so that policy initiatives are more likely to be informed by home-grown
activism than externally imposed goals. The long tradition of literacy has
created a platform for engagement in dialogue and access to a variety of
communication media and new literacies. The proposal for mass e-learning
campaigns and the focus on transmitting local knowledge through local
languages will continue to pave the way for a distinctive identity and sense
of ownership of that technology. The targeting of women and vulnerable
groups and inclusion of gender awareness programmes at CECs reflects a
general focus on the social goals of lifelong learning.
Global consciousness and interactions are addressed by the KSSP, for
example, through its peoples science movement. Another form of interac-
tion with the wider global world is evident in ongoing migration to the
Gulf for work. Tourism is a growing industry and websites that advertise
Kerala as a tourist destination create an essential first step to linking with
the global world. The Indian Tata tea industry is a multinational corpora-
tion that plays its part in the global market, but also donates computers to
learning centres. Perhaps one indication of how Kerala is appropriating
global influences to its own ends is in the way that western religions are
hybridized. So, for example, the Kerala practice of Christianity adopts a
mix of Hindu and Christian traditions so that there is an Indian brand of
Christianity. Similarly Hindus will celebrate Christmas as a festival by
singing carols with home made musical instruments and dressing up as

Father Christmas to collect donations from house to house on Christmas
eve. There are indications, therefore, that development is taking place at
Keralas pace and in a way that does not necessarily annihilate its own
identity. Efforts to address issues of social justice and equality include chal-
lenging cultural traditions and practices of gender injustice, but through
social frameworks that allow local ownership of decisions.
A comparative analysis of Pakistans NGO Bunyad and Keralas State pol-
icy approach highlights what is possible with political will. Both initiatives
share common empowerment goals embedded in a devolved and account-
able governance system. Both start from the premise that literacy is the
basis for lifelong learning. Both pursue that goal through a range of con-
tinuing education initiatives, targeted projects, an emphasis on local owner-
ship and persuasion to participate, an approach that is multidisciplinary,
multisectoral and integrated with learning for practical application, stimu-
lating motivation for self-learning. Both operate a decentralized, ever-
expanding circle approach to participation and leadership. Both see ICT as
an essential tool for communication and access to wider sources of knowl-
edge and also as a source for creating and disseminating local knowledge,
local identities and life values. That does not mean life values cannot evolve,
but they must do so from a position of informed understanding, not coer-
cion or exploitation from external capitalist agendas.
The difference in scale between the two case studies lies in the nature of
national and state or provincial governance, manifested most starkly in the
land reformation scheme of Kerala and its social welfarism.
Concluding summary
These two case studies have revealed holistic, needs led approaches to life-
long learning in the context of development agendas that start with literacy
as the basis for individual and community empowerment. Grassroots lead-
ership is an essential component for motivating learners. But this must be
supported by seamless progression of opportunities and continuous oppor-
tunities to use a range of literacies that have perceived, relevant and tangi-
ble outcomes for quality of life improvement. Economic development is an
integral corollary to other social and political activities which retain a strong
link with community values. Once trust is established then communities can
be encouraged to broaden their horizons and make connections between
what they already know and what they would like to know for personal and
social betterment. But the Kerala example indicates that to make a differ-
ence on a grand scale, political will and wealth redistribution are also
essential ingredients. These cases do not represent perfect worlds. But they
do indicate that human ownership of development that focuses on felt
needs is an important ingredient which takes precedence over economic
competitiveness.
Chapter 9 will look at current lifelong learning policy and practice in
Tanzania, the homeland of Nyerere, and the endeavours of a small, low-
income country, Lesotho.
Chapter 9
Case studies Tanzania and Lesotho
This chapter returns to Africa to look at how effectively two highly indebted
low-income countries are managing to employ a concept of lifelong learn-
ing that embraces their context-specific development needs, cultural and
philosophical heritage. The focus in both countries is on their national
policy agendas, though I also take a closer look at some examples of good
practice. I chose the United Republic of Tanzania for the first case study
since this was the homeland of Africas most famous proponent of adult
and lifelong learning, Julius Nyerere.
The sources of information for both case studies include the state-of-the-
art reports for CONFINTEA VI written in 2008, journal articles, national
vision and education sector strategic plans, and policy documents for pov-
erty reduction, ICT and gender.
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania consists of its mainland country on the

East coast of Africa formerly known as Tanganyika, and three neighbouring
islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia, known as Zanzibar for devolved gov-
ernance purposes. The Republic was formed in 1964, three years after Inde-
pendence from British colonialism. With a population of some 40 million,
its landscape comprises tropical coastal areas, a dry central plateau and
semi-temperate fertile, rolling highlands (Yule 2001:663). Yule highlights
that Tanzania can boast the Great Rift Valley, Africas deepest lake (Lake
Tanganyika) and the continents highest mountain (Kilimanjaro). Although
there are 126 ethnic groups with their own language and culture the two
official languages are Kiswahili and English. The majority of the population
is rural, and approximately 80 per cent work in the agricultural sector.
The main religions are Christianity and Islam alongside indigenous beliefs.
The main income generating products are cash crops such as cotton, coffee,
tea, cloves, sisal, cashew nuts, sugar and seeds. Although the same party,
Chama Cha Mapinduzi, has controlled Tanzania since Independence there
have been a number of different presidents.
Bhalalusesa (2004) reports that at Independence only 15 per cent of the
population knew how to read and write and only a quarter of the school-
age population was enrolled in school. Meredith (2005) adds that during
the prime of Nyereres Arusha Declaration and ujamaa (familyhood) regime
between 1967 and 1974, socialist nation building policies increased partici-
pation in basic schooling to 95 per cent and literacy increased to 75 per cent.
Four out of every ten villages had access to clean tap water, three out of
every ten had clinics. During the next eight years, however, the average
standard of living fell by 50 per cent.
Opinions differ as to why Nyereres policies ultimately failed to sustain
these early benefits. Meredith (2005) claims that Nyereres efforts to main-
tain a socialist agenda in the face of increasingly global capitalism were
unsustainable and not supported by the majority of the Tanzanian popula-
tion. Yule (2001) suggests that partly as a result of droughts, increasing oil
prices and involvement in the war of neighbouring Uganda, the countrys
early successes gradually faded so much that by the mid-1980s in the face of
decreasing literacy, school attendance levels and a declining economy, the
Tanzanian government succumbed to structural adjustment pressures from
the IMF and World Bank. Whatever the combination of reasons, the impact
of structural adjustment restrictions on government spending resulted in
an even more rapid decline into poverty, retrenchment of government paid
workers, decreasing standards of health and education and rapid rise in the
cost of living. By 1993 only 48 per cent of 613-year-olds were in school
(Yule 2001:664).
Currently (UNDP 2007/2008) Tanzania ranks 159th out of 177 countries
on the Human Development Index with an adult literacy rate of 69.4 per
cent. While primary school enrolments stand at 96.1 per cent, secondary
school enrolments are only 13.1 per cent (MoEVT 2007). Few schools
have computers or internet access, most schools have no electricity. Of the
population 32.5 per cent are classified as poor, and life expectancy is only
51 years for men and 54 years for women. The UNDP (2007/8) estimates
that only 63.8 per cent of the population have a probability of living beyond
the age of 40.
The year 1995 marked the beginning of a new Education and Training
Policy for Tanzania, a change in direction from centralized to decentralized
governance and the unravelling of many of Nyereres socialist principles
for nationalization of the economy and communal ownership of land.
Case Studies Tanzania and Lesotho 137
However, Nyereres legacy of a commitment to adult education has ensured

the basis of a lifelong learning policy approach to education that has always
embraced learning beyond the international development agenda focus on
primary education. Primary schools, for instance, are used as dual purpose
sites for adult education and literacy classes. Equally the countrys long-
term peace and social cohesion may also be attributed to some of Nyereres
early philosophies and concern with national unity.
The Education and Training Policy was followed by Tanzanias Develop-
ment Vision 2025 document (Republic of Tanzania (ROT) 1997), its Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper in (ROT) 2000, Education sector Development
Programmes in 2004, including an Adult and Non-Formal Education Sub-
Sector Medium Term Strategy (Ministry for Education and Culture 2004),
and an Information and Communication Technology Policy in 2007. As
with the CONFINTEA VI report, these documents all embrace the concept
of lifelong learning. Although the CONFINTEA report frames its adult-
education policies within Nyereres original vision for arousing popular
consciousness for change and having a liberating function the language
of the Vision 2025 document reflects overt influence of neo-liberal dis-
courses from international donor agencies. The indications are that the
Tanzanian government is not in control of its own agenda. Indeed, indige-
nous knowledge and traditional cultural values are barely visible in this
document.
Vision 2025
We are standing at the threshold of the 21st Century, a Century that will be charac-
terised by competition, . . . advanced technological capacity, high productivity,
modern and efficient transport and communication infrastructure . . . we must, as
a Nation . . . withstand the expected intensive economic competition ahead of us.
(United Republic of Tanzania (URT) 2000: Foreword)
The words competition and competitiveness occur at least 11 times in

the first section alone. The menu of similar words includes entrepreneur-
ship, growth, dynamic economy, high productivity, creativity, market-led
economy, economic development. Early development policies are dismissed
because they were not in consonance with the principles of a market
led economy and technological development (Introduction). The need
to nurture a competitive development mindset is now placed alongside
Nyereres self-reliance culture. The few legacies of earlier visions are
enshrined in phrases such as distribution in society must be equitable . . .

all social relations which manifest and breed inequality . . . will have been
reformed (section 1.2.1). Only Nyereres concepts of self-reliance,
national unity and social cohesion in an environment of democracy and
political and social tolerance are included in the future vision. A process
of creating wealth (section 1.2.3) is now required. The aspired for well-
educated and learning society must embrace the competitive spirit
regionally and internationally. The Arusha declaration is critiqued for insuf-
ficiently addressing the complexity and dynamic character of policies and
incentive structures which were necessary to effectively drive the develop-
ment process . . . based overly on state-control (section 2.0). The stage is
set, therefore, for a donor-led form of capitalism, with the goal that this
approach should ultimately reduce donor dependency and a defeatist
developmental mindset.
The document is openly self-critical of past endeavours, referring to
their outcomes in terms of concepts such as apathy, erosion of trust and
confidence, failures in governance and organization, corruption and
other vices. In exchange the future predicts a strong and competitive
economy, active and competitive player in the regional and world markets,
reversing current adverse trends (section 3.3) with recognition of indi-
vidual initiative and the private sector (section 4). Interestingly, the con-
text for education and continuous learning then embraces many of the
words of the Arusha Declaration itself, such as promoting attitudes of self
development, community development, confidence and commitment to
face development challenges . . . ownership of the development agenda . . .
spirit of self reliance . . . appreciate and honour hard work (section 4.1)
but this time with competitiveness as one of the driving forces.
Decentralization is a core procedural approach in the Vision. The subse-
quent Education Sector plans reflect this new style of governance, but with
less fervour for competitiveness, indicating that the writers had greater
control over their development agenda. Lifelong learning is enshrined
in the development programme for adult and non-formal education with
a clear overriding goal to eradicate poverty, increase literacy and ensure
education opportunities for out-of-school children and youth:
The provision of quality education to this target group will contribute to

the creation of a lifelong learning society, improvement of peoples liveli-
hoods, an increased awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS, gender and
environmental issues, good governance, sustained social and economic
development of the country and to poverty eradication. (Ministry for

Education and Culture 2004:vi)
Post-literacy and continuing education are core components of the plan with
the intention that these are delivered through institutions ranging from
tertiary (Institute of Adult Education and Tanzania Institute of Education
2004) to more localized providers (folk development colleges), and includ-
ing vocational training centres. Management of this provision is on similar
lines to Keralas structure. That is, district-level officers train and monitor
provision that is provided through wards and villages, which use locally
available buildings such as primary schools as centres for adult and continu-
ing education. Committees at village, district and national levels work
with grass-roots organizations to capacity build and monitor programmes.
Village committees have responsibility for sensitizing communities to avail
themselves of the education provision and oversee the day-to-day function-
ing of adult and non-formal education. The aim is to foster a sense of
ownership, empowerment and commitment to sustainability of the learn-
ing process under the principle of lifelong learning. Tertiary institutions
provide research, learning materials and training at certificate and diploma
levels in adult education, as well as law, health, and management including
the use of open and distance learning modes. A recent Information and
Communication Technology Policy (MoEVT 2007) has been initiated with
a view to bridging the digital divide and enabling Tanzanians to participate
in the knowledge economy effectively (p.1). A staged implementation
approach across the whole education sector includes libraries, adult, non-
formal and vocational education centres, again framed within the goal to
improve teaching and lifelong learning. There is a strong government rela-
tionship with civil society with increasing understanding of what methodol-
ogies work towards enhancing lifelong learning. Tanzanias concept of
literacy embraces this wider concept. It is defined holistically as:
The acquisition and use of reading, writing and numeracy skills in the
development of active citizenship, improved health and livelihoods and
gender equality. (MoEVT Tanzania and Zanzibar 2008:48)
Literacy levels have fluctuated over the years. According to Yule (2001)
a succession of post-literacy initiatives during the 1980s managed to revive
literacy levels to 90 per cent by 1990. They fell again to 70 per cent by 1995
but were reported by the MoEVT Tanzania and Zanzibar (2008) to have
risen to 84 per cent in 1997. Some of the reasons for the failure of these
literacy programmes are attributed to too much centralization, lack of suffi-
cient attention to context-specific curricula, poorly trained teachers and
insufficient integration of literacy programmes with other development
initiatives. By 1994 Yule described a new, community development, model
for literacy, based on principles of community participation, building on
indigenous knowledge and development of local resources within a lifelong
learning framework.
Civil society is a recognized contributor to provision. Two initiatives that
were piloted in the voluntary sector have been adopted by the Ministry in
recognition of their contribution to the countrys determined efforts to
achieve its universal education and literacy targets. Their common denomi-
nator and similarity to the case studies of South Asia is a participatory,
community-led approach to learning and development. The first initiative
is called Integrated Community Based Adult Education (ICBAE).
ICBAE
A fundamental criticism of top-down development initiatives, particularly
in relation to education is that they fail to engage with the expressed needs
of communities. Tanzanias government policy recognizes the need for
context and participation driven learning opportunities. Former functional
literacy programmes that were restricted to improving vocational skills and
failed to motivate learners have now been replaced with a learner-centred,
community-based approach. Bhalalusesa (2004) describes how the govern-
ments ICBAE initiative was piloted in 1995, using the Freirian REFLECT
model of learning circles and discussion forums, targeted specifically at
women and girls. ICBAEs goal was to enable youth and adults to obtain
literacy, vocational and life skills, drawing from specially designed teaching
manuals on agriculture, micro-economics, health, simple bookkeeping and
socio-political studies. Income generation was the necessary entry point for
learning literacy. Levira and Gange (2007) report that literacy levels in the
pilot areas increased from 75 per cent to 88 per cent over a period of three
years.
The learning circles or discussion forums were usually facilitated by
a local primary-school teacher; they would discuss village problems, share
how to resolve practical issues and literacy would be acquired through the
practical implementation of local solutions. Some examples range from
the construction of a new road that created an access route for sale and
transport of crops to production of bricks for sale and construction of
new houses. Although on a small scale, income generation projects have

included piggery, carpentry, fish ponds, and poultry keeping, which in turn
have generated sufficient funds to purchase items such as uniforms
and exercise books and improve hygiene, nutrition and health (MoEVT
Tanzania and Zanzibar 2008). Revolving loan funds on the model of micro-
credit schemes enable community members to start such businesses. Other
outcomes have included enhanced gender awareness, increased confidence
and understanding of self-help. ICBAEs lifelong learning approach
includes opportunities for distance learning, using radio education and
rural newspapers, again on similar lines to that provided in Kerala.
While the success of these initiatives is dependent on quality of facilitator
training, ongoing technical support and the degree of interaction with
other sectors such as health and agriculture, the use of discussion forums is
identified by Komba (2002) as a popular medium for nurturing other forms
of learning such as fostering a democratic political culture and civic
values.
The second initiative was designed for out-of-school children and youth,
and entitled Complementary Basic Education in Tanzania (COBET).
COBET
Alongside the ICBAE approach for adults UNICEF funded an initiative
for complementary basic education for out-of-school children and youth.
Levira and Gange (2007) highlight that this form of non-formal education
opens doors to other forms of education such as distance learning, voca-
tional training and a return back to mainstream secondary education. By
2007 COBET had accommodated 466,018 learners, of whom 53 per cent
were girls (ibid:262).
The aims of COBET are cited by UNICEF (2006) as delivering an acceler-
ated school curriculum that includes life and survival skills, flexible time-
tabling to accommodate the lifestyles of out-of-school children and youth,
and to sensitize communities and parents to be receptive and appreciative
of educational and other rights of all children (p.1). Like ICBAE and
REFLECT the emphasis is on participatory curriculum development and
encouraging people to become agents of their own social change (p.2).
It is also based on the 1990 national education Task Force Reports stipu-
lated desire to enable every child to understand and appreciate his or her
human person, to acquire values, respect and enrich our common cultural
background and moral values, social customs and traditions as well as
national unity, identity, ethic and pride (UNICEF 2006:6). Preparation for
the world of work is integral to this, but within a context of engendering

self-confidence and initiative.
The COBET curriculum includes vocational skills and arts/crafts and a
broader personal and social development programme entitled personality
development which has now been adopted in mainstream schools as well.
Income generation is actively encouraged, with reported small-scale eco-
nomic benefits on similar lines to ICBAE such as repairing bicycles, draw-
ing and selling pictures, selling charcoal, making and selling furniture
(UNICEF 2006:35). Girls are reported to have increased their knowledge
of family planning, strengthened their negotiating skills and self-esteem,
although rampant gender inequality still exists (p.49). Other outcomes
included an overall improvement in behaviour, sense of responsibility,
increased understanding of nutrition and cooking for a balanced diet, con-
servation awareness and knowledge of modern farming methods.
The UNICEF evaluation of COBET (2006a) highlights the need for more
coordinated linkages between COBET and other civil society and private
organizations and also the need for more emphasis on community and life
relevant learning experiences. Nevertheless:
The COBET curriculum which is not only learner centred but also
interactive and participative allows learners to be critical, to think scien-
tifically and to participate and make decisions on public affairs and social
demands. (p.79)
Completers are encouraged to either attend mainstream secondary school

or other vocational training options. The MoEVT Tanzania and Zanzibar
(2008) states that 23 per cent of COBET participants are reintegrated into
the formal system.
An equivalent alternative learning centre is provided in Zanzibar for
drop-outs and non-enrolled school age learners. The nature of Zanzibars
geography and population means that the centre is designed as more of
a one-stop learning resource so that adult learning includes computer skills,
law, medicine, accountancy, training workshops and other seminars on
a daily basis on similar lines to the BERTIs and Community Learning Cen-
tres of Bunyad and in Kerala respectively.
Discussion
The concept of lifelong learning for citizenship, life skills and income gen-
eration is a core feature of Tanzanian policy. It is interpreted within the
context of a holistic, multisectoral approach for adults and children. In this

respect it reflects the community-led focus of the South Asian examples in
Chapter 8. The principle of community participation and ownership fol-
lows through other initiatives in Tanzania, as is evidenced by the Mkombozi
Centres for Street Children. Government reports which pre-date the Vision
2025 more clearly embrace Nyereres vision for traditional values and cul-
tural identity.
Tanzanias Vision 2025 document is indicative of external influences
on how the communitarian approach is expected to interface on a more
global level. Indeed the change of name from Ministry of Education and
Culture to Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is also indicative
of this shift in focus. Later documents reflect a tension between the need to
attract support for educational development, while attempting to retain
cultural distinctiveness. Reference to indigenous knowledge and ujamaa
are noticeably absent from current lifelong learning concepts, though the
methodological approach of grassroots-led learning seems secure. Plans for
enhanced technology are realistic, advocating a staged approach, which
continues to be heavily dependent on donor support; hence, the need to
frame lifelong learning goals within the broader economic and competitive
framework. There is no evidence of this new discourse filtering through to
village-level activities. Education plans are more interested in achieving
educational parity and participation in decision making. The extent to
which a self-reliance that moves away from donor dependency can be real-
ized perhaps depends on how far Tanzania can continue to scale up its
localized goals in terms of cultural identity in the face of external pressures
to conform to the dominant economistic agenda for lifelong learning.
The second African case study is of one of the continents smallest and
least populated countries, Lesotho.
Lesotho
The Kingdom of Lesotho is a landlocked, mountainous country surrounded

by South Africa, in the south-east of the continent. Situated 1,000 metres
above sea level, it is one of the coldest regions in the global South, with tem-
peratures normally ranging from 5 degrees in winter to a mere 28 degrees
in summer. The capital Maseru is situated in the lowlands to the west,
while the highlands in the east extend to more than 2,500 metres above
sea level.
A formerly colonized country under British Protectorate, Lesotho gained
its Independence in 1966, though it has always been in the shadow of
South Africa and South Africas own political history. According to Lephoto
et al. (1996) the Christian missionaries in 1833 introduced the first weekly
newspapers to promote literacy for the purpose of disseminating religious
and development news. Churches even today play a large part in the educa-
tion provision of the country and control the majority of schools, though
the Government pays teacher salaries.
Lesotho suffered a generation of political discord and upheavals before
reverting to a parliamentary democracy in 1998. Although its population is
only 2 million, at least as many Basotho (Lesotho citizens) live outside the
country and a large minority of male wage earners (35 per cent) still com-
mute to South Africa for work, though this number has decreased sharply
since the late 1990s. UNICEFs (2008) country statistics indicate that the
population is almost entirely homogeneous with almost everyone speaking
the national language of Sesotho, though a few communities to the East have
Khosa or Zulu as their first language. Only 0.03 per cent are non-Sotho in
origin. The main religion is Christian (80 per cent) with some 20 per cent
practising indigenous beliefs.
Of the economy 86 per cent is subsistence agriculture and 14 per cent
industrial. Agricultural production consists of corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum,
barley and livestock, while industries include food beverages, textiles, hand-
icrafts, tourism, apparel assembly and construction. Traditional, labour
intensive farming practices prevail and this includes shared crop farming,
whereby communities assist each other at harvest and ploughing times
to maximize production. Arable land is decreasing due to soil erosion and
climate change. Natural resources are primarily water, sand, clay and stone,
with some diamonds. Unemployment officially stands at 46 per cent, with
35 per cent identified as living on less than $1 a day. Lesotho suffers from
one of the highest HIV prevalancies in the world with official figures identi-
fying the prevalence rate as 23.2 per cent and a consequent life expectancy
of only 34.5 years (UNICEF 2008). Less than 8 per cent had access to elec-
tricity and only 8 per cent had telephone lines in 2005 (GOL 2005a). While
road networks are improving it is not yet possible to drive all the way through
the mountainous regions on tarred road.
While Lephoto et al. (2000) report that in 1976 literacy levels were only
28 per cent for females and 48 per cent for males, adult literacy rates
are now high, compared with Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, at an overall
figure of between 82 and 85 per cent. Unusually, and due to cultural prac-
tices of herding animals in the remote regions for boys and young men,
female school attendance and literacy rates are higher than those for males.
While primary education has been free since 2000, secondary education is
fee paying. The impact of this is evident in the net enrolment rates for
primary (82 per cent male, 88 per cent female) as compared to those for
secondary level (16 per cent male and 27 per cent female). Tertiary educa-
tion accommodates approximately 2 per cent of primary school entrants
(GOL 2004). The Kingdoms Poverty Reduction Strategy (GOL 2004) high-
lights the need for at least a decade of schooling and a curriculum that
includes entrepreneurial and life skills. However, the country has insuffi-
cient secondary schools to cater for the majority of school leavers and the
standard Cambridge syllabus at secondary level remains academic.
The 2006 UNDP human development index ranked Lesotho as 149 out
of 177 countries, though the 2007/8 report raised the countrys ranking
to 138.
Policy documents
Although, like Tanzania, Lesotho is classified as a least developed poor
country its more fragile history of political Independence, its sovereignty
and more homogenous ethnic composition have perhaps influenced
Basothos concern for national unity and resistance to attempts to redefine
their future. So, for instance, the Poverty Reduction Strategy emphasizes
that preservation and promotion of culture is an integral part of the battle
against poverty and conflict (p.79) and the monarchy is regarded as a uni-
fying, apolitical feature for the country. Indeed the Governments Vision
2020 document (GOL 2001) offers a very different tone to its ambitions,
compared with its Tanzanian counterpart:
By the year 2020 Lesotho shall be a stable democracy, a united and

prosperous nation at peace with itself and its neighbours. It shall have
a healthy and well-developed human resource base. Its economy will be
strong, its environment well managed and its technology well established.
(p.1)
Rather than focus on words associated with competition and moderniza-

tion, the document expends its vocabulary on creating a sense of unity and
peace. It emphasizes cherished norms and values that will enhance a sense
of belonging, identity and pride in every Mosotho . . . common cultural
heritage . . . political tolerance . . . state of unity. The focus is on the Sotho
greeting khotso, meaning peace and reinforced through concepts such
as truthfulness, love, tolerance, justice, living in harmony, fair distri-
bution of income and wealth. Where modernization is mentioned it is
done so with a view to integration of tradition and modern health

practices (p.5).
Lifelong learning is, nevertheless, associated with vocational and entre-
preneurial education, but embedded in a desire to exploit locally available
and natural resources to facilitate ownership of the development process,
and maintenance of cultural values through a mandatory cultural day in
schools (p.8).
The language of the document is less compliant with external images
of growth. For instance threats not only include increasing competition
from international markets, but also donor conditionalities; and further
reference to structural adjustment policies is couched in the phrase: It is
a challenge for Lesotho to sustain internationally accepted prudent levels
in terms of debt service ratio, thus leaving the reader in no doubt that
these are externally imposed ideas of management, rather than home-
grown ones.
Concerns about increasing levels of poverty and declining life expectancy
figures, declining natural resources and the need to integrate Lesotho
into a globalized world economy are highlighted in the Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper 2004/52006/7, (GOL 2004) but here again there is still
indication of some resistance to the free market agenda of international aid
agencies in relation to the need to support the poor through essential
services:
Total reliance on the private sector for such services would result in sub-
optimal service delivery. GOL recognises that there will be cases where it
is necessary to engage directly in the economy, providing non-commercial
services which confer social benefits. (p.xi)
Similarly, decentralization is qualified as a home grown model of

decentralization.
Subsequent education policy documents reflect a recognition of the need
for both formal and non-formal provision. The final draft of the National
Policy Document on Adult and Non-formal Education in Lesotho (Braimoh
2000) is still awaiting official policy status. Nevertheless the CONFINTEA VI
country report states that this draft is always referred to and used for
planning purposes (UNESCOM 2008:4). The final draft provides the most
holistic interpretation yet of Non-Formal Education (NFE) in a lifelong
learning context:
The guiding principle of adult and non-formal education is to foster

good and meaningful life to all citizens by developing an informed and
skilled citizenry through the provision of non-formal education pro-

grammes and support running throughout ones life. Non-formal educa-
tion is a catalyst of development which can be used in the dissemination
of information, promotion of new required skills, introduction and
facilitation of change and the articulation of innovative drive within
any organized society for the ultimate achievement of illiteracy and pov-
erty reduction and the enhancement of improved standards of living.
(Braimoh 2000:16)
NFE activities would include literacy and numeracy, continuing education,

including lifelong education, community education, business and voca-
tional education, professional and managerial skills development as well as
guidance and counselling. Programmes, in addition to contributing to
meaningful rural development would, in line with the Vision 2020 docu-
ment (GOL 2001): serve as a tool for the advancement of love, justice,
respect for human rights and peace and promote positive cultural values
and a disciplined moral society (p.24). The goal would be to reinforce
the nations capacity for change but implicitly embedded within a sense
of ownership of the development process. The scene is set, therefore, for a
holistic learning environment.
There is some indication that this NFE draft policy was discouraged by
the World Bank. A reading of the World Bank implementation report
(2004) on its education sector development loan to Lesotho, highlights
that the policy was not achieved because of insufficient consultation or
priority and:
Besides, the draft policy called for a full-fledged NFE department within
the Ministry and for the Department to play a significant role in the coor-
dination and provision of NFE services. The Ministry was cautioned not
to take over services that are already being provided by NGOs and other
private sector providers. (p.13)
Yet the NFE document itself emphasized wide consultation and high
priority for NFE reinforced by the Education Sector Strategic Plan which
dedicated a whole chapter to NFE. It may be, therefore, that World Bank
priorities deflected attention away from the broader NFE vision thus ensur-
ing a reduced role for the Ministry with subsequent consequences for how
NFE (and by implication lifelong learning) would be implemented.
Government responsibility for LLL and NFE in the Sector Plan (GOL 2005)
was reduced to a coordination role primarily for literacy whereas the NFE
policy document advocated for an NFE department and a wider lifelong
learning remit. This tension between NFE, lifelong learning and literacy
perspectives is evident throughout the Education sector Strategic Plan, and
in particular its chapter 9.
For instance chapter 9 is titled Lifelong Learning and Non-formal
Education. The chapter repeats the draft policy aims for NFE to foster
good and meaningful life to all citizens by developing an informed and
skilled citizenry (p.88). NFE is seen as a catalyst of development and with
the aim of achieving the stimulation of a lifelong learning society (ibid).
Budget headings under lifelong learning include new lifelong learning
centres, literacy and numeracy surveys, health materials and courses.
Lifelong learning absorbs a 15 per cent share of sub-programmes in the
special programmes recurrent costs budget.
In spite of this promising rhetoric, however, lifelong learning and its life
skills sub-programme which is an integral part of NFE is framed as focus-
ing on adult literacy (ibid).
Literacy is defined in the CONFINTEA 2008 report (UNESCOM 2008) as:
A person is literate who can with understanding both read and write a
short simple statement on his everyday life. A person is functionally liter-
ate who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is required
for effective functioning of his/her group and community and also for
enabling him/her to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for
his/her own and the communitys development (cited in UNESCO 2004).
(UNESCOM 2008:26)
This literacy focus reduces NFEs potential as a more developmental pro-

gramme, and the hoped for NFE department is given an explicit role pri-
marily to coordinate NFE while non-governmental providers shall offer
NFE programmes [and] . . . shall source funds for their own activities (GOL
2005:90).
The ultimate result is lack of clarity on precisely what NFE is expected to
provide beyond functional literacy and on precisely the role that Govern-
ment could play in enhancing its relationship to lifelong learning. The
absence of a department on the scale promoted in the draft policy means
that the NFE inspectorate, represented through one person, is unable to do
much more than monitor existing provision. Performance indicators in the
Strategic Plan for lifelong learning and NFE are articulated as established
learning centres in all districts, staff training programmes (p.165) and
functional literacy with life and survival skills (p.167) which include tradi-
tional apprenticeship programmes, income generation projects, programmes
to address primary health care and HIV/AIDS. The wider remit of environ-
mental awareness, citizenship, ICT and gender sensitivity are not specific
targets, though the government has produced gender and ICT policies,
along with a draft Open and Distance Learning Policy as follows.
Recent legislation in 2006 and 2008 has addressed legal anomalies
whereby Basotho women were always socially constructed as minors, irre-
spective of age, occupation or marital status, particularly in relation to land
acquisition or access to credit. The Gender and Development Policy (GOL
2003) framed its agenda with reference to the Beijing Platform for Action.
It aims to conserve positive, but mitigate negative, aspects of Basotho cul-
ture, and infuse gender and economic empowerment issues into the cur-
ricula of all educational programmes (p.13).
Lesothos ICT policy (GOL 2005a) refers to the leapfrog concept for
adopting technology as a resource for equal opportunities, environmental
awareness, food security, good governance, tourism, health, commerce,
and enhanced living standards. Lifelong learning is mentioned in the
policy document and ICT literacy is seen as part of core curricula. In this
respect ICT once more follows the Governments attempt to develop
a broad and holistic image of learning for the nation.
Similarly the draft Open and Distance Learning Policy (2008:6) refers to
NFE in terms of civic education, consumer education, rural development,
population and family life education, health, nutrition, sanitation educa-
tion including HIV and AIDS, professional and managerial skills develop-
ment clearly embracing lifelong learning and emphasizing that ODL
programmes must support the promotion of functional literacy, but broad-
ening access to the population at large, including teacher upgrading.
So how does Lesotho manage its lifelong learning and non-formal activi-
ties in practice? Three examples are cited here.
Lifelong learning and NFE providers

The National University of Lesotho (2007) includes in its mission statement
a commitment to widening access and lifelong learning. The Institute for
Extra Mural Studies (IEMS) is the open and distance learning arm of the
university and has regional learning centres in four districts located in
remote rural and mountain areas of the country. Diploma and degree pro-
grammes are studied on a part-time and distance basis at IEMS and most of
these centres. Community-based workshops and training programmes are
also coordinated by IEMS, thus reaching a populace that is either unable to
attend university full time or which is seeking personal development beyond
literacy levels. The entry requirements for diploma-level programmes

are junior secondary school level and participants are often those of all
ages who were unable to obtain a full-time place in other forms of tertiary
education. Facilities in the regional centres are poor, however, and ICT is
limited off the main campus, even at IEMS which is located near the city
centre. Programmes include adult education, community development,
business and entrepreneurial education, and mass communication studies.
In the adult education programme, participants are taught to develop post-
literacy materials to cater for the wider needs of an increasingly educated
population.
Non-formal education provision is available in distance mode through
the Government funded Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC). Here
out-of-school children, youth and other adults can upgrade their school
qualifications with the potential to reinstate themselves back into the for-
mal system if they so desire. In addition the LDTC provides gender-sensitive
literacy workbooks and related vocational skills workbooks for its own liter-
acy development programme. These books are used by other, smaller pro-
grammes run by the voluntary sector. These activities are conducted in
remote areas for adults who missed out on formal schooling for a variety of
reasons and children and youth who are unable to take advantage of free
primary education for a variety of reasons. This includes children who are
recruited to herd animals for poor farmers or who are orphans and who
are hired out by their guardians, or other children who are vulnerable due
to sickness, neglect or family poverty.
A major non-governmental provider is Lesotho Association for Non-
formal Education (LANFE) which acts as an umbrella organization for
smaller providers but also plays a key role itself in literacy and vocational
skills provision in areas where the LDTC does not operate. Both LANFE
and LDTC have recently incorporated vocational skills elements into their
literacy programmes. These vocational skills activities specifically encour-
age the development of locally sourced materials such as grass, clay and
animal horns into potentially marketable products. Unlike LDTC, the fund-
ing for LANFEs initiative was time limited, resulting in the cessation of
funded literacy classes and its associated monitoring activities within less
than two years. Since even BUNYADs own scheme in Pakistan highlighted
the need for three to five years of continued support before sustainability
could be contemplated, this initiative had little chance of surviving beyond
its funding limit.
A recent evaluation of these NFE activities (Preece et al. 2009) suggests
that (as in Tanzania) the learners gain in several ways from these literacy
programmes. On the one hand the newly acquired skills enable the learners
to generate small amounts of income by selling locally or to tourists. They

thereby enhance the quality of their own life in terms of buying small items
such as soap and candles. The lack of resources to provide a more devel-
oped business skills component in the NFE programmes prevents benefici-
aries from building up marketing and accounting knowledge that might
reduce poverty on a large scale. The study revealed, however, a number of
wider social and community benefits in the programmes. For the herd boys,
many of whom were orphans, the non-formal schools gave them a focus
and sense of belonging where they felt cared about and in turn began to
care for others with a consequent improvement in their general social
behaviour. Similarly the adult learners found a new focus in life, began to
participate in community committees and spend their time on functional
activities rather than drinking or causing disturbances in their villages.
Learning in these contexts offered wider citizenship gains even when these
were not a planned part of the programme. While the study suggested that
these programmes were unequivocally welcomed, the learners wanted to
develop their business skills. Another concern was the level of educational
attainment of the literacy facilitators themselves. Most had either only
reached primary school or at best junior secondary school levels, thus
impeding their ability to develop their own learners, though provision for
the facilitators to obtain further educational qualifications was provided
free of charge by the LDTC, if the facilitators could access this learning
opportunity.
Discussion
In spite of a relatively high literacy rate, lifelong learning seems to be at

an evolving stage for Lesotho. The countrys policies, including its draft
policies reflect a people-centred and culturally aware approach to lifelong
learning and to development one that is trying to walk the thin line
between conforming to international donor conditionalities, maintenance
of cultural identity and pride, recognition of the need to participate in the
wider global market and a recognition of the role that ICT might play in
helping the nation to move forward incrementally. Lesothos advantages
are its universal local language and small population size plus recent politi-
cal stablility. Its disadvantages are poor infrastructure in terms of road and
electronic networks, harsh winter climatic conditions and a geographical
location which renders it in a subservient relationship to South Africa.
A major impediment to development is the impact of HIV and AIDS which
is wiping out community support structures and reducing productivity
among the age group that would normally be the foundation for
sustainability.
Lifelong learning in the form of literacy and progression to basic educa-
tion qualifications is well-embedded. A further lifelong learning progres-
sion path is available via IEMS and other tertiary ODL programmes, but not
always matched by infrastructure support.
What Lesotho does not appear to have as is suggested in the literature
(Lephoto et al. 1996, UNESCOM 2008) is a broad overall lifelong learn-
ing vision or strategic coordination of its separate policies particularly
with a view to integrating lifelong learning with development. This results in
fragmented progression opportunities, and uncoordinated approaches to
seeking funding. The more holistically articulated goals in the NFE draft
policy are not clearly implemented and it seems that external donor
agendas, such as those articulated by the World Bank earlier in this chapter,
may have contributed to steering attention away from a government-led
approach.
Concluding summary
Both case studies show evidence of donor-led interference in policy devel-

opment with the result that there is less, rather than more, coordination of
practice. In Tanzania there is a closer relationship between government
funds, practice and voluntary sector initiatives, sometimes resulting in
enhanced curricula in state provision and there is a sense that lifelong
learning is enshrined in a broader vision. In Lesotho the differently funded
agencies work together by sharing expertise, but the link with government
policy and potential long-term funding is less evident. While Lesotho places
greater emphasis on its traditional heritage, this is not articulated philo-
sophically, perhaps inevitably in view of donor dependency.
The concept of sustainability, so evident in the Kerala model is harder to
find in both of these African countries, principally because of an apparently
lower resource base and less infrastructure support. Prospects for lifelong
learning therefore are more fragile in these two case studies. Equally, pros-
pects for global interaction, while embedded in Tanzanian Vision 2025
rhetoric, still seem tangential, particularly at an economic level. In the light
of the market collapses of high income countries throughout the North
during 2008 and its ripple effects around the globe the final chapter will
add some additional reflections on the implications of a neo-liberal rationale
for development that may have consequences for lifelong learning.
Chapter 10
Lifelong learning and development moving

forward
Introduction
As I prepared to write this chapter, two major events were capturing the
worlds attention. The first was the most severe global economic crisis in liv-
ing memory. Giants of the business world were crumbling or being bought
out, with substantial state interventions by leading economic nations to
nationalize or part nationalize their financial institutions. Hundreds of
billions of dollars were being injected into companies to try and stabilize a
free market that was now in free-fall (News.bbc.co.uk 2008). The result in
November 2008 was a financial summit that for the first time involved
emerging market countries such as China, India, Argentina, Brazil and oth-
ers in an effort to reform financial structures, including institutions such
as the World Bank and the IMF, and reform country financial regulations.
For the first time in history the management of the global economy was
no longer in the hands of the elite few and the free market was no longer
benefiting the leading industrialized nations.
This event, in terms of lifelong learning, challenges those no alternative
to global capitalism discourses discussed in Chapter 5. The philosophy of
the very institutions that have dictated their capitalist agendas for less-
advanced industrialized nations are proving to be inadequate. Equally the
enormity of funds that were made available to shore up this financial catas-
trophe stands in stark contrast to the paucity of aid commitments to coun-
tries whose populations are starving and struggling, at least partially, from
unfair trade regulations and other exploitative labour initiatives that were
engineered by the worlds leading economies. The need for a lifelong learn-
ing agenda that looks beyond profit could not be more apparent.
The second major event that attracted the world was the American
presidential election. On 5 November 2008 an African-American became
the president elect for the United States of America. Although there is no
apparent connection to either the above-mentioned crisis or to lifelong

learning, this appointment had a significant impact on the psyche of almost
every African. On the morning of the election results I was attending a less
headline-newsworthy, but nevertheless important, event for those commit-
ted to adult and lifelong learning. The occasion was the African regional
preparatory conference in Kenya for CONFINTEA VI, a global event organ-
ized every 12 years by UNESCO to stimulate policy commitments to adult
education and learning. The conference was attended by ministerial repre-
sentatives from across the continent and opened by Kenyas president, less
than a year after the countrys own strife-torn and disputed elections. The
president proudly announced the wonderful news that a son of Kenya, a
son of Africa had become president elect of the United States of America,
signifying hope for the future and that anything is possible.
It is on that note of optimism that I attempt to synthesize the conceptual
arguments of the previous chapters in this book with some of the practical
needs and visions that have been articulated by recent CONFINTEA VI
regional preparatory reports.
A central argument of this chapter is this. Many of the calls for reform
of dominant lifelong learning discourses are shared across regions in the
North and South. Indeed the following quotation by Jarvis (2007:202),
a well-known European writer on lifelong learning, highlights this very
point:
We do need a learning society one in which the agenda and curriculum

are wider than we have at present and in which learning really is for
active citizenship, social inclusion and personal fulfilment and in which
employability takes its right place. We do need lifelong learning that asks
questions about the future of humanity and the future of the planet and
these should be seen as important as employability and more important
than corporate profit . . . where people matter more than profit.
However, there are two considerations that make it imperative that the
South speaks for itself on this subject. On the one hand, it is not appropri-
ate for the North to speak on behalf of the South, irrespective of the extent
to which north-south arguments overlap. This simply reinforces the age-old
imperialist divide. The South therefore needs its own platform within the
lifelong learning literature. This both strengthens those arguments articu-
lated by northern writers but also creates space for the second considera-
tion that the South has something distinctive to contribute to the debate,
both in terms of philosophical value systems and as a reinforcement of the
Lifelong Learning and Development Moving Forward 155
articulated need to address wide-ranging development issues such as envi-

ronmental concerns, conflict, citizenship, health, poverty and social cohe-
sion. The contents of this book reflect in particular this latter point.
Core elements of the argument for a southern

lifelong learning perspective
In chapter 1 I outlined the growing concern that the MDGs and their nar-
row focus on primary education for countries in the South has deflected
funding and policy attention away from a broader vision for lifelong learn-
ing. This is in spite of the Souths historical interest in the relationship
between lifelong learning, adult education and development which was
articulated in the 1970s. Where lifelong learning is advocated in current
discourses, there is a tendency for country-level policies to be manipulated
by international aid agendas that define lifelong learning narrowly in terms
of skills for economic, human capital purposes. Since many formerly colo-
nized countries in the South are dependent on international aid for the
promotion of their education plans, such externally imposed discourses
impact on the political will and practical implementation of a lifelong learn-
ing concept that could respond to immediate societal and cultural needs
for positive identities as well as enable societies to act positively for change
within wider global contexts.
I have used a postcolonial analytical framework to both expose the dis-
continuities of normative development discourses and provide space for
the articulation of alternative perspectives that privilege those knowledge
and value systems that are often suppressed by ongoing colonial inter-
ference. This includes understanding the institutional structures, textual
representations and power relations that enable domination to operate so
effectively through the discursive label of development.
Postcolonial analysis shows how education systems in formerly colonized
countries are still dominated by ideologies, curricula, structures, languages,
pedagogies and policies of their former colonizers. An understanding of
the tensions and conflicts that affect the postcolonial world ensures that a
more culturally and socially relevant lifelong learning agenda can develop,
one which privileges the experiences of the South and informs the Norths
agenda for a more socially sensitive lifelong learning discourse. This
approach recognizes that the contemporary world is, to a greater or lesser
extent, a hybrid of globalized relationships. Therefore we should not
attempt to re-create a precolonial past, rather we should build on the value
systems that gave societies their identities in order to facilitate their role as
change agents for their own futures.
I have drawn on examples of indigenous lifelong learning to demonstrate
that this concept is rooted in social value systems. I have also argued that
philosophical perspectives that embrace concepts of connectedness, com-
munalism, interdependency and subjectivity are potential resources for
emphasizing a more holistic interpretation of lifelong learning than the
dominant, instrumental focus on skills enhancement. This more holistic
interpretation would embrace the notion of communal embeddedness and
connectivity of a person to other persons rather than the western concept
of the individual self existing separately or independently from others.
While these positions are not geographically or socially fixed, they indicate
tendencies towards philosophical differences that are more common in
African and Asian societies. They have a potentially profound influence on
how and why we learn. Although previous efforts to promote this philoso-
phy, such as through Nyereres Ujamaa concept in Tanzania, ultimately
failed, this, it is argued, is at least in part, because they were in constant
tension with international aid conditionalities that promoted a different
philosophical world view and also failed to interrelate sufficiently with the
inevitable processes of change.
It is apparent, however, that current, externally imposed development
agendas are also not working. Lifelong learning has to somehow capture
a more hybrid view of development that embraces more context-specific
world views. The growing literature offers more nuanced perspectives for
development. For example Amartya Sen (1999) articulates development
in terms of participatory and capability freedoms. Escobar talks about a
post-development era which encourages hybridities that derive from local
cultures and knowledges and seek economic development that does not
necessarily focus on profit and the market. All these arguments move away
from universalist approaches and towards localized, context-specific solu-
tions to local problems, using a facilitative educational approach that
encourages learning through reflexivity and critical awareness. Indeed the
concept of social enterprise (a system of community-based enterprises
where profit is ploughed back into community needs) as a new model for
poverty reduction and employment generation (title page) in disadvan-
taged areas is now being advocated by the UNDP (2008).
The challenge for a development approach to lifelong learning, however,
is to use continuous learning to integrate local initiatives with wider and
more global relationships. While local approaches to sustainability may not
always wish to embrace current (or future) capitalist agendas, they need to
avoid isolation from the global world.
A further challenge in this respect is the fact that the dominant world
players do not perceive continents like Africa as having anything to contrib-
ute to wider global agendas (though the current global economic crisis
may be shifting this perception for some countries). Similarly populations
from Africa, Asia and Arab States, for example, do not want to become a
carbon copy of Westernization since the West (or North) is perceived as
robbing such marginalized populations of their identity.
Although globalization impinges on all aspects of society, including cul-
ture and politics, it is largely associated with international capital and new
forms of production, resulting in a policy focus on lifelong learning and
constant skills retraining. Yet the unevenness of technological advancement
and spread of multinational companies contributes to the fragmented
nature of globalization. International laws and agreements have been cre-
ated by a small minority of advanced industrialized nations. One example
of the impact of these agreements on formerly colonized nations is the
MDGs. These goals signify both pressure to conform to, and a cultural
homogenization of, what counts as development. Learning according to
the MDGs for developing countries is reduced to universal primary educa-
tion and basic literacy. The wider vision of learning as lifelong and relevant
for all ages and levels is thereby silenced for developing countries.
The flip side of development that is nurtured by the global North is that
the Norths development impacts on delicate ecosystems and resources in
the very countries at whom the MDGs are targeted. For example, African
countries are more prone to drought as a result of global warming caused
by emissions in far-off lands. The absence of a lifelong learning focus on
environmental awareness and sustainable development means that those in
the South are unable to articulate an informed position on the subject and
therefore its impact on their lives, and those in the North are not suffi-
ciently challenged to engage reflexively on the impact of their actions on
vulnerable societies.
Promoters of alternative visions for lifelong learning in the South often
emphasize community-based learning that fosters collective learning and
action, the role of civil society and popular education, facilitation of net-
works and confronting discrimination and inequalities. Others advocate
a sustainable livelihoods approach that interacts more directly with entre-
preneurialism and exploration of how globalization works. Mbigi (2005),
in the context of Africa, argues for an African entrepreneurship leadership
that engages with national identity: It is not by accident that the most enter-
prising groups, such as the Jews, Indians, Japanese and Chinese, have deep
cultural roots and a distinct cultural identity (p.4). He asks for people in
leadership positions to root their strategies in African cultural belief systems
and thought (p.5). Odora Hoppers contributes to this critical stance by

specifically addressing the insertion of indigenous knowledges into world
systems and the contribution of new philosophies of human connected-
ness such as ubuntu into the common global pot (2006:4).
All these approaches share a more or less critical perspective, and all
require skills, knowledge and understanding that stretches beyond the
basic literacy content of primary education. I have added my own argu-
ments that technology itself is a potential resource for disseminating on a
global level various southern-owned counter-arguments to dominant devel-
opment messages. This, however, entails educating for new literacies,
using technologies to connect critical thinking to politics, economics and
wider social relations in international forums. Equally, entrepreneurship
should not simply imitate the North. Cooperatives that recycle profit into
development needs could be advocated on a larger scale than their current
focus on small-scale community-based enterprises.
I have also argued, however, that while countries in the South must take
the initiative to make globalization work for them, this cannot be done
without cooperation from international donor agencies and a re-appraisal
of NorthSouth relations.
Case studies from two South Asian and two African countries revealed
widely differing stages of ownership over the lifelong learning process. It
was apparent from these four examples, however, that the conditionalities
attached to international aid were determining the nature of lifelong learn-
ing, making it difficult for countries to own their own agenda. Where local
ownership of lifelong learning was established, the outcome was holistic
and communitarian, rather than individualistic and competitive.
A more generalized interpretation of lifelong learning through the
medium of adult education has recently been made available throughout
2008 in the form of regional preparatory reports that will feed into the pend-
ing global CONFINTEA VI event in Brazil in May 2009. Such reports are
available as civil-society reports and regional syntheses of country reports
from ministries. Their focus is inevitably on practical concerns and the need
for political and financial commitment from governments. It is worth summa-
rizing their highlights here, as an indicator of emerging trends of thought.
Recent preparatory reports for CONFINTEA VI
The international NGO Asia South Pacific Bureau for Adult Education
(ASPBAE) highlights the vast disparities of access to even the most basic
provision for many countries in the South. The ASPBAE briefing paper
(2008) cites the 2008 Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO 2007) statistics
which reveal that there are still 101 countries that are far from achieving
universal literacy and that South and West Asias literacy rates are languish-
ing at a mere 59 per cent of their population. Associated with these low
literacy rates are poor figures for mortality, nutrition and reproductive
health, poverty and gender inequalities. Nevertheless the paper argues that
literacy must be seen within a framework for lifelong learning, particularly
since literacy lapses into illiteracy if opportunities for continuing education
and the creation of literate environments are not sustained. Similarly the
paper argues for adult education that promotes critical thinking, under-
standing of human rights, tolerance, social awareness, civic consciousness
and responsibilities (pages unnumbered) and a commitment to ongoing
learning throughout life.
The African regional synthesis of national CONFINTEA reports (Aitchison
and Alidou 2008) reiterates concerns about the relatively low political and
financial status given to adult education and lifelong learning. The authors
state that few African countries have ratified adult-education policies
though many may have existed for years as unratified draft policies. The
tendency is for any legislation to focus narrowly on literacy or basic educa-
tion, though national qualifications frameworks are also emerging as an
application of lifelong learning. The report emphasizes once more that
literacy alone is inadequate in addressing the scale of the problem and lit-
eracy programmes should in any case be holistically linked to life skills or
community development initiatives as well as post-literacy activities.
The equivalent Latin American and Caribbean final regional report
(UNESCO ILL 2008) once more emphasizes that literacy is the necessary but
not sufficient point of departure which allows each and every person, in the
twenty-first century, to continue and supplement their learning throughout
life and thus exercise their rights as citizens (p.2). This report also reiterates
the need to address the North-South divide for lifelong learning discourses.
The African Civil Society Report (African Platform for Adult Education
2008) first refers us back to the 1976 Nairobi conference where adult edu-
cation was once more framed in the context of lifelong education and
then moves forward to the African development process of 2001 via the
New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD). Here they express
concern that adult education and lifelong learning are narrowly confined
by NEPAD to specific teacher education projects for maths, science and
technology education. This report poses a number of policy challenges:
How to develop policies that are framed within a lifelong and lifewide
learning perspective that is embedded in development frameworks;
How to address the needs of marginalized learners;

What kind of partnerships need to be in place for all stakeholders to
work together; and
How to ensure relevance in the form of indigenous knowledge, partici-
pation, monitoring and evaluation. (pp.1719).
A feature of these reports, as well as other writers on behalf of lifelong

learning, is the multisectoral nature of adult and lifelong learning and the
failure of policy to recognize the linkages with other sectors such as health
and agriculture.
Moreover it is interesting to observe the various regional titles for each
CONFINTEA preparatory conferences. They give an insight into where
regional interests lie. The Latin American and Caribbean conference, for
instance was titled From Literacy to Lifelong Learning: Towards the Challenge of the
21st Century. The Asia Pacific title was Building Equitable and Sustainable Socie-
ties in Asia and Pacific: The Challenge to Adult Learning. In Africa the title was
The Power of Youth and Adult Learning for African Development. Only the Euro-
pean, North America and Israel conference included competition in its title:
Adult Learning for Equity and Inclusion in a Context of Mobility and Competition.
While all these reports campaign strongly for political commitment to
adult and lifelong learning, including effective monitoring, research, fund-
ing allocations and engagement with civil society as well as other partners
they do not attempt to ground political commitment within cultural or
philosophical frameworks. This is particularly noticeable in the African
Civil Society Report that urges a more integrated relationship with NEPAD
and African culture without elaborating on what this means. Perhaps this is
expecting too much of lobbyists that are struggling at a practical level to
secure any kind of support for the most basic of provision. It might be argued,
however, that without this broader vision, the South continues to be a recipi-
ent, rather than a key player, in setting new agendas for lifelong learning.
What the South can contribute to the debate
This begs the question what can the South contribute to the debate on
lifelong learning? At one level writers are seeking to find a way in which
lifelong learning can interface with the traditions and needs of different
cultural contexts.
Walters (2007), for instance, in the context of South Africa, explores
whether there are generic ingredients that can apply across societies in
relation to the concept of learning regions, as a geographical expression

of lifelong learning in action. The concept of learning region facilitates a
theoretical focus on community development and learning as societal
change mechanisms. She suggests that there are potentially generic out-
come ingredients, such as high participation, partnerships and networking,
accessibility of guidance and counselling resources, even having a focus
on the interconnectedness and interdependence of the local and global
(p.278). However, it is more difficult to identify a common framework for
lifelong learning because building a learning region in the end is no doubt
a political project (p.289) constrained by different concepts of, and condi-
tions for, development as well as cultural and environmental conditions, partic-
ularly in development contexts when participation is on terms set by others.
Mbigi (2005) takes an African Renaissance perspective. He offers an
African philosophical interpretation of the Delors (1996) pillars for life-
long learning. By linking the pillars to indigenous value systems and tradi-
tions he offers a way of expressing these generic frameworks through an
African lens. So the pillar learning to know is understood as the: capacity
to reflect on ones life experiences, and use the lessons to create and man-
age opportunities (p.141). Such a position can be supported by proverbs
that embrace reflectivity and the wisdom of continued learning or seeking
knowledge. Learning to do is linked to indigenous African leadership
training models which emphasized learning by doing through experience
and the management of rituals and ceremonies. Learning to live together
is identified as the heart and soul of the African philosophy of Ubuntu.
Through this one learns an appreciation of others and our interdepend-
ence on each other. Finally Learning to be is understood within the tradi-
tional African community-based learning to develop character and discipline:
Education should seek to develop not only the full potential of a person but
also all the multiple intelligences of a given individual (p.145).
Each of these interpretations provides different but reasonable justifica-
tion for incorporating lifelong learning as a policy concept in the South.
There is another perspective, however where the South might actually
contribute to and enhance current discourses, particularly in the context of
CONFINTEAs global conference on adult education and learning which is
being framed within the context of lifelong learning. Some of the southern
philosophies, value systems and ways of being that might contribute to
broadening concepts of lifelong learning include the following:
A holistic perspective where, for example, African and Asian lifelong

learning traditionally embraces all ages, levels and types of learning for
character, community and nation building and for self-reliance. Although

its roots are in traditional structures, the concept of lifelong learning
is also embedded in proverbs, myths, rituals and songs that focus on
human relations as the starting point. This contrasts starkly with a starting
point of competitiveness. Associated with this is the second conceptual
contribution;
Connectedness a value system that embraces the belief that we are all con-
nected and so our actions have an impact on future lives as well as those in
the present, whether near or far. Also they have an ongoing relationship
with those that have already passed. The implication of such a concept is
that we have an obligation to all those around us on a global, social and
spiritual scale. Spirituality is not a popular dimension of dominant lifelong
learning discourses, though it is a feature of debate (see English et al. 2003
and Hunt 2006 for example), yet it opens up and widens the dimension of
humanity as a core element for lifelong learning. Intergenerational con-
nectedness is core to our sustainable existence. A central feature of sustain-
able communities is recognition of the third contribution;
Communitarianism where everyone has a social responsibility towards the
welfare of his or her neighbours, ensuring that no-one goes without. This
concept also connects with the fourth contribution;
Indigenous knowledge systems which engage with local environments
and customs that are traditionally based on a need for survival with limited
resources and to ensure the land is available for future generations. Indige-
nous knowledge systems provide the ingredients for integration with new
knowledge systems in the context of changing societies.
These value systems are not practised universally by individuals in the

South, of course. Otherwise we would not be engaged in so many conflicts
and social injustices. (In itself this situation begs the question: Why do we
not focus on lifelong learning values that address these problems?). But
such values are a potential foundation on which to build a new, more col-
laborative lifelong learning agenda that may connect with a greater sense
of relevance to many people, not just those in the South. They provide a
framework for discussion and debate and a contribution to those northern
discourses and academic critiques of instrumentalism and individualism.
They provide an opportunity for re-narrating visions for development and
disseminating alternative visions for global competitiveness.
The challenges are huge. But they are directly linked to a lifelong learning
agenda for the South which takes us far beyond discourses of profit, com-
petitiveness and marketization. They centre on issues of democratization,
social justice, human rights and human dignity. A global lifelong learning
approach must be sensitive to context, enhancing local ownership of targets,
means and processes. It must respond at a level of international conscious-
ness. The current global downturn suggests that individualism and compet-
itiveness without ethically informed sustainability and social conscience
will not produce cohesion, equality and peace. A new lifelong learning dis-
course does not entail total rejection of existing discourses, but it facilitates
hybridization and provides opportunities to contemplate that anything is
possible in our dream for a better world.
Notes
1
The UNDP officially classifies the following countries as developing: Sub Saharan
Africa, Arab States, Asia and Pacific, Latin America, Caribbean, Cyprus and Turkey
(Torres 2003:37).
2
Social capital has been defined as consisting of social networks, the reciprocities
that arise from them, and the value of these for achieving mutual goals drawing
attention to the importance of social relationships and values such as trust in
shaping broader attitudes and behaviour (Schuller et al. 2000:1).
3
See for example, Enslin et al. (2001), Welton (2005) and Maruatona (2006).
4
See for example, Holford et al. (1998), Field and Leicester (2000), Field (2002,
2005), Edwards et al. (2002) and Jarvis (2004).
5
A number of writers highlight these issues, such as Torres (2003), Walters (1999),
Archer (2005), Atchoarena and Hite (2001), Palepu (2001) and Oduaran
(2000).
6
REFLECT stands for Regenerated Frierian Literacy through Empowering Commu-
nity Techniques. The REFLECT approach was developed by the Non-Governmental
Organization ACTIONAID using a combination of the theory of Paulo Freire
and the group methods of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to combine the lit-
eracy process and the empowering process through people-centred grass roots
development.
7
Relevant texts include: Spivak (1995), Bhabha (1995), Said (1995), Hickling-Hudson
(2006), Chilisa (2005) wa Thiongo (1995) for example.
8
Buruma and Margalit (2005:7) show similar sentiments for South Asia: To a
devout Muslim, politics, economics, science and religion cannot be split into sepa-
rate categories. The Wests world views in these contexts can represent the rootless,
greedy city, lack of respect for faith and the antithesis of the self sacrificing hero
(p.11).
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Index
Adam, L. 90 Burbules, N.C. 74, 75

adult education 9, 47 Burke, B. 45
Africa 44, 47, 57, 68, 79, 80, 90, 94,
13552, 154, 157, 160 Candy, P.C. 88
African feminism 106 CEDAW (United Nations Convention
African philosophy 3842 on the Elimination of all forms of
African renaissance 161 Discrimination Against
Africanization 80 Women) 113
Aitcheson, J. 159 Chandrasekhar, C.P. 91, 98
America 154 China 95, 115
ASPBAE (Asia and South Pacific bureau Chinnammai, S. 73, 74
for Adult Education) 112, 158 Chukwyudi Eze, E. 39
Atim, D. 43 Chunkath, S.R. 114
Attiq-ur-Rahman, S. 118, 119, 120, citizenship 5, 9, 65
122, 123 civil society 79, 140, 157, 159
AWORC (Asian Womens Resource Clayton, P. 127, 130, 131
Exchange) 112 CLCs (Community Learning
Centres) 115, 121, 124
Bagoyoko, N. 57 Coffield, F. 4
Bangladesh 76, 91 colonialism 19, 24, 34, 48, 49
Beck, U. 76 CONFINTEA 12, 13, 101, 108, 111, 114,
Behrend, H. 28 117, 125, 146, 148, 154, 158, 160,
Beijing conference 113 161
Biccum, A. 31 connectedness 10, 40, 156, 158, 162
Botswana 44 cooperatives 81
Braimoh, D. 96, 146, 147 cultural politics 26
Bunyad 117, 11925, 150 culture 73
BERTIs 1212, 124
CLCs 121, 124 Dahlman, C. 98
gender 124 DAWN (Developing Alternatives with
lifelong learning 122, 1234 Women for a New Era) 63, 112
literacy 119, 124 dependency 20, 56, 61, 62, 63, 77
non-formal education 123 development 5066, 67
technology 124 dependency theory 56
see also Pakistan discourses 535
180 Index
development (Contd) Conferences 108

as freedom 601 and development 63
gender and 63 mainstreaming 110
lifelong learning and 131, 15363 MDGs 113
modernization theory of 55 see also Bunyad; feminisms; India;
women and 63 Kerala; Lesotho; Pakistan;
women in 63 Tanzania
DFID 31, 64, 88 GEO (Gender and Education
digital divide 84, 8591, 97 Office) 111, 112
discourses 22, 30, 58, 154, 162, 163 Ghana 36, 41, 92
development discourses 535, 155 globalization 6783, 157, 158
discourse 21, 29, 57, 65 cultural influences 734
feminist discourses 103 economic influences 723
environmental consequences 76
economic crisis 153 hyperglobalists 6970
EFA (Education For All) 11, 13 political influences 745
empowerment 11516 sceptics 701
enterprise 7980 transformationalists 71
Escobar, A. 54, 55, 64, 156 Goduka, I. 41, 42
Ethiopia 35, 556 Grameen bank 91
European Memorandum 3 Griffin, C. 4
Grootaert, C. 59
Featherstone, M. 73 Gulati, S. 88
feminisms 29, 102
Africana womanism 106 Hegel 43
postcolonial 105 Held, D. 701, 76
poststructuralist 104 Hickling-Hudson, A. 22
womanism 106 higher education 73, 82, 88
see also gender see also Kerala; Pakistan
feminists 29, 102, 1034 HIV/AIDS 8, 43, 106, 138, 141, 149, 151
FEMNET (African Womens Houtondiji, P.J. 38
Development Network) 112 hybridity 25, 48, 74
Ferguson, J. 534 hybridisation 74, 163
Field, J. 589 hybridities 156
Forde, T.J.L. 37
Fordjor, P.K. 41 ICAE (International Council for Adult
Foucault, M. 21, 23, 24 Education) 75, 111
ICT 85, 867, 89, 90, 91, 92, 97, 98,
Gandhi 456, 52, 124 121, 131, 149, 150, 151
Swadeshi 45 IMF 56, 57
Swaraj 45 imperialism 20
gender 29, 38, 623, 64, 77, 88, 101, India 36, 38, 445, 91, 94, 114, 1256
103, 105, 10811, 113 Kerala 12634
analysis 109 lifelong learning 126
Index 181
literacy 126 LANFE 150

policy 126 LDTC 150, 151
post-literacy 126 lifelong learning 146, 1478, 149,
indigenous knowledge 378, 77, 113, 1512
131, 140, 160, 162 literacy 144, 148, 150, 151
individualism 10, 42 non-formal education 1468, 1501
Iran 116 policy 145, 146, 149, 152
post-literacy 150, 159
Japan 5 poverty 145, 146
Jarvis, P. 72, 73, 74, 154 Vision 2020 1456
Johnson, H. 96 Letseka, M. 40
Jolly, R. 50, 57, 64 Levira, B. 141
lifelong learning 1, 14, 48, 51, 65, 72,
Kant 42 78, 82, 93, 1224, 126, 1312, 138,
Kaschula, R.H. 36 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 154
Kawooya, D. 92 conferences 1013
Kellner, D. 75 and development 646, 15363
Kenya 35, 47, 154 in the digital age 8493
Kerala 12634 feminist perspectives 10116
CEC 129, 132 in the North 26
gender 132, 133 policy 5, 9, 114, 115, 125, 137
higher education 128 and postcolonialism 301
KANFED 129, 130 in the South 610, 78, 97
KSLMA 130 Lingard, B. 31
KSSP 130 literacy 8, 62, 81, 115, 118, 133, 159
lifelong learning 131 computer- 78, 82
literacy 127, 128, 129, 130, 133 critical- 65, 82
panchayats 128 information- 82, 88
post-literacy 128 post- 116, 120, 126
prerak 128, 129 see also Bunyad; India; Kerala;
King, K. 7980 Lesotho; Pakistan; Tanzania
knowledge 23, 31, 77, 98, 1045 Loomba, A. 25
Western knowledge 423 Lourde, A. 25
see also indigenous knowledge Louw, D.J. 47
Luke, A. 74
Latin America 95
learning region 161 Mcwilliam, H.O.A. 36
learning society 3, 4, 10, 12, 72 Malaysia 84
Lelliott, A. 89, 97 Mali 87
Lephoto, H.M. 93, 94, 144 Mbigi, L. 157, 161
Lesotho 53, 67, 94, 108, 14352 MDGs 13, 74, 113, 155, 157
gender 149 Medel-Aonuevo, C. 2, 7
ICT 149, 150, 151 Meredith, M. 136
IEMS 14950, 152 Mesopotamia 35
182 Index
Mexico 95 Parthasarathy, S.K. 62

micro-credit 62, 121, 141 Pattanayak, D.P. 36
MINEDAF 12, 13 Perraton, H. 93, 94, 95, 96
Mohamedbhai, G. 82 philosophy 38
Mohanty, C.T. 30, 102, 105, 107 African philosophy 3842
Mozambique 80 Ubuntu 3940
Mulenga, D.C. 31, 47 Western philosophy 423
policy 157, 15960
Nair, T.S. 129 see also India; Lesotho; lifelong
neo-colonialism 20 learning; literacy; Pakistan;
neo-liberalism 56 Tanzania
NEPAD (New Partnership for Africas Polikanov, D. 97
Development) 6, 159, 160 postcolonialism 201, 245, 279
Nigeria 87, 89 feminist postcolonial 29
non-formal education 56, 57, 65, 121, and lifelong learning 301
123, 141, 1468 poststructuralism 21
Novelli, M. 60, 75 poverty 55
Ntseane, P.G. 38, 105, 1078 see also India; Lesotho; Pakistan;
Ntuli, P.P. 40, 48 Tanzania
Nyamnjoh, F.B. 34, 412, 48 Preece, J. 150
Nyerere, M.J. 467, 52, 136
Ujamaa 46, 52, 136 racism 19, 77
see also Tanzania race 29
Ramazanoglu, C. 22
Odora Hoppers, C.A. 37, 55, 64, 65, REFLECT 8, 65, 141, 164n. 6
68, 801, 158 REPEM (Popular Education Network
OECD 3 of Women) 11112
Okech, A. 8, 36 Robinson-Pant, A. 55, 64
open and distance learning (ODL)
937, 149 SADC (Southern Africa Development
pedagogical challenges 967 Community) 9, 10
Orientalism 19, 20 Said, E. 19
Oruka, H.O. 39 self-reliance 45, 46, 52, 124, 126, 138,
142, 162
Pakistan 94, 11719, 125 Sen, A. 601, 156
Bunyad 11925 see also development
gender 118 Shade, L.R. 85
higher education 118, 125 Siaciwena, R. 95
literacy 118, 119 social capital 5, 5860, 66, 164n. 2
policy 125 spirituality 10, 45, 162
poverty 118 Spivak, G.C. 26
Palepu, R. 7 Sreemathy, T.K. 38
Pant, A. 114, 115 structural adjustment 57, 136
Index 183
subaltern 20, 34 UNDP 76, 99, 125, 136, 145, 156

subjectivities 27, 28 UNESCO 2, 3, 10, 12, 51, 60, 101, 102,
intersubjectivities 27 114, 154, 159
UNICEF 141, 142, 144
Tanzania 44, 80, 88, 13543, 152 UNIFEM (United Nations
Arusha Declaration 136, 138 Development Fund for
COBET 1412 Women) 112
gender 141
ICBAE 1401 Van Hensbroek, P.B. 47
lifelong learning 137, 138, 139, Vasudeva Rao, B.S. 98
141, 142 Visvanathan, N. 63
literacy 136, 139
Nyerere 136 Walters, S. 160
policy 136, 140, 142, 152 Washington consensus 56
post-literacy 139 post-Washington consensus 57
poverty 136 Weedon, C. 27
Ujamaa 136 Werbner, R. 28
Vision 2025 1378, 143, 152 Wilson III, E.J. 868, 92, 99
technology 72, 75, 81, 82, 83, 87, 90, World Bank 14, 15, 17, 53, 58, 59, 64,
96, 98, 124, 158 73, 78, 87, 147
gender issues 88 WSIS 89
Teffo, L.J. 35, 40
Thetela, P.H. 10910 Yang, J.F. 96
Tikly, L. 71, 77, 78 Yearly, S. 76
Torres, M. 1, 6, 7, 14 Yule, A. 136, 139
Ubuntu 3940, 46, 47, 68, 106, 161 Zambia 95

Uganda 36, 43, 92 Zimbabwe 36

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Lifelong Learning and Development

Also available in the Continuum Studies in Educational Research Series:

Education in Hegel Nigel Tubbs

Julia Preece 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 9781847062918 (hardcover)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-1-84706-291-8 (hardcover)

1. Adult education--Economic aspects--Developing countries.

Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India

In his recent publication Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent

when this mask is removed that authentic contemplation of the possibilities

However, many of the publications related to countries classified in the

A book is never a single author endeavour. I would like to express my

The essence of this book is to respond to the above concern, expressed by

Lifelong learning in the North

The conceptualization and operationalization of lifelong learning has

update skills, knowledge and understanding in response to changing labour

[A]ll purposeful activity, undertaken on an ongoing basis with the aim of

The two purposes are promoting active citizenship and promoting

Basic education, followed by initial vocational education and training,

The overall emphasis of the Memorandum is strictly European, and in

and Industry and Education and Employment, thus politically embedding

Learning to be, to know, to do and to live together is not enough. Learn-

In the case of Africa, its recent political representation through the

Lifelong learning in the South

Goals formulated in terms of universal primary education, improving

Medel-Aonuevo (2001:15), in support of this argument, challenges min-

to poverty reduction. Literacy is no longer defined simply in terms of the

Education Policy White Paper uses lifelong education interchangeably

Adult learning is part of the wider concept of lifelong learning, which

Nafukho et al. (2005) support this broad, holistic approach to lifelong

A key purpose of lifelong learning is democratic citizenship, connecting

The Technical Committee was concerned with positioning Southern Africa

Key conferences in the South

(ICTs), improving the status and professionalism of teachers and learning

We see a key purpose of lifelong learning as democratic citizenship,

In the same year the Conference of Ministries of Education for African

Promoting lifelong learning in Africa entails the creation of literate soci-

In the lead up to CONFINTEA VI Education Ministries are being asked

Other visions for lifelong learning and development

In spite of the fragmentary nature of initiatives to date, there is growing

Lifelong learning from early childhood to retirement is education for

For the World Bank document economic sustainability is the starting

full physical, intellectual and emotional potential; to organize, enjoy and

In Chapter 1 I argued that the lifelong learning literature is dominated by

I also attempt to answer some of these concerns. Finally I identify ways in

Ashcroft et al. (2000) provide a helpful dictionary of the most common

modernization proponents who assumed that backward, underdeveloped

Foucault: knowledge, power and discourse

For Foucault discourse encompasses societal beliefs, attitudes, values, lan-

acquire personal experiences and memories and attach individualized

The postcolonial project

Postcolonialists both borrow from and elaborate on Foucault. While

a useful analytical framework to develop the above definitional positions, it

academic elite diaspora, so the subaltern never really speaks. Indeed,

But the difference for postcolonial analysis is that, in Girouxs terms, it is

In terms of identity a particular feature of the postcolonial subject is

the world (1987:32). This self-image is a consequence of power relations

Feminist postcolonial perspectives

Chapter 7 discusses in more detail how feminist perspectives are now

Postcolonialism, education and lifelong learning