Women
issues, gender mainstreaming and adult literacy
were just some of the issues discussed during
the “International Seminar-Workshop
on Monitoring and Evaluation of Adult Education
from a Gender Perspective,” held at
SEAMEO INNOTECH last March 15 - 19, 1999, and
organized by the UNESCO Institute of Education
led by its Senior Training Specialist, Ms. Carol
Añonuevo. The seminar provided a venue
for gender advocates from various parts of the
world to talk about their monitoring and evaluation
practices, experiences and views on adult education.
For
its 1999 issues, the INNOTECH Journal features
some of the papers presented during the seminar.
The first issue focuses on the issues and concerns
encountered by the seminar participants in their
monitoring and evaluation of adult education especially
as viewed from a gender perspective. The second
issue presents the wide range of practices and
strategies employed by different non-governmental
organizations for monitoring and evaluating practices
in adult education.
Papers
presented in this first issue include the following:
The
Women’s Participation in Adult Education:
The IALS Data, by Sofia Valdivielso Gomez
focuses on the result of the international adult
literacy survey (IALS). The survey, conducted
in 12 countries, obtained empirical data about
the rate of participation and non-participation
of women in adult education.
Sara
Hlupekile Longwe, in her paper titled Monitoring
and Evaluating Women’s Educational Programs:
Concepts and Methodological Issues, examines
the significance of the basic concepts of monitoring
and evaluation as they relate to women’s
adult education programs. A sample literacy program
for women is provided to illustrate these concepts,
as well as to point out some methodological issues
that need to be addressed.
The
Evaluation of Feminist Projects provides
an overview of the state of feminist organizations
existing in Poland. The author, Beata Fiszer,
likewise shares her organization’s experience
in re-evaluating its goals and missions in the
light of the actual work it has done in the area
of women’s rights and liberties.
Monitoring
Women’s Access to and Participation in Education
Programs in Pacific Islands by Margaret Chung
briefly discusses monitoring and evaluation practices
of existing adult education programs from a macro
level point of view. Chung presents an analysis
of the present state of adult literacy in several
countries in the Pacific Island.
Josefa
Francisco’s article on Sharing of Substantive
and Methodological Aspects of Monitoring
presents an analysis of the recommendations made
during the International Conference on Population
and Development, with emphasis on how these affect
the economic globalization and development of
the women’s groups in the south. Also incorporated
in the article is a short list of recommendations
on what to consider when monitoring a project.
The
Women’s Participation: Bridging the Global-Local
Level Gaps by Celita Eccher highlights the
efforts being made by the Gender Education Office,
a global women’s network with the principal
mission of promoting adult education through gender-oriented
activities. Three examples of monitoring experiences
were identified to provide insights on project
monitoring and evaluation.
Salma
Ismail, in her paper titled, Women Learning
in Developing Programs – Impact on Gender
Relations, talks about the active role played
by the women in a housing project in Victoria
Mxenge, Cape Town. She relates how the women gained
confidence and strength to challenge existing
power blocks by participating in the process of
collective decision-making and problem-solving. |
