Entry: Hannah Darnton, ECHOES International Educators for Africa Volunteer, Côte d’Ivoire

Hannah Darnton is a volunteer with the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help’s International Educators for Africa program which sends volunteer US teachers to Africa to work with local teachers. As part of its involvement in World Cocoa Foundation’s ECHOES Program, IFESH has sent four volunteers to Côte d’Ivoire this year. One of the ECHOES activities that Ms. Darnton is working on is adult literacy training. This is her report from the field.

Over the past few months here in Cote d’Ivoire we have been heading in and out of the villages surrounding Abengourou working with our “centres d’alphabetisation” or literacy centers. Now open for about a year we are starting to see marked progress, not only in the centers themselves, but in the communities where the centers are located.

The village of Eboissué has been one of the most rewarding to observe. Their class of approximately 30 students is made mainly of older women who, since the opening of the literacy center in their village, have not only learned to write their names, basic words, and compute basic calculations but also realized the importance of education for their children. This realization has led to a huge spike in enrollment in the local school with nearly double the students in the first year of elementary school as compared to the previous year:

Between 2007 and 2008, a total of 32 students enrolled (12 girls and 20 boys)
Between 2008 and 2009, a total of 28 students enrolled (15 girls and 13 boys)
Between 2009 and 2010, a total of 55students enrolled (26 girls and 29 boys)

Above: Students of Eboissué literacy center

Accommodating the additional students has been a challenge for the school. We hope to help Eboissué better accommodate this increase in students in the future and look forward to seeing as much success from our other centers!