Increasing the Literacy Rates in Mali

2. “Literacy unlocks the capacity of individuals to imagine and create a more fulfilling future. It opens the way to greater justice, equality and progress. Literacy can help societies heal, advance political processes and contribute to the common good,”

3. Increasing the Literacy Rates in Mali

4. A need for literacy resources in an African country called Mali. This country’s official language is French, and it has a literacy rate of less than 30% according to the UNICEF survey taken in 2012 • Our mission is to create learning centers in rural areas that would assist in the escalation of the literacy rate throughout Mali, by building a program for people any age, children and youth all the way through to late adulthood. • The program would consist of 3 language levels (primary, standard, and intermediate) and the progression would rely on the individual student, allowing them to work and learn at their own pace according to their specific needs and interests. • Not necessarily a progressive class, because there is no specific graduation deadline. Instead, each class is like an independent tutorial session which truly allows the student to determine how much progress they make within a certain amount of time. • Important that the females throughout the communities be educated in this way so that they are able to pass on the skills to their children in the next generation and thus causing a gradual yet effective butterfly effect. • Graduates from the program will be given the opportunity to volunteer to teach the next set of students in the program which will help to carry out their skills, and keep them close with their neighbors and others who have similar interests in possibly improving their economic status through receiving a higher paying job, and raising their education level for the good of themselves, communities, and future generations.

5. We decided to aim to increase literacy rates in a third world nation because we wanted to decrease the level of poverty. Our original goal was to simply decrease poverty overall, however this is not a problem that can be addressed by one solution or program. So we decided to tackle one of the issues at the beginning of the poverty cycle, low literacy rates. • If a person is unable to read or write, they are unable to get a good job and chances are that they will raise an illiterate generation. By enabling these people to get a good job, we will begin to break the cycle of poverty. For example, just in America 43% of people with little to no literacy skills lived in poverty.

6. If we decrease literacy rates, we can assist in decreasing poverty and beginning to break the poverty cycle. By enabling citizens of Mali to read and write, more jobs will be available to them. • By increasing literacy rates, we will indirectly decrease crime rates because there is a very strong link between academic failure and violence and crime. • The UN looks at the literacy rate of a country when calculating their standard of living, and as a country’s standard of living increases their population doubling time also increases. • A population’s literacy rate also effects the country’s economy.

7. This is not a compulsory program; we do not want to force citizens to become literate if they would prefer not to, but we want to give them the opportunity to do so. • The program will take place in the evening so that all people will be able to attend without work interfering. This also gives children the opportunity to attend this program outside of school to receive extra help. This program is free to the public and does not discriminate against age or gender. • This program will be located in five rural areas in Mali. This is because children as well as adults have the highest illiteracy rates here. • Additionally, these rural locations are near urban areas so that there are greater opportunities for them once they complete the program.

8. At each location we will need three volunteers for each level as well as two supervisors, which comes to a total of 55 volunteers. • If the program runs twice a week for 2.5 hours each, it will be able to run for 363 weeks or about 7 years excluding holiday breaks. • These hours will be used for tutoring those who attend the program as well the supervisors will oversee everything to solve any issues and make sure things run smoothly. • Nine volunteers (the tutors) at each location must be able to teach people of all ages to read and right in French. • The other two (the supervisors) must be skilled in organization, problem solving, they must be fluent in French and previous management experience is helpful but not necessary. • It would be helpful if the volunteers were native to Mali because this cuts down on travel costs and will therefore will save on carbon emissions. • Native volunteers will also be more accustomed to the culture, practices, and learning methods and will have a better connection with the locals than perhaps foreign volunteers would.

9. Pre-colonial era Mali was ruled by various empires that promptly rose and fell/fractured into smaller states. • French penetration of West Africa led to the occupation of the area now known as Mali but then it was known as French Sudan • In the late 1950s Senegal and French Sudan formed the Federation of Mali but it soon dissolved when Senegal seceded • The country was reorganized into a single party socialist state that was largely unpopular with the public. • The old regime was soon thrown out and a new constitution was drafted to form a new multi-party democratic state.

10. The government is a republic largely based on the French system with an Executive branch, a legislative branch, and a Judicial Branch. It is also a multiparty democracy with universal suffrage at 18. • Mali is a landlocked country that is divided into three zones the Sudan, the Sahel, and the Sahara. The population is concentrated mostly on the southern regions of the country. The climate is hot and dry with the south being mostly semi-tropical while the north is made up of deserts. • There is a large mix of ethnic groups of the Sub-Saharan area in the country with the Mande being one of the major groups. The rigid ethnic categories were established by French occupation due to misunderstandings between locals, French administrators, and ethnographers. The nomadic Tauregs and Maurs are also present in the northern part of the country and have been at the center of recent tension in the area.

11. The population of Mali is about 90% Muslim with 1% Christian and the other 9% being indigenous beliefs. Islam was present for centuries but when the French took over Islam spread all across the area since the French used Islamic representatives to spread their influence. The state is largely secular but Islam is a large part of everyday life in Mali. • Major Islamic holidays are celebrated throughout the nation as well as secular holidays like Independence Day. A large part of the culture is oral literature that ranges from proverbs to epic poems. Major topics of such literature include pre-colonial history and critical analysis of modern society. Even though it is a poor country communities are close knit and solidary between friends and family help negate some of the problems of poverty. Malians are particularly proud of their traditions of hospitality to people within and without the country and proper etiquette and dress code are encouraged but not enforced.

12. On the first day, we are going to gather all our volunteers. In our program, we are going to have 3 levels and have 3 volunteers per level. This means there is going to be 9 volunteers and a small group of people that will manage everything and help if something is wrong. There are going to be at least 12 volunteers in each city. We will train the volunteers before sending them to their locations. • When the volunteers are ready and trained, we send them to their locations in Mali to start the programs. The programs are going to run twice a week, Monday’s and Thursday’s, at night for 2 ½ hours. It’s going to run for a whole year. We will give the students and volunteers a 2 week break for their major holidays because we don’t want them to work through their religious holidays. This program is going to be for any age, race, or gender. • To ensure that the program is going to continue on, we are going to teach a whole generation how to read so that they can teach their children. Once they are fully literate or once there is less interest in attending the program, we will relocate the program to another city in Mali that we have not worked with. If this program is successful, we would like to expand the program to be available in more locations.

13. Our project will focus on educating individuals in Mali to increase the population’s literacy rate. • Mali currently has a rate of less than 30%, with women’s literacy rate being much less than that of men. • Our goal is to increase the literacy to at least 35% by the next census and make our project a success. • If our program is successful we wish to expand it by making it available in more cities in Mali.

14. Flight from Europe (Charles de Gaul) 850 DollarsFlight from USA (LAX) 875 DollarsFlight from Canada (YVR) 900 DollarsBeijing Capital International Airport 850 DollarsCape Town International Airport 900 Dollars • Bus ticket in Mali is 50 cents Canadian • Pencils in bulk = 5.5 cents eachPaper (200 sheets) = 6.5 centsPencil Sharpeners FREE when you buy 500$ of supplies