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    Lolona changed her life in just 48 days. That's all the time it took for this 30-year-old from Madagascar to learn to read and write in an innovative literacy project sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). "My life has completely changed," she says, describing how she now can write to her relatives and read their letters. "What I've learned is very important for my work selling goods," she adds. Lolona walks 2 1/2 hours each way to sell her fish in Fianarantsoa, a city 20 kilometres away from her home in the village of Maroharona. (click for a map of Madagascar). An estimated 880 million people in the world cannot read. Three-quarters are women (Unicef table on literacy). Madagascar is a microcosm of this worldwide trend: the literacy rate for men in Madagascar is 60 per cent; for women it is nearly half that at 32 per cent (UNCTAD statistics for Madagascar [PDF]). According to UNICEF, less than half the children in Madagascar reach Grade 5. Many children who do attend school leave prematurely because they are considered literate once they can read and write their names. "I am convinced that my poverty is the result of lack of education," says Lolona, who runs a fish farming business with her husband. "I know I was losing money before. Now I am able to manage the accounts both for selling our products and for our home," she says proudly. Lolona and 70 other villagers in Maroharona took part in the Intensive Functional Literacy (IFL) pilot programme, run through a partnership between UNDP and a local non-governmental organization called Malagasy Mahomby. Like Lolona, most of the 550 people attending the pilot programme learned reading, writing and basic arithmetic calculation in the first 48 days. The students, ranging in ages from 15 to 45, then enrolled in a second 36-day segment to reinforce their new skills. A third session focuses on agriculture and development. And those who fail the first time around are able to take remedial sessions. The IFL teaching method, first tested in Burkina Faso, is also proving to be fast, efficient and cost-effective in Madagascar: start-up costs of $91 per person that include instructor training and preparation of teaching manuals have dropped to $15 to $21 per student as the programme becomes established. There are now 138 learning centres training 6,000 students in Madagascar. For the trainees, the pay-off is both personal and financial. In one town, "an old woman surprised her son by writing him to say she no longer needed an intermediary to send or receive her letters," says Solo Randriamahaleo of Malagasy Mahomby. Still it is challenging for people like Lolona who live in rural areas. Long working hours and the seasonal demands of farming leave people with little time for training sessions. "We were supposed to be present at the training sessions every day, but I requested permission to be absent on Tuesday and Thursday," explains Lolona. "I needed to sell my products and put the things I learned into practice." Lolona's family has been supportive. Her father Ranoely, a village leader in Maroharona, donated $300 to provide meals for students, who included three of his sons. "I made the donation to help the community," he said. "This is the way to promote development. I can see a big change for the positive in their lives since they learned to read and write." Innovative programmes like this one are helping to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. These targets to fight poverty, inequality, and disease, were signed at the Millennium Summit in September 2000, by leaders from the 189 UN member countries. "I'm very proud to have a wife that is literate," says Rakotazafy Emmanuel, Lolona's husband. They now have a baby girl and he is adamant that she will get an education. "Women must be educated, it is important for them and their children," says Rakotazafy. "All of our children will go to school, no matter what their gender." FIND OUT MORE about how the UN works to support women’s rights. Go to the links next to Lolona ADDITIONAL STORIES ABOUT WOMEN:Jorling learns to take care of herself | Marie finds her voice | Life is safer for Monica | Fresh Hope and a Bright Future for Aisatu | Beijing+10 Women's Stories |
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