Success Story: Literacy Classes improve Community Livelihoods
The residents of Andou M’Batto in Alepé, Côte d’Ivoire, were excited when their community was selected as one of the first communities to participate in the functional literacy project. Both men and women have the opportunity to attend the adult literacy classes which meet for three to four two-hour sessions per week. The classes are led by a tutor trained in the functional literacy curriculum and manual developed with cocoa growing communities in mind. To complement the project, small project funds are available for community development projects. Mrs. Bernadette Ohoussou Sidje and Mr. Marcellin Ohoussou are two of the many literacy students that realized the benefits of their new literacy skills.
Mrs. Ohoussou Sidje (pictured at right), like many of the women of Andou M’Batto, assists her husband on their cocoa farm and is responsible for processing their cassava crop after harvest. Mrs. Ohoussou Sidje was interested in attending the literacy classes, but knew that her ability to do so would be limited by the time consuming task of rasping the cassava.
At one time the village had a cassava mill, but it had fallen into disrepair and the women had to rasp the cassava by hand. With the small project funds that were available, the community decided to repair the cassava mill to facilitate the women’s participation in the classes. With the mill in working order, Mrs. Ohoussou Sidje was able to join the literacy class.
“With literacy classes, I can now learn without feeling ashamed. I now feel self-confident,” says Mrs. Ohoussou Sidje also noting that she now has basic numeracy skills and is able to read and write her name and simple words. She will soon be able to read letters from her husband and know when to take her children for vaccinations. She is happy in her new role as manager of the cassava mill where she works with two other literacy students. The women apply their new knowledge regularly to keep records of mill operations and make projections.
Mr. Ohoussou Marcellin (pictured at left), a 54 year old cocoa farmer with six children, is participating in the Andou M’Batto Farmer Field School offered by the Sustainable Tree Crops Program. Through the Farmer Field School, he has been learning new crop and pest management techniques to increase production and improve quality. He has been applying this knowledge on his farm and is pleased with his farm’s new, neat appearance.
However, he felt that his ability to fully realize the benefits of his training was hindered by his inability to read and write. Now that he is participating in the literacy classes, Mr. Ohoussou reports that he is better able to understand the Farmer Field School training.
He plans to apply his literacy and numeracy skills to improve his managerial capability, as well as gain a better understanding of cocoa pricing information and engage with the buyers of his cocoa.
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