To boost the literacy rate, and improve the education of the population, the Nigerien government launched an adult literacy program in 1964. Shortly after the onset of the program, follow-up activities became necessary to facilitate application and retention of the knowledge that former literates had acquired. / More than thirty years after their initiation, these "post-literacy programs" have not proved viable. To find out the underlying causes of this problem, naturalistic methods of inquiry appeared preferable in order to give the main constituencies of the literacy program (policy-makers, implementing staff, and intended beneficiaries) an opportunity to asses the results. / The objectives of the research were: (1) to determine the role of the program design process in producing the observed results; (2) to gauge the importance of contextual factors in accounting for the situation; and, (3) to investigate the influence that stakeholders' views and other contextual factors have had on the application of learning. / The literature reviewed included program development, sociology of adult education, policy analysis, transfer of learning, diffusion of innovations, and social change theories. With a systems perspective of analysis as base ground, a conceptual framework combining Jones and Zumeta's model of policy analysis (1980, pp. 192-202), and Stufflebeam's CIPP model (1971) was used to analyze the data. / Though the data collection method was qualitative, the design departed from that of traditional naturalistic studies as four levels of inquiry including a sample of thirty centers were retained. Data were collected in: Niamey, the capital city of Niger (documentation review and interviews with policy-makers); thirteen regional literacy offices (survey of implementing staff); a number of local communities (group and individual interviews); and internationally in Dakar and Ouagadougou. / The data suggest that program designers overlooked contextual factors that determine literacy demand and readiness of communities for change, and that implementation was deficient. The greater success of activities sponsored by NGOs and development projects underscores, however, the viability of the basic post-literacy model if adequate resources are made available. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-04, Section: A, page: 1443. / Major Professor: Peter Easton. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1996.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77692 |
| Contributors | Moussa, Laouali Malam., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 237 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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