Education and Literacy
As you can imagine education covers a huge range of topics. From access to education, to teacher training, to scholarship programs, to good parenting programs. So we will have a tremendous number of things to share in this CSDi group.

Education in developing countries is so challenging. Many times parents don't understand the value of their children attending school. Frequently school fees, uniform fees, and supply fees are prohibitive. In many areas children don't have sufficient light for being able to study at night, and sometimes they have to walk great distances just to get to the school.

Education also overlaps with health and nutrition. Ill, undernourished children, if they can attend school, may have trouble concentrating. Children suffering from extreme malnourishment may not be developing properly mentally and may have difficulty excelling in school. Although the schools didn't cause these problems, they find themselves feeling the negative impacts and being placed in the position of trying to provide solutions through such interventions as school lunch programs and health and hygiene programs.

When we combine education with literacy there is the implication of adult learning programs. An adult that can't read will be unprepared to deal with many of life's complexities. Not being able to read and write and add and subtract will make it very difficult for them to increase their earning power. They will be targets of exploitation and injustice and remain trapped in the cycle of poverty. Offering adults the ability to become literate, even if only to the third or fourth grade level, will open up new windows of opportunity for them such as starting micro-businesses or the ability to better negotiate contracts for their farm produce.

Problems surrounding education can be solved with better early childhood health and nutrition, with awareness raising for parents as to the importance of education, and with good leadership and teacher training programs.

Be sure to visit the Education and Literacy Working Group.