The second stage of the project involved building the capacities of the newly-literate people through voca- tional training. This stage followed a study carried out in partnership with the Institut national de formation pro- fessionnelle (INFP). This study, which explored vocational training needs, made it possible to identify three key sectors: building, carpentry and cook- ery. Accordingly, three syllabuses and 16 learning guides were developed specifically for the purpose of training newly-literate people. Horticulture textbooks were also developed as part of the Pro-Huerta project, a supplementary initiative funded by Argentinian partners. A small group of promoters drawn from among the literacy facilitators was created and trained to support the beneficiaries of the Pro-Huerta programme in the reinforcement of their reading and writing skills. The vocational training stage of the project resulted in the training of more than 1,000 of the newly-literate people who had already received literacy training.
Monitoring and evaluation
A participatory monitoring and evaluation system was developed to enable each stakeholder in the
project to have a clearly-defined role and take part in the process. For the literacy stage, the person with chief responsibility for monitoring is the département coordinator, who receives field reports drawn up by the supervisors and support committees in the communes of Bainet and Côtes-de-Fer. While courses are under way, the local coordinator and one member of the support committee (a local body representing the community) visit each centre twice a month and a report is drawn up on each occasion. Monthly summaries of these reports are sent to the central office of the DSSL, UNESCO and AECID via the various focal groups. Each local or community supervisor is responsible for supervising ten (10) centres. He or she has the job of ensuring that supervision is contin- uous. To this end, supervisors must visit each centre at least once a week. They carry out systematic and ongo- ing monitoring of centre operation and facilitator attendance. They check the facilitator attendance register and regularly meet the support committee to share information.
Facilitators are in charge of centres. They are responsible for providing literacy training to the enrolled participants assigned to them by the support committee and the département coordinating body. They keep attendance registers and record absences and late arrivals of participants. They are trained to provide high-quality facilitation and instruction, while also motivating participants. Their duties also include passing on observations to local coordinators via community supervi- sors. They act on the feedback given to them and use it to improve training provision.
Monitoring and supervision visits are also made by focus groups and the central office (of the support com- mittees). Regular reports are drawn up to assess the situation within each commune as regards the attendance of participants and facilitators and the quality and effectiveness of training provision.
A two-pronged evaluation system has been created. One of the evaluation methods involves setting participants two simple reading, writing and
arithmetic tests during each session. These tests are devised by the département coordinator on the basis of the specimen papers provided by the central office. The second method involves evaluation of the project by experts from UNESCO, AECID and the DSSL, institutional evaluation, and evaluation of the objectives, activities, actors and participants. A final external evaluation report is then drawn up and presented at a three-party meeting.
The vocational training courses have a duration of four months. Learners attend classes on up to three days a week. The list of requirements for learners is drawn up by the INFP in partnership with the DSSL. Each training module comprises a mini- mum of 40 hours of classes. A final assessment is carried out by trainers who have received prior training from INFP staff. During the training period, monitoring is carried out by the INFP and DSSL to establish how well the courses are being run. This monitor- ing focuses on both the quality of what is taught and also the impor- tance attached by the trainers to the reading and writing skills required of the participants by the project. Three vocational training sessions are to be run as part of this stage of the LIFE project for a total of 500 learners. The food autonomy strand employs 100 trained promoters, each of whom is given an evaluation kit with which to monitor the progress made by beneficiaries towards the goal of literacy. All beneficiaries are given a horticulture and livestock rearing textbook supplied by Pro-Huerta. Pro-Huerta coordination initiatives are carried out in Haiti every two months in partnership with the IICA.
OUTCOMES
Despite the difficult circumstances in which it has been implemented, this project has yielded notable results in the communes of Bainet and Côtes-de-Fer.
With a view to sustainable capac- ity-building, training centres have been set up in both of the communes targeted by the project. These centres, established to host the liter- acy and vocational training courses
initiated by the project, will continue to be run by the DSSL as part of the national literacy campaigns it has been implementing annually since 2006. These facilities should also serve as venues for other cultural and recreational activities including future literacy efforts based on audiovisual methods that have been tailored by the DSSL to cater to the needs of Haiti. These steps should make it possible to gain the support of the local community and authorities and contribute towards the project’s sustainability.
The centres have also been used as an environment in which to reinforce the literacy skills acquired by learners. These courses have been attended by a total of 6,500 people, almost 70% of whom are women. Despite the bad weather of 2008 and its disastrous aftermath, participants achieved a success rate of 36% in the final tests of the literacy sessions implemented thus far. The vocational training delivered in the skill areas identified has been taken up by 500 young people. Nearly 750 young people have received horticulture training through the Pro-Huerta project. To help learners translate the knowledge they have gained into income-gen- erating activities, the project will attempt to establish synergies with other projects and NGOs in the domain of microlending. This, in turn, will encourage the creation of small enterprises. Along similar lines, it is also expected that the project will introduce the concepts of risk and disaster prevention through the courses delivered, given the region’s extreme level of exposure to phe- nomena of this kind.
As part of efforts to build national capacities over the medium and long terms, a number of DSSL officers received support from the project, though these efforts were wiped out by the tragic impact of the 2010 earthquake on the DSSL in terms of loss of life and property.. However, it is already envisaged that training in literacy project planning and management will be resumed once the DSSL has relocated to its new premises at the end of 2010.
SUSTAINABILITY
Despite being a pilot initiative of relatively short duration, this project features a number of sustainable components.
The focus on a group that is vulnera- ble but also has enormous potential (young people aged between 14 and 30) reflects the desire to make the project last. Literacy and vocational training are seen as ways in which the target populations can identify and capitalise on their potential. The sectors on which the vocational training is focused are very well suited to the local environment and have high income generation potential. To help put theory into practice, the project will analyse and add to avenues of funding for micro-pro- jects, which will make it possible to free the target population from the shackles of poverty and ignorance once and for all.
This project has given scope for a sig- nificant level of socio-environmental anchoring. The activities incorporated into the project have enabled the target populations to look at their environment with a critical eye. Haiti is regularly hit by climate-related and environmental disasters. The project has also brought social benefits. Particular attention was paid to the use of Creole in the development of the textbooks and training syllabuses to make the learning process quicker for the target populations and enable them to remember what is taught to them during the training.
On the institutional front, the project has boosted the strength of the DSSL by transferring technical skills, materials and equipment through the various activities developed by the project. The equipment acquired through the project, the infrastructures improved by it and the teaching materials will become the property of the DSSL. This will make the department better equipped for its annual literacy campaigns and training activities aimed at vulnerable groups in Haiti.
A second phase of the project is now in the pipeline. It will consolidate the knowledge acquired by learners during the first phase and provide training for 1,800 young people
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Transforming Our World: Literacy for Sustainable Developmentaged between 14 and 40. Given the difficulties and experiences of the past, this second phase will begin with a better chance of achieving satisfactory results.