Non-Formal Literacy Education For Rural Women's Empowerment in Ghana: A Micro Level Analysis

Much as knowledge is rationally perceived as power with ability to construct identity, and facilitate social interaction, most women in rural areas in Ghana are unable to read or write in a local language as they missed out on schooling for socio-cultural and structural reasons. Yet, literacy is discounted as an element of personal transformation as well as a skill to possibly and cogently bridge the gender-parity gap in education through empowerment projects. The reason being; non-formal education programmes which engender acquisition of literacy skills is disparaged as an alternative form of learning in education planning at the detriment of marginalized populations and women in particular. But how can one read the world without the word (Freire Macedo, 1987)? This study primarily identifies the linkage between literacy and women's empowerment; interrogates the prognosis between literacy and personal transformation; and examines the methods employed by Non Formal Education Division to systematise learning to achieve this goal in Ghana. It is an empirical qualitative multi-sited research conducted in four rural locations in Accra to critically investigate how non-formal education is represented in social development. The study's analytical framework is set within a feminist methodology and grounded theory, and draws on transformative learning Mezirow (2000) and empowerment Stromquist (1995) as conceptual frameworks to explore the epistemology and subjective change respectively. The findings report: interest in literacy is dynamic but implicates government indifference with respect to non-formal education as it identifies, that instable governance, funding and state bureaucracy encumber institution and programme effectiveness and this deprive citizens their right to education. Learner interest has equally shifted from gender-role reinforcement literacy to that of empowered literacy to include: income-generating and employable skills, multi-language learning, women's co-operative formation, and micro credit opportunities. The study concludes with a five-frame proposal for NFED institutional strengthening for effective governance, public engagement and fundraising towards sustainable literacy for development.Ph.D