Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/53172
Title: South-South Development Cooperation: Cuba's Yes, I Can! Adult Literacy model in Timor-Leste and Aboriginal Australia
Contributor(s): Boughton, Robert  (author)orcid ; Beetson, Jack  (author); Waites, Mary (author); Durnan, Deborah (author)
Publication Date: 2017-03
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/53172
Abstract: 

Low levels of adult literacy in a nation's official language(s) have long been recognised as a major barrier to the achievement of local and national development goals, and mass adult literacy campaigns have proven an effective way to overcome this problem. Following their own successful mass campaign in 1961, Cuba began helping many other countries run similar campaigns. Over time, Cuban adult educators developed an innovative campaign model which could be adapted to specific country contexts, and has now been deployed in 30 countries around the world reaching over 9 million people. In the last decade, the Cuban model, now called "Yes, I Can!" ("Yo, Si Puedo" in Spanish) has been used successfully in Timor-Leste with over 20,000 participating adults. It is now running in five remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. The authors of this paper worked on the Timor-Leste campaign with a team of Cuban advisers and Timorese nationals from 2006 to 2012, and began using the model in Australia in 2012. In this paper, we describe the model and how it has worked in these two different contexts, presenting evidence of the campaign's impact on the people and communities who have participated. Cuba's unique model of south-south education cooperation will be of interest to Pacific Islands educators and policy makers, who may also be struggling with the challenges of low levels of literacy among some sectors of their adult populations.

Publication Type: Conference Publication
Conference Details: Vaka Pasifiki 2014 Conference: Vaka Pasifiki Education Conference 2014, Nuku'alofa, Tonga, 24th - 25th September, 2014
Grant Details: ARC/LP160100257
Source of Publication: Proceedings of the Vaka Pasifiki Education Conference 2016, v.2, p. 105-113
Publisher: University of the South Pacific, Institute of Education
Place of Publication: Tongatapu, Tonga
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 130301 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education
130101 Continuing and Community Education
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 390301 Continuing and community education
390102 Curriculum and pedagogy theory and development
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 930501 Education and Training Systems Policies and Development
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 160104 Professional development and adult education
HERDC Category Description: E2 Non-Refereed Scholarly Conference Publication
Appears in Collections:Conference Publication
School of Education
School of Law

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