Global award AID/OTR-147-78-14 · 1978–1979 · social policies, regulations and systems

With limited resources and competing priorities, development and education planners are debating which educational mode (formal or nonformal) will assure the greatest benefits to women in LDCs in terms of increased incomes, greater control over their lives, and more influence in community and familial decisionmaking. The nonformal system offers short-term, flexible, and inexpensive training in basic literacy, numeracy, and job skills, but it is plagued by lack of status and specific linkages to available employment opportunities. Though formal education has years of tradition and prestige behind it, it is costly, diminishing in quality, and inaccessible to the vast majority of the rural poor. This final report presents the findings of a study to determine which educational mode is more functional for accelerating the integration of LDC women into development efforts. First, the study's parameters, terms, and definitions are briefly described. Next, a historical view of American and colonial African education is provided to determine its relevance to the developing world. The education models indicated that female education benefits national development. Literated women contribute t

Source: DEC abstract, PN-AAH-604 (1979). The source's own text.