Perspectives on adult literacy and livelihood: a review with reference to the National Literacy Programme in Namibia (NLPN)

Abstract

Literacy, when defined as learning to read and write, has always been considered as an avenue of expressing learners’ realities and values, hence individual learning is shaped by social contexts (Thompson, 2002). In other words, a literate person should be able to apply what has been learned to his or her own context. Namibia has taken the view that literacy is not an end to itself. Instead, it is a tool for empowerment, and a catalyst for economic development. However, the transferability of learned skills to address daily challenges concomitant to improving adult learners’ livelihoods, has recently dominated the debate on the value of adult literacy learning (Likando, 2011). Borrowing from the critical literacy theory, this review article aims to generate debate on the link between literacy and livelihood in an attempt to address the question: Can adult literacy enhance livelihood activities? Using secondary data, we examined the National Literacy Programme of Namibia (NLPN) as a case study.