Women’s Literacy Project in Darfur, Sudan (2008)

Having been engulfed in internal conflict for more than three years now, the community area of El Fasher in which Together for Sudan seeks to set up women’s literacy classes is an impoverished community of not less than 200,000 people. This project will provide 350 women from El Fasher with the skills of reading and writing. To provide this education Together for Sudan will establish 14 literacy classes and pay the incentives of the 14 teachers on a monthly basis for nine months every year.

The 14 literacy classes will be a means of extending educational services to the destitute women of Darfur so that they will be able to respond positively to rapidly changing living conditions. Together for Sudan is an English charity dedicated to education as a human right. The charity also listens to the poor and dispossessed, promotes voluntarism, women’s empowerment and the value of respecting those of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds.

Results

REI supported Together for Sudan with a grant to be used as salaries for their newly educated teachers. Despite the teachers’ enthusiasm to set up classes, several of them have faced some problems in finding a venue. To solve this problem, church schools have been used for evening classes and local leaders have been contacted for help in finding other venues suitable for teaching. So far two teachers have set up classes with 34 women attending.