The Impact of TIRRIM Adult Funtional Literacy among the Nomadic Rendille Pastoralists and it's Implicatons for Adult Literacy Education

Abstract

Current pursuit of Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) call for serious attention into literacy and specifically adult literacy education. Such seriousness demand assessments into programmes that carryout literacy work in order to ascertain their level of impact and their contribution to EF A andMDGs. Compelled by a low level of literacy among the nomadic Rendille pastoralists and their high level of marginalization, the researcher embarked on this study. This study sought to make inquiry into the impact of TIRRIM adult functional literacy (T AFL) among the nomadic Rendille pastoralists and the implication of this to adult literacy education. The study further aimed at exploring how literacy best meets the needs of the Rendille community. This was an evaluative research study, which employed a quantitative research design. In the research three crucial questions were addressed. Data was gathered from twenty eight individuals through orally administered questionnaires in the Rendille language. The validity of the instrument was determined by a pilot test which was conducted by ten students in the Educational Department at NEGST. Data was statistically analysed and presented based on the research questions and hypotheses. There were four hypotheses which were tested using the Chi-Square test of independence at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that T AFL is highly perceived to be relevant in meeting the needs of the nomadic Rendille pastoralists. The relevance of the programme was perceived only in terms of the programme's ability to meet the needs of the learners. The findings also showed that T AFL impacts its learners through acquisition of various skills through training but the applicability of these skills in daily life highly depends on the level of efficiency obtained on the same skills. The various factors perceived to influence the impact of T AFL were not perceived to be significant according to the respondents. However, the factors were still regarded to be of significant influence on impact based on additional knowledge of the researcher about the literacy programme.