Developing literate environments: Fleshing out the demand side of Education For All

Abstract

This article explores the concept of a literate environment as a framework for better recognizing and more fully specifying the demand side of Education For All – that is, the factors that determine the uses to which new literate, numerate and technical skills can in fact be beneficially put in any given context. Lessons from the history of literacy and experience from the assessment of nonformal education programs in Africa are used to suggest a perspective that balances the supply and demand sides of the issue and some of the policies and political conditions for achieving EFA under initially threadbare circumstances.