Areas of Work
1. Capacity Building
Literacy facilitators, coordinators and supervisors are trained at various levels in order to share and implement new teaching methods in the field of non-formal education (NFE).
ERDCN mainly conducts the following types of capacity building activities every year:
- Facilitator Training - for NFE staff. The staff is encouraged to share their experiences of involvement in NFE classes and discuss how they can implement alternative teaching methods.
- General Training of Trainers - which focuses on methodology and management in the field of NFE and aims to develop leadership skills.
- NFE Coordinators Workshop - where progress and problems of NFE classes are discussed and plans for solving these problems are made. In order to further expand the sharing of experiences and ideas, ERDCN also participates in national level workshops and meets with other Non-Government Organizations (NGO-s) and Government Offices in Kathmandu or in other South Asian countries. ERDCN is often requested to provide technical and professional support to other NGO-s.
2. Material Development
ERDCN provides technical support through development of different materials. Literacy facilitators observe classes, interact with participants, discuss specific needs and according to gathered information, develop various types of materials. ERDCN provides support by developing draft forms or ideas supplied by the coordinators. Literacy follow-up materials are produced and shared for those who have completed the NFE classes. Some of these materials are designed to be used for teaching by means of thematic discussion like health, agricultural activities, forestry, women and children issues, etc. Some materials are designed for self-study.
ERDCN mainly develops following materials:
- Pipal Pustak - ERDCN continuously produces the Pipal Pustak in order to assist newly literate people to retain their reading skills and provide post-literacy reading material. Many National and International Non-Government Organizations now use these booklets through out the country to further their work in bringing functional literacy to the people of Nepal. In 1996 the Fifth Asia/Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO recognized the contribution made by the Pipal Pustak series by awarding it with the fully illustrated Literacy Booklet Prize.
- Follow-up Reading Materials - ERDCN collects stories and proverbs that exist in community and are told by older generations to younger generations while they sit together in the evening time. Presently, ERDCN has composed seven books of stories and proverbs. These books are widely used by neo-literates.
- NFE Class Operation Master Guideline (NCOMG) - ERDCN publishes NFE Class Operation Master Guidelines, which can be used by various groups of people. The guidelines are self-explanatory and users can take ideas for all areas of NFE class operations: establishment, monitoring, supervision and management. According to user’s needs, the whole book or single chapters can be used. This guideline is the first kind of information resource book for facilitating operations of NFE class in the context of Nepal.
3. ERDCN Resource Center
Different types of resource materials developed by ERDCN and other organizations are displayed in the NFE resource center. Here the visitors have opportunity to observe resources available in Nepal. ERDCN updates the selection periodically and shares new resources with different development organizations.
4. Consultancy Support
Presently most NGO-s, INGO-s and GO-s are conducting the NFE classes directly or through partnering with local NGO-s. The ERDCN provides consultancy support in developing conceptualized reading materials and conducting different trainings.
5. Support to External Development Organizations
ERDCN provides professional support to other development organizations, working in the field of NFE:
- Non-government organizations
- Community Learning Centers (CLC-s)
- International non-government organizations
- Government organizations and Community based development organizations
6. Research and Development
EDCN extends its support in the field of NFE related research and development. Under the research and development, the ERDCN carries out the following activities:
- Newsletter - ERDCN publishes quarterly newsletter. The newsletter consists of different NFE articles collected and written by NFE professionals and is used by various people involved in research or development. The readers of the newsletter get the opportunity to know and understand recent progress and innovations in the field of NFE methodology and reading material.
- Project Monitoring and Evaluation - ERDCN evaluates projects of different organizations especially NFE projects and shares the findings with them. ERDCN is evaluating impact of NFE projects conducted in Kathmandu valley.
7. Other Activities
In addition to the above listed six working areas of the ERDCN, it also contributes to the “Tin Trunk Library” and village reading center programs, which is unique activity in Nepal. There are about 1000 such libraries in operation, located in village reading centers, where villagers can borrow books and exchange or select new titles. Meetings are held at the reading centers two or three times each week where knowledge and ideas from the books are discussed. Such libraries/centers are managed by the users. Also the Pipal Pustak series and other follow-up reading materials have been widely used in the “Tin Trunk Libraries”.
Moreover ERDCN collects and supplies the periodicals, posters, pamphlets and teaching materials for formal and non formal education published by GO-s, NGO-s, public and private publisher to those organizations who run NFE classes and Community Learning Centers (CLC).