Adult literacy, popular education and peace-building in Timor-Leste

In Timor-Leste, a national adult literacy campaign, supported by a small team of Cuban advisers, was launched in 2007, in the wake of a political crisis which threatened to de-stabilise the world’s newest independent country. Two years later, over 26,000 people have completed a thirteen week basic literacy course, and the campaign looks set to have a major impact on the country's 50% illiteracy rate. This paper, drawing on findings from in-country fieldwork funded by an ARC Linkage grant, outlines the achievements of the campaign, and assesses the contribution which adult literacy makes to post-conflict peacebuilding and the achievement of post-colonial independence. This unusual and innovative experiment in mass popular adult education, undertaken with high levels of local involvement and minimal donor support, will be contrasted with the more dominant neo-liberal models of education and training for state-building, favoured by international agencies such as the World Bank.