Fostering educational participation in pastoral communities through non-formal education: the Ghanaian perspective

Individual perceptions on the participant and societal functionality of non-formal education for youth: Explaining differences across countries based on the human development index

“…This distinction is relevant as non-formal education thus (1) requires a minimal level of resources to support an organizational structure, (2) can be applied to focus on a particular group of people or niche activity, and (3) can be strategically managed in order to reach particular educational goals for such a targeted group. As an example, Mfum-Mensah (2003) and Mfum-Mensah and Friedson-Ridenour (2014) discuss how community initiatives are managed for a targeted group of rural areas in Ghana. Consequently, non-formal education, as it is currently mainly provided by civil society and/or non-profit service organizations, can fill the gap between what is left open by formal education (private or public) (Frumkin, 2002;La Belle, 2000) and what is naturally transferred through social interaction in one's cultural context (Duke, 1986;Tuijnman and Boström, 2002).…”

NGO provision of basic education: alternative or complementary service delivery to support access to the excluded?

“…While there is some similarity in characteristics of non-formal education programmes provided by NGOs, there may be differences in the ways in which they adapt pedagogical approaches, depending on whether they intend to develop particular skills, or provide accelerated learning for basic literacy and numeracy, for example (Mfum-Mensah, 2003;Hoppers 2006;Carron and Carr-Hill, 1991). While NGO providers have commonly been associated with intending to provide an alternative form of curriculum to the state system, more recently they have become associated with 'complementary' (or 'para-formal') approaches.…”

“…As such, some forms aim to 'cram' the formal curriculum into a shorter period (focusing on basic literacy and numeracy), others aim to provide different kinds of skills to those offered in the formal system, while others intend to link more directly with training for particular kinds of occupations. Some approaches target particular population groups, while others target particular types of knowledge and skills (Mfum-Mensah, 2003). Within this disaggregation of types, 'alternative' non-formal education is understood as one which is implemented as a different education model, in a way that is more relevant to the basic education needs of young people, altering the structure of education to increase access, relevance and efficiency (Mfum-Mensah, 2003).…”

“…Some approaches target particular population groups, while others target particular types of knowledge and skills (Mfum-Mensah, 2003). Within this disaggregation of types, 'alternative' non-formal education is understood as one which is implemented as a different education model, in a way that is more relevant to the basic education needs of young people, altering the structure of education to increase access, relevance and efficiency (Mfum-Mensah, 2003). As such, the alternative approach could be adopted across the different types of non-formal programmes.…”

Schooling and the Encouragement of Farming Amongst Pastoralists in Tanzania

“…There has been a recent increase in the attention education for pastoralists has received in national government (Bugeke 1997;GOFRN 1999;Obura 2002;GOK 2003;Lyimo 2003), NGO and donor (IEC 2002;Ismail 2002;Mfum-Mensah 2003;Carr-Hill et al 2005;Oxfam 2005), and academic spheres (Krätli 2000(Krätli , 2001Dyer 2001Dyer , 2006Little et al 2001). This increased attention is related to the serious challenge which pastoralists' low rates of education pose for those who wish to achieve national and international targets of 'Education for All' by 2015 (Oxfam 2005), as well as to these changing ideas about pastoralism.…”