National Literacy and Awareness Council

According to the NLP literacy management structure NLAC is the highest policy making body for literacy programs in the country, and is the National Government’s agency with responsibility for literacy and NFE. The council was established in 1989 and the National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat (NLAS) is the administration arm of the NLAC. The membership of the council is made up of representatives from adult literacy stakeholders and providers from government, NGO’s, CBO’s and FBO’s The council was effective until 2004 when the council members decided to disband itself to ensure fair representation from the government and NGO’s. However, due to funding constraints the council has not been reactivated.

In the absence of active NLAC, a multi-sectoral National Literacy Task Force (NLTF) was formed in 2007. The membership of the NLTF comprised of representatives from key government agencies, national literacy providers, university academics and research institute and mandated to undertake two specific tasks recommended by the former NLAC: (i) review the National Literacy Policy and (ii) develop legislative mechanisms for the development of National Literacy and Awareness Institute. In 2010, the terms of reference for the task force were extended to include the coordination of UNESCO funded CapEFA Project.