Integrated Functional Adult Education in Afar Pastoralist Community in Ethiopia: Practices and Prospects

Abstract

The major objective of this study is to examine the status of implementations of Integrated functional Adult Education (IFAE) program and analyze peculiar and context specific challenges in the Afar transhumant pastoralist community. To serve this purpose, a descriptive survey research method and mixed explanatory approach are employed. Simple random sampling and available sampling techniques are used to select key informants. Focus Group Discussion(FGD), interview and questionnaire are instruments of data collection.The qualitative data are organized based on dominant views, whereas the quantitative data are analyzed using descriptive inferential statistics.The analysis result indicate that the participation of  transhumant pastorallist Afar adults in IFAE programe is abysmally low because of inproper planning of the programe in the context of transhumant pastoralism (dominant ways of livilihoods of Afar community) irrelevance of curriculum contents, lack of awareness of the purpose of Integrated Functional Adult Education, and  sentiments that education brings less return compared with livestock rearing.The challenges in the proper implementation of IFAE in the region is found to be demand-side and supply-side, hence the study recommends both supply-side and demand-side intervention strategic options so as to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for transhumant pastoralist Afar community in Ethiopia.