UTILIZATION OF BASIC LITERACY PROGRAMME IN IMPROVING THE LIVELIHOOD OF RURAL WOMEN IN ENUGU EAST SENATORIAL ZONE

Abstract

This study investigated utilization of basic literacy programme in improving the livelihood of rural women in Enugu East Senatorial zone. One research question and one null hypothesis guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The area of the study was Enugu East Senatorial Zone. The population for the study was 72, 237 rural women who participated in functional literacy programmes. Taro Yamane sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 480 respondents. The instrument for data collection was a structured  questionnaire titled “Basic Literacy Programmes and Improved Livelihood of Rural Women Questionnaire (BLPILRWQ).” The Instrument was validated by three research experts. Two from the Department of Adult and Continuing Education while one expert was from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Education, Measurement ad Evaluation unit. Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was used to compute the internal consistency of the instrument. A total of 461 out of 480 copies were distributed but 461 copies were returned. The return rate was 96%. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study reveals that basic literacy programme, to a great extent improved the livelihood of rural women in Enugu East Senatorial Zone. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that government should partner with non-governmental agencies and other stakeholders to encourage women to participate more in various functional literacy programmes in order to improve their welfare and sustain their livelihood.