The Sustainability Of Community Learning Centers For Rural Development Research

Rural development is a big challenge for developing countries. In rural areas of developing countries illiteracy, low level of economy, less opportunities for employment, low level of quality of life of the people, concentration of traditional misbelieves; less accessibility to education, health facility, family planning etc could be seen easily. Education is one of the main components to be considered for developing rural areas and provides them opportunities to access the better quality of life. In developing countries, it is very difficult to provide educational opportunities only through formal education system. So, non-formal education should also be promoted in the same manner. One of the greatest weaknesses of NFE in many countries has been an inadequate infrastructure, certainly as compared with the well-organized system of formal education. The concept of Community Learning Center (CLC) has been spread out in the Asia and the Pacific Region. Many of the countries have taken it as a strong viable mechanism to provide literacy and NFE programs effectively. CLCs can provide different educational and developmental services at the community level. Their major functions can be grouped under the following headings: Education and training Community development Information collection, communication and dissemination and resource center Preservation of local culture and cultural heritage Co-ordination and networkingMany countries like Thailand, Vietnam has developed the policies on CLC to make it a part of government program. It is also very effective to generate the participation of the community people by mobilizing different resources. But still most of the countries are operating CLC as pilot project. So, there is a great concern about the sustainability of CLC. Some may think that financial sustainability is the most one to sustain it. But it could be seen that there are other factors, which are equally important to make it sustainable.Nepal with high rate of illiteracy rate of about 46% has been facing different economic as well as social problems. One of the reasons for its low development is its low literacy rate. In order to provide education opportunities, it is establishing CLCs in different parts of the country to provide literacy with other functional and income generating activities to the rural people. Within the short period, the country has realized the effectiveness of the CLC and its importance to expedite its development process. It has already started activities for the sustainability of CLC. This study tries to analyze the CLC activities in different countries with special reference to Case of Nepal and the process started to make it sustainable and problem regarding the sustainability. The study is based on different document and literature review and a detail field study in CLCs of Nepal. The study clarifies the process of sustainability and the factors to be considered for the sustainability such as i) policy formulation, ii) capacity building iii) mobilization of local resources iv) coordination and networking v) monitoring and evaluation.The study also provides glimpse of risk factors to be avoided for the sustainability of CLC such i) Risk of over-dependence on ad hoc funding ii) Dependence on personnel on short-term contracts iii) Outsider driven programs iv) Unaware of the organizational conflict and its management and v) Lack of transparency...