Community Learning Center Programs and Community Literacy Development in Asian and the Pacific Countries: Bangladesh, Iran, Vietnam and Pakistan as Case Studies

Abstract

Literacy plays a key role in the process of development. Without literacy, a community  faces many challenges to improve its quality of life. For the reason, today countries have invested a lot to bring up their literacy level and   governments have formulated several CLD programs. One of the major programs that have been implemented for the purpose is the Community Learning Centers Program (CLCP). The program has been implemented to improve the level of literacy in Asian and the Pacific Countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of CLCP in CLD in Asian and the Pacific Countries. Because of the extension area of the CLCP, this paper will focus on the role of CLCP in CLD in four participating countries: the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Iran. Several resources have been used to collect the necessary data. The main information resources include: 1)      The existing documents 2)      Reports prepared by countries 3)     Correspondence (guidelines,practical announcements) 4)      Reports of the delegations visiting  the centers 5)      Researches and assessments in the host countries