The success of NFE programs has been found to depend on the following factors:

1. A broader definition and scope of NFE: Non-formal learning should no longer be viewed in a narrow way but as part of lifelong learning.
2. Community involvement: The involvement of local communities in the planning and management of NFE programs is vital to ensure that the programs are relevant to their needs and to develop a sense of ownership.
3. Local demand: A demand-driven paradigm for initiating NFE programs not only ensures effective use of the resources but also reinforces accountability among participants.
4. Continued government support: Since NFE programs generally meet the educational needs of marginalized groups, they are invariably dependent on support from the government or from donor agencies.
5. Linking literacy with economic activities: It is essential for NFE programs to go beyond literacy programs and offer functional education that can promote economic development and improve the quality of life of individuals and the community.
6. Addressing the issue of poverty alleviation: Since NFE programs target poorer sections of the society, they need to address the issue of poverty alleviation. Well-designed NFE programs have the potential to alleviate problems arising out of poverty.
7. Multi-sectoral participation: While most educational programs tend to be confined to the educational bureaucracy, NFE programs that attempt to link education with the economic and social aspects of people’s lives need the collaboration of professionals and administrators from the relevant agencies and organizations in the government and non-government sectors.

Integrating ICTs in NFE programs can help meet these requisites for success thus:

• ICT can be used to develop livelihood skills and thus contribute to poverty alleviation: Livelihood skills training is a common activity in CLCs. The use of ICTs as a tool in such training is an engaging way for learners to develop these livelihood skills (UNESCO 2005).
• ICT is a tool for capacity-building: More specifically, ICT can be used as an effective and affordable tool in the professional development of NFE teachers. This is important because although qualified and trained teachers are the key to quality learning and increased learner motivation, in many countries professional expertise, particularly for the provision of non-formal literacy education, is limited and thinly distributed, and training in teaching and learning in NFE contexts consists of one-off programs and lack follow-up and sustainability.
  
  
  NFE programs can also help develop the digital skills that are now required in public service at the central, provincial, district, and community levels.
• ICT can facilitate documentation and information sharing: ICT can facilitate the print, visual, and video documentation that is needed for the dissemination of information about successful NFE projects. When undertaken by the members of the community, this documentation can help foster a sense of community pride and ownership and ensure continuing support and enthusiastic participation. And while ICTs can promote information sharing between communities, they can also be effectively used to mobilize policy dialogue on the use of ICT for community empowerment.
• ICT can be used to facilitate the process of networking among organizations engaged in the design and delivery of NFE programs: It is essential for the government and other organizations to coordinate their NFE activities to maximize available resources and expertise, including ICT equipment.
• ICT tools can improve the overall effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation: Monitoring and evaluation should be built into the entire planning and management of NFE programs.
• ICT can be used in promoting literacy for community empowerment: Dighe and Reddi (2006) present case studies from India highlighting the effective use of technology to empower rural women in particular. One case study is of the Deccan Development Society (DDS), which has trained poor dalit (the Indian social classification for the poorest and the ‘untouchables’ in the caste system) women in the Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, India, to use video technologies to represent their lives and redefine their status. In Machnoor village, DDS has set up a community radio station with a 100-watt FM transmitter and a 30-kilometre radius reach where, with the support of UNESCO, a small team of dalit women has recorded 300 hours of programming on issues relating to women’s empowerment, agricultural needs of semi-arid regions, public health and hygiene, indigenous knowledge systems, biodiversity, and food security. They have also recorded local songs and drama. In Ahmedabad, India, Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has been using video as a tool for women’s empowerment since the mid-1980s. Video is used as a medium to share information with the women members of SEWA and also as a tool for training and teaching new skills and for reaching policymakers.

Currently there are three types of learning spaces where ICTs are used to enhance NFE: telecentres, Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) and CLCs.

A telecentre is a public space where community members can access telephones, computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies that can help them gather information and communicate with others. The simplest kind of telecentre is a booth in which the owner of a cellphone sells user-time. This has worked well in countries like Bangladesh where the Grameen Bank has been lending money to rural women to buy cellphones since 1997. A telecentre has a limited educational function but it is empowering to those who are enabled to access information easily. In the case of Grameen Bank, it has also helped in alleviating poverty by augmenting the income of the village women in Bangladesh.

CMCs are non-profit telecentres that aim to promote community empowerment and address the problem of the digital divide. Also known as a community e-centre (CeC), a CMC combines community telecentre facilities (computers with Internet and email, phone, fax, and photocopying services) with a community radio run by local people in the local language. The radio, which is low-cost and easy to operate, not only informs, educates and entertains, but also empowers the community by giving a strong public voice to the voiceless and encouraging greater accountability in public affairs. CMCs provide a gateway to active membership in knowledge societies by enabling everyone to gain access to information and communication tools that they can use to improve the quality of their lives.

UNESCO (2007) defines a CLC as ‘a local place of learning outside the formal education system … usually set up and managed by local people for local people’. CLCs, which may be located in urban and rural areas, ‘are home-grown institutions that … provide education programs that address the specific needs and desires of the populations they serve’. Their aim ‘is to help individuals empower themselves and promote community development through lifelong education for all people in the community, including adults, youth, and children of all ages. A CLC does not necessarily require new infrastructure, but can operate from an existing health center, temple, mosque, primary school or other suitable venue’.

Of all APPEAL-supported regional projects none has generated greater enthusiasm among APEC member states than the CLC project. Initiated in the late 1990s, it has attracted over 20 countries in the region to try out community-based models for learning at the local level. Several countries that have piloted the development of CLCs with the support of APPEAL have now developed models that are being replicated with the support of communities, governments, and other partners.

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