Living and Learning: Meeting unmet literacy needs through community collaboration and peer led empowerment.
Addressing unmet literacy needs through practical workshops.
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“I really enjoyed the DIY classes, especially getting to make my own planter and meeting new people.”- Learner
This project aimed to address unmet literacy needs among various cohorts through practical workshops in cookery, herbalism, carpentry, and tiling. Teaching literacy through manual skills allowed facilitators to engage with individuals who would generally avoid conventional classroom settings.
Classes took place between September and December 2024 in Parkside and Ardnaree in Ballina, County Mayo.
39 participants from disadvantaged communities attended multiple classes.
Learners developed new skills liker baking, growing and using common herbs, tiling, carpentry, and digital skills.
Participants from Parkside and Ardnaree embraced opportunities for more social interaction and community building.
Two do-it-yourself (DIY) courses helped learners improve their numeracy skills.
Digital courses covered topics like Artificial Intelligence (AI), misinformation, social media, and online shopping.
Learners really enjoyed acquiring new skills while addressing their literacy, numeracy, and digital needs.
The project was very successful at engaging hard-to-reach cohorts and individuals.
Plans are underway to maintain the provision of workshops in herbalism, cooking, and DIY in Ballina.
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This project was a collaboration between Mayo North East Leader Partnership Company and Mayo Sligo ETB.
For more information about the project, please contact Roisin Egan, Regional Literacy Coordinator in Mayo Sligo Leitrim, at RoisinEgan@msletb.ie
The Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund
The Collaboration and Innovation Fund supports projects for adults with unmet literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs and projects that support organisations to be literacy friendly. The closing date for 2024 applications has now passed but keep an eye out for information on our 2025 fund which will be launched in December.
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