Practices and Challenges of Integrated Functional Adult Education Program in Gamo Zone, Ethiopia

Integrated Functional Adult Education Program was less effective in promoting development in Ethiopia compared with the expectation government has placed on it. The purpose of this study was, thus, to investigate its practices and challenges in Gamo Zone. The study employed mixed research method with sequential exploratory design. The quantitative data were collected from 123 school principals and 181 facilitators, and were analyzed via mean, standard deviation and independent samples t-test. The qualitative data, on the other hand, were obtained through interview conducted with four experts and 24 adult learners. The study disclosed that although the program benefited the adult learners significantly in their social, economic, legal and technological needs, its implementation level was impoverished impeded by the practitioners’ skill gap, low partner commitment, shortage of resources, less effective operational system and failure to plan effectively. Thus, to revitalize the benefits, its challenges need be addressed through integrated intervention aided by memorandum of understanding to be signed by all parties, close oversight procedure of the zonal government and scholarly endeavors of converting research outputs into community engagement projects to be supported by more collaborators. The best experiences need further be cascaded to other areas preceded by further study.