The practices of community learning centres in Ethiopia as a strategy for community development

The purpose of this study was to examine the practices of the model community learning centres (CLCs) and their achievements in Ethiopia. Four CLCs- Damote Galle, Sankura, Lume, and DebreLibanose were purposefully selected for the study. The study applied a mixed methods approach in which data were collected using KII, FGD, and a household survey. The study revealed that beneficiaries showed improvements in basic reading and writing skills, increased parental support for children’s education, greater awareness of health and hygiene, enhanced participation in social and development issues, and improved saving habits. Finally, the study has generated conclusion for further scale-up and implementation of CLCs: awareness creation and the capacity development of the community and influential individuals are crucial to ensure both scale-up and sustainability of the CLC. There should be a commitment from the implementers to push and convince the political wing to include the issue of CLC in the government structure, policies, plans, strategies, and monitoring and evaluation system and budget to run in an organised and sustained manner. To ensure the sustainability the CLC should develop internal income-generating mechanisms, and design a continuous human capacity-building program.