Shaping the Future of Africa through Innovative Literacy Approaches

The future for the African continent as envisioned in the Pan African 2063 Agenda for “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena” calls for immediate action.

The dynamic and unpredictable revolution in new and emerging technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, demands that we have a well-educated citizenry for Africa's advancement and sustainable development.

Having been in the forefront of literacy empowerment in Africa since 1999, the Pan Africa Literacy For All (PALFA) is positioned to support the new agenda through literacy dialogues. This will ensure that Africa, as a continent, contributes significantly to the building of a “literate, creative and adaptive citizenry equipped with 21st Century skills for a competitive global environment”. This lofty vision will however remain a mirage if the depressing education and literacy statistics at the continental, regional and national levels are not addressed as a matter of urgency and priority. The African continent, as a youthful population with low literacy rates, is characterized with high percentage of out-of-school children (ages 5-9), while seven out of 10 children are unable to read and comprehend a passage at age 10.

Global digital technology companies seem to advocate “buttonification of education” as a panacea, arguing that Edtech can save time and money by generating teaching and learning materials like curricula with a press of a button. However, critical scholars identify the risks and potential harms from algorithmic biases based on western knowledge systems and racialized power relations, including the standardization of instructional design, and the marginalization or exclusion of African indigenous knowledge systems. Since education does not exist outside of literacy development, PALFA 2025 seeks to move beyond these dichotomous debates and envision what literacy education should look like in “The Africa we want” in the context of Agenda 2063.

Consequently, to identify “what works” in literacy education in Africa, PALFA 2025 invites contributions that reimagine the Africa we want without homogenizing peoples and places; and how we might (re)design governance structures, curriculum, and pedagogies in accord with these visionings without falling prey to the pervading influence of tech-solutionism. Nonetheless, literacy practices in Africa need to take into account the ebbs and flows of the global context that include:

• Changes and advances in information and communication technology revolution
• Globalisation and changes in production
• Global security concerns
• The impact of climate change,
• Utilisation of technology to ensure a decent standard of living, and
• Epistemic violence and equity manifest in curricular content, pedagogies, and technologies.

Conference Specific Objectives are to:

• Interrogate political, economic, socio-cultural, environmental, technological, and globalisation factors affecting literacy education policies and practices.
• Examine epistemic violence and epistemic equity as manifest in curricular content, pedagogies, and technologies and their consequences, particularly for marginalized groups.
• Demonstrate the deployment of digital literacy and technologies to accelerate literacy learning
• The impact of climate change,
• Present emerging trends to mitigate low literacy learning outcomes through learner engagement
• Critically examine language, literacy policies and practices in Africa and beyond
• Present evidence-based policies and instructional practices for foundational literacy and the challenges for scaling including in areas affected by armed conflict and forcible displacement.

Conference Outcomes

The Conference is expected to bring new insights to the conceptualisation of literacies in the 21st century, as well as how new and emerging technologies can be leveraged for sustainable development. No doubt, the interactions will highlight what associations, institutions, development agencies, and governments can do to take Africa to the next level of sustainable development as envisioned in the Africa's 2063 Agenda of the Africa we want by using literacy as an instrument of empowerment. Ultimately, the organisers will compile and publish papers presented at the Conference for wider dissemination to open robust and sustained Pan Africa literacy dialogues in the years after the Conference.

Innovative Approaches to Foundational Literacy.

Mother Tongue Education, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Literacy Development

Literacy and Language Policies in Africa

Literacy, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Multilingual Context

Literacy, Female Voices and the Future of Africa

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Literacy Development in Africa

Note:

Deadline for submission: August 15, 2025

Acceptance of abstracts: August 25, 2025

Send abstract to: palfa2025@gmail.com

Abstracts are invited from participants that address any of the aspects of the subthemes.

The abstract should include the objectives/questions addressed, methodology and/or approaches; key results/findings; significance/impact of the research/study; and three to five keywords pertinent to the abstract.

The abstract should include the objectives/questions addressed, methodology and/or approaches; key results/findings; significance/impact of the research/study; and three to five keywords pertinent to the abstract.

The abstract should include the title, name(s) of author(s), institutional affiliation of the author(s), email address, and the sub-theme under which the presentation should be considered.

Indicate the mode of presentation:
a.) Individual Paper
b.) Panel Presentation
c.) Poster Presentation
d.) Workshop Session
e.) Exhibition

Completed abstracts, which should NOT be more than 250 words, should be submitted to: palfa2025@gmail.com or info@lipanonline.org

Conference Presentations

Presentations will include:

• Individual/Co-author(s) Presentation
• Poster Presentation
• Workshops
• Panel Presentation
• Special Sessions
• Exhibitions

Note: Presentations at the Conference will be both onsite and online.

Datelines for Abstract Submission and Response:

(i.)Open: December 1, 2024
(ii.)Deadline: May 21, 2025
(iii.)Notification of Acceptance: June 30, 2025

Send abstract to: palfa2025@gmail.com

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