• 1 Felipe de Jesús Pérez Cruz, “La Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización en Cuba”, Varona, Universidad Pe (...)
• 2 Barbara Bruns & Javier Luque, Profesores excelentes. Cómo mejorar el aprendizaje en América Latina (...)
• 3 Banco Mundial, “Gasto público en educación, total (% del PIB) – Cuba”, 2010. https://datos.bancomun (...)
• 4 Ministère de l’Education nationale, de la jeunesse et des sports, “Le budget et les finances du sys (...)

1With the advent of the Revolution in 1959, the government of Fidel Castro made education a national priority with the launch of a vast literacy campaign throughout the country in 1961, making Cuba the first country in Latin America to eradicate illiteracy.1 Havana made education the exclusive responsibility of the state by nationalising all private institutions and establishing a universal, public and free system for all phases of education, from kindergarten to university, with remarkable results. According to the World Bank, Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean with a “high quality” education system.2 Education constitutes the largest share of the national budget with 12.8% of GDP.3 In comparison, education represents 6.6% of France’s GDP.4

• 5 Salim Lamrani, “Le système de santé à Cuba : origines, doctrine, résultats”, Etudes caribéennes, ho (...)

2 Since the 1960s, Cuba has also developed a policy of close cooperation with Third World countries, mainly in the fields of health and education. Making solidarity with the peoples of the South a pillar of its foreign policy, the island welcomes foreign students free of charge on its territory and exports its doctors and teachers to countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. This humanitarian diplomacy has enabled Havana to become a medical and educational powerhouse and to gain worldwide recognition, particularly within international organisations.5

• 6 Ministerio de Educación de Cuba, “Programa de alfabetización yo, sí puedo: una idea de Fidel”, 2020 (...)

3 One of the great Cuban success stories in education and international cooperation is the literacy programme “Yo, Sí Puedo”. It was created in 2001 by the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute (IPLAC) of the Cuban Ministry of Education, with the aim of responding to the problem of illiteracy on the continent and throughout the world. Based on the innovative method of associating the letters of the alphabet with numbers, this programme has been successfully applied in 30 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Western Europe, and has provided literacy to more than 10 million adults in nine languages.6

• 7 UNESCO, La crise cachée : les conflits armés et l’éducation, Rapport mondial 2011, Nations unies, P (...)

4Illiteracy refers to people who have never attended school and semi-illiteracy refers to people who have attended school but have not acquired sufficient literacy and numeracy skills to be able to perform simple everyday tasks. It is a consequence of the political and social order and existing inequalities in a country, and leads to political, social and cultural exclusion. These two realities therefore constitute a brake on the political, economic, social and cultural development of the peoples and countries affected by this scourge. According to UNESCO, there are almost 800 million illiterate adults in the world, i.e. 17% of the world population. More than 98% of them are in Third World countries and almost two thirds are women. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia account for 73% of illiterate adults.7

• 8 Ministerio de Educación de Nicaragua, “Manual del brigadista”, Gobierno de Reconciliación y Unidad (...)

5On the other hand, an illiterate person is not an ignorant person, because he or she has a culture and experiences acquired in the course of life, which differ from those found in books. In general, the culture of illiterate people is an oral and spoken culture received in the course of life and passed on by the family from generation to generation. The aim of literacy is to enhance and strengthen this knowledge in order to enable these people to improve their living conditions and enjoy all their rights.8

• 10 José Martí, Ideario pedagógico, La Havane, Editorial Pueblo y Educación, (1997) 2014, p. 163.
• 11 José Martí, Ideario pedagógico, La Havane, Editorial Pueblo y Educación, (1997) 2014, p. 163.

7 In keeping with the principle that “every human being has the right to education, and must in return contribute to the education of others”10, and in line with its internationalist vocation, the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute of Cuba launched the “Yo, Sí Puedo" programme in 2003, aimed at providing literacy to adults of all ages who do not have a basic command of reading, writing and arithmetic. The method is aimed primarily at groups that have historically been excluded: people in extreme poverty, the elderly, indigenous peoples, jailed people and people with disabilities. In other words, to quote Martí’s adage, “the master must go to those who cannot go to the master”.11

• 12 Email from Nora Isaac Díaz, Cuban Ministry of Education, 7 May 2022.

8 The name of the programme "Yo, Sí Puedo" is the result of much thought. The short title, composed of two monosyllables and a bisyllabic word, is resolutely optimistic and aims to raise the recipients’ self-esteem and confidence in their ability to learn to read and write. “Yo” reflects identity, recognition and commitment to the learning process. “Sí” is a positive and optimistic affirmation that reflects the field of possibilities and offers a shield against feelings of guilt, frustration and fear. The verb “Puedo” expresses the willingness and ability to overcome the doubt or fear that the illiterate person may feel.12

• 15 Leonela Inés Relys Díaz, “La alfabetización por radio y television”, Yo, sí puedo. https://qdoc.tip (...)

11This method uses audio-visual means to respond to the problem of the territorial dispersion of the population to be taught literacy. It thus makes it possible to reach a large number of people and is economical in terms of human, material and financial capital. Moreover, it does not require a school institution for its implementation. Based on the observation that even illiterate people have a knowledge of numbers, a simple and effective method of teaching the alphabet from numbers, by associating letters with numbers, was introduced as a mnemonic resource, following the didactic principle of going from the known to the unknown. This is the guiding principle of the “Yo, Sí Puedo” method. The order of the letters, which is not alphabetical, has been established according to the frequency of use of each phoneme.15

• 16 Álvaro Fuente, “Yo sí puedo acabar con el analfabetismo”, El País, 12 January 2017.

12 The first stage, which lasts three months, consists of a general diagnosis designed to assess the socio-economic, geographical, political, cultural and religious characteristics of the region to be made literate. The in-depth knowledge of the particularities of the illiterate population is a prerequisite for the development of the audio-visual courses – which are designed according to the cultural realities of the country of application – and for the success of the programme. “In no case does contextualisation only mean translation. Whenever the method is applied in a new country, it requires learning about the idiosyncrasies, the ways of expressing, thinking or believing of the population,” stresses educator Jaime Canfux Gutiérrez, founder and holder of the Chair of Literacy and Education for Youth and Adults at the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute (IPLAC), which has won three UNESCO prizes.16

• 18 Ibid.

14The programme is structured around 65 filmed lessons based on the local socio-cultural reality with actors – professional or amateur – from the country. The lessons are viewed in classes of up to twenty learners, under the guidance of a teacher-monitor (facilitador). The facilitator, who has prepared the class of the day in advance, has a manual prepared by the specialists and the students are given an exercise book in which the letters of the alphabet and easily identifiable universal logos (an ear, an eye, a book, a pencil) indicate the language activity to be carried out. “The methodology is based on constant practical activity and motivation for learning”, stresses Leonela Relys. It is active, activity-based instruction, and the exercises are “the manifestation of the recipient’s effort”. Repetition plays a fundamental role in the educational process.18

• 19 Ibid.

15Four key elements are necessary for the success of the programme: the personal effort of the learner, the quality of the audio-visual lessons and their correspondence with the manual, the support provided by the staff (facilidadores) throughout the process and the respect of the fundamental principles of adult education, which focus the learning activities on experiential techniques centred on real-life problems. Another essential rule is the attitude towards the beneficiaries: they must be treated with patience, kindness and the utmost respect, in order to encourage them to follow the whole training.19

• 20 Ibid.
• 21 Ibid. See also: Sandra Abendaño López, “La implementación del programa de alfabetización cubano ‘Yo (...)

16The first five minutes are devoted to an informal exchange with the class in order to check on the learners’ daily lives, to monitor the group’s attendance in order to avoid absences, to identify the difficulties they are facing and to encourage them to continue their efforts in times of doubt. The course is then divided into two 30-minute sessions, plus 15 minutes of participatory exchange and a 10-minute break. The first half hour is devoted to watching a video, which is then discussed collectively for 15 minutes. There is a 10-minute break before the start of the second half-hour session, which is devoted to the analysis of the lesson, with a further 15-minute participatory exchange to conclude the day’s programme.20 As the method is flexible, the duration of the class can be adapted to the profile and needs of the learners.21

• 22 Leonela Inés Relys Díaz, “La alfabetización por radio y television”, op. cit. See also : República (...)

17Courses are held on average four to five times a week over a period which generally extends to three months. Sometimes, with the agreement of the learners, sessions can be added at weekends to review and consolidate the knowledge acquired. If run with a frequency of five classes per week and two lessons per day, the programme can be completed in seven weeks. It has also been tested over a month with learners who were dedicated exclusively to it.22

• 23 Leonela Inés Relys Díaz, “La alfabetización por radio y television”, op. cit.

18The method is divided into three stages. The first phase, consisting of 10 sessions (1-10), is devoted to basic learning. It focuses on the objective of “listening and observing” and initially develops oral expression, works on psychomotor skills and ensures the graphic representation of numbers from 1 to 30 (1-5), which is generally known to most learners. The following lessons (6-10) are for the study of vowels. The teacher-monitor carries out a systematic assessment and only moves on to the next lesson when the day’s objectives have been achieved, so that learners acquire a solid foundation.23

• 25 Leonela Inés Relys Díaz, “La alfabetización por radio y television”, op. cit.

20The second phase, lasting 42 sessions (11-52), is devoted to the teaching of reading and writing and focuses on the objectives of “listening and reading” and “listening and writing”. It is divided into two parts: sessions 11-33 are dedicated to learning one letter or phoneme per day, while lessons 34-52 address difficulties in the language (e.g. double consonants). The teacher-monitor opens the session by starting with an idea or a sentence and discussing its meaning by identifying the key word. The class then proceeds to identify the letters in the keyword, all of which are associated with a number.25

• 27 Leonela Inés Relys Díaz, “La alfabetización por radio y television”, op. cit.

22The third phase of 13 sessions (53-65) is a stage of “consolidation” of knowledge. It is designed to ensure that the knowledge acquired in the previous phase has been assimilated and to assess learning, through the writing of short, simple sentences and texts by the learners. At the end of this phase and after three months of study, the beneficiaries have a basic command of reading and writing, which is sanctioned by an examination in reading and writing a letter or message according to well-defined criteria that validates the literacy process. This process can then be consolidated by the complementary programme “Ya Puedo Leer y Escribir”, which lasts one month and is designed to maintain the skills that might be lost due to intellectual inactivity, and by the programme “Yo, Sí Puedo Seguir”, which aims to bring literate people up to secondary school level.27

• 28 Ibid.

23The Cuban method of teaching reading and writing in the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme is based on the fundamental principle of voluntariness, which increases its effectiveness. Future learners are made aware by the community of the importance of literacy and numeracy, and the short duration of the programme stimulates their motivation. In addition, the method promotes family cooperation and creates close links between literate and illiterate people. It also offers the possibility of using the programme at home in order to avoid the psychological effects of others’ views on personal learning. The rapid progress made encourages the learners and contributes to the improvement of their self-esteem.28

• 29 Ibid.

24“Yo, Sí Puedo” is not limited to teaching learners basic literacy and numeracy skills. It is not exclusively pedagogical in scope. It also aims to enable people to understand, interpret and express the realities of their environment and to transmit humanistic values. Thus, themes of general interest such as health, family, the elderly, the environment, history and culture are addressed during each session. The aim is to make the beneficiaries aware of the importance of education for their active integration into society, the improvement of their standard of living and the achievement of full citizenship.29

• 31 UNESCO, “Etude sur l’efficacité et la faisabilité de la méthode d’alphabétisation Yo, sí puedo”, Co (...)
• 32 Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba, “Más de 10 millones de alfabetizados en todo el mundo (...)

27The literacy method of the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme was first conceived for application in Latin America, not least because, according to UNESCO, of the historical links with Cuba “in bilateral collaborative relations in education, health and culture”.31 It has since been successfully used in more than 30 countries on five continents, with contextualisation for each country and offered in nine different languages: Spanish (Yo, sí puedo), Portuguese (Sim, eu posso), English (Yes, I can), French (Oui, je peux), Quechua (Jiwasataskiwua), Aymara (Ari ñuqa atini), Haitian Creole (Wi mwen kapab), Swahili and Tetoum (Los, hau bele). More than 10 million people were literate by 31 December 2021. It has been most effective in Latin America, notably in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua where illiteracy has been eradicated with the support of government authorities, and in Africa, notably in Angola and Mozambique where several million people have benefited from the programme.32

• 33 Bob Boughton & Deborah Durnan, “Cuba’s Yo, Sí Puedo. A Global Literacy Movement?”, Postcolonial Dir (...)

28The very first version of the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme was developed in French and was intended for use in Niger. However, the coup d’état in 1999 against President Ibrahim Baré Mainassara put an end to the project.33 Haiti, Cuba’s closest neighbour, was then a beneficiary from 2003, but a new version had to be developed in Creole, better adapted to the local population. Dr Raúl Sánchez Cortina, general coordinator of literacy in Haiti, recalled the challenges:

• 35 Ibid.

29This was a big challenge for the Cuban professionals because of the extremely precarious conditions in the poorest country in Latin America. Sánchez Cortina4s testimony is enlightening in this regard: “You know that in Haiti there is no electricity. [...] Today, most of the classes are run by generators [...] We did a study and showed that with a half-kilowatt generator, with 7 gallons of petrol, we can give 65 half-hour lessons”. The support of the government authorities has been decisive in carrying out the literacy mission. Sánchez Cortina insisted on this point: “In order to have resources, political will is necessary. [...] We work with the Secretariat of State, with whom we have an excellent working relationship [...]. Here, the working teams are Cuban-Haitian”.35

• 36 Ibid.

30In addition to the geographical proximity between the two islands, the existing cooperation between the two countries and the speed and efficiency of the Cuban method, the Haitian authorities were also attracted by the low cost of the programme: according to calculations, a person taught to read and write on the island with “Yo, Sí Puedo” costs between 8.45 and 20.8 dollars, while other agencies that carry out the same work in the country spend an average of 160 dollars per person.36

• 38 Ministerio de Educación de Cuba, “Resultados generales de la aplicación del programa ‘Yo, sí puedo’ (...)

32Implemented in the 10 departments of the archipelago, the programme has enabled 448,355 people to become literate by 31 December 2021, despite the precarious material conditions in a country lacking in infrastructure and resources.38 Nevertheless, literacy is only one step in the fight against illiteracy, as Professor Sánchez Cortina points out:

• 40 La Entrevista del Mes, “Entrevista a Leonela Relys: El analfabetismo existe porque existen iniquida (...)

33The Haitian experience allowed Cuban experts to verify that audio-visual means are fundamental for the education of a population. “In Haiti, we discovered once again the relationship between illiteracy and poverty, hunger, misery, extreme poverty, insalubrity, violence and environmental problems,” said Leonida Relys, who was deeply affected by her stay on the island. “The first word I learned in Creole was ‘grangou’, which means ‘I'm hungry’,” she said.40

• 41 Sergio Serrón M., “De Samuel Robinson a la Misión Robinson: La alfabetización en Venezuela y el pro (...)

35The arrival of Hugo Chávez to power in Venezuela in 1999 and the process of socio-economic transformation under the Bolivarian Revolution led Caracas to forge a strategic alliance with Havana, particularly in the health and education sectors. The ideological affinity between the two governments and the personal friendship between Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro have facilitated this cooperation. The Robinson Mission, launched in 2003, aimed to universalise access to education for all Venezuelans and to eradicate illiteracy in the country through the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme.41

• 42 La Entrevista del Mes, “Entrevista a Leonela Relys: El analfabetismo existe porque existen iniquida (...)
• 43 Ministerio de Educación de la República de Cuba, “Resultados generales de la aplicación del program (...)
• 44 Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Ecosocialismo, “Hace 12 años Venezuela fue declarado territori (...)

36Thanks to the political will of the country’s authorities, who allocated the necessary resources to the project, the Cuban method was applied systematically throughout the country under the general coordination of Leonela Relys. “Illiteracy exists because there are inequities and social injustices and because there is no education for all everywhere”, she recalled.42 Since then, and until 31 December 2021, 1.8 million people have been able to become literate throughout the country.43 In 2005, UNESCO declared Venezuela an illiteracy-free territory, thus fulfilling the mission launched two years earlier, with a reduction in the rate to less than 2%.44

• 46 UNESCO, “Résultats obtenus par la République de Bolivie dans l’élimination de l’analphabétisme, et (...)

39The election of Evo Morales as President of the Republic of Bolivia in 2006 led the country to develop close cooperation with Havana, due to the political and ideological affinities between the two governments. The national census identified a total of 823,256 illiterate people in the country, or 13.7% of the population over the age of 15. The new Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia of 2009 stipulates in Article 84 that it is the duty of the State and society to eradicate illiteracy through programmes adapted to the cultural and linguistic reality of the population, thus recognising the right of indigenous peoples to use their native languages in education. According to UNESCO, “the National Literacy Plan has opened up the possibility of becoming literate not only in Spanish but also in Aymara and Quechua as part of an effort to protect the linguistic and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, making it possible to consolidate their identity”.46

• 47 Ibid.
• 48 Ministerio de Educación del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, “Dirección General de Post-Alfabetizac (...)
• 49 Ministerio de Educación, “Encuentro Internacional de Educación Alternativa y Especial”, Estado Plur (...)

40With the support of the authorities of the Plurinational State, the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme was implemented on a massive scale in three languages: Spanish, Quechua and Aymara. After a campaign lasting almost three years, 819,417 people were taught to read and write, including 24,699 in Aymara and 13,599 in Quechua. On 20 December 2008, Bolivia was officially declared an illiteracy-free territory. “Bolivia's experience is exemplary and will surely encourage other countries to undertake similar initiatives,” UNESCO said.47 In total, between 2006 and 2021, 826,805 people, 74% of whom are women, have been taught to read and write in Bolivia, thus contributing to gender equality and the eradication of extreme poverty, within the framework of the National Literacy Programme.48 As a result, the illiteracy rate has fallen from 13.3% to 2.5%.49

• 50 Reuters, “Bolivia será declarada libre de analfabetismo el 20 de diciembre”, 11 December 2008.

41The Cuban method has proved to be effective and appropriate in a mountainous country of more than 1.1 million km² marked by territorial dispersion. According to a 2008 report by the British news agency Reuters, “Cuba, which offered technical assistance, and Venezuela, which provided funding, are the only two countries in the region that have so far been recognised as countries without illiteracy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation”.50

• 51 Jorge Tamayo Collado, “Nicaragua y Cuba: Unidos desde la Cruzada Nacional de Alfabetización hasta e (...)

43In 2007, following the election of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega as president, Nicaragua launched a national literacy programme using the “Yo, Sí Puedo” method. Cuba and Nicaragua have had strong relations since the Sandinista Revolution of 1979. In 1980, many teachers from the island participated in the “Great National Literacy Crusade”, a major campaign against illiteracy launched by the new revolutionary authorities.51

• 52 Yara Bermúdez, “Comandante Fidel Castro presente en la Educación de Nicaragua”, Ministerio de Educa (...)
• 53 Ministerio de Educación de la República de Cuba, “Resultados generales de la aplicación del program (...)

44In 2009, the illiteracy rate was reduced to 3.3%, making the country a new Latin American territory free of this scourge.52 In total, between 2007 and 2021, 866,862 people learned to read and write. Thus, thanks to the “Yo, Sí Puedo” method, illiteracy has been eradicated in three Latin American countries.53 The Cuban programme has also contributed to the literacy of the population in several other countries of the continent.

• 54 Ministerio de Educación de la República de Cuba, “Resultados generales de la aplicación del program (...)

45In Mexico, the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme has been implemented in 14 of the 32 states, and by 31 December 2021, 724,868 people had become literate out of an estimated 6 million illiterate people in the country, especially among the indigenous population. Chimalhuacán was the first state to eradicate illiteracy in 2009, reducing the rate to 1.6%.54

• 55 Ministerio de Educación de la República de Cuba, « Resultados generales de la aplicación del progra (...)

46In Ecuador, 372,185 people have learned to read and write using the Cuban method. In El Salvador, 226,902 people were taught to read and write by the programme. It has also been effective in Guatemala (143,399), Honduras (84,942), Panama (83,997), Colombia (54,670), Argentina (34,029), Brazil (11,058), Paraguay (8,149), Peru (5,079), Uruguay (5,000) and Grenada (228).55

• 56 Ibid.

48 The “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme was implemented on a massive scale in Mozambique from 2006 onwards with the support of the local authorities. It is the country with the largest number of people made literate by the Cuban programme, with a total of 2.5 million people.56

• 57 Ibid.

49Angola has also benefited from the programme and has been able to make more than 2.1 million people literate, 70% of whom are women, thanks to the support of nearly 250 Cuban collaborators and a national campaign launched by the country’s Ministry of Education.57

• 58 Ibid. Voir également : Hedelberto López Blanch, « Yo, sí puedo en idioma kiswahili », Juventud Rebe (...)

50The programme has also been implemented on a smaller scale in Guinea Bissau (5,436), Tanzania (3,400), Nigeria (894), Namibia (659), and Equatorial Guinea (17).58

• 59 EFE, « Un método desarrollado en Cuba enseña a leer y escribir a aborígenes australianos », 1er jui (...)
• 60 Radio Cadena Agramonte, « Aborígenes de Australia leen y escriben con método cubano », 10 mai 2012.
• 61 Prensa Latina, « Método cubano llega a comunidades aborígenes de Australia », 16 septembre 2019.

51Created within the framework of South-South cooperation, the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme has also been used in developed countries in Oceania, such as Australia, where 228 people from aboriginal communities have been taught to read and write since 2012. In this vast country, more than 50% of Aboriginal adults, most of whom live in remote areas far from public services, are illiterate.59 Consisting of 400 ethnic groups and speaking several hundred languages, they represent an estimated population of half a million people.60 The method was implemented under the auspices of the Australian Literacy for Life Foundation. 61

• 62 Iraida Calzadilla Rodríguez, “En Nueva Zelanda dicen Yo, sí Puedo”, Granma, 2 February 2005 ; Minis (...)
• 63 Mathilde L. Patterson Peña, “The ArrowMight Program: Cuba’s Contribution to a Literacy Project for (...)

52Similarly, the programme was launched in New Zealand in 2005, enabling 2,092 people to learn to read and write in a country of 4 million inhabitants, where almost 20% of the population is illiterate.62 The Maori people were the main beneficiaries under an agreement signed between IPLAC and the Greenlight for Life Program.63

• 64 Bob Boughton, “Back to the Future?: Timor-Leste, Cuba and the Return of the Mass Literacy Campaign” (...)

53In 2005, a group of eleven Cuban professionals travelled to East Timor to launch the programme and trained nearly 400 teacher-monitors. A national campaign was launched in 2007 throughout the archipelago, resulting in 196,686 people becoming literate.64

• 65 Mathilde L. Patterson Peña, “The ArrowMight Program: Cuba’s Contribution to a Literacy Project for (...)

54Based on the experience in New Zealand, Cuba was asked by the First Nations Seven Generations Institute of Ontario to develop a programme for the aboriginal peoples of Canada, but also for the rest of the population. Launched in 2006, it has resulted in 152 people becoming literate.65

• 66 Ministerio de Educación de la República de Cuba, “Resultados generales de la aplicación del program (...)

55In Spain, the municipality of Seville discovered after a study that almost 35,000 people in the municipality suffered from illiteracy, which represented about 5% of the population (700,000 inhabitants). In 2007, the “Yo, Sí Puedo” programme was implemented in the city on an experimental basis with a group of 100 people, with a success rate of 77%. Since then, 445 people have been taught to read and write in the Andalusian city.66

• 68 Ibid.

57The UN agency also underlined the role of the programme in the fight against discrimination: “In general, the level of satisfaction of the participants is high - especially among women, to whom the programme pays special attention. In the eyes of the beneficiaries, the usefulness of the method is not limited to functional learning”. It underlines that “the Yo, Sí Puedo method is a valuable strategy for combating illiteracy in the region. In this respect, Cuba's horizontal support and solidarity are appreciated”.68