Matt’s work

Having already taken a few minutes to explain what Liz’s role entails at the moment, we thought it would be good to do the same for Matt and his work.

As you will probably know, I (Matt) have been registered on the postgraduate programme ‘MA Literacy Programme Development’ since January and am now starting the final stage of that course, writing a dissertation. We are very fortunate that Wycliffe, as a Christian organisation with an emphasis on academic excellence, put a high value on further education. They see the long-term benefits of people gaining further training for literacy work and the language communities we serve. If we know more about the areas we work in, and have had more chance to consider proven responses to the difficulties we face, not only can we ourselves have greater impact but more importantly we can better pass those skills to those around us.

As such, Wycliffe very much view my masters programme as part of our work, and show this by allowing me time to study full-time. I have found this period of study particularly helpful as I have been able to apply our experiences in Tanzania to the theory in class, trying to find practical responses to many of the situations we found ourselves in whilst working there. The classes from January until June were very intense, often with small groups of students in each class, but very practical, providing much ‘food-for-thought’.

I am now embarking on writing my dissertation. The whole process will probably take about five months, with the aim being to submit by Christmas-time. Within this time I will spend four weeks in September visiting Tanzania, conducting interviews and gathering data. Whilst my final title is still to be finalised, I am currently planning on doing a case-study type research paper, looking specifically at how literacy work in the Mbeya-Iringa Cluster Project (where we used to work) operates and what some of the positives and difficulties have been.

The cluster approach (working with multiple languages from one regional office) is still relatively new and therefore little has yet been discussed with regards literacy work specifically. It is my hope therefore that my final paper will not only fulfil the requirements of my masters degree, but will also be of help for people who are considering adopting such a strategy in other situations around the world. It is certainly a privilege to be able to study, however I hope that it will ultimately have wider positive implications than just for me personally!

I will try and keep you updated on my progress as I get further through it. Any questions you may have from reading this do let me know!