28 | The view from ACALAN
Another challenge that ACALAN faces in the implementation of its mandate is the paucity of resources. Projects that would have a positive effect on the ground and
change the attitudes of Africans towards their languages for the better are not properly funded. This is also partly due to the lack of political will from the African
leaders who do not seem to believe that African languages have a role to play in fostering sustainable development that will change the lives of the vast majority
of Africans for the better and, as such, deserve proper funding. Linked to this is an erroneous monolithic and narrow approach to development. A much broader
approach, that would see African languages brought to the fore, is required if sustainable development is to take place in Africa.
ACALAN has developed overall strategies aimed at facing those challenges, chief among them being the establishment of national and grass root level structures, focal
points and vehicular cross-border language commissions; the launching of initiatives to add economic value to African languages and reward the implementation of
ACALAN’s major projects not only to strengthen its position as the language agency of the African Union Commission, but also to facilitate the achievement of its mandate.
ACALAN also provides follow up and advice to the African Union member states on curriculum reform and the implementation of mother tongue-education in the context
of the Second Decade of Education for Africa. ACALAN has adopted a holistic approach for the development, promotion and use of African languages and the strengthening
of internal national and bilateral co-operation. All these strategies are in line with ACALAN’s call for a paradigm shift in the approach to the development, promotion
and use of African languages.
a. Focal points: According to ACALAN’s statutes, each member state is required
to designate a national language structure to serve as ACALAN’s focal point. The focal points, together with the vehicular cross-border language commissions
see below are ACALAN’s working structures. So far, 14 member states have designated national language structures to serve as focal points. This represents
one third of the total of 54 member states. The focal points have played an important role in disseminating ACALAN’s activities at national level.
b. Vehicular cross-border language commissions: A vehicular cross-border
language is a language spoken in one or more countries. It is vehicular because it is used as a means of communication by non-mother tongue-speakers. After
extensive work in the five economic regions of Africa, i.e. East Africa, Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa, ACALAN has identified
41 vehicular cross-border languages. Out of these languages, 12 have been selected to constitute the focus of ACALAN’s work in the next 15 to 20 years,
namely Standard Modern Arabic, and Berber North Africa, Fulfulde, Hausa, and Mandenkan West Africa, Kiswahili, Malagasy, and Somali East Africa, and
ChichewaCinyanja and Setswana Southern Africa ACALAN 2009: 13–20.
Each concerned member state, through the focal point, if it has one, is requested to submit curriculum vitae of scholars to form the vehicular-cross border language
commission. The curriculum vitae are sent to the chairperson of the Assembly of Academicians, an advisory structure of ACALAN, for vetting. Once the members
of the vehicular-cross border language commission are confirmed, ACALAN in
The view from ACALAN | 29
collaboration with the Regional Economic Commissions, such as the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS West Africa, SADC Southern Africa
and ECCAS Central Africa, organise a workshop to launch the vehicular cross- border language commission. During the workshops, each country concerned
with the vehicular cross-border language in question presents a report on the stage of development and use of the cross-border language, and the priority areas
which will be the focus of the commission’s work during its three years of tenure, are identified and included in the plan of activity of the commission.
ACALAN and its partners such as UNESCO and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie OIF mobilise funds to transform the priority areas into
implementable projects. So far, ACALAN has established the Beti-Fang and Lingala Vehicular Cross-Border Language Commission Central Africa, the
ChichewaCinyanja and Setswana Vehicular Cross-Border Language Commission Southern Africa and the Fulfulde, Hausa and Mandenkan Vehicular Cross-Border
Language Commission, and they are fully operational. One of the priority areas these commissions have identified is the harmonisation of the writing systems
of the language they deal with. This will not only allow the exchange of teaching materials in the vehicular cross-border languages, but also facilitate uniformity
for the training of the teachers for L1 teaching. Put differently, the harmonisation of the writing systems of the vehicular cross-border languages will maximise the
resources and minimise the costs of producing and using teaching materials for these languages.
Before I proceed to consider adding economic value to African languages and rewarding excellence in these languages, I would like to make two remarks here.
Firstly, the use of vehicular cross-border languages as an overall strategy to develop African languages is not new. As I have already stated, the OAU-BIL also
adopted the same strategy, though referring to these languages as ‘languages of wider communication or inter-African languages’ Mateen 1999: 172. Secondly,
because of the reasons I present here, the harmonisation of the writing systems of the vehicular cross-border languages has been one of the main preoccupations of
organisations such as the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society CASAS, UNESCO, and various scholars in Africa and beyond over the years Kashoki 1978;
Diagne 1978, Mesthrie 2006; Roy-Campbell 2006, and Banda 2009.
c. Add economic values to and reward excellence in African languages:
