Women's issues are global and universal. Illiteracy and limited access to education keep women marginalized. Literacy empowers and it is the most important means through which women can be developed socially, politically and economically. This paper, therefore, examines literacy and development and discusses how literacy education can help in the development of women. The paper goes further to highlight the benefits of literacy education to women and concludes with some suggestions on how women development can be enhanced.

The study examined the political empowerment of women through literacy education programmes in Edo and Delta States in the South-South Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. A sample of 1022 women was randomly drawn from the different levels of literacy classes organised by the Agency of Adult and Nonformal Education and non-governmental and private organisations in the area under investigation. Psychological empowerment scale and socio-political scale were used for data collection. These were complemented by four sessions of Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The results of the study revealed that literacy education programmes correlated with women participation in political activities and leadership roles. Women were able to participate more actively in decision-making processes and social interactions at home, in a public gathering and in the community at large. The FGD result showed that women gained self-esteem and self-confidence as a result of their participation in literacy programmes.

Human resources are the key element in any organization as they plan, coordinate, organize and harness all other resources towards the achievement of organizational goals. For any organization to increase its productivity level depends on the level of competence of its workforce. Hence, the need for training and retraining of workers to develop their abilities in order to function effectively and efficiently in the organization. Training is an indispensable tool for human and national development, hence a worthwhile investment for greater productivity in the organization. Training can be viewed as the acquisition of skills, knowledge and abilities to enable one function effectively in the performance of one’s job. The major types of training for workers are in-service training made up of on – the – job and off – the – job training. Training makes workers to be confident, enriches employee’s knowledge and increased performance skill, creates greater efficiency and effectiveness, increases productivity and leads to higher profitability. The major problems affecting the training of workers are inadequate finance and lack of constant training. Therefore, periodic training should be organized for workers to keep them abreast of technological changes in their work and adequate financial allocation should be devoted to training of workers in the organization.

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The study examined the influence of literacy education programmes on the socio-economic empowerment of women in Edo and Delta states, in the South South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. A sample of 1,022 women was randomly drawn from basic intermediate and post literacy classes organised by the Agency of Adult and Non-formal Education, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and private institutions in the area under investigation. The outcome of the study showed a strong correlation between literacy education programmes and socio-economic empowerment of women. Women had more access to loan and credit facilities for their economic activities thereby leading to higher income. They were able to use family planning methods and witnessed tremendous improvement in their families' nutritional status. It was recommended that literacy promoters and policymakers should intensify public enlightenment programmes for more women to participate; post literacy programmes should be encouraged to prevent relapse into illiteracy; and above all, literacy programmes should be designed to meet the needs and aspirations of women to ensure sustainability of literacy programmes.