Before that point, the men did not want to recognize her potential effectiveness in such a role. In addition, on a purely personal level, many women now feel more confident and competent about themselves because they have this new skill that was previously denied to them. They feel more empowered because now they can help their school-age children with their homework. They feel a stronger sense of solidarity with the other women in their community. In short, it has helped their self-esteem immensely.
Concrete statistics are another, and to funding organizations, more important measure.
This means approximately 1350 of the 1500 women who have participated to date have an appreciable level of Quechua literacy. It also testifies to the success of the programs' other goal of civic education. Some of the women have received previous schooling, but most dropped out at different grade levels. Thus, there are many different levels of previous experience in Spanish, and it has been very difficult to design an elementary Spanish literacy program or course because there is no curriculum currently in print that takes diverse levels of knowledge into account. Another weakness of the Spanish literacy component arises from the fact that the literacy trainers are members of the communities in which they teach.