Education within reach: Engaging DRC’s migratory indigenous populations through family literacy, interactive audio programs, and social inclusion

• In Event: How to catch up: Education for marginalized Congolese provinces and overcrowded environments

Proposal

A donor-funded project aims to improve inclusive access and quality early learning for grade 1-2 children in DRC’s formal and non-formal schooling systems. While access and quality have improved, children of migratory families can miss many months of education, often not returning at all to school. The project has undertaken research to examine the situation of the hyper-marginalized in underserved zones in Equateur, Maniema, and Tanganyika provinces. This presentation will present study findings, actions undertaken, and lessons learned. We will focus on our partnership with the Bantu and indigenous populations in these regions. We will highlight case studies showing changes in attitudes toward educational safety and participation in education among these groups, as a result of foundational learning and social-emotional learning (SEL) training, as well as social behavior change communications campaigns. We will also share lessons from our interactive audio programs and promising family literacy approaches among migratory communities in select regions. The establishment of community library activities as well as listening groups for interactive audio instruction have proven to be welcome complementary activities to reinforce and remediate foundational learning and SEL skills for marginalized children. Our presenters will discuss what we have learned through this process and what’s next for the project in the coming years.

Author

• Hortense Bulungu, Edcucation Development Center (EDC)