Citizens as Change Makers: Supporting Children to Learn, one Village at a Time

• In Event: Inequality, Assessment and Critical Approaches to Learning

Proposal

Evidence from People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network’s Citizen-Led Assessments (CLAs) has shown that schooling does not equal learning. Many children complete formal education without acquiring basic Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) skills. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 617 million children and adolescents worldwide did not have the foundational skills of which 202 million were from Sub-Saharan Africa (UIS, 2022). In Kenya for instance, 40% of grade four learners were unable to read at a grade three level text, and 50% of Grade 4 learners were unable to solve Grade 3 level numeracy problems (Uwezo, 2021). To respond to the learning crisis, PAL Network initiated the ‘My Village’ project that aims to support all children of primary school age in a village to be able to read and do basic math.


My Village project, currently being piloted in 300 villages across Kenya, Tanzania, and Nepal, recognizes the importance of citizen agency in supporting improvement of learning outcomes. Children are identified for intervention support through a household-based, one-on-one assessment to establish their basic literacy and numeracy skills using the CLA tools. The assessments provide information on a child’s learning level. The baseline assessment revealed that at least 50% of the 39,000 assessed children had not acquired basic competencies in reading and math.

The My Village project employs four components to contribute to the children’s acquisition of learning outcomes. The first component of the intervention is through learning camps that follow the accelerated learning pedagogy, which emphasizes beginning with the learners at their level, regardless of their age or grade. Local volunteers are engaged and trained to identify and facilitate sessions with children with low learning outcomes within their communities. A total of 225 learning camps are currently supporting over 13,000 children across the three countries. Results from implementation have indicated that at least 75% of children are able to move at least one competency level within 30-50 days of attending learning camps. Secondly, short theme-based messages are used to complement the learning sessions and aid parental engagement. The third approach of community libraries focuses on encouraging a culture of reading among children and sustaining the learning gains. Finally, life skills sessions are incorporated to develop socio-emotional competencies of children that in turn enhance their ability to learn.

This paper will share insights from the My Village project implementation, showcasing the role of local citizens as change makers and the opportunities and challenges they come across in supporting learning for children in their communities. This paper further sheds light on the active involvement and dedication of communities to support children’s learning and the potent impact of citizen-driven interventions in driving positive and sustainable impact.

Authors

• Winny C Ngeno, PAL Network

• Armando A Ali, PAL Network

• Ira Mohanty, PAL Network