Learning from USAID Arabic Literacy efforts across four Middle East and North Africa Countries

• In Event: Roundtable Group 7

Group Submission Type: Refereed Roundtable Session

Proposal

In 2011, USAID set ambitious goals for improving literacy education and reading outcomes for millions of students. The strategy was based on evidence demonstrating that even as the majority of children had access to school, many of them were spending years in the classroom without gaining basic literacy skills. Since 2011, USAID has reached over 246 million students in 53 countries. USAID in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) made a commitment to supporting Arabic literacy instruction in languages that children use and understand, developing materials in those languages, and training teachers in effective instructional practices. A decade on, USAID’s literacy programs have evolved to integrate lessons learned from over a decade of implementation experience.

During this period, USAID, other donors, Ministries of Education, and implementing partners used data and evidence and lessons learned to design more effective Arabic literacy interventions to reach more children, with more cost effective approaches, to increase improved learning outcomes. Despite these efforts, the MENA region continues to struggle to increase literacy and reading outcomes, particularly in contexts of crisis and conflict. COVID increased new challenges in the region to achieve numerous countries' education goals. The pandemic’s impact has eroded much of the progress made over the past decade. USAID has joined other international donors in signing on to the Commitment to Action to foster a renewed sense of urgency around foundational skills programming and reducing learning poverty across contexts. It remains more important than ever for all children to learn to read so they can read to learn. Prior to Covid, learning poverty affected 63 percent of children in the MENA region’s low- and middle-income countries, who were unable to read and comprehend a short story by age 10. The World Bank estimates that as a result of the pandemic related disruptions to schooling, the proportion of those deemed “learning-poor” could be as high as 70 percent in MENA.

This Panel will provide an opportunity to share experiences from different MENA countries on their efforts to address learning loss and strengthen national literacy efforts. What are key lessons learned regarding the context and time that it takes to successfully implement key reforms to strengthen national literacy efforts? How are marginalized or vulnerable groups integrated into national literacy efforts? Although many of the countries use Arabic as a core instructional language, each context is unique, each country has had to adapt and adjust to the specific opportunities and challenges inherent in the local system to design a program that aligns with that reality. Doing this requires being committed to consistent adaptation and modification during implementation. This session will provide examples of how countries have had to adapt materials to meet the evolving context.

Although the needs remain urgent, there is an understanding that education systems take time to shift and fully adopt new methods. Under many donor modalities, there can be a desire for dramatic results achievable within a few years or project cycle. However, practice shows that significant improvements take time and continuous efforts to build teacher capacity, developing high-quality materials and strengthening the education system. These countries have examined and developed multigenerational programs that have been effective in building strong relationships with the government and local stakeholders. This has developed a level of trust and partnership that has enabled the integration of evidence-based practices in reading adapted to reflect the realities of the local context, provided continuous teacher professional development and used data to monitor and adapt over multiple years of implementation.

For countries to truly achieve their national literacy objectives, special attention must be paid to the needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable learners. Conflict, crisis, economic and environmental shocks as well as disability, refugee status, and gender have impacted numerous learners across the region. Countries have sought to integrate greater inclusion of universal design for learning principles in programming to increase learning for all. Countries will share how they have sought to adapt and adjust formal and non-formal programming to target and include these populations to create more inclusive education systems.

COVID is only one shock that has impacted countries across the MENA region. Unexpected crises and conflict have continued to disrupt education systems across the region. Countries have had to adjust and identify non-formal, remedial, and summer programs in addition to self learning and digital learning. This roundtable presentation will highlight USAID’s work across the Middle East and North Africa from country experiences from Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen.

Sub Unit

• Middle East and North Africa SIG

Chair

• Samah Abdel-Moneim Eid, USAID

Individual Presentations

• Jordan: Mitigating learning loss during prolonged school closures - Rina Dhalla, USAIDME Bureau

• Yemen: Strengthening education services for conflict-affected children and youth - Samah Abdel-Moneim Eid, USAID