Transformed Literacy Behaviors through Social and Behavior Change: Promoting Household Reading Corners in Ghana

• In Event: Unlocking Literacy: The Power of Book Corners and Libraries in Transforming Reading Culture

Proposal

In Ghanaian communities, especially the rural areas only 6% of children have access to three or more books at home (MICS 2018), and just 10% have read a book or been read to at home (project endline 2019). This paints a picture of a pressing dearth of reading materials for young children that are learning to reading and a low culture of reading in both the home and community. Yet, the research is clear on the great educational benefits of having access to books. Children growing up in homes with many books get 3 years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation, and class (Evans et al., 2010).
In this backdrop, we conducted formative research using Social and Behavior Change (SBC) theory in 2022 to understand both the barriers to accessing materials and using books in the home. We identified that having limited space at home was a barrier to using what books were available, but also contributed to the social norm of giving low priority to the task of reading. Following the formative research, we undertook a mixed-method study grounded in a SBC theoretical framework in 20 intervention households and 20 selected for comparison using qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys. We developed a guide for prototype testing household reading corners by integrating demonstrations into existing caregiver sessions on how to be more involved in children’s literacy development. In the 20 intervention sites we deployed the prototype guide to demonstrate how to establish reading corners at home, use them, develop materials for a reading box and identify any potential barriers and solutions. Participants also made commitments to develop their own reading corners, make materials and read to their children to promote a reading-friendly environment. In addition to reading corners as the main tactic to address the barrier of limited space the project also implemented complementary approaches for wider community awareness raising on the importance of committing to all children reading. Such tactics included role modeling sessions, house poster reminders for parents to see other caregivers actively engaged with their children’s learning, SMS reminders to read and play literacy games with their children and radio drama on the importance of supporting reading. Additionally, the intervention group had access to community models and coaches who provided support and advice to parents. Children are also able to access reading clubs where they can borrow local language books to read at home in their reading corner.
While parents can be resistant to changing social norms the study findings indicated that including reading corner demonstrations increased caregiver awareness and involvement in children’s literacy. The intervention group demonstrated higher levels of reading engagement and the establishment of dedicated reading spaces compared to the control group. This evidence suggests that SBC tactics can address barriers to change literacy behaviors, which has led to a scale up of 410 reading corners in households across 9 districts in Ghana. Ultimately, we expect these findings to contribute to better educational outcomes for vulnerable children.

Authors

• Fred Selorm Parku, World Vision

• Alisa Michelle Phillips, World Vision