Equity and Acquisition of Learning Outcomes: Insights from My village Project

• In Event: Innovative approaches to improving learning outcomes: Lessons from Kenya, Tanzania and Nepal

Proposal

Many children go through multiple years of schooling without acquiring foundational skills. Estimates from UNESCO-UIS indicated that 617 million children worldwide lacked foundational literacy and numeracy skills, with 202 million being from Sub-Saharan Africa (UIS, 2022). Further, the world bank established that 9 in 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa had not acquired foundational learning outcomes by age 10 (World Bank, 2020). In Kenya, the Foundational Literacy and numeracy Assessment report (FLANA) indicated that nationally, only 44.9% of grade four children were able to read a grade three level text (Usawa Agenda, 2023).

To respond to the learning crisis, the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network initiated the ‘My Village’ project with an aim of supporting all children of primary school age in a village to be able to read and do basic math. My Village intervention was implemented in 304 villages across Kenya, Tanzania, and Nepal. To identify children to be supported within the intervention, a household-based, one-on-one assessment was done to establish their basic literacy and numeracy skills using Citizen-Led Assessment (CLA) tools. From the baseline assessment at least 50% of the 45,000 children assessed children had not acquired basic competencies in reading and math.

To improve children’s learning outcomes, the My Village project employed four components. The first component involved learning camps, following Accelerated Learning Pedagogy (ALP). ALP emphasizes providing children with learning opportunities based on their level, regardless of their age or grade. In the My Village project, local volunteers were engaged and trained to identify and facilitate sessions with children with low learning outcomes within their communities. The second component included short theme-based messages to children’s parents to complement the learning sessions and aid parental engagement. The third component was community libraries focused on encouraging a culture of reading among children and sustaining the learning gains. Finally, the fourth component was life skills sessions to develop socio-emotional competencies of children that in turn enhance their ability to learn.

Over 13,000 children were supported in learning camps across the three countries. Results indicated that at least 75% of children were able to move at least one competency level within 30-50 days of attending learning camps. A further analysis also showed that the learning camps significantly reduced the learning gaps between rich and poor children. At the baseline, for instance, children’s foundational literacy and numeracy was significantly more advanced for children in wealthiest families, in all the sub skill sets. Learning camps improved children’s foundational skills. However, this advancement was significantly stronger for children in the first two wealth quartile, resulting in narrowing the gap between poor and rich in foundational literacy and numeracy.

Authors

• Winny C Ngeno, PAL Network

• Najme Kishani Kishani, Meeting with Dr. Najme Kishani