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Supporting Learning During COVID-19: A Case Study on the Multisectoral Response in Nigeria

Thu, April 29, 1:45 to 3:15pm PDT (1:45 to 3:15pm PDT), Zoom Room, 106

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The protracted conflict in Northeast Nigeria has devastated education. Hundreds of teachers have been killed, schools have been damaged and destroyed, and millions of children have missed years of school. USAID’s Addressing Education in Northeast Nigeria (AENN) activity aimed to address some of these needs through implementing safe formal and nonformal education and strengthening government systems. In 2020, those communities have faced a new emergency from the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic and education shutdowns. According to the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan, about 400,000 IDP children had their learning activities disrupted on top of the 2.8 million already out of school in conflict-affected states. While the closure of schools during this pandemic was necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus, it removed a crucial pillar of support for children and youth in the emergency, affecting learning gains, psychosocial wellbeing, and personal security. The absence of physical attendance in schools leaves girls at a disproportionate level of risk of exploitation due to forced labor, sexual harassment and early childhood marriage. The long-term impacts of school closures will reverberate not only a generation of learners, but also for communities and state system already weakened by crisis.
To effectively continue education services in during the COVID-19 crisis, the AENN activity had to call upon multiple sectors for support, including governments, communities, and the private sector. Upon the closure of all schools and public gatherings in Nigeria, the AENN project developed a response plan to continue educational services to beneficiaries and their communities. At the center of this contingency plan is a multimodal distance learning approach to provide support to all learners through their parents, caregivers, and communities, regardless of their access to technology or literacy level. AENN reached over 70,000 learners and their caregivers during school closure through interactive radio instruction, SMS messages, telephone infolines, home learning kits, and phone-based coaching. to minimize the impact of the closure on learning and wellbeing of learners by sustaining learning through alternative solutions focusing on shared responsibilities among the key players.
In line with the CIES 2021 theme, “Social Responsibility Within Changing Contexts,” this panel will provide perspectives on how different actors in Nigeria came together to exercise social responsibility and support distance learning. Dr. Anna Madziga, the Deputy Chief of Party of AENN, will describe how AENN worked with the government to support distance learning, including using state-owned radio stations at a discounted rate; procuring government support to coordinate distance learning programs within the state; and calling upon state government institutions to support children with radio sets and organize listening sessions in small groups. Daniel McVitalis, Save the Children’s education context advisor on AENN, will discuss how communities were galvanized to support distance learning, including calling parents to support learning from home and organizing civil society organizations to safely deliver home learning kits to communities. Kelvin Iweleugim of Viamo will discuss how they worked with cell phone companies in Nigeria to enable Interactive Voice Response voice messaging as a supportive tool for parents, including a 3-2-1 education hotline that is free for Airtel users. Ankale Kongude will discuss how an effective monitoring system requires collaboration across all sectors to both track program fidelity and improve the program based on incoming data.

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