Award-winning programme moves children from lazing to learning
Andrew celebrates an approach to community-driven reading and learning programme that has won awards for its impact on the lives of children in Ghana.
*WATCH the World Vision team honoured for the programme's innovative and transformative impact with the 2021 UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development here*
Andrew Ofosu-Dankyi, Technical Programme Manager, World Vision
It’s 5pm in the village of Onuku, a small community in the Fanteakwa District of the eastern part of Ghana. Usually around this time, most of the townspeople would have returned from their farms. The men gather in small groups playing checkers or chatting, while the women prepare meals. Until recently the young children, would have been lazing around or playing. But thanks to World Vision's Unlock Literacy programme, parents and communities have been mobilised to support children as they instead learn to read through fun after-school reading camps.
Unlock Literacy is an approach to learning that was implemented after it was discovered that children who have access to school, do not always learning well there. The programme model focuses on helping children improve five core skills of reading acquisition: letter knowledge, sounding out words, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. It does this through implementing and tracking reading assessments; training teachers to incorporate the five skills into their curricula; mobilising local communities to get involved in out-of-school reading camps; and providing locally relevant and age-appropriate reading material.
Communities are also empowered through World Vision’s Citizen Voice and Action model to hold key stakeholders accountable for the delivery of quality educational services.
Most children in Ghana are unable to read with comprehension. The results of a 2015 Early Grade Assessment, put the reading ability of grade 2 children at 2% (MoE/EGRA 2015). In a World Vision assessment in 2019, 75% of children reported that they had not been asked to read by a caregiver. The report also revealed that 85% of children did not have a single piece of reading material at home. This is why Unlock Literacy project was such an important programme for Ghana.
However, Unlock Literacy could never have succeeded without community involvement. It is, at its heart, a community-driven project. Without parents, volunteers, children and young people getting fully involved, it would have had limited success.
As well as children getting out of school activities, parents also attend a monthly reading awareness workshop. This is an opportunity for parents to learn simple but practical ways to support literacy at home. Auntie Akos, a proud mother of two and regular attendee of the reading awareness workshop for parents said, “I have come to learn that talking to my children boosts their confidence and prepares them for higher learning.”
The children who attend reading clubs not only learn to read but also learn critical thinking skills from discussing the content of stories and re-imaging the stories in their own way. Graduates of reading clubs progress to the Kids club (where they undertake higher responsibilities such as supporting the reading clubs as teaching assistants), participate in the child parliament, and join Kids savings groups.
As already mentioned, the books themselves are written with an eye to local context. This means that reading material can feature the stories of communities themselves - their history.
“One exciting thing about this project is the books. I was part of the writers’ workshop that developed the books," said Wofa Kofi, an elder of the Onuku community. "Our stories would have been extinct. Now that these stories are in a book, even my ancestors will be happy that I have left something worthwhile behind." The project creates level-appropriate books in glossy pages with exciting illustrations. These books are kept at the book banks where children are able to borrow books to read at home.
Teachers benefit from the project too and receive training on the five key literacy components, they also receive bi-monthly coaching visits in their classrooms. Madam Alice, a teacher recounts, “The work of the coaches have helped me a lot, I am able to discuss every aspect of teaching with them and they are always ready to help.” The instructional coaches support the teachers through lesson planning to model lesson presentations. This support leaves teachers highly motivated and confident in teaching literacy.
Though the Unlock Literacy is changing the architecture of learning and teaching in these communities, the regular attrition of volunteers as well as lack of incentives for volunteers continue to threaten the sustainability of the project. Through continuous dialogue with the community leaders, the project is receiving massive support with incentives for volunteers and this has reduced the attrition significantly.
Originally piloted in 16 countries, World Vision is now implementing Unlock Literacy in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with plans to scale up and expand into others. Randomised controlled trial assessments have shown a significantly greater increase in student readers in schools with literacy programming than in control schools. Since World Vision launched Unlock Literacy, in conjunction with early childhood development programmes, there have been at least:
- 1.7 million children reached
- 325,589 parents and caregivers involved
- 129,318 teachers trained
- 18,000 volunteers trained
- 6000 reading camps established
- 4.4 million boooks/material published
In Ghana, the Unlock Literacy project is implemented in seven districts across the country with 32,000 children from Grade 1-3 in 140 schools benefiting. The spread and success of this programme is why World Vision Ghana was recently honoured by the government with the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development. World Vision was one of three winning projects chosen from among 113 nominations, with the two other award laureates coming from the Palestine and Peru.
Receiving the award virtually, World Vision Ghana National Director Dickens Thunde said, "To be able to read is a great enabler of children's future success and contributor to future development. This award will inspire us to go further and see the children of the world thrive."
Andrew Ofosu-Dankyi is the Education Technical Programme Manager at World Vision Ghana. He has 14 years of experience in education leadership having himself been a teacher, training and a leader of education and literacy programmes in countries across Africa.