Mobile data technology deployed to combat child labor in Morocco

March 24, 2015

5 min read

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Mobile data technology deployed to combat child labor in Morocco

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]With mobile tablets in their hands, 22 researchers from Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech will go door-to-door in March in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz region, surveying 1,200 households on attitudes, behaviors and demographic information around the issue of child labor.

The study is part of the four-year Promise Pathways Program which aims to reduce child labor in the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz area and reach more than 5,500 youth and 1,000 family members. Funded by the U.S. Labor Department, Creative Associates International is implementing the program with several local partners.

An estimated 92,000 children ages 7 to14 are working—sometimes in dangerous and taxing trades like agriculture, domestic labor or artisanal sectors—according to Morocco’s High Commission for Planning.

“We have instant access to information that is collected and we can monitor the quality of the data collected,” says Seddik Ouboulahcen, the local Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for the project, speaking about the benefits of a mobile-based study and database.

The information the researchers input in the tablets will be immediately synched in real-time in an Android web-based data system designed by the Moroccan technology for development company MTDS to catalog and analyze risk factors and critical information on child labor in the region.

“Fighting child labor depends on people not technology,” says Sandy Wark, head of the ICT4D department at MTDS. “But I hope that technology can make the work of people who are trying to make a difference easier.”

Deploying technology in the fight to end child labor, Wark explains, can include using data to raise red flags when a child shows warning signs of dropping out of school. These early warning systems would enable teachers and school administrators to take action.

Wark adds that databases and data mapping can be used to make information about existing social services more readily available so that a caseworker can connect a child or her family with organizations that can help.

“In these two examples, you see that the human component is still the most important, but good information systems can also help,” says Wark.

Deploying data at baseline and beyond

Researchers ask parents about their attitudes and behaviors around child labor.

The randomized household survey, along with mapped data on available services, a school climate survey and a participatory rural labor market assessment, comprise the baseline data set for the project.

The baseline data will be integrated into a larger data system the project team will access throughout the life of the project to track the progress of child laborers and their families, create personalized action plans and match those at risk of child labor with needed support from local organizations.

“Using mobile devices to collect data enables us to build a database we’ll use later on for service delivery for work with our beneficiaries,” explains Ouboulahcen.

The household survey asks children about their schooling, work status and work history, including the types of work they have engaged in, hours worked, wages, non-formal work, work-related injuries or sickness and dangers involved in their tasks.

While the primary beneficiaries of Promise Pathways are those under 18 at risk of work or already engaged in work, the family and household environment are critical components in preventing child labor as poverty is often its primary cause.

Researchers will survey adults in the household on economic indicators including the number of household assets and access to services such as healthcare, education, cash transfers, school transportation, micro-credit and bank loans. The baseline will also collect the attitudes of adult household members toward child labor.

“We are asking them to list what they consider the dangers of child labor and to list the risks they perceive of a child dropping out of school,” says Susan Rogers, Senior Associate for Monitoring and Evaluation at Creative. “If people don’t see much danger or risk, then we have a lot of work to do….The perceptions piece is very important.”

Building a well-coordinated coalition

Researchers use tablets to input information from household members into a database of risk factors on child labor.

Combatting a socioeconomic phenomenon as complex as child labor requires a well-coordinated coalition of partners from civil society and government alike. All members of the Promise Pathways team were involved in the design of the baseline and will be key players in the implementation over the next four years.

Three government ministries are part of the team–the Ministry of Education’s Directorate of Non-Formal Education, the Ministry of Employment’s Directorate of Labor and its Marrakech Regional Directorate and the Ministry of Social Development.

The team also includes Moroccan civil society organizations and three international partners—Aid to Artisans, Kuder and the International Initiative to End Child Labor.

Research to end child labor

The mobile database will help the project track the progress of child laborers and their families.

Beyond conducting the mobile baseline survey, Cadi Ayyad University and its research laboratory will play a key role in sustaining efforts to combat child labor in the region as the project progresses.

“It is our intention to mobilize the university in terms of action research on child labor in the Marrakech region. What we want them to do is work on case studies on child labor,” explains Ouboulahcen.

With the aim of growing local capacity to combat child labor, Ouboulahcen says that the Promise Pathways team could provide the university students and researchers with access to data collected throughout the project and its mobile tools, connections with local partners and beneficiaries and technical support on research design and methodology.

“We are hoping by the end of the project we’ll have a number of studies concentrating on the theme of child labor,” he says. “These will help us mainstream practices and raise awareness about child labor in the Marrakech region and have a critical mass of people interested in child labor and working on different methodologies and approaches to reduce and eliminate child labor.”

Certainly at the core of many of those studies and efforts will be technology, deployed in creative and innovative ways as a powerful ally in the fight to end child labor.

Funding for this project was provided by the United States Department of Labor. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Temper Your Expectations for Post-2015 Reading

March 24, 2015

4 min read

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Temper Your Expectations for Post-2015 Reading

By Jennifer Brookland

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The successes of early grade reading programs have created among some a sense of unbridled enthusiasm that rapid and significant change is not just possible, but expected.

Global education experts are now advocating to have reading indicators and learning outcomes included in the world’s next set of development goals. But agreement that these goals should be included does not cancel out controversy about what can be reasonably achieved.

Experts at the 2015 Comparative and International Education Systems conference reminded that while some early grade reading pilots have shown impressive success, these “hothouse” experiments have no guarantee of achieving similar results once taken to scale.

The environment matters

Parental enthusiasm, educational policies that support reading instruction and practice time and even the pace at which printers can create new materials are all factors that shape the success of pilot projects that grow up.

Not to mention circumstances that affect education systems in drastic ways, such as conflict, corruption and systemic weaknesses like poor supervision, teacher absences, and poor teacher preparation.

Karen Tietjen, Technical Director of Creative Associates International’s Education for Development Division, pointed out that no matter how promising a pilot, results may be harder to achieve when faced with the realities of weak institutions, large class sizes, inefficient inspectorates and chronic underfunding.

She added a surprising factor that should be considered in setting expectations for the pace of change: Ministry of Education support. While government ownership is critical for scaling-up reading programs, it can have unanticipated consequences if turnover is high or budgets constrict.

“MOE ownership is essential to progress but it also may slow it,” said Tietjen. “As more people own it, there are more voices, more stakeholders, the political stakes get higher, and we need to factor that into our scheduling for the development and rollout of these programs.”

An honest look at reading gains

A girl in Chipata, Zambia practices reading with her mother. The impressive results of some pilot reading projects might be replicable at scale, but are not guaranteed.

USAID made reading a priority in 2011 when it set improved reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades by 2015 as Goal One in its education strategy, and outcomes from some early grade reading programs have been impressive.

Young students in Egypt who participated in reading programs were able to read meaningfully more words per minute, according to another panelist at the CIES conference.

“We were basically able to turn second graders into third graders,” said Amber Gove, Director of Research at RTI, which implemented the Egypt project. “For Liberia it was about twice that. We turned the second graders into fourth graders.”

Tietjen presented the results of Creative’s USAID-funded early grade reading projects in Yemen and Zambia—projects she said had “gratifyingly high” effect sizes in children’s listening comprehension and ability to identify sounds and letters.

In Yemen, for example, after four months of instruction under Creative’s early grade reading program, first and second graders could read 16.3 correct words per minute, compared to students in control schools who managed just six.

However, Tietjen pointed out that positive changes dropped off at more advanced skills such as word decoding, reading fluency and reading comprehension.

“We’ve had really huge increases, we’re proud of ourselves for being able to move them from where we were at baseline,” said Tietjen of the first cohort of second grade students evaluated in Yemen. “But nonetheless we’re woefully under what we could consider acceptable.”

Lower your expectations?

Taking interventions to scale is key to USAID’s efforts to achieve Goal One. It’s All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development partnership continues to work toward creating cost-effective reading interventions that can be grown from classrooms to countries.

But panelists agreed from experience that promising results in small-scale projects should not lead to assumptions about anticipated success when those initiatives are scaled up.

“We’ve not really looked across all these projects to see what it would take to really move the needle on reading, said Audrey-Marie Schuh Moore, Director of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research at FHI360.

“Each project has targets, but we need a more comprehensive cross-donor look on what actually works and what really influences education outcomes.”

As more evidence is collected from reading pilots, practitioners will be able to better understand why gains that were high in a pilot may not play out in the same way when taken to scale. The duration of the project, the “dosage” students and teachers received, and the context in which the project takes place are critical variables that development organizations must tease apart when evaluating what works.

Until then, expectation management is key.

“Maybe expecting half as you move from 60 schools to several thousand might be reasonable, maybe it’s a third,” said RTI’s Gove. “I think we’ll have to let that play out and see.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

In midst of conflict, Yemen reading program succeeds

March 17, 2015

5 min read

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In midst of conflict, Yemen reading program succeeds

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The daily routine of going to school brings a sense of stability to children, especially those living in poverty and crisis-affected environments.

For children in Yemen, this security hangs in the balance as conflict rages among Houthi rebels, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and government forces. Keeping schools open and delivering quality education is now more critical than ever.

Where possible, keepings children in class and education programs running during crisis “actually gives people hope as they see normalcy in school continuing,” says Joy du Plessis, Education in Conflict expert at Creative Associates International.

Overcoming obstacles like a lack of rule of law in many places, restrictions on movement throughout the country, frequent street demonstrations and the departure of key government officials, the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach program has continued and succeeded, says the program’s head Atia Moor. The program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative.

The program remains on track to deliver nationwide training and coaching to educators on its successful phonics-based reading methodology as part of the national scale-up of the reading program.

Student reading levels have improved through active learning and a phonics-based approach.

“I believe these programs are needed now more than ever,” says Moor, noting that some government agencies that deliver services have reduced capacity during times of political instability. “The need for social services needs to be met,” he says.

After Houthi rebels took complete control of the capital of Sana’a in January, President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi resigned his post. In late February, he fled the capital and retracted his resignation.

Yet, while the central government is in many ways on the brink, the country’s Ministry of Education remains operational, says Moor, playing a lead role in the implementation and scale-up of the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach.

With uncertainty prevailing in Sana’a and ongoing conflict around the country, Moor says that programs like this one “give hope to people that the next generation might have a brighter future.”

Primary school educators are looking to the future and anticipating gains in literacy from their students as the program progresses.

“I am sure that the primary education system in Yemen can count on the [Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach],” said one teacher at a recent refresher teacher training at the Saba School in Sana’a. “I am eager to see the results three years from now!”

Globally, the United Nations reports that an estimated 30 million children in emergency or conflict-affected areas are out of school due to the targeting of schools by armed groups, displacement or insecurity. In the past, over several years of internal conflict, Yemeni schools have been targeted by armed groups.

Success through instability

Even in the most stable of countries, increasing the capacity of national governments to sustain programs—and build on their gains—is a challenge, and these difficulties can be compounded by conflict, when ministries change hands and progress is interrupted.

However, the country’s ongoing crisis has not derailed the implementation of the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach or set back the gains it made in the years and months prior to the present flare-up.

Through close partnerships with Ministry of Education officials at the governorate level, the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach has continued to build national capacity and ensure that local-level trainings and coaching for master trainers, parents and teachers remain on track.

“During the present unrest, the training of literacy coaches is ongoing, children are going to school, teachers are teaching and our Yemeni staff as well as Ministry of Education officials are still going to work,” says du Plessis.

More than 5,000 educators have received coaching visits from the Ministry of Education on the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach.

To date, more than 5,000 educators using the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach have received coaching visits through the Ministry in Aden, Amant Al-Asimah Taiz, Amran, Abyan, Dhamar, Lah and Ibb governorates. These visits provide teachers with critical support, even in the middle of the conflict, and ensure that students are gaining the literacy skills they need for future success.

Using the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach, educators are reporting renewed energy in the classroom and positive advances in students’ literacy levels.

“I was a teacher for 18 years and I can say confidently that [this program] is a revolutionary tool for students of this country,” said one Master Trainer during a refresher training at the Tokyo School in Sana’a. “Now I am a lead teacher and I have heard many success stories about this new approach to reading. This training gave us the power to keep the momentum going.”

Ensuring teacher coaching continues even after the life of the program, the Ministry of Education has accredited the program’s Supervision and Coaching Training Manual as the tool to be used for teacher support and supervision in all subjects nationwide.

This is a result of the program’s “excellent approach, simplicity of implementation and great impact,” says Abdullah Othman, Director of Teacher Capacity Building in the Training Sector at the Ministry of Education.

With support from the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach program, the Ministry has, for the first time, implemented a nationwide awareness campaign on the importance of early grade literacy and orientated Ministry officials on the program’s plan and scale-up.

The Ministry has also taken the lead in printing and distributing Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach student books and teacher manuals for grade one teachers and students nationwide.

Aid needed more than ever

With the escalation of Yemen’s conflict particularly in the capital city, many embassies, including France, the United Kingdom and the United States, have closed their doors. This has raised fears that international aid to the country could also diminish, at a time when Yemeni children are increasingly vulnerable, the UN reports.

There are many operational obstacles for development programs working in this environment, says Moor, “in addition to the psychological effect the present situation may have on our local colleagues.”

Implementers have to make contingency plans and, on occasion, move locations for trainings or re-evaluate schedules.

Moor says that donors should continue their work despite or, perhaps because of, the conflict.

“I believe donors should continue their work in this environment as life has to continue and most of the beneficiaries of those programs have nothing to do with the present conflict,” says Moor.

When tensions are high, program continuity restores a sense of normalcy to people’s lives and, in a post-conflict environment, a country with functioning institutions and capacity to carry out programs in education and other sectors will be better prepared to steer the country towards recovery.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A personal journey for social change from Monrovia to D.C.

March 10, 2015

3 min read

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I can still remember the night of Dec. 21 when I boarded the Air Maroc flight to Dakar, Senegal. My mom traveled seven hours from rural Liberia to see me off. I had just celebrated my daughter’s second birthday the day before, and Ebola was still in full swing throughout the country.

As I boarded the flight, I kept asking myself, “Is the Atlas Corps Fellowship worth my entire 2015? Will my daughter remember me when I get back? How easy will it be to reintegrate into Liberian society when I return?”

I was painfully aware of how big this decision was, and just how much it could have an effect my own life—as well as the lives of the people I was leaving behind.

But this journey was about more than just living in another country, far away from the people and places I know and love. This journey would help me get the tools, knowledge and experience I needed to ramp up the technology for development and social change revolution back home in Liberia.

Arriving in D.C. was a total culture shock– the cold weather, the always available electricity, the people and the simple things like transportation systems.

Liberia has endured 14 years of on and off civil war, during which the country experienced one of the largest recorded economic collapses with national Gross Domestic Product falling by more than 90 percent from 1987 to 1995. Although the war ended in 2003, it left a legacy of extreme hardship—with almost two-thirds of Liberians living below the poverty line—severe capacity constraints, significant under-employment and a vast infrastructure deficit.

In fact, the first elected post-war government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had to begin from scratch because all banking institutions, including the Central Bank of Liberia, were completely looted during the war. Even hospitals were looted, sometimes resulting in the destruction of doors and windows.

During the last 10 years, the World Bank has consistently ranked Liberia as one of the world’s poorest countries. There is no round-the-clock electricity and good governance, quality health delivery systems, access to education and employment opportunities still remain huge challenges.

Growing up as a Liberian in the last two decades hasn’t been a smooth road at all. I have had to listen to gun shots as though they were music. I have tasted hunger and hardship, living part of my life in refugee camps in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

And now, far from the refugee camps of West Africa, I am here as one of 17 Atlas Corps Fellow in Washington, D.C., where I’ll be supporting the Technology for Development team at Creative Associates International. Previously, I was Training Director at iLab Liberia.

Since my arrival in February, the most interesting part of this journey has been getting to know my fellow Fellows from different countries and continents, listening to their stories and learning about their cultures while sharing mine.

Living in the United States, joining the Creative team and being part of this fellowship is awesome, but even though everything is going well I am also constantly reminding myself that there will be challenges ahead. As exciting and promising as fellowships or studying abroad can seem (and usually are), the experience doesn’t come without its obstacles.

I am now facing the reality that I am in a foreign place, a new environment and a different culture. I am trying to enjoy every bit of it and to make my experience at my host organization, Creative, worth remembering.

I am certain that there are and will be obstacles.

However, the mission for which I came to the U.S. remains constant—learn, share, network and return to Liberia to support my country by using new and old technologies to inspire social change.

In the end, my personal journey will be one that not only brings about change in my life, but also changes the lives of hundreds and even thousands of my fellow citizens back home.

International Women’s Day 2015

March 8, 2015

1 min read

When Charito Kruvant and three other women founded Creative in 1977, they knew women could be part of positive change no matter what country they lived in. On International Women’s Day 2015, Charito talks about how Creative has never given up on its quest to empower women as active participants in their schools, communities and economies.

A Window of Economic Opportunity for Afghan Women

As the Afghan economy reels from a reduction in international funding and the withdrawal of international forces, female wage earners are becomingly increasingly critical to the economic development of the country. Many private sector employers are recognizing and capitalizing on the contribution of Afghan women.

Read full story & Watch video

Women make an impact around the world.

Click on a photo below to learn more

Is Non-Inclusive Economic Growth Sufficient for Stability and Competitiveness?

February 25, 2015

4 min read

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In Egypt’s case, the short answer is no! Although it was the top reformer in 2008 and among the top ten reformers in 2009-10 as listed in the World Bank’s Doing Business reports, Egypt’s economic, social and political conditions were not ripe during the late 2000’s for spurring real economic stability and competitiveness.

Egypt’s potentially large market size, proximity to key global markets, location, natural resources, human capital and potential markets can significantly contribute to higher level of inclusive economic growth rates.

So why, despite these factors and its membership in many trade and investment organizations such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Asia (COMESA) and the Arab League, has Egypt not realized its economic growth potential?

Exclusion does not breed competitiveness

Prior to 2011, Egypt’s economy was not inclusive, despite enjoying relatively high growth. The non-inclusive nature of economic growth rates of above 5 percent was insufficient to both reduce poverty and create enough decent jobs. It also didn’t reach women, youth or disadvantaged groups.

During past decades, women and youth have suffered high rates of unemployment and less participation in the labor force. Moreover, disadvantaged groups in rural areas and Upper Egypt have even higher poverty levels. The national poverty rate in 2011 (25.2 percent) was actually higher than it was more than 10 years ago in 2000 (16.7 percent).

In 2012, official estimates of the unemployment rates for youth ages 15 to 24 were around 25 percent and rising, and higher among females—over 35 percent. The informal sector is a huge part of Egypt’s economy, constituting nearly 82 percent of the total number of firms and employing nearly 40 percent of the labor force.

Prolonged unemployment, marginalization of youth and women, huge informal economies, extreme poverty and an uncompetitive private sector, among other factors, were drivers of instability.

The Egyptian economy today

In the recent 2014-15 World Economic Forum ranking, Egypt dropped to a rank of 119 out of 144 countries in a competitiveness ranking. This reduced competitiveness has negatively impacted trade and investment in goods and services, and hence slowed economic growth even further.

Political and social transitions in 2011 and 2013 deeply impacted Egypt’s economy. Currently, Egypt faces substantial new challenges related to investment outflows, falling tourist arrivals, an unstable macroeconomic environment, an increasing informal sector and pervasive job loss.

These issues are compounded by pre-2011 economic challenges, many of which had been the driving forces behind major political shifts, including the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood, a newly elected government, and a planned parliamentarian election in 2015 after a long-lasting non-democratic regime.

The country’s microeconomic policies, including the over-regulated and costly business regulatory environment, are binding constraints to private sector domestic and foreign trade and investment.

Trade and customs barriers, ease of doing business, tax policy, labor laws and regulations are current challenges. The higher the level of trade and investment in goods, the more opportunities emerge to help create jobs for the almost 800,000 new labor force entrants every year.

The macroeconomic environment has worsened over recent years because of a widening fiscal deficit, growing public indebtedness and continuing inflationary pressures. But Egypt’s macroeconomic policies seem to have had less of an impact on long-term political stability than typically attributed.

Though good macro-economic policies may be important for stimulating development, socioeconomic equality and inclusive growth are more influential long-term contributors to long-term stability.

How can Egypt change its course?

Egypt should focus on the inclusiveness of economic growth strategies by addressing employment issues of youth and women, supporting the informal sector and micro, small and medium enterprises and alleviating poverty, particularly in disadvantaged areas of rural and Upper Egypt.

It needs to put special focus on youth and women because they not only represent disadvantaged groups in terms of unemployment, but also represent largely untapped human resource potential. Supporting rural areas, Upper Egypt and other geographically disadvantaged areas will be a real challenge, but is critical for success.

The country also needs to foster a low-risk and low-cost business regulatory environment for both the formal and informal sectors in order to increase trade and investments, both of which will lead to the creation of new jobs.

Egypt will have to make it easier for businesses to operate, get permits and licenses, comply with laws and regulations and exit the market when they opt to—key factors to increasing productive economic engagement.

If Egypt can capitalize on its many advantages, accompanied by inclusive economic growth with a focus on improving labor skills and productivity, advancing micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship development, streamlining business processes, eliminating barriers to trade and investment and endorsing the formalization of the informal sector, the country will be able to create more jobs and provide for its continual flow of new entrants into the labor market with enhanced opportunities.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Program to raise reading comprehension in Moroccan middle schools

February 12, 2015

4 min read

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Program to raise reading comprehension in Moroccan middle schools

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Feb. 12, 2015 -Middle schools students in Morocco who are struggling with reading comprehension will get a boost through a new program, Creative Associates International announced. (www.CreativeAssociatesInternational.com)

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative, the new program provides teachers, and the coaches who support them, with new materials and methods to strengthen critical reading comprehension skills and integrate them into everyday lessons across the curriculum, including Arabic, French, science and math classes.

“Reading opens a whole new world for children,” says Charito Kruvant, Creative’s CEO. “By reaching students at such a critical transitional stage, this new program will help adolescents develop the reading skills they need to truly reach their potential.”

In Morocco, international reading tests have shown consistently low reading performance among middle school students. Morocco’s national assessment revealed that only 25 percent of eighth grade students were able to distinguish the main idea of a basic text, and only 4 percent could summarize its content.

Middle school teachers typically lack the skills and resources needed to bring struggling students up to grade-level reading performance, and they often presume that students have already mastered reading comprehension skills by the seventh grade. This means struggling students fall further behind and may ultimately drop out of school.

The eight-and-a-half month, $1.3 million “Reading for Academic Skills and Individual Development in Middle Schools” (RASID) will work with Morocco’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to train a cohort of master trainers—including school inspectors and teacher training college instructors—on best practices to integrate effective reading comprehension instruction into existing middle school curriculum.

The master trainers will chart out action plans they will use to train educators nationwide and then—amplifying the effect of the trainings—provide ongoing coaching support as teachers bring reading comprehension strategies to life in seventh to ninth grade classes.

“Working with the Ministry to empower an expert group of master trainers, who will then carry the program forward, is one of the components that will assist the Moroccan government in reaching its goal of bringing quality reading instruction and critical reading skills to thousands of middle school students,” says Jerrold Keilson, Creative’s Vice President who oversees the Education Division.

The USAID-funded program will also support educators with a comprehensive Arabic-language Enhanced Reading Program kit for trainers, coaches and teachers. The kit includes a trainers’ guide, coaches’ guide, teachers’ guide and linkages document, which explains how reading instruction strategies can be incorporated into specific lessons in the existing middle school curriculum.

Previous education success in Morocco

Creative’s implementing team for the Reading for Academic Skills and Individual Development in Middle Schools project has three decades of experience working with the Morocco’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to improve literacy, strengthen instructional systems and enhance teachers’ skills in the classroom.

Under the Improving Training for Quality Advancement in National Education project (2009-2014), Creative’s team designed and piloted the middle school reading program, working with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and regional education centers to develop reading kits for subject teachers, train a core group of master trainers and assess student learning outcomes.

The pilot was conducted in 35 schools in eight districts in three regions. It included 79 teachers and 503 students, and was followed by the training of 200 inspectors and teacher trainers.

Follow-up tests showed gains in student reading competencies after the eight-week experiment, and teachers said that the program developed their instructional skills and provided easily adapted activities that helped them meet the diverse learning needs of their students.

“Our team has a passion for improving the quality of education and making sure every child has access to the skills they need for success,” says Keilson. “But we also have a record of achievement in Morocco, creating education programs that work, fit the context and are sustainable.”

About Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International works with underserved communities by sharing expertise and experience in education, economic growth, governance and transitions from conflict to peace.

Based in Washington, D.C., Creative has active projects in more than 15 countries. Since 1977, it has worked in nearly 90 countries and on almost every continent. Recognized for its ability to work rapidly, flexibly and effectively in conflict-affected environments, Creative is committed to generating long-term sustainable solutions to complex development problems.

Started by four enterprising women with diverse backgrounds, Creative has grown to become one of the leaders among the U.S. private sector implementers of global development projects. Creative is minority owned and operated.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Morocco – Reading for Academic Skills and Individual Development in Middle Schools

Program

1 min read

Creative worked with the Moroccan Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to boost reading comprehension in middle schools through the Reading for Academic Skills and Individual Development in Middle Schools (RASID). The project was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The eight-and-a-half month project strengthened reading comprehension in middle schools by training master trainers—including school inspectors and teacher training college instructors—on best practices to integrate effective reading comprehension instruction into existing middle school curriculum.

By implementing action plans, these master trainers trained educators nationwide and provide ongoing coaching support as teachers bring reading comprehension strategies to life in seventh to ninth grade classes.

The program ensured the instructional techniques were readily mastered by teachers and easy to implement in the classroom. Trainers, coaches and teachers received a comprehensive Arabic-language Enhanced Reading Program kit with guidebooks and materials, containing sets of activities and explicit guidance for incorporating reading instruction into the middle school curriculum, assessing student learning and creating a “reading-conducive” environment.

New Electoral Security Framework critical in at-risk elections

February 5, 2015

4 min read

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New Electoral Security Framework critical in at-risk elections

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]This year, international democracy experts are tracking nearly two dozen high-profile, at-risk elections from Yemen to Myanmar. Policies and practices to keep elections safe are now more critical than ever.

“Democracy demands participation to derive its legitimacy. This participation demands competition, and this competition can turn violent,” says Jeff Fischer, Senior Electoral Advisor at Creative Associates International and co-author of two handbooks on Best Practices in Electoral Security and an Electoral Security Framework, both published by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

These handbooks lay out approaches to identifying risk factors for electoral violence, and designing and implementing strategies to prevent, mitigate and mediate it when it does occur. Improving electoral security is an indispensable component of democracy and governance work writ large, says Fischer.

The detrimental effects of election-related violence go beyond the electoral cycle itself and can impede democratic progress long after polls have closed and violence has subsided.

Electoral violence “can reduce political competition, decrease access to information about contestants and suppress voter turnout in a way that diminishes the legitimacy of elected governing institutions,” explains Jeffrey Carlson, Director of Electoral Integrity and Education at Creative.

Last month, for example, on the one-year anniversary of Bangladesh’s most violent election on record, supporters of ruling and opposition parties clashed violently over unresolved questions about the legitimacy of those in power and lingering allegations of vote-rigging from last year.

Carlson says that the Electoral Security Framework and Best Practices in Electoral Security guide, developed and used by Creative, are steps toward addressing electoral violence, “a widely recognized impediment to credible and inclusive electoral processes.”

As USAID and other donor agencies increasingly embrace the tool, he says, implementers “can apply greater comparative experience about what works in this field.”

Partially free, highly at-risk

Countries that are most at risk for electoral violence, and where electoral security efforts should be focused, are those ranked as “partly free” on political and civil rights indicators, says Fischer.

In authoritarian states, political opposition is often stymied before it has a chance to rise to the surface. Elections either do not exist, or they are a sham where the winner is predetermined, says Fischer.

In free states, he says, peaceful and fair elections are routinized and conflict is nonviolent and kept in the political space.

All regions of the world, Fischer points out, have experienced electoral violence and its implications can and do extend beyond country borders, affecting diaspora communities and regional stability and development.

Multi-sectoral & multi-stakeholder

Although electoral violence centers on political conflict, a comprehensive framework for electoral security must look at how electoral violence interacts with other important and often contentious issues, says Fischer.

Are political rivals exploiting youth without livelihoods, spurring them to take up arms for a candidate? Do laws and practices bar women from the polls? Are perpetrators of electoral violence walking free? Do media outlets broadcasting incitement?

Electoral security “is not just an elections issue,” says Fischer. “It is a rule of law issue because of the culture of impunity. It is a women’s issue. It is a civil society issues. It is a media issue.”

Because of this multidimensional nature of electoral violence Fischer describes, electoral security strategies must be equally multifaceted and comprehensive.

Leora Addison, Management Associate in Electoral Integrity and Education at Creative and contributor to the Best Practices in Electoral Security guide, says: “Solutions and approaches to electoral security need to include, engage and get buy-in from multiple stakeholders and sectors including political, rule of law, gender equity, youth livelihoods and security sector reform.”

From Elections Management Body officials to poll workers, all levels of actors should be part of the effort to support electoral security so that issues as large as orchestrated vote-rigging and as localized as disputes at a polling station are managed and de-escalated. Involving the right stakeholders will also ensure the solutions are context specific and sustainable.

“A one-size-fits-all approach to electoral security would be ineffective,” says Addison. “That’s what makes the Creative-authored, USAID Framework and Best Practices guide so useful. They are tools for practitioners to be able to analyze the profiles and potential mitigating factors for electoral conflict that are specific to each location.”

Orchestrated violence & tactics

Eruptions of street clashes on election day often grab media attention, but rarely is election-related violence a truly spontaneous occurrence, says Fischer.

When applying an electoral security framework to any context, practitioners should keep in mind that most electoral violence is organized. “It has a leadership and enforcers,” Fischer says.

These orchestrators of violence can use tactics at any and even all stages of the electoral cycle from intimidation during voter registration, to violence at the ballot box, and threats to candidates and parties as results are being tallied or announced. Tactics can include sexual violence, physical assault, strategic displacement of populations, property destruction or personal intimidation.

In Afghanistan, for example, Fischer says the Taliban staved off voter participation by posting “night letters” throughout neighborhoods, threatening to maim those found with voting ink on their fingers on election day.

“How many people self-disenfranchise because they are intimidated by night letters, we’ll never know,” says Fischer.

The Electoral Security Framework helps implementers examine the types of violence possible at various stages of the electoral cycle, identify the targets and perpetrators of these acts, and then devise approaches to prevent and mitigate the impact of the violence.

In contexts where perpetrators so often have a large “toolbox” of tactics available to instigate violence, donor agencies and implementers now have a framework and tools of their own to restore and ensure electoral security as countries strive for free, fair, safe and credible elections.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Drafting new constitution, Libyan civil society speaks

January 26, 2015

4 min read

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Drafting new constitution, Libyan civil society speaks

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Democracies are founded on the will of the people. But in al-Bayda, Libya—where members of the Constitutional Drafting Assembly have been working since April 2014 to create the framework for a democratic Libya—the voice of the people had been largely absent.

This changed in Dec. 2014, when 10 representatives from 4 civil society groups took to the podium in the assembly’s chambers, speaking to assembly President Ali Tarhouni and 16 members from the body’s 8 committees.

Revealing their findings from focus groups held across the country, the speakers voiced the views of thousands of Libyans on key constitutional issues, including national reconciliation, local governance, extractive industries, the role of the army and police, transparency, youth and women’s rights.

“The role of civil society is vital to ensure Libyan citizens are engaged in the ongoing transitional efforts in Libya….Civil society organizations not only inform the public about transitional issues but, importantly, they gather public opinion in a certain geographical area or on a certain issue and are able to feed public opinion back to policy makers and lawmakers ensuring greater public participation in key transitional matters,” says Mansoor Mirza, Chief of Party for the Libyan Engagement and Governance through Applied Learning program.

The program works to boost organizations’ ability to build consensus and influence the constitutional drafting process. It is funded by the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative and implemented by Creative Associates International.

“Civil society has a unique opportunity to play a meaningful role in Libya’s transition. But this may be hard won, given the current tensions in country,” says Kourtney Pompi, a civil society trainer for the program.

Libya has been plagued by political tensions and militia fighting since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Gaps in citizen knowledge about the new political process and a lack of technical experience have also prevented civil society from playing an active role in dialogue and advocacy around the new constitution.

The ABCs of advocacy

Photo by: Women and Youth Empowerment Forum

During an intensive four-day workshop in Djerba, Tunisia, the program’s grantees gained skills in in building consensus, spearheading advocacy, formulating policy and reaching out to media.

“Prior to the trainings, the [civil society organizations] lacked focus and specificity in their messaging,” says Michael Wasco, a constitutional attorney and a trainer for the program. “The trainings and discussions helped the groups distill their positions and data into succinct and clear recommendations.”

Participants in the training represented the Libyan Public Policy Forum (LPPF), Women and Youth Empowerment Forum (WYEF), National Caucus Fazzan (NCF) and H2O, a youth organization.

During the past several months, the groups have held public forums around the country, collecting citizens’ opinions and concerns on key constitutional issues and turning those into policy points to deliver to the Constitutional Drafting Assembly.

Wasco says that through role play scenarios, mock presentations and consensus-building and communication exercises, participants sharpened their oral presentation skills and messaging.

Pompi adds that the trainings also helped groups crystallize their policy positions and understand “the value of being direct about what they wanted from the [Constitutional Drafting Assembly] members.”

In a heated and divisive political environment, Pompi says, the civil society trainees are now better prepared to discuss priority issues with officials and other groups with dissenting perspectives or priorities.

“Remaining politically impartial in a highly polarized and uncertain political environment is vital in establishing and maintaining trust with the [Constitutional Drafting Assembly],” says Mirza.

Through their trainings, the civil society organizations learned how to present their findings so that they were not seen as “pushing a particular political agenda but were providing objective information gathered from nationwide citizen public forums that is important for constitution drafters in ensuring the constitution reflects public opinion,” Mirza says.

Connections for democratic engagement

At the groups’ presentation in al-Bayda, President Tarhouni said he hoped that there would be a greater level of coordination between civil society and the assembly in the upcoming public consultation phase of the constitutional drafting process.

In bilateral conversations following the meeting, individual civil society representatives and assembly members established personal connections for ongoing communication. This engagement with individual assembly members on an individual constituency basis is key, says Mirza.

To date, the four organizations trained through the Libyan Engagement in Governance through Applied Learning program are the only civil society groups that have met with assembly members directly in al-Bayda to discuss the constitution.

This government-civil society relationship will be critical to a successful constitution-drafting process. Although program grantees, and other civil society groups, can hone their organizing and advocacy skills through training, their efforts will be ineffective if they are met with closed doors and deaf ears, say program trainers.

“Civil society has an opportunity to contribute to consensus building within the country, as they have the trust of their communities, if government is willing to engage them meaningfully in the transition process,” says Pompi.

These meetings are an important step toward this successful democratic transition.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Holding out Hope for Children and Youth

January 20, 2015

3 min read

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As I safely tuck my 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter into bed, I am still thinking about the 2015 UNICEF report on the State of the World’s Children that I read this morning. As a youth development professional and advocate, and as a parent, it is difficult to read the remarks of Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, declaring 2014 a dire year for the 15 million children that fell victims of major conflict and crisis globally.

“This has been a devastating year for millions of children,” Lake wrote in the report. “Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves. Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”

The situation is especially heartbreaking given that 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most important declarations for children globally: the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The results of the Convention have been tremendous, from lowering infant mortality to raising school enrollment. However, the UNICEF report serves as a reminder and a call to action, imploring us to not rest on our laurels.

A more helpful way to address youth issues

There is still so much to be done, especially for the children and youth in conflict and crisis environments where the violation of their rights often has irreversible outcomes as they transition through adolescence to adulthood.

In Central African Republic, where 2.3 million children are affected by the conflict, armed groups are believed to have recruited up to 10,000 children with close to 500 deaths. In South Sudan, an estimated 235,000 children age 5 and younger are suffering from severe acute malnutrition with close to 750,000 children displaced and more than 320,000 living as refugees, according to the report.

Yet, in spite the terrible figures revealed in the report and the challenges for youth in so many countries, there remains hope for millions of children and youth effected by conflict and crisis.

If we assume all children, especially those who are marginalized, should and can have the same opportunities as those in safer or more developed countries—and we build community support to make those opportunities real for them—we can still give children and youth pathways to positive futures as we enter the Post Millennium Development Goals era.

Creating more asset-based youth initiatives, which build on assets instead of honing in on risks and challenges, can enable young people to change their life’s trajectory and become responsible contributors to their communities. It’s a much more positive, and we think effective way of addressing issues affecting youth.

For example, at-risk youth living in violent, crime-affected communities in Honduras have explored viable life alternatives through Alianza Joven Honduras (Youth Alliance) program, which is funded by USAID and implemented by Creative.

Here, where violent crime and gangs rule the lives of families and neighborhoods, this program countered the risk factors by providing more than 20,000 children and youth with computer literacy, job training, tutoring, life skills and leadership opportunities—first and second chances to build resilience and engage in something positive.

Creative’s Northern Nigeria Education Initiative fostered enabling environments for orphans and vulnerable children and youth, particularly adolescent girls and boys in informal Qur’anic schools. In these environments, vulnerable youth learned core academic concepts, received job and life skills training and accessed critical psychosocial support in one of today’s most confusing and violent environments for children.

Making new statistics

These two initiatives show us that, although children and youth around the world are too often victimized, they don’t always have to be victims.

Young people who find opportunities to engage their minds, learn new skills and involve themselves in their communities can form the ranks of another kind of statistic—the numbers of youth who are successfully using their own assets and resources to withstand so much negativity and create a positive future for themselves.

As the UNICEF report suggests, 2015 is a pivotal year for the field of children and youth development, and we must renew our commitment to the protection of their rights and creation of hope and opportunity.

Experts: Mideast youth radicalism is “public health crisis”

January 16, 2015

5 min read

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Experts: Mideast youth radicalism is “public health crisis”

By Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]In refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and other countries, more than 3 million Syrians live in limbo. Especially for those in their teens and twenties, their life plans—education, careers, marriages and families—are suspended while a violent civil war at home rages into its fourth year.

“If you go into a refugee camp, every day is Ground Hog’s day. There is no tomorrow and there is no yesterday. Every day is frozen,” said Curt Rhodes, Founder and Director of Questscope, which works across the Middle East to create social, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for marginalized youth.

Rhodes joined other experts in youth, development and stabilization on a panel entitled “Youth Programming in Jordan and Syria,” hosted by Creative Associates International on Jan. 6.

With the spread of ISIL and other extremist groups in an already unstable region, preventing marginalized young people from joining violent extremist groups is becoming a development and security priority.

Outside of the Middle East’s conflict hotspots, many youth in transitioning countries like Egypt and divided ones like Lebanon are also adrift. With more than 100 million youth aged 15-29 in the region and a youth unemployment rate of 28 percent, economic opportunities are slim.

Authoritarian governments and nascent, backsliding democracies leave youth with the “inability to feel like they had any say not only in their governments but even in their communities,” said Richard Jaskot, Director of Stabilization and Development at Creative.

Criminal treatment breeds criminal youth

To stem radicalization among youth, Rhodes said, governments and practitioners first need to adjust the lens through which they view the problem.

In the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and other communities where Questscopoe works, Rhodes said youth in juvenile detention centers often report being mistreated and abused by authorities. This abuse within a system meant to reform at-risk youth can in fact lead to even more alienation and violent behavior.

“The fact that you treat them in a criminal way helps them become better criminals,” he said.

Rhodes said that rather than labeling at-risk, marginalized youth as criminals to be tracked and punished, we should view radicalization among youth as a public health crisis, looking at its causes and symptoms and striving to reduce its spread.

Countering radicalization with connection

While headlines speak of new “recruits” to groups like ISIL and “recruitment” campaigns via social media, experts say that those who join these violent groups are largely seeking out membership, “auditioning” in the words of Guillermo Cespedes, Crime and Violence Prevention Advisor at Creative who has developed youth gang and violence prevention efforts in Las Angeles and throughout Central America.

Rhodes agreed that young people who join radical, violent groups are searching for them, largely pushed by marginalization and other risk factors.

“Terrorists are looking for a place to hire them,” he said. “They don’t get recruited.”

What they are often also seeking, said Rhodes, is connection and a sense of purpose.

Many young Syrians living in camps, have lost all their relationships to death or separation and do not know where loved ones have ended up outside of the country, he said, leading to a kind of “mental health crisis.”

Adolescence and early adulthood is a time when people seek meaning and define their social identities.

But deprived of connections, living in chaos and with a world of radicalism at their fingertips, Rhodes said, “I can be searching for my social identity in Aleppo, Syria and a guy in Brighton, England who is searching for his social identity—we can find each other and we can talk. We can be economically marginalized but we are no longer politically marginalized.”

Reestablishing relationships, particularly with adults but also with peers in a supportive environment, Rhodes said, can recreate a lost sense of family, identity and relationships and can prevent youth from seeking out connections and meaning in a radical movement.

Restoring agency & opening pathways

In seemingly dead-end situations from refugee camps to authoritarian societies where young people feel they have no legitimate means to affect change, said Creative’s Jaskot, youth may reason that “if [violent extremism] is the only way you can make a difference then maybe try it.”

Giving youth avenues to regain a sense of purpose and personal agency, Rhodes said, is key to combatting extremism among youth.

“Everyone wants to know that I can do something and the thing that I am doing actually matters,” said Rhodes.

Where few opportunities for education, income, political participation and social status exist, governments and program implementers need to step in with viable opportunities for youth as alternatives to radicalism, panelists said.

Often when programs to reach marginalized youth do exist, they are ill-fitting and ineffectual having been designed by adults outside of the Middle East, said Eric Rusten, Education for Development expert at Creative and co-author of the Youth Speak methodology and toolkit, a youth-led process of investigating an issue that affects them and mobilizing community action to address it.

Rusten said that programming geared towards vulnerable youth must put youth at the center so that those doing the bulk of the talking, thinking, idea-generating and implementing are the same young people who are supposed to benefit from the program.

This leadership is empowering for young people, agreed Rhodes.

“Out of your situation, if you feel like you can tell your story and it is told in such a way that people listen to you, you feel like you are on a different trajectory,” said Rhodes.

By the thousands

Violent extremism among youth is a problem that transcends borders. Marginalized young people from the camps of Jordan to the hearts of major cities around the Middle East and in the West are susceptible to this epidemic.

To be successful, initiatives to combat violence and extremism can’t just “go after the low hanging fruit,” said Creative’s Cespedes. Programs must engage those who are most on the brink of violence and radicalization and even those who are already involved in radical groups.

Rhodes said that although many youth in the Middle East perceive that the Western model for political and economic prosperity and security has failed, this does mean those youth are unreachable.

“We have to figure out how to get in dialogue with people who don’t particularly like us and people we don’t particularly like,” he said.

Effective efforts to counter youth radicalism in the region will also require scaling up programs like Questscope and Youth Speak that have been successful at generating positive relationships, restoring personal agency and opening opportunities for marginalized youth

“You can’t do it on a hundred kids, you’ve got to think in terms of thousands,” said Rhodes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-primary”][/vc_column][/vc_row]