Nigeria – Lake Chad Basin / Early Recovery Initiative

Program

2 min read

Funded and guided by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI), Nigeria Lake Chad Basin (NLCB) was a quick-response program that supported activities to strengthen and extend stability in the hard-hit states of Kaduna and Plateau, also known as the Middle Belt region.

In September 2020, NLCB – known locally as the Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative (NERI) – focused its efforts on improving community security, recovery of livelihoods and advocacy and peaceful resolution of conflict in the target states. These activities strengthened community resilience and supported conflict prevention mechanism to anticipate, prevent and respond to increasing violence and threats of attacks against civilians.

In close collaboration with community leaders and through small grants to local partners, NLCB/NERI activities supported the ability of displaced individuals to return to their homes and that strengthened the physical security of vulnerable neighborhoods, such as by installing solar streetlights. It developed early warning mechanisms that alerted communities to potential threats. With restored livelihoods as a key priority, NLCB/NERI supported small investments into rehabilitating marketplaces and providing livelihood kits and cash-for-work activities to at-risk community members. 

NLCB/NERI’s activities increased the access to an inclusive space for community led advocacy and platforms for dialogue. Working in target locations, experts built the advocacy skills of grassroots organizations to ensure that community decisions and interventions were locally driven and inclusive of marginalized groups. Because many communities remained traumatized by the effects of violence, NLCB/NERI implemented activities that provide elements of psycho-social support and trauma healing.

By the end of the NLCB/NERI program, vulnerable communities in eight LGAs were equipped with improved community security, resiliency and recovery of livelihoods, as well as increased capacity and access for inclusive advocacy and peacebuilding mechanisms towards a peaceful resolution of conflict in the Middle Belt.

Nigeria – Northeast Connection Program

Program

2 min read

Northeast Connection’s solutions-based approach used a range of activities to address and prevent social conflicts in some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable communities.

Residents in Nigeria’s northeastern states face a host of challenges – from poverty to violent extremist organizations like Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa – that continuously block their path to peace, inclusion and economic prosperity.

With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development and in close collaboration with grassroots organizations, the Northeast Connection program took a preventative and holistic approach to addressing the causes of violent conflict in the region.

By targeting localities that are vulnerable to violent extremist infiltration and conflict, but not yet under their influence, the Northeast Connection program strengthened community resilience by improving their ability to respond to emerging threats. This program aimed to mitigate the grievances that may erode social cohesion within and across communities in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, and ultimately created a stronger foundation against violent extremist threats and other conflicts.

Northeast Connection’s solutions-based approach used a range of activities, including the increased involvement of youth in their communities through inter-community exchanges, leadership roles and efforts to address their sense of marginalization, as well as promoting positive roles for them in the community. In the same vein, the program actively engaged internally displaced persons, persons with disabilities and cultural minorities, among others, to increase their social bonds.

Recognizing women as key interlocutors in building community resilience to violent extremist organizations’ influence and infiltration, Northeast Connection designed specific programs to equip women to become vocal, positive leaders for peace and advancement. In addition, the program helped women to develop skills and obtain leadership roles to support survivors of violence and identify people at risk of recruitment into violent extremist organizations.

The project built effective working relationships between the Nigerian government at both the state and local levels and communities through a variety of activities, including forums and platforms that promote dialogue and access to government operations, such as providing input into governments’ development and social welfare activities or collaborating with state and national assembly representatives.

The Northeast Connection program developed opportunities for engagement between communities and security providers that built constructive relationships and productive civilian roles in managing security, working collaboratively in peace and security, early warning and early response efforts.

International Women’s Day 2021

March 8, 2021

8 min read

‘I see women coming out to demand equal rights and to speak about what happened to them, even after being attacked.’ Davita Andow, USAID/OTI Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative

International Women’s Day 2021: Voices from the Field

Rebecca Sewall, Gender Specialist for Creative Associates International:

While the global development community shows a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic relationship between women’s autonomy and their ability to contribute to development efforts, many practitioners continue to see the “value” of promoting women’s advancement only in terms of optimizing their contribution to larger development goals.

This position presumes that what is good for the economy or for “development” is also good for women – a presumption that is not always true. In line with this International Women’s Day theme, I want to #ChooseToChallenge this position, it is time we move away from asking what women can do for development and instead ask ourselves what development can do for women.

There are signals that this perception is starting to change, as the voices of women in Creative’s projects below attest. There are glimmers of hope that paying attention to women and gender in development is not just viewed as a means to an end, but an end in itself. Nearly 50 years after the passage of the Percy Amendment – which required that attention be given to integrating women into national economies to improve their status and to assist the overall development effort – it is time we focus on the other goal it was intended to achieve: Ensuring women are equal beneficiaries of development.

Florinda Puac, Community Facilitator Supervisor

USAID’s Peacebuilding Project, Guatemala

What do you want to see change for women in your context in the coming years?

The reality of women’s participation in community processes is very limited because they are generally invited to meetings or training activities on health, food security, food demonstrations, etc… topics closely linked to the gender roles that society has set for women. While of course these trainings have contributed to improving their health and nutrition, this still places them in a passive or information-gathering role. We saw in some community assessment processes that when people were consulted about women’s participation, it revealed that most people looked to assign women tasks unrelated to community development. These are things that have historically limited the substantive participation of women compared to the active role that men have played.

But the Peacebuilding Project (Tejiendo Paz in Spanish) is designed to change this paradigm because it identifies women as important actors in the analysis, approach and transformation of community conflicts together with other actors traditionally involved in decision-making. We work to give women a seat at the table in all our activities.

Habiba Suleiman, Business Development Manager at WACOT Rice Ltd.

Habiba inspects a rice paddy with a local farmer. Photo by: Rasheed Photography

Partner with the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, Nigeria

What is your project’s biggest success or most inspirational moment related to gender inclusion?

We conducted preliminary meetings with farmers across the communities to inform them about the project and to seek their support in on-boarding new farmers. A young lady in her early 20s showed up [to our office] and we told her to wait for the interview in the next room, assuming she was there to be interviewed for a field officer role. After the [interview], she walks up to me to say that she came for the farmer meeting, as she was a rice farmer, too. I sat down with her and learned that on her own, she had raised funds and cultivated rice on half a hectare during the last season, and that she had employed laborers to work for her, yielding 25 bags in harvest. Her wit, bravery and commitment were beyond impressive, considering the fact that she was a graduate and could go seek a white collar job instead. I visited her farm and ensured she was on-boarded into the program. She came along with more women rice farmers too! This experience further reinforced for me the fact that women can do it all.

Lydia Onuoha, Deputy Chief of Party

USAID’s Northern Education Initiative Plus, Nigeria

Has there been a moment or experience that hit home for you the reason why more work needs to be done in the ongoing fight for gender equality? 

I came from a very large family with older uncles and cousins. Whenever there are events, everyone contributes some amount of money, usually prorated: the oldest pay more, regardless of gender. But when there are properties to be shared, women are left out and do not get a share of the family inheritance. I have never been given any share of my father’s property, but my younger brothers get very large shares. Land can never be distributed to women and this tradition has lasted for years. I keep wondering when this disparity and neglect will end. The struggle and campaign on gender equality have to be intensified.

I hope that in the not-too-distant future there will be a freedom of participation for women in community affairs, especially more women in decision-making spaces. Although today women’s participation in popular election positions has seen an increase, the participation of indigenous women is still very low. So I think it is as important as ever for us to raise awareness of men for this paradigm shift or stereotypes about the importance of the women in leadership positions.

Rehab David, NGO Capacity Building Officer/Gender Specialist

Northern Education Initiative Plus, Nigeria

What do you, both personally and professionally, hope to see change for women in your context looking ahead?  

I want to see a firm commitment to gender equality and female empowerment in education. I want to see more commitment and steps taken to overcome gender discrimination and to realize equal opportunities for women and men. I want to see more programs that increase women’s awareness of their rights and ability to advocate for themselves.

I want to see adolescent girls and youth get access to practical life skills training, trainings that will make them more aware of the options and services that are available to them and raise their expectations for their own lives. I want to see them empowered to speak up for themselves and make informed decisions. I want to see all barriers to education addressed and all girls mainstreamed into formal schools after graduating from non-formal learning centers.

Yajaira Hernandez, Gender Specialist

Yajaira gives a women’s health presentation in rural Honduras. Photo by: Victor Mercado

The Dry Corridor Alliance Project, Honduras

What is the greatest challenge you see for achieving women’s equality in your context?

An important aspect of my work is that women have for many years moved in and out of the working world even with children, but men still do not contribute to household tasks so that women can have more time to mobilize, participate in community affairs, become leaders and entrepreneurs. I work to slowly sensitize families to share responsibilities for domestic affairs.

The biggest challenge I see for women is access to resources. Globally, women only own 1 percent of property, rural women have access to land, the lack of bank loans for lack of guarantee continues to limit their participation in productive or income-generating work, conditioning them to domestic space, another major challenge is violence against women that is still a taboo or dare not denounce for fear or shame.

Hafsa Drissi Semlali, Program Coordinator

USAID’s Reading for Success – National Program for Reading, Morocco

What do you want to see change for women in your context in the coming years?

I was hired as an administrative assistant for another project with Creative, and that was the opportunity that eventually led to the leadership position I have now as a project manager. Having this chance to develop as a professional has made me more passionate to see the same for other women. So, what I really hope to see is more women in decision making positions. At the professional level, I see this gender inequality play out all the time. For example, there are more women working in our field, but in leadership roles there are still more men holding positions of power.

We work closely with teachers and most teachers are women. But when we hold workshops, it’s mostly men who show up and that’s because there are always more pressures on women to remain at home with their kids or families instead of traveling to these professional development trainings. As a mother myself, I understand those constraints. But I hope that in the future we can find ways to even this out and make accommodations so more women can take these important career steps.

Yelfign Ayenew Tesfahun, Cross Cutting Issues Coordinator

USAID READ II, Ethiopia

What is your project’s biggest success or most inspirational moment related to gender inclusion?

Based on a study we conducted in the Amhara region, we decided to ensure 30 percent of women leadership in the education sector. This is one of the remarkable results we achieved in government policy changes through evidence-based consultations.

The gender radio drama we produced and broadcasted to incite discussion is changing attitudes has shown also a very encouraging results. We have confirmed through an assessment study that the drama has helped girls and boys, parent and community to discuss gender related issues and the drama raised awareness on things considered taboo, such as girls’ menstruation, the responsibility of both boys and girls in sharing household chores, boys’ participation in the gender clubs, etc…

Another inspirational activity we have done is that while the project provided training to teachers, mothers who breastfeed their children were having trouble participating the trainings. The project provides childcare and place where the children can stay while the mothers participate in trainings, which has made a huge difference.

Patricia Vahanlé, Educational Leadership Officer

Vamos Ler! Mozambique

Why is it necessary to have women working in development?

It is important to have women working on development because they are intellectually equal to men and can contribute equally to the development of a country or society. I hope that in the future there will be a gender balance in hiring staff in both private and state organizations and that women can take advantage of opportunities on an equal footing with men. Many women miss opportunities because they have not been properly prepared or trained. That is why it is necessary to have a gender balance in training centers and universities.

It is necessary to make women aware from an early age that they can contribute to the development of the place where they live and the country in general.

On a personal level, my greatest success was having managed to reconcile family, work and training. The fact of being a mother, wife and worker did not prevent me from continuing my higher education. In this, I was the first of my family to complete a course in higher education. Today, I am an example for my older and younger brothers.

Four U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Trends to Watch in 2021

March 3, 2021

5 min read

An essential component of the U.S. government’s strategy to strengthen its relationship with Africa is stimulating two-way trade and investment to foster economic growth in accordance with the Prosper Africa initiative. Despite considerable economic setbacks caused by the global pandemic, Africa presents immense economic potential with its rapid growth, both in terms of its population and commercial opportunities.

Under the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, we have been fortunate to interact directly with business owners, financial leaders, government officials and other stakeholders during the past 16 months of the initiative’s implementation. Based on our discussions and overall observations from the private sector in West Africa, we expect these four trends to shape U.S.-Africa trade and investment relations in the months ahead.

AfCFTA will set the tone for trade relations

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the world’s largest free trade area based on the number of countries participating. It is predicted to have a substantial effect on African economies and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world, including the United States. Since it came into force on Jan. 1, it is a bit too early to declare the extent that AfCFTA will impact U.S.-Africa trade and investment. Nonetheless, it is expected to drive considerable benefits and set the tone for trade and investment relations.

AfCFTA covers a population of 1.3 billion people across 54 countries, representing a market worth $3.4 trillion in GDP. In addition to having the potential to lift millions out of poverty, the promise of improved regional trade has the potential to significantly expand the market for local producers and, in some cases, making businesses more attractive to foreign direct investment.

This free trade agreement also creates a vast market for goods and services from the United States. With the new U.S. administration tipped to focus on multilateralism in Africa, new initiatives are expected to be announced that accelerate and simplify two-way trade and investment. Some of these initiatives will be driven by AfCFTA’s enormous potential.

Increased U.S. investments into Africa’s private sector

Inevitably, COVID-19 will steer the economies of the world in 2021. We expect some of the predominant macro-economic trends from last year to continue, although mitigated compared with the height of the pandemic in 2020.

In Africa, disruptions to supply chains will linger, escalating cash flow problems for producers, suppliers and exporters. Unfortunately, this will lead to redundancies, job losses and business failures as access to finance becomes more expensive and harder to find. On the other hand, investment opportunities will increase because of these same cash flow problems. This situation could expedite the flow of foreign direct investments into Africa.

The Trade Hub, for instance, is facilitating the meeting of investors and local businesses to advance COVID-19 resilience by providing catalytic funding to de-risk and encourage such investments. We announced some of these catalytic deals, and more are in the pipeline. Worth millions of dollars, these co-investments are designed to drive and attract even more investments into West Africa during these difficult times.

Likewise, the U.S. government’s Prosper Africa initiative has leveraged the services and resources of 17 participating agencies to drive billions of dollars of investment in Africa. In support of Prosper Africa, USAID is launching an up to $500 million trade and investment program to facilitate more deals between U.S. and African businesses and to address trade and investment barriers. Such U.S. government-driven initiatives across Africa provide assurance that foreign direct investments will increase this year to buoy resilience and drive growth in the region.

More African SMEs will export to the United States

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) gives African countries a competitive edge by allowing duty-free exports for almost 7,000 products from Africa to the United States. It has created long-term, sustainable growth by stimulating the private sector and creating jobs in many African countries. It has also supported the growth of certain sectors in the region, such as garment manufacturing.

In 2020, about $3.72 billion worth of goods exported from Africa to the United States was facilitated through from AGOA. There is an opportunity to increase this value, given the U.S. consumer market consists of more than 328 million people with a purchasing power of $13 trillion.

However, one of the Trade Hub’s biggest challenges in its efforts to promote increased trade is finding export-ready producers.

To tackle the paucity of potential exporters, the Trade Hub’s export promotion team has worked with about a dozen small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help them get export ready. SMEs create around 80 percent of Africa’s employment. By providing them with technical assistance on issues ranging from obtaining certification to packaging products, the Trade Hub aims to boost their growth potential. This has generated a lot of interest from different sectors in West Africa’s business ecosystem. We expect 20 to 40 SMEs across West Africa to benefit from these export promotion programs and that more companies will join the initiative once they see their counterparts succeed in scaling up thanks to AGOA export assistance.

Increased activities in climate, food security, and digitalization

Although global food prices have been stable, food inflation has risen at the retail level in many countries due to supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19. Rising food prices have a greater impact in lower-income African countries because people spend a larger share of their income on food. At the same time, many families are grappling with lost or reduced earnings. Aside from pandemic-induced challenges, climate change threatens food production, particularly for subsistence farmers, who form a large portion of the population in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

With a new U.S. stance on climate, it is anticipated that U.S.–Africa trade and investment relations will increasingly feature climate smart solutions, especially those that tackle food security challenges and provide clean energy to improve access to electricity, which many Africans still lack .

Overall, digitalization is a cornerstone to solving access problems across the board, from easing regional trade to ending hunger. Apart from access, it is a highly productive sector with the potential to create jobs at scale, especially for young people. Private investments from the United States into Africa’s digital technology sector is already significant, so we expect this trend to continue as government participation increases in this enabling sector.

The impact of these trends will depend on many factors. Whatever the case may be, two-way trade and investment relations between the United States and Africa is shaping up for better times.

Michael Clements is the Chief of Party for the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub. He has diverse industry experience, including in agriculture, energy, information technology, manufacturing, and mining. Before joining the Trade Hub, Michael ran two investment development funds for Trademark East Africa.

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Creative Associates International and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the U.S. government or its programs such as Prosper Africa. Photos provided by WACOT Rice Ltd., a grantee of the Trade Hub in Nigeria.

Somalia – Bar ama Baro

Program

1 min read

The five-year, USAID-funded Bar ama Baro (“Teach or Learn” in English) was a comprehensive primary education program supporting the government of Somalia’s efforts to create safe learning spaces where students could improve literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills.

Bar ama Baro’s efforts built on Somalia’s new national curriculum, Education Sector Strategic Plan and National Development Plan-9, tackling the challenging issues facing out-of-school children and youth.

With 70 percent of Somali school-age children out of school, Somalia faces a significant challenge in providing access to quality education for its youth. Despite efforts to plan for a brighter future with new national curriculum and education sector strategies, the country struggles to address the complex issues surrounding out-of-school children and youth, including systemic barriers, conflict, and limited resources.

By designing and delivering programming and supporting systemic policy changes, Bar ama Baro and its diverse pool of partners – Save the Children International, ORB International, SIL LEAD, Formal Education Network for Private Schools, Hano Academy, Himilo Relief and Development Association (HIRDA) and Somalia’s Ministry of Education (MoECHE) – expanded curriculum, extended service reach and strengthened learning support to ensure that all children, and especially marginalized children, could access equitable, safe and conflict-sensitive education.

Program Achievements

Expanded access to quality accelerated basic education

Bar ama Baro expanded access to quality accelerated basic education for Somali children, evidenced by increased enrollment rates and improved attendance records among target populations.

Aligned programming with formal primary education system

The program aligned programming with the formal primary education system in Somalia, evidenced by the adoption and integration of Bar ama Baro’s curriculum into national education frameworks and policies.

Strengthened learning support for marginalized children

Bar ama Baro strengthened learning support for marginalized children, leading to improved learning outcomes and socio-emotional skills among target populations, as measured by standardized assessments and qualitative evaluations.

Created equitable, safe, and conflict-sensitive learning environments

The program created equitable, safe, and conflict-sensitive learning environments for all children in Somalia, as evidenced by positive community feedback and perceptions regarding the safety and inclusivity of educational spaces.

Enhanced systemic policy changes to support education

Bar ama Baro supported systemic policy changes to improve education in Somalia, demonstrated by the adoption and implementation of policies that promote equity, safety, and accessibility in education at national and local levels.

Keeping communities at the center of development

February 1, 2021

By Semere Solomon

5 min read

When designing and implementing solutions for sustained growth, development programs depend on a strong foundation that brings together clear plans, stakeholder engagement, policy frameworks and many other strategies. Regardless of the duration, size and scope of a program, it should be geared towards sowing the seeds for sustained growth, allowing others that follow it to build on its accomplishments.

At the center of this foundation are the communities the program seeks to serve. Approaching programming with a community-anchored approach is a crucial piece in ensuring a program’s success.

Only by collaborating with communities can development professionals uncover facts, disprove assumptions and validate a theory of change.

No one is better placed to characterize the local situations, pinpoint problems, single out priorities, and identify local solutions to local problems in an effective way than the community itself. Communities know what works for them, how interventions can advance their own strategic interests and how to work efficiently in the local context. Community-driven development projects usually deliver public investments to poor people faster, cheaper and better. Building trust matters if this partnership is going to work.

These conversations will pave the way for a stronger partnership that responds to the real (not assumed) needs and aspirations of local communities.

A teacher leads class in at at adolescent girls learning center. — A teacher leads a class at an adolescent girls learning center in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Photo by Erick Gibson.

In Nigeria, the USAID-funded Northern Education Initiative Plus (NEI Plus) has engaged communities to expand education opportunities for tens of thousands of students. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of governments in two states to provide greater access to basic education — especially for girls and out-of-school children — and to significantly improve reading outcomes for school-aged children and adolescents. One piece of its holistic approach is the establishment of non-formal learning centers that serve students not enrolled in the formal school system.

Non-formal education has long been instrumental in addressing the educational and psycho-social needs of out-of-school children and adolescent girls. For NEI Plus, what stands out is the extent to which the project has put the communities at the center.

This community-based effort starts with a thorough mapping exercise in collaboration with community structures (both traditional and contemporary), local government entities, and local civil society organizations to get to know where the need is most felt. Once a community has been identified to host a non-formal learning center, the project consults with community members and leaders to:

Identify who should be enrolled in this center with an emphasis on girls’ enrollment
Determine the location of the center giving due consideration to safety issues
Determine the type of infrastructure (temporary structure, classroom, tent, religious institution compound, etc.)
Identify who should serve as the teacher or learning facilitator and set criteria for their selection
Select members of the Center-based Management Committee (CBMC)
Specify which days of the week and hours (for example, taking into consideration market days, harvest seasons or religious occasions) are suitable for children to attend
Identify local craftspeople who could train students on in-demand labor skills in their locality
Determine the community’s contributions to the center, which includes in-kind and monetary support and monitoring

This process ensures that centers are ready to operate successfully and generates a sense of ownership and responsibility among the community. NEI Plus has established 5,600 non-formal learning centers across Bauchi and Sokoto states with a student population of around 270,000.

Facilitating these important conversations are Community Coalitions, which are instrumental in bringing together diverse interest groups such as community and faith-based organizations, traditional and religious leaders, prominent personalities in the localities, and representatives of women and youth groups. NEI Plus established 20 Community Coalitions to drive engagement and create a platform for leaders to advocate and provide for the needs of out-of-school children and adolescent girls.

Children raise their hands in a reading camp classroom in Ethiopia. — A lively reading camp in Addis Ababa, led by a volunteer community literacy leader. Photo by Jim Huylebroek. Photo by: Jim Huylebroek

Community partnership and leadership is also expanding access to educational opportunities in Ethiopia. The USAID-funded READ II program aims to improve the reading proficiency of 15 million children by boosting the quality of literacy instruction and student support. There, communities are similarly mobilized around local reading camps, which are led by youth volunteers. READ II, in collaboration with seven local NGOs, has mobilized 11,656 youth volunteers, called Community Literacy Leaders, and established 5,938 reading camps across the country. Click here to take a 360-degree tour of a reading camp.

An outreach campaign mobilized communities to promote a culture of reading. In addition to identifying youth volunteers, local communities have succeeded in providing space, making in-kind contributions, and maintaining the camps. The camps have become fun and engaging spaces for children to practice reading outside of school with the support of facilitators.

Outside of education, community-anchored development can strengthen economic growth and expand opportunity. Access to financial institutions is a major hurdle for many communities and individuals, and for women in particular. The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) leads grassroots-level interventions that promote community engagement and ownership in strengthening women’s economic opportunity and engagement. BRAC takes a business approach to ending poverty, using social enterprise models to recover costs and accelerate impact at scale.

Through this model, people excluded from the formal banking system (due to lack of assets that usually make people eligible for loans) can access a myriad of financial services such as credit, savings and microinsurance products with the support of microfinance. This practice creates a suitable environment for families to build assets and reduce vulnerability to shocks such as health emergencies or natural disasters amongst others. Collateral-free loans are released exclusively to individual women through a group setting, known to BRAC as village organizations.

This platform, comprising 15 to 25 women, helps them come together to deposit their installments and savings, share information and improve financial awareness through training and market support. Using this mechanism, BRAC has succeeded in impacting the lives of 5.6 million active borrowers (87 percent of whom are women) by disbursing $4 billion in 2018. For these women, this has been a life-changing opportunity.

From a much broader developmental perspective, beginning with an anchor in the community is vital to advancing on the journey to self-reliance. When development goals — in education, economic growth, health, and more — are so interconnected, strong community roots ensure programs can complement one another and meet the real and present needs of the people they serve.

Without listening to the poor, we can’t alleviate poverty; without listening to the uneducated, we can’t expand education. For projects to be effective and sustainable, communities should be brought to the center. It is not an option, but a requirement.

Semere Solomon is a Senior Director with the Africa Center at Creative Associates International.

A new model factory in Ghana brings sustainable jobs to women and youth

February 1, 2021

By Janey Fugate

5 min read

With the support of a $1.3 million co-investment grant, Ethical Apparel Africa (EAA) is raising the bar on human-centered manufacturing and cost competitive production for the garment industry in Ghana.

The Trade Hub is a five-year, $140 million trade and investment facilitation activity that seeks to improve private sector competitiveness in West Africa through a market-based approach. As one of the Trade Hub’s first grantees, EAA will establish a model factory with modern equipment and new technology to accelerate the industry’s growth in the region, creating 800 jobs over the course of the project. With funding support from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Fund, 70 percent of its jobs at the new factory will be dedicated to women.

“West Africa is a market that is larger than the United States and is growing at one of the fastest rates in the world,” says Sharon Cromer, USAID Ghana Mission Director. “This partnership with a dynamic, woman-owned business is a model for how Ghanaian women and youth can raise Ghana’s profile on the world stage while improving their own livelihoods.”

Funded by USAID, the Trade Hub aims to address some of the region’s biggest development challenges, such as women’s empowerment and employment, by unlocking private capital and directing it to high-impact projects.

Scalability without sacrificing quality

Historically an apparel sourcing company, EAA brings technical capacity building and assistance in meeting international standards to locally owned partner factories. EAA is now investing in one of their local partner factories, Maagrace Garment Industries Ltd. The Trade Hub’s co-investment will support this project to rapidly expand production and integrate innovative practices, enabling it to become a model facility.

“The shift from sourcing to manufacturing for us is really about being able to scale more quickly,enabling faster job creation,” says Paloma Schackert, Co-Founder and COO at Ethical Apparel Africa. “It’s really exciting to start to see that job creation come to fruition and to see growing demand from U.S. clients.”

Primarily U.S. uniform and scrubs clothing companies, EAA’s clients place large orders and have the potential to grow business in Ghana as local capacity increases. By filling high-quantity, cost-competitive garment orders while maintaining strict standards for its working conditions and going beyond baseline compliance, the company is setting a precedent that cost-competitive manufacturing does not mean exploitative relationships.

“Our operating model is based on the fact that all manufacturing should be done ethically,” says Keren Pybus, the company’s CEO and Co-Founder. “And to us ‘ethical’ is more than just doing the baseline compliance.”

Pybus notes that when consumers look for ethically produced clothing, they usually are shopping for high-end fashion products or eco-wear. By taking EAA “beyond compliance,” the business can change that expectation and bring that same sensibility to markets like uniform suppliers, for instance.

“We want to be a thought leader in the space,” she says. “We want to be open about what we are doing here.”

This transparency is aligned with the goals of Prosper Africa, a U.S. government initiative to foster two-way trade and investment between the continents. Pybus says that as more companies see the business potential of investing in West Africa, sustainable growth will follow.

Ethical Apparel Ghana — Photo by: Ethical Apparel Africa

More than minimum wage

Maagrace’s facility is located in Koforidua in the Eastern region of Ghana. Semi-urban, this region has high unemployment, with less than 20 percent of its population holding formal jobs. According to Pybus, the next largest employer in the area after Maagrace has 50 to 100 employees.

Looking at the region’s challenges, EAA hopes its partnership with Maagrace and the Trade Hub will benefit far more than the 800 new jobs they plan to create. The economic development stimulated through the factory’s employment opportunity is expected to reach 4,000 indirect beneficiaries.

“The needs of a working factory in a city center will be different from those that are working in a rural environment… so it’s not just about meeting the minimum wage laws in a country,” Pybus says. “It’s about paying the right wages that are fair and sustainable and working for a living wage. It’s about creating incentive programs and benefits programs that meet employees’ needs.”

A baseline study conducted by Ethical Apparel revealed that two thirds of the people living in the region cannot afford to eat three meals a day. The study also reported that transportation costs are a barrier for people to get to work. Responding to these needs, Maagrace has already instituted a lunch and transportation subsidy program for its workers, and through the Trade Hub’s co-investment grant the company will also implement sexual and reproductive health courses designed specifically for the women they employ.

“Our mission is to train and invest in people so they can reach their utmost potential and have a career,” says Reuben Katako, Human Resources Manager at Maagrace.

In line with one of the Trade Hub’s central goals to advance economic opportunities for women, EAA is looking beyond just hiring women for its production floor jobs. Through the Trade Hub’s grant, the company is developing training programs to raise women to middle- and upper- management positions.

“There’s a real opportunity in Ghana to create a model for gender that’s truly equitable,” says Pybus.

In addition to ensuring that 70 percent of its jobs go to women, the company is also allocating 70 percent of its total jobs for youth. Ghana and West Africa’s largest demographic is skewing young, with almost half its population aged 15 years and younger, presenting a potentially huge problem as more and more young people enter a tight job market.

“Empowering Ghanaian women and youth is the core of our development approach and one that we embrace as we advance Ghana’s journey to self-reliance and prosperity,” says USAID’s Cromer.

Looking ahead

EAA’s founders look to global trends in the industry as they anticipate major growth in West Africa.

As an example, during the last five years, Myanmar grew its garment industry by more than $3 billion with 1.1 million people employed in the sector, illustrating the potential the industry has for countries like Ghana to create jobs. The garment industry is typically the stepping stone for countries moving toward manufacturing. Over time, countries shift from low skilled industries like garment manufacturing to ones that generate higher wages.

EAA views the continent as the next frontier in the garment industry, as rising costs and logistical issues make Asia less attractive for investors and producers.

If Ghana follows a similar trajectory and finds a way to integrate its cotton producing and processing capacity, it could become one of the fastest and most cost competitive hubs in the world.

In this, EAA sees a way to advance using the garment industry’s hard-earned lessons, applying best practices and creating prosperity for West Africans without diminishing their dignity.

“Given the sheer size of West Africa, we need to think big,” says Daniel Moore, Mission Director for USAID’s West Africa Regional Mission. “Key among what we can leverage are jobs. When you talk about potential, there is huge potential in unlocking the ambition and drive of women.”

Creating jobs in the Sahel through investment in SMEs

January 25, 2021

By Janey Fugate

5 min read

The West Africa Trade and Investment Hub and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) are providing more than $16 million in grants and guaranties to small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa’s Sahel region that sets the foundation for a series of impact investments aimed at addressing some of the region’s biggest challenges, ranging from climate change to unemployment.

The U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Trade Hub announced Dec. 9, 2020 it will provide an investible first-loss grant of $2 million to Cordaid Foundation and its impact investment management partner, Cordaid Investment Management B.V. (CIM), to support lending to small and medium enterprises and micro finance institutions in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone.

Using a blended finance model, the Trade Hub’s grant is combined with a loan portfolio guaranty of $14.75 million from the DFC that will attract additional investment, allowing Cordaid to lend at least $37 million to 50 companies and eight microfinance institutions, supporting at least 2,100 new jobs and 8,000 microentrepreneurs.

“Our partnership with Cordaid Investment Management and the work they’re doing touches on so many important themes for the Trade Hub, and the innovative nature of this grant gives other firms a new model for what’s possible in an impact investment in the region,” says Michael Clements, the Trade Hub’s Chief of Party.

With an emphasis on job creation and elevating youth and women’s economic inclusion, the DFC, Cordaid and the Trade Hub are allied around the mission of bringing economic stability to fragile states driven by the private sector.

Mali, Cordaid — An early investee of Cordaid’s in Mali. Photo by: Cordaid

As part of the U.S. government’s Prosper Africa strategy, the Trade Hub seeks to bolster trade, employment and innovation in key sectors in 16 West African countries through impact investments. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trade Hub’s work has taken on a new urgency.

The timing of the Trade Hub’s grant has enabled us to continue with the momentum we’ve been building to grow our portfolio in the region even during the COVID crisis,” says Brenda Pennell, Senior Investment Manager at CIM. “What the process has highlighted for me is the very positive and productive partnerships that can be forged with USAID and the Trade Hub, to identify where the need for our investment capital is and how we can deploy it to maximize impact.

With a goal of stabilizing local economies and creating jobs, this first project is a testament to the kind of impact the Trade Hub aims to catalyze, says Jim Winkler, Vice President at Creative Associates International, which is implementing the regional program on behalf of the U.S. government.

“We’re excited to see how an emphasis on people combined with a strong record of investment in the region will generate real impact,” says Winkler.

Most of CIM’s lending will support long-term loans to SMEs, with the remainder targeted to microfinance institutions with direct access to microenterprises. Pennell says these businesses and entrepreneurs are the life blood of the Sahel’s local economies. Investing the capital they need to grow, particularly as the region is further stressed by the pandemic and political unrest, is critical to any kind of economic sustainability initiative in the region.

“We really do want to serve the missing middle, so those investees whose financing needs fall between what can be offered by a local bank and what can be provided by a large international investor,” says Pennell.

Macrowaste, Mali — “Our long-term goal is to be a leader not just in Mali, but in the whole region,” says Dembele, President and CEO of Macrowaste. Photo by: Macrowaste

Empowering local entrepreneurs

CIM already has strong relationships in Mali and Sierra Leone and, with the Trade Hub’s funds and DFC’s guaranty, the organization is ready to engage local businesses in its pipeline, while expanding to Burkina Faso and Guinea.

An early investee of Cordaid’s is Macrowaste, an SME in Mali working to transform the country’s broken waste management system. Founded by two Malians, Macrowaste’s mission is to provide sanitary, efficient and humane waste management services.

“The trash industry is connected to so many things,” says Abdoulaye Tangara, co-founder of Macrowaste and Chief Operating Officer. “It’s a humanitarian issue.”

Macrowaste is also an example of the “missing middle,” or a firm unable to access financing via traditional methods.

“There are a lot of young people who have great ideas, but who need an opportunity to bring that idea to life,” says Lamine Dembele, President and CEO of Macrowaste. “That is what Cordaid did for us.”

Working in the world’s most fragile markets

Cordaid, which stands for the Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid, has nearly a century of experience working in the world’s most fragile economies. In regions afflicted by conflict or natural disasters, Cordaid promotes people’s and societies’ resilience through economic empowerment. Cordaid leverages its programmatic impact through its mission-aligned investment portfolio managed by CIM.

Fragility in the Sahel is a big issue and a big challenge, and it’s certainly a multi-faceted challenge, and we don’t pretend that our investments will be a silver bullet,” says Pennell. “But we look for investment opportunities that can at least help address some of these specific challenges that arise due to demographic challenges and climate change challenges.

With at least 30 percent of lending slated to support women-led businesses, the project also advances both the DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative, which aims to unlock women’s economic potential on a global scale, and the Trade Hub’s commitment to dedicate half of total jobs created through its grants to women.

“Investing in women can have a significant impact on their families and communities as well as on the local economy,” says Nina Verduin, ESG/Communication Officer at Cordaid. “As women are often disadvantaged, particularly in more fragile countries, we aim to find SMEs that are founded by, managed by or hiring a lot of women, so we can invest in women’s economic opportunities and thereby create more economic balance in the country.”

Cordaid is also focusing its investments with firms dedicated to employing youth, a critical piece of the puzzle when looking at the region’s development challenges. Migration and instability hit women and youth the hardest, so building their agency through economic independence is a major goal for both the Trade Hub and Cordaid.

Looking ahead, the Trade Hub is poised to catalyze similarly impactful investments in the region. At the heart of its transactions and partnerships is a deep desire to build lasting, equitable economic prosperity in West Africa.

Women and Electoral Security

January 11, 2021

By Janey Fugate

7 min read

USAID’s REWARD trained women to be leaders in mitigating electoral violence

From training female political candidates in Niger to diffusing electoral violence through women-led campaigns in Sierra Leone, USAID’s Reacting to Early Warning and Response Data has brought a nuanced approach to elevating women and promoting equality. In doing this, the five-year project relied on symbiotic relationships with local partners dedicated to reducing electoral violence through involving women and changing the narrative around women’s political participation in West Africa.

The Akwamu Traditional Council and Fambul Tok International’s Peace Mothers are two organizations that came alongside REWARD to incorporate women in peace building initiatives. In 2017, REWARD trained them on the techniques and best practices to achieve these electoral goals. Today, they reflect on lessons learned, impact and where they are now.

When traditional authorities are partners, not beneficiaries

Facing an upcoming election season in 2017, a time typically marked by violence, crime and heightened tension, the Akwamu Traditional Council in the Eastern region of Ghana received a grant from USAID REWARD to train an association of “queen mothers” to identify and prevent violence, lead anti-violence campaigns, facilitate peaceful voting and organize awareness meetings.

“During elections it’s women and children that suffer more when violence breaks out,” says Nancy Otu, the primary liaison between USAID REWARD and the Akwamu Traditional Council. “So, it’s important that around that time people should be educated on the need to refrain from such acts and not just follow political hate or try to use the youth to engage in social violence during this political era.”

In Ghana, traditional governance structures still influence community life. Queen mothers are the wives or sisters of village chiefs and are part of this traditional structure, but they usually don’t have formal authority. Giving them a framework to organize enabled the women to share ideas and create actionable plans that responded to their communities’ security issues around voting.

queen mother engaging voters in Ghana — Nana Samanko, Queen Mother of Akrade, engaging voters on the need to maintain peace

Representing 20 communities in the Asuogyaman district, the queen mothers also learned about citizens’ rights and responsibilities, and the regulations surrounding the electoral process. REWARD program worked with them to use this knowledge to inform effective strategies aimed at keeping the peace, and to train other women in their villages.

“We spend more time with our children, so we understand what the youth go through and we could have several ways of explaining to them the need to refrain from people who could come and deceive them to engage in any political violence activities,” said Nana Adwoa Oduraa III, the Apeguso Queen Mother.

Otu estimates that the project directly reached 1,800 people in the region through the women’s outreach events, and indirectly reached 50,000 people through the radio and TV broadcasting campaigns they produced with USAID REWARD. She said that empowering the queen mothers, known and respected by people in their villages, was the most effective way to communicate about the issue of electoral violence.

“It worked because it was an opportunity for the queen mothers also to talk directly to their own constituents,” says Otu. “These people in these communities and villages respect these traditional authorities, so when they realize that one of their own is telling them do this or don’t do this or is educating them on the good things that need to be done during elections, they understand it more. They take it better than somebody from outside coming in to tell them [what to do.]”

“Women think community”

The issues around election cycles the queen mothers face in Ghana are reflective of challenges across the region. Since its decade-long civil war ended in 2002, Sierra Leone has suffered from persistent violence and corruption at the community level, which manifests in protests, vandalism, bribes and strife stirred up by political opponents.

Jon Caulker, the founder and director of the human rights organization Fambul Tok, says that the country’s social fabric remains torn.

“And as a nation, we used to be one big family. Your mother is my mother. Your child is my child,” he says. “It was my mission to find out what went wrong.”

After working on a national Truth and Reconciliation Council in the early 2000s, he founded Fambul Tok to lead peace efforts and development projects at the community level, an approach he believed was missing from national initiatives. His organization began leading women’s circles for survivors of sexual violence to share their stories and seek healing. Called “Peace Mothers,” these groups grew to become a cornerstone of Fambul Tok.

“We’ve realized that women think community,” he says.

With USAID REWARD’s grant, 160 of these women community leaders received training and capacity building to engage in peaceful elections and resolve community disputes in 16 chiefdoms in Bombali, Kailahun, Kono, and Pujehun districts. REWARD’s strategy aligned with one of Fambul Tok’s core beliefs: that sustainable growth comes from the inside out.

“We have the answers in our communities,” he says. “Create a space for us to step into our true self… So that was what was supported. The opportunity for women to become peace champions in their communities and to lead a non-violence campaign within that community.”

With USAID REWARD’s support, the Peace Mothers convened more than 270 meetings where youth, women, and traditional leaders gathered to discuss approaches to prevent violence before and after the elections and to dispel misinformation.

They also organized weekly radio broadcast PSAs and on-air expert discussions with four community radio stations, as well as distributed posters, t-shirts and brochures with the slogan: “Elections must not divide us. We are one family.”

Beyond the election cycle

“One of the most important lessons learned as an organization is that elections don’t just end the day the results are announced,” says Caulker.

Caulker’s statement has dual meaning. On one hand, he referred to the need for programs to address maintaining peace after voting results are publicized. One the other hand, with both Fambul Tok and the Akwamu Traditional Council in Ghana, the training sessions and workshops were intended to have impact beyond the election cycle by leaving women with tools and knowledge with which to approach other development challenges.

Many of the queen mothers said that during the training they learned about some of the things that were worrying the youth in the community, which pushed them into election violence, such as poverty and the lack of services.

“We continue to engage the communities to sensitize and educate them on other developmental issues apart from elections,” said Nana Adwoa Oduraa III, Apeguso Queen Mother. “This also has shaped the way we deal with the youth anytime we want to engage in an activity or a program.”

Three years since the election campaigns organized with REWARD, Fambul Tok’s Peace Mothers are spreading awareness on COVID-19 through making and distributing soap and masks. Caulker echoed the value of elevating women through bringing them in as partners in projects that address their communities’ challenges.

“It also provides an opportunity for them to emerge as leaders within the communities,” he says. “Most times people don’t see women – I’m talking about rural women– as leaders.”

From local response to regional policy: ECOWAS

Changing perceptions, like Fambul Tok does through the Peace Mothers, is the beginning of much of the work related to engaging women in electoral security efforts. While the peacebuilding projects with the Akwamu Traditional Council and the Peace Mothers represented a hyper local approach to gender integration, REWARD’s partnership with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) strengthened the organization’s approach to gender at a macro level.

When USAID REWARD started working with ECOWAS to strengthen its early warning data collection and analysis processes and its response planning, the project didn’t realize then that one of its biggest institutional legacies would be gender integration.

“ECOWAS took our early warning trainings on gender and wanted to run with it, developing a gender framework was their request,” says Leora Addison, Project Director at Creative. “When we started, we wouldn’t see gender specific data in their reporting.”

Through a series of workshops, USAID REWARD highlighted the importance of integrating gender in early warning analysis and in planning response. Because gender shapes how people experience, perceive and participate in conflict, early warning and response systems are strengthened by having more robust data sets. This then leads to better tailored, specific responses at the local level.

“Women and youth are disproportionately affected by violence,” says Alimou Diallo, REWARD’s Chief of Party. “Recognizing this important reality has a major impact on the way conflict is managed.”

USAID REWARD also supported the ECOWAS Gender Integration in Early Warning Manual and its accompanying training modules, which offer guidance on gender integration through every step of the early warning process, including data collection, early warning analysis, report writing and in formulating recommendations. The Manual walks analysts through gender-related questions regarding a crisis, disaster, or conflict situation.

Field monitors surveyed after completing a workshop on gender integration reported being more sensitive to gender in their reporting as a result of the training, with 87 percent of field monitors taking gender into account in at least half of their reports, compared to only 58 percent prior to the training. More than half of these field monitors named gender as the key skill or concept from the training that they were applying.

These results point to the institutionalization of gender-specific programming in a key governing body in West Africa. USAID REWARD’s prioritization of women’s increasingly critical role in facilitating democratic processes comes back to the people at the forefront of building safer communities, bridging policy and local initiative, like the Akwamu Traditional Council.

These workshops “were the first time that the queen mothers had been gathered together to be trained on an issue relating to national policy,” says Otu.

As the project moved into a second phase of work, it hopes to continue fostering more “firsts” as women take on new roles in conflict prevention and mitigation, at the community and national levels, and across the West Africa region.

Advancing toward Morocco’s digital goals amid COVID-19

January 11, 2021

By Linda Wafi

4 min read

For people around the world, 2020 will be remembered for the COVID-19 outbreak and how it transformed the way we live, learn, work and interact with one other. As the pandemic spread, we found ourselves propelled into the “future of work,” having to suddenly adjust and adopt new ways of doing our jobs. For those of us in education development, this meant not just shifting how we work personally but also how our programs deliver services and collaborate with partners.

The crisis brought into sharp focus USAID’s first Digital Strategy, formally published in April 2020, and its goal of strengthening digital ecosystems and using technology to achieve development outcomes, including in education. Within the USAID-funded Reading for Success-National Program for Reading in Morocco, we had a challenge – and opportunity – to put this strategy into practice and respond to the pandemic with digital innovation.

NPR pivoted its work to ensure our program continued to reach teachers and students in Morocco, even though in-person training workshops and meetings were no longer possible.

First, we had to develop ways to convert our teams to a digital mindset and adopt new digital tools that enabled us to continue to work together remotely and seamlessly. Then, we redesigned some of our interventions to include digital tools for partners, teachers and students to utilize to improve learning outcomes.

More importantly, we were very aware that some marginalized groups, including people living in remote or rural areas, people with disabilities and people with low digital literacy, might be excluded from the digital ecosystem. NPR worked to rethink interventions to ensure that they are inclusive and accessible to the widest number of beneficiaries.

By the end of the year, NPR had not only pivoted its programs to adjust to the reality of the pandemic but also made great strides in increasing access to quality educational tools and blazed new trails in the Arabic curriculum delivery methods in Morocco.

Morocco’s first Digital Supplementary Reading Materials (SRM) platform

A Moroccan girl takes notes during an online course. — A Moroccan student takes notes while watching the Ministry of Education’s online resources.

NPR forged a partnership between the Moroccan Ministry of Education and the Dubai-based Assafeer Digital Library to develop Morocco’s first digital reading platform dedicated exclusively to elementary school learners. This platform contains 100 illustrated titles that are leveled by grade, edited to include Moroccan terms and cultural references and include story lines and illustrations that promote Gender-Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) principles. This platform provides elementary school-level children with free access to these reading materials, so they can continue to read and learn outside of the classroom as well as develop their digital literacy skills.

Ensuring equal access of deaf students to Morocco’s educational digital tools

When schools closed in late March, the Moroccan educational system immediately went online. Morocco was already one of the few countries in Africa to have a dedicated educational TV channel and an online platform where school lessons of all levels were broadcasted daily.

However, students who are deaf or hard of hearing were not able to benefit from these educational resources due to the absence of Moroccan Sign Language interpretation. Within a few months, NPR engaged in discussions with the ministry and recruited a number of MSL teachers who provided interpretation for all elementary school subjects for grades 1 to 6. Over the summer, the rollout of the interpretations began with grade 6 lessons that were posted on the TelmidTice and TaalimTice online platforms and broadcasted nationally on the Moroccan channel Al Amazighia. NPR continues to work with the Ministry on translating, recording and producing the remaining lessons, which are scheduled to be completed by July.

A Moroccan teacher interprets a lesson into Moroccan Sign Language — Behind the scenes as teacher Mina interprets and records a lesson in Moroccan Sign Language for broadcast on TV and online.

Developing a digital teacher training platform

Over the past two years, NPR started to work with international and local partners to develop a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in support of pre- and in-service teacher training. Based on that groundwork put in place before the pandemic, the workshops to design the course continued virtually during the past several months.

To ensure that teachers with varying levels of access to digital technology and digital literacy can still benefit from the MOOC, NPR worked on incorporating Universal Design for Learning principles to help package the curriculum in a format that increases engagement and remote learning. This includes presenting information in different ways to encompass learning styles, using visual or audio cues, and integrating questions at every step to further the user’s ability to navigate the platform and their knowledge acquisition.

Upon completion of the MOOC, primary-level teachers across Morocco will be able to access online training and integrate the new Arabic-language curriculum and instructional methods within their classrooms. The MOOC is designed with self-paced courses and will include downloadable modules that enable teachers to access the courses offline.

These interventions are grounded in USAID’s Digital Strategy, which aims to achieve two core objectives: to improve USAID’s development and assistance outcomes through the responsible use of digital technology; and to strengthen openness, inclusiveness and security of the digital ecosystems.

This became even more pressing throughout the past year.

While the pandemic has been challenging on so many levels and its repercussions will continue to be felt, we can at least say that it compelled us to rethink the way we deliver our programs and pushed us to seek solutions that fully embrace digital technology and contributed to Morocco’s digital goals of self-reliance.

Looking ahead, NPR’s programs should continue to deliver quality educational programs via digital tools that help decrease the technology divide. With the increased reliance on digital technology, programs and policies will need to address digital equality by providing equal access to broadband, opportunities for digital skills training, and motivating people to acquire those increasingly vital skills.

Linda Wafi is the Project Director for the Reading for Success-National Program for Reading in Morocco.

Timeline: Creative supports quality education in Nigeria

January 11, 2021

On phone, TV and radio, Ethiopian families find support for remote learning

January 4, 2021

By Berihun Ali

5 min read

When the local reading camp was forced to close because of COVID-19, Yared Nigussie worried about his 10-year-old son Kidus.

Kidus regularly visited the reading camp near his home in Addis Ababa, one of nearly 6,000 established by the USAID READ II program, where he had hands-on practice with supplementary reading materials and support from volunteers called community literacy leaders who helped him build his reading skills. Yared says his son would often borrow books from camp to read at home.

“While he was attending the reading camps before the outbreak of the pandemic, my son’s reading was improving very much, and I was very happy about the support he got from the volunteers,” says Yared. “But, after the closure of the reading camps following the pandemic, I was really worried. I didn’t know what to do to help my son continue his reading.”

A father and son read a book together — Kidus and his father Yared read a book together. Photos by Berihun Ali.

To help parents like Yared navigate the closure of classrooms and camps during the pandemic, USAID READ II developed a mobile hotline through which callers can receive guidance and tips on how to keep their children learning at home.

In partnership with mobile communications company VIAMO, the program developed content and messages for the Interactive Voice Response system, first in Amharic followed by six other mother-tongue languages. Using voice guidance and a push button menu, parents can navigate through several topics, including children’s language and literacy development, reading for children, reading with children, everyday activities for reading readiness, and gender equality and equity.

“Parents will get basic skills and knowledge on how to help their children learn to read,” Chief of Party Tassew Zewdie, Ph.D., says of the platform. “There are scientific steps and activities parents can do with their children while they are helping them to read.”

USAID READ II spread the word about the mobile hotline service through posters in public spaces and monthly phone calls and texts to nearly 60,000 parents.

Before the hotline was available, Yared recalls, “I was just trying to help but with no knowledge how to do so.”

Yared was facing a challenge common among parents: A READ II survey found that 20 percent of parents cite a lack of experience with home-based learning as a challenge. Now, more than 26,000 parents have called into the hotline for support; the hotline is expected to reach more than 200,000 before schools reopen.

“The information I get from the hotline is new to me and helps to easily support my children,” he says. “The mobile hotline provides clear and detailed information and procedures on what parents can do to help their children learn and improve their reading.”

An Ethiopian woman on her cell phone. — Community literacy leader Birhane Andarge calls into the mobile hotline.

Even through the reading camps are closed, the community literacy leaders who run the camps are still serving as another resource for parents in their communities. They too are receiving guidance from the mobile hotline to keep their own skills sharp.

“You could forget a lot of things when you don’t practice them day by day,” says community literacy leader Birhane Andarge. “After the closure of the reading camps for more than six months now, I was losing some of the skills and procedures in facilitating children’s reading.”

Volunteers like Birhane who call into the hotline will hear guidance and reminders aimed at preserving and building upon their educational expertise. Topics include tips for leading successful story time and activity time at the reading camps, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

“The hotline messages are designed to build the capacity of volunteer community literacy leaders to effectively facilitate reading camp sessions in a fun yet educational way when camps reopen,” Zewdie says. “They also provide information on how community literacy leaders can provide remote support to parents to enhance the home literacy environment.”

Reaching students through TV and radio

The development of the mobile hotline is one piece of a larger effort to use technology and media to reach students temporarily out of school, keep them engaged in education and strengthen their at-home learning environment. While parents and community literacy leaders turn to the hotline for support, students across Ethiopia are turning on their radios and televisions.

USAID READ II worked with Regional Education Bureaus to adapt literacy lessons from primary school curriculum into radio scripts, which were recorded and broadcasted on regional government radio channels. A total of 390 lessons were broadcast in Amharic, Af Somali, Tigrigna, and Afaan Oromo languages.

An Ethiopian boy reads a book at home. — Abenezer is reading at home and keeping up with “Tsehai Loves Learning” while his school is closed.

In addition, the program partnered with Whiz Kids Workshop to adapt its 32 existing episodes of the popular and long-running “Tsehai Loves Learning” educational TV show into six mother tongue languages, adapt eight additional lessons and broadcast them across seven regions. The lessons were then converted into radio format as well.

For students like Abenezer, 11, the program helped give back some of the educational routine and structure he was missing with schools closed.

“Every Saturday I get ready early in the morning for the ‘Tsehai Loves Learning’ TV program,” Abenezer says. “I usually take notes from the program and practice them the rest of the week.”

In addition to lessons on reading and writing, “Tsehai Loves Learning” incorporates information on how children can help protect themselves and their families from COVID-19.

“Children follow the programs and stay engaged while practicing similar exercises like sounds and shapes of letters, word construction, meaning, similar and opposite words, etc.,” Zewdie says. “The show also provides children with pieces of advice on different issues, including the coronavirus, and they are encouraged to discuss what they learned with their siblings and parents after the show.”

Until Abenezer is back in school, “Tsehai Loves Learning” has been a fun resource that’s keeping him thinking and engaged in his own education.

“The TV program has been really helpful to me to continue focusing on my education,” Abenezer says. “And now I have heard that schools are going to open soon, and I can’t wait!”

Click here for a 360-degree tour of reading camps (video produced prior to the pandemic).

With editing by Evelyn Rupert.