Technical center to sustain Yemen’s literacy advances

September 9, 2014

3 min read

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Technical center to sustain Yemen’s literacy advances

By Munazza Siddiqui

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Sana’a, Yemen—In a country where illiteracy hovers around 35 percent, one program has had remarkable success by tackling the problem in early grade levels.

Witnessing the positive results and eager to sustain them, Yemen’s Ministry of Education has established a technical coordination center to oversee the program’s implementation and expansion of literacy skills to students nationwide.

Housed in and managed by the Ministry of Education, the technical coordination center is a critical step to ensuring the sustainability of the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International.

In May 2013, after only four months of the program in 311 schools, first grade students in schools using the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach had jumped from knowing the sounds of only five letters to knowing the sounds of 18 letters, according to findings in the report “Improved Reading Performances in Yemeni Schools: Impact Assessment Report of the Yemeni Early Grade Reading Approach Phase 1: 2012-2013.”

From 2013 to 2014, Creative’s approach grew to 822 schools in 10 governorates and reached approximately 230,000 students in grades one to three. The technical center will play a key role in expanding the program nation-wide to 23 governorates, which will require training new cadres of Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach technical specialists, trainers, teachers and program coordinators on the effective methodology used in the approach

“It is good to have this center for planning and coordination on early grade reading activities,” says Mohammad Al-Hammadi, a training coordinator with Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach. “It will helps us consolidate our efforts and collaborate closely with the MOE in the national scale-up of the program.”

Ministry of Education staff and education partners at the technical center are already at work preparing the logistics and training materials to instruct a new cohort of trainers, who will in turn train future teachers on the innovative reading pedagogy later this month.

An experienced “trainer of trainers” and well-versed in the Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach, Amt Al-Saboor is optimistic about the center’s benefits.

“The center will help us plan more effectively for different trainings,” says Al-Saboor. “We will be able to interact with the trainers and discuss our issues. Moreover, it will improve our coordination on YEGRA.”

As part of their planning for the center’s future and the sustained achievement of the literacy program, the Ministry of Education, technical center staff and Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach coordinators are looking to the region for strategies, lessons learned and best practices on nation-wide scaling up of new subject curricula and approaches.

This will include making use of information learned in 2013 when the Community Livelihoods Project supported a tour by Yemen Ministry of Education officials to Egypt to learn about a new literacy program roll out there.

Drawing on regional best practices to fighting illiteracy, the ministry’s new center will ensure that long after the official Community Livelihoods Project draws to a close, thousands of Yemeni students will continue to learn to read and become educated and productive citizens in their communities.[/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]

USAID’s “Learn to Read Now” includes Creative Consortium

September 4, 2014

3 min read

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USAID’s “Learn to Read Now” includes Creative Consortium

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Sept. 4, 2014 – To increase the literacy of 100 million children by 2015, Creative Associates International has been selected as one of five global development organizations to support the U.S. government’s efforts to improve early grade reading programs. (www.CreativeAssociatesInternational.com)

Creative was awarded the five-year “Assistance to Basic Education: All Children Reading” (ABE ACR) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, which makes it eligible to compete to implement these projects in developing countries.

“Early grade reading is one of the building blocks for future educational success,” says Charito Kruvant, Creative’s President and CEO. “It is an honor that we will be able to play a key role in developing a brighter future for children around the world.”

U.S. Agency for International Development Missions will issue “task orders” under ABE ACR, for which these pre-authorized companies may compete. Creative’s initiatives will focus on activities in four areas: teaching and learning in the classroom; national policy reform and systems strengthening; effective school management; and community engagement.

Creative has assembled a group of distinguished consortium members, including research institutes, academic universities, non-governmental organizations and small businesses, to evaluate and compete for these task orders.

The Creative consortium brings long-term relationships with a network of nearly 300 local education sector partners—government ministries, research institutions and civil society organizations—throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, and the Middle East/North Africa.

Creative’s Practice Area Director for Instructional Systems and Governance, Karen Tietjen, is the IDIQ manager. With more than 30 years of experience, Ms. Tietjen provides strategic planning, leadership, and technical guidance in teacher training, operations research, M&E, education policy and systems, early grade reading, school drop-out prevention, and use of technology in education.

By coupling a school-level approach to improving reading with a national approach to reinforcing education systems, Creative will partner with governments, civil society and the private sector to improve learning outcomes and create a culture of reading where it works—sustainable gains ready to replicate and scale up.

“A focus on student learning outcomes as a measure of success will ensure that the effectiveness of Creative’s projects will be reflected not just in reading ability, but in the ability of teachers to teach well, schools to manage and assess their students and communities to support education,” Jerrold Keilson, Vice President and Senior Director of Creative’s Education Development Division.

Creative marries expertise in early grade reading, curriculum and materials development, teacher education, community outreach and inclusion with a commitment to supporting government partners and other national education officials to take the lead.

The organization has implemented large-scale education programs around the world for more than 37 years, bringing a wealth of experience improving teacher effectiveness in reading instruction, developing appropriate reading materials, engaging communities in supporting reading goals, and supporting policy development for reading.

In Yemen, for example, a community-based program used the “Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach” to introduce a phonics-based reading program to schools across the country. Together with Yemen’s Education Ministry, Creative provided 8,000 educators with more effective ways to teach Arabic reading and writing, as well as sustainable training and support models and updated teaching materials.

The program has benefitted more than 250,000 first, second and third-grade students whose reading has noticeably improved: 97 percent of first graders were able to read more than six times faster after using Creative’s approach for three months. The government expanded the program nationally as part of the official first grade curriculum.

About Creative

Creative works with underserved communities by sharing expertise and experience in education, economic growth, governance and transitions from conflict to peace. Creative is the second-largest company owned by women that works with the U.S. government.

Based in Washington, D.C., Creative currently has programs in nearly 20 countries. Since 1977, it has worked in 85 countries and on nearly every continent. Recognized for its ability to work rapidly, flexibly and effectively in conflictive environments, Creative is committed to generating long-term sustainable solutions to complex development problems.[/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]

Conflict Prevention Practitioners Guide

August 29, 2014

Sudan/South Sudan – Health Education and Reconciliation Project

Program

2 min read

The Health Education and Reconciliation (HEAR) project worked closely with education officers, school administrators, teachers and communities to improve school management and teaching methods, as well as addressing the psychosocial needs of pupils. It reached nearly 93,000 children in its seven years (2006-2013).

Originally designed to support the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement through community-based health and education services in the three areas of Abyei, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile States, HEAR shifted its focus to serving internally displaced persons and returnees in Agok, Warrap, Unity, and Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal States after South Sudan gained its independence in July 2011.

The USAID-funded project taught more than 1,500 school teachers from 201 schools to provide psychosocial support and incorporate student-centered lessons on conflict resolution and violence prevention in addition to health, hygiene and English—South Sudan’s new official language.

It trained 195 parent-teacher associations to make school development plans, write funding proposals and recognize their responsibility for school management. These groups have made huge contributions of local materials for classroom construction and local development projects like latrines, fences and water storage facilities.

HEAR also provided Vitamin A and deworming tablets to nearly 28,000 school children, and insecticide-treated bed nets to more than 22,000, drastically reducing the number of pupils who missed school due to illness.

HEAR laid the foundation for strengthened education systems and increased community capacity and engagement with an eye toward promoting peace and reconciliation in a country strained by decades of war. It achieved these results despite encountering infrastructure, logistic and security hurdles common in conflict-affected areas.

Nigeria – Northern Education Initiative

Program

2 min read

The Nigeria Northern Education Initiative (NEI) strengthened basic education systems in Nigeria by increasing access to quality education and social services in two northern states: Bauchi and Sokoto. The four-year (2009-2014), USAID-funded project also established health and social service programs and provides care and support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).

With NEI, Creative improved the country’s education system by providing OVCs with basic education, instituting teacher education and training, and strengthening state-level systems.

Taking a community-based approach, NEI established Community Coalitions to support OVCs through established networks and institutions. Support teams track their progress in school and ensure they have access to the necessary programs and services to prevent them from falling through the cracks or dropping out.

NEI worked with the government to adapt policies, enhance systems and develop tools and procedures to address five key elements common to effective schools: learning, teaching, school management, parental participation, and responsiveness to children’s needs.

The project built teachers’ professional skills through school-based training and specially-developed activity-based manuals. It also provides support and training to Nigeria’s Koranic schools, encouraging them to enrich their curricula with core basic education subjects like literacy and numeracy, and to periodically examine their pupils and graduate them into formal schools.

The project saw a 33 percent boost in student enrollment in the states of Bauchi and Sokoto, with girls representing an impressive 38 percent jump. NEI trained more than 3,500 classroom teachers and facilitators in four thematic areas: literacy; math; life skills; and psychosocial counseling. It has developed activity-based training manuals in core subjects including literacy, and trained 3,568 teachers on how best to teach them.

Libya – Voter Ownership and Increasing Civic Engagement

Program

2 min read

With the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, Libyans embarked on the difficult task of transitioning to a more democratic society. The success of the July 7, 2012, election demonstrated the Libyan people are willing to embrace their responsibilities under a new democracy. Nonetheless, gaps in citizen knowledge about their political process, as well as a lack of civic education capacity within Libyan organizations, remained a challenge.

The Libyan Voter Ownership and Increasing Civic Engagement project partnered with Libyan civil society organizations to increase citizen understanding of human rights and civic responsibility. The project also sought to increase citizen engagement in, and oversight of, the political process.

Funded by the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Voter Ownership and Increasing Civic Engagement project supported Libyans in this process by helping them learn about, and engage with, their developing electoral and political systems.

By providing capacity-building and grants to Libyan civil society organizations, the project supported a Libyan-led approach to promoting voter and civic engagement among the population, cultivating a culture of respect for human rights and civic responsibilities.

The project employed traditional media to disseminate informed, targeted and salient civic and voter education messages that resonate with youth and women. The delivery of targeted engagement messages inculcated a sense of civic activism and responsibility among key groups, which encouraged them to further instill these messages among their family, friends and peers.

Together with partner Souktel, Inc., Creative trained civil society partners to collect, categorize, publish and present citizen feedback on political processes. The program established a Citizen Feedback Database using SMS services, which allowed citizens to use their mobile phones to express concerns and report incidents on electoral fraud, local governance, violence and other issues.

Kenya – Professional Leadership in Ethics

Program

1 min read

Creative provided short-term strategic technical expertise and direct capacity-building support to a World Bank-funded project to bolster organizations promoting public sector ethics and professionalism. Specifically, the project worked to enhance the growth and expansion of the Association of Professional Societies of East Africa and the Makerere Center for Applied Ethics.

Zambia – Electoral Security Assessment

Program

2 min read

Credible, inclusive, participatory and peaceful elections are critical to ensure that citizens have a voice in how they are governed. Unfortunately, electoral violence and fraud plague many elections, requiring new approaches to promote electoral integrity. In the past, Zambia has experienced political instability, including allegations of corruption and electoral fraud.

To support a peaceful and credible electoral process, in 2011 USAID awarded Creative Associates International a contract to perform an electoral security assessment for the Zambian presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2011.

In July, 2011, Creative’s team conducted an assessment that evaluated the current political environment and its potential impact on the upcoming elections. In performing the assessment, Creative used the methodology and approach of USAID’s Electoral Security Framework, which Creative developed.

The study established a profile on potential threats to electoral peace and made recommendations for promoting a secure environment for the 2011 Zambian national and sub-national elections. The team focused on four areas: government; civil society; the political sphere; and security. The methodology included desk research and field interviews with Zambians and international stakeholders involved with administering, securing, observing, adjudicating and/or providing education surrounding the elections.

Creative’s team identified structural vulnerabilities, including ones that were specific to the 2011 election cycle, and suggestions to mitigate them. The team also profiled state and non-state stakeholders involved in the elections and peacebuilding and evaluated current electoral peacebuilding initiatives by civil society, political parties, government and security organizations that addressed existing threats.

Creative submitted the findings of the assessment in the report titled “Electoral Peacebuilding Framework.” In accordance with the USAID Framework methodology, the report presents the team’s findings and short-term recommendations to address immediate peacebuilding issues and longer-term structural reforms to reduce the Zambia’s vulnerabilities to electoral conflict. Creative has conducted similar assessments in the Philippines, Guatemala, Burundi and more. The initial Electoral Peacebuilding Framework included case studies in Bangladesh, Colombia and Zimbabwe.

Uganda – Initiative for TDMS and PIASCY (UNITY)

Program

2 min read

With nearly 56 percent of the population under the age of 18 and an HIV/AIDS pandemic and conflict that has left nearly 2 million children orphaned, Uganda faces significant challenges to achieving universal primary education. In conflict-affected areas, instability makes it difficult for children to attend school and for teachers to provide quality education. In other areas of the country, schools are overcrowded and the quality of education is poor.

Supporting the Ministry of Education and Sports, Creative implemented the Ugandan Initiative for Teacher Development and Management System and the U.S. Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to Youth, or UNITY. The program was part of the USAID-funded Basic Education/Linkages to Education and Health initiative.

The program had four aims: to improve teacher professional development; expand implementation of Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to Youth; increase parental and community participation in education; and implement the government’s education policy agenda.

Through the program, more than 300,000 guides for addressing HIV/AIDS stigmatization and discrimination were distributed to teachers in 13,248 primary schools and another 300,000 copies were distributed to 3,256 secondary school. The program also supported health education and training for teachers. Through school management committees, parents, teachers and community members took an active role in improving school quality.

In conflict-affected Northern Uganda, UNITY launched the Revitalization of Education Participation and Learning in Conflict Areas program. This initiative reached parents, teachers, school administrators and students who had suffered through war by providing counseling and psychosocial support, peace education, leadership and performing arts programs girls’ education opportunities.

The UNITY program worked with the Ministry of Sports and Education to develop a new and improved system for teacher recruitment and training and a national curriculum based around teaching children in their local languages. More than 230,000 reader books in eleven local languages were distributed to more than 219.000 schools. The new local-language curriculum raised literacy and math skills and moved Uganda further along in its goal to provide quality universal primary education to its children by 2015.

Zambia – Read to Succeed

Program

2 min read

Working in 1,300 public schools in six provinces, Creative’s Read to Succeed project improved student performance by focusing on early grade reading. It was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented in partnership with the Zambian Ministry of General Education

To improve school effectiveness, the project took a whole school, whole teacher, whole child approach which views schools as centers of learning, care and support, and addresses five key elements common to school effectiveness models: learning; teaching; management and accountability; parental/community participation; and responsiveness to children’s needs.

Read to Succeed built teachers’ skills through training and effective, phonics-based literacy tools. More than 7,600 educators received in-service training, coaching and mentoring in the new reading approach.

A midline early grade reading assessment, released in 2015, revealed a 296.6 percent jump in reading comprehension among second and third graders in Read to Succeed-supported schools. The survey also showed gains in oral reading of 237 percent and a 131.2 percent jump in letter sound knowledge.

Sustainability is at the heart of the project, with the Ministry of General Education taking the lead in policy changes that support student learning. With support from the project, the Ministry put in place a new National Literacy Framework, revised curriculum, school-based assessments, a school management framework and performance level descriptors.

The project also improved school management and created incentives and accountability structures that ensure the delivery of quality education. Taking a holistic approach to schools, teachers and students, it integrated these education initiatives with community, parental and government engagement—ensuring support and sustainability.

As part of its whole child approach, Read to Succeed worked with the Ministry to promote HIV prevention by implementing education components that address health and psychosocial needs. Supported by USAID/PEPFAR, the program integrated girls’ education, violence against women and girls prevention, life skills and community engagement into a holistic strategy to improve student performance.

Tanzania – 21st Century Basic Education Project

Program

1 min read

The Tanzania 21st Century Basic Education Project improved classroom instruction in 900 lower primary schools in the Mtwara region and the islands of Pemba and Unguja in Zanzibar. It supported Tanzania’s efforts to improve learning outcomes—especially early grade reading in Kiswahili—through teacher support and training, technology in the classroom, and community engagement. It was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The program provided focused technical assistance and professional support to school administrators and education officials. Teachers received professional development in child-centered, active-learning pedagogy, as well as phonics-based reading instruction, classroom management and incorporating e-content into lessons. It introduced information communications technology and training into schools, bringing classrooms into the 21st century.

The Tanzania 21st Century Basic Education Project also worked with communities to ensure relevant, helpful educational data is being collected. The information was used to help parents, community leaders and education officials to make better decisions about education. It also provided technical and material support to Tanzania’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training through access to real-time information on the status of their schools and the performance of their students.

Creative highlights community change on International Youth Day 2014

August 11, 2014

3 min read

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Creative highlights community change on International Youth Day 2014

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Youth_Day_Banner_2014

Aug.12, 2014 – In celebration of International Youth Day on Aug. 12, Creative Associates International recognizes those who are working to provide opportunities and hope to young people, particularly those in conflict and post-conflict environments. (www.CreativeAssociatesInternational.com)

“Today’s youth are incredibly capable and resilient, and want to be part of positive change in their families and communities,” says Charito Kruvant, President and CEO of Creative. “I have been so impressed to see that everywhere Creative works, young people are not just involved in this change; they are leading it.”

Initiated by the UN in 1999, this year’s theme is “Youth and Mental Health.” The UN reports that while 20 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion youth aged 15 to 24 experience a mental health condition, only 20 percent of these young people receive the treatment they need.

Creative’s Youth Day Celebrations

Creative and the communities where it works are celebrating International Youth Day in a variety of ways.

In Honduras, for instance, on Aug. 10 an estimated 1,000 members of the Alianza Joven Honduras program marched through the Parque Central of San Pedro Sula wearing white and carrying banners with violence prevention messages.

The program—funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and other partners—empowers youth and their communities to prevent and confront violence in cities like San Pedro Sula, where more than three people are murdered every day. In 2013, the city held the highest murder rate in the world, outside of a war zone.

The Youth Against Violence movement, whose work across Honduras and other Central American countries is supported by USAID, hosted a workshop in the city of Comayagua on Aug. 9 to launch a new chapter of the group.

The workshop brought together representatives of local neighborhood groups, churches, educational centers, the Municipal Youth Office and fire department. On Aug. 12, in the cities of El Progreso and Choloma, chapters of the group will sponsor breakdance, percussion and musical performances and marches to celebrate International Youth Day.

With 37 years of implementing global development programs – particularly ones that improve education and strengthen communities – Creative is proud of its holistic youth-centered initiatives that equip those it serves to lead the way in addressing violence, poverty and unemployment, says Kruvant, one of the four women who founded the company.

For example, in its Nigeria Northern Education Initiative (NEI), funded by USAID, Creative worked with local communities to expand access to education for orphans and vulnerable children, with a focus on health, life skills and psychosocial counseling.

Only 60 percent of school-aged children in Nigeria have access to basic education and the situation is even worse in the north.

“When I traveled to northern Nigeria, I saw the overwhelming obstacles young people must overcome to get an education,” says Kruvant. “We are deeply committed to ensuring that youth in these challenging situations have access to education and the tools and opportunities for long-term success.”

In its more than four years, the NEI program boosted school enrollment in the northern states of Bauchi and Sokoto by 33 percent, with a 38 percent jump for girls, and empowered 16,000 orphans and vulnerable children with the tools to overcome the psychosocial trauma caused by conflict and contribute to their communities.

In Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama, Creative’s USAID-funded youth outreach centers have supported 43,136 young people in vulnerable communities by addressing the factors that make them vulnerable to violence. By the end of September, Creative will have 77 centers in El Salvador, bringing the total to 192 in Central America.

Dedicated to helping teenagers and young adults navigate the transition to positive adulthood in some of the most adverse environments, like Nigeria and Honduras, Creative recognizes the resiliency of youth and their neurological capacity to adapt and overcome trauma, which is supported by new research in adolescent brain development.

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. Creative is the second-largest company owned by women that works with the U.S. government.

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.

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