Capacity Building

Ce blog a été écrit et publié à l'origine par la Fondation Bill et Melinda Gates et la CONFENMEN à l'occasion de la conférence « Apprendre pour Demain » à Dakar, au Sénégal (janvier 2025). Il a été publié sur le site web de la conférence (https://linktr.ee/apprendrepourdemain) et dans le répertoire de documents (https://sites.google.com/view/apprendrepourdemain/resources-ressources/others?authuser=3). Cet article décrit comment l'activité « Renforcement de la Lecture Initiale pour Tous » (RELIT, 2021-2026) de l'USAID s'est efforcée de renforcer la capacité du système éducatif à dispenser un enseignement bilingue dans les premières années de la scolarité, en s'appuyant sur une pédagogie structurée et le renforcement des capacités institutionnelles.

This blog was written for and originally published by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CONFENMEN on the occasion of the "Apprendre pour Demain" conference in Dakar, Senegal (January 2025). It was published on the conference website (https://linktr.ee/apprendrepourdemain) document repository (https://sites.google.com/view/apprendrepourdemain/resources-ressources/others?authuser=3). This article describes how USAID's “Renforcement de la Lecture Initiale pour Tous” (RELIT, 2021-2025) activity has been working to strengthen the education system’s capacity to deliver bilingual education in the early grades, with structured pedagogy and institutional capacity-building as central pillars.

Ces Success Stories ont été préparées par l'équipe du projet Renforcement de la Lecture Initiale pour Tous de l'USAID au Sénégal en 2023. SS05 '"Compréhension à l’audition et enthousiasme des élèves de CI : les premières semaines de classes de lecture en pulaar renforcent la motivation de l’enseignante Fatoumata Sané" donne l'éxperience d'une enseignante en Pulaar qui utilise les materiaux RELIT. SS07 « La co-création avec le ministère de l'Éducation aboutit à des plans de développement des capacités pour préparer le personnel à fournir aux enfants du Sénégal une éducation bilingue de haute qualité » décrit le processus collaboratif de développement des capacités du ministère à fournir une éducation bilingue durable et de haute qualité et SS08 « La cartographie linguistique de plus de 1 000 écoles renforce la capacité du personnel du ministère de l'Éducation à soutenir durablement la mise en œuvre de l'enseignement bilingue au Sénégal » décrit comment le dialogue avec les communautés a permis d'identifier laquelle des langues locales convenait le mieux à l'enseignement en classe.

These Success Stories were prepared by the project team for the USAID Renforcement de la Lecture Initiale pour Tous program in Senegal in Calendar year 2023. SS005: "Improved listening comprehension in Pulaar garners enthusiasm from Grade 1 pupils and their teacher Mme Sané" SS011 " At the El Hadj Oumar Aidara school in Kédougou, student reading achievement in grade 1 is a milestone in adoption of bilingual education" and SS006: "RELIT helps students in remote areas of Senegal learn to read through effective early grade bilingual instruction" describe teachers' experiences using the newly-introduced RELIT materials in their classrooms. SS07 "Co-creation with the Ministry of Education results in capacity development plans to prepare personnel to provide Senegal’s children with high-quality bilingual education" describes the collaborative process of developing ministry capacity to provide sustainable and high quality bilingual education and SS08 "Language mapping of over 1,000 schools builds the capacity of the Ministry of Education staff to sustainably support implementation of bilingual instruction in Senegal" describes how talking to communities helped identify which of the local languages best serves classroom instruction.

These Success Stories were prepared by the project team for the USAID Renforcement de la Lecture Initiale pour Tous program in Senegal in Calendar year 2022. SS001 : "Fifty resource persons from the MEN and the implementing partner put in place, together, the mechanisms for implementing RELIT." Describes the collaborative and locally-led co-launch of the program in 2022. SS002: "At Boly Diaw elementary school in Saint Louis, the RELIT program mobilizes a community of parents around reading and bilingual education." Describes a school that created a community-wide celebration for the launch of the RELIT program in 2022. SS003: "Innovations in the teaching of early grade reading: RELIT designs early learning materials for three new national languages" Describes the process and outputs of the first Grade 1 materials in 5 national languages that were developed in time for the new school year in Senegal. SS04: "A participatory approach to assessing the institutional capacity of Senegal’s education system" describes the approach to capacity assessment using the "Core Components" model of System Strengthening.

This presentation delivered at the CIES 2024 conference describes key implementation strategies used in USAID/MOE Government to Government Component of RELIT Program.

This success story highlights the experience of a ICT master teacher trainer who participated in the piloting of new ICT teaching and learning materials in Uzbekistan. Improving the quality of ICT teaching in Uzbekistan was critical to achieve student learning and the new teaching methods and materials are helping shift teaching from theory to practice. Shifting teacher practices will take time as teachers initially found using a teacher guide to prepare their lessons difficult. Because the content and the methods were new to them, preparing for each lesson took extra time and energy. Previously, it was unusual for teachers to have students work on practical project-based assignments during class time. By piloting the new materials, teachers are observing increasing students interest and practical skills. As a result, the new methods will have enormous impact on students’ learning.

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program is supporting the Ministry of Public Education to update its English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum through the procurement, adaptation, and piloting of Cambridge University Press teacher guides, student textbooks, and student workbooks in two regions—Sirdaryo and Namangan. Thanks to teachers’ active engagement and participation in this piloting of EFL materials, the Program will be able to finalize the teacher guides for national rollout during the 2022/2023 school year.

This success story outlines the co-creation process for the Uzbekistan Education for Excellence Program in From February 2020. RTI held a collaborative, interactive Co-Development Workshop to 1) affirm the shared vision for the Program, 2) clarify the Program’s overall mandate and scope, and 3) produce outlines of planned activities with associated implementation strategies, resource needs, and roles and responsibilities.

The USDA-funded “McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (FFE)” implemented by Mercy Corps (MC) in partnership with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and the Borlaug Institute (BI) is a five-year project that is aimed at improving the literacy of school-age children and increasing the use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices among 100,000 students in primary grades 1-4 of 416 target schools and 100 public libraries in the Kyrgyz Republic. In May 2022, the USDA McGovern-Dole program conducted an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) in target 50 schools. According to this assessment, about 30% of surveyed schools never hold extracurricular literacy activities with parents. Sixteen percent of interviewed students reported that they never read with someone at home. To address this critical issue, the USDA McGovern-Dole program is working with public libraries that are the centers for the development of literate modern citizens. The program builds their capacity and help them host events and activities that promote student literacy and a culture of family reading. Additionally, the program supports public libraries by providing them reading materials, books developed by local authors and illustrators, and methodological guidelines. The books are age- and reading level-appropriate. The methodological guidelines include community engagement strategies such as collaborating with parents, teachers, and community organizations to raise awareness about the importance of reading. The guidelines also cover organizing reading events, summer reading camps, book fairs, and literary festivals to celebrate reading and literacy. The project delivered about 80,000 Kyrgyz and Russian books to 100 target public libraries. Public Libraries are centers for the development of literate modern citizens. And to strengthen the capacity of the schools and public librarians, the program conducted summer camps in 64 target schools and 100 public libraries. More than 1,700 early grade students participated in the reading summer camps.