Improved Numeracy And Literacy Skills In Early Grades In Through Community Engagement – Ilemela District – Mwanza, Tanzania.
Challenge:
During transition in early primary classes children face many problems which include, poor teacher/ pupil ratio, poor class pupil ratio and the overall school infrastructure, this impacts their literacy and numeracy skills acquisition.
EdData II: Education Data for Decision-Making National Baseline Assessment for 3Rs (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) in Tanzania in 2013 concluded that, students are receiving a strong foundation for basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, yet there is still much work to do. One of the key areas for change appears to be not what the students are learning, but how they are learning. Evidence from EGRA and EGMA assessments indicates that students seem to be performing well on procedural tasks and memorized information, yet they struggle to engage with concepts and make meaning from what they learn. Additionally, to make improvements, there are needs for sufficient and appropriate learning materials and more time devoted to practicing the foundational skills in and out of the classroom. There is also the important role of engaging parents and communities as resources and support for the 3Rs campaign. If improvements such as these are brought to action, the path will be laid for students to make improvements from current performance toward meeting the benchmarks designated as a result of this assessment.
Opportunity:
Resource poor parents and community leaders in the targeted fishing communities in Ilemela district, were prepared to improve the situation by supporting their children through after-school literacy and numeracy improvement program. The key changemakers identified by the community were youths whom the VUTAMDOGO innovative program trained and mentored in literacy and numeracy skills facilitation using adequate learning and teaching materials in the community setting
TAHEA Mwanza believes that communities must be engaged in efforts to bring about change in their contexts and as such we deliberately ensure that community members (women, men, and youths) that we serve are involved in an analysis of their own situation and designing of programs to address social problems.
VUTAMDOGO program aimed to improve numeracy and literacy skills among early grade children through community engagement. The community engagement in the schooling/ learning of the children reduce the number of children who cannot read, write and do arithmetic as they enter in class three.
Target population
VUTAMDOGO after school program targeted 4,000 children attending class 1 and 2, in 10 Primary schools in 5 fishing communities in Ilemela district in Mwanza, Tanzania.
Needs / strengths assessment
The community assessment on the poor literacy and numeracy skills among early grade children found that:
low demand from parents for the preparedness of children
limited opportunities for early learning in communities
majority of children are enrolled in standard 1 without going through quality preschool care and education
poor income levels among families to support holistic development of young children
stunting in children
inadequate community systems and structures to promote early childhood development.
There was engagement of the community members during need identification, program design, participatory planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the planned activities including looking for solutions for their problems which they identify for which VUTAMDOGO program was developed.
Theory of change
Program description
VUTAMDOGO (Pull the little one) is a social innovation to improve literacy and numeracy among children attending class 1 and 2 in primary schools. It looks for alternative ways of other people outside the classroom to participate in improving and promoting literacy and numeracy skills through community involvement. The program uses Youths as agents of change; its delivery is through after school program.
VUTAMDOGO (Pull the Little one) Literacy and Numeracy improvement program in fishing communities was implemented in a community setting targeting children attending class 1 and 11 in 10 primary schools in 5 fishing communities, the program was facilitated by Youths who had a privilege of accessing formal secondary education (O- Level) to help younger children in their community to read, write and do basic arithmetic through after school programs. The VUTAMDOGO program was Youth-led; however, Parents, Teachers/ Para Teachers, Community Leaders, the local government and the community at large had roles assigned to them for collective responsibilities. The program took into account that learning happens in a responsive and supportive home, school and community.
The program was conducted three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) from 04:00 pm to 05:30 pm every day. The program was within TAHEA Mwanza focus where 0-8 children are served with age-appropriate programs which include birth to age three supported through families, 3 to 4-year-old children using center-based programs, 5 years in school readiness program and the after-school program targeting 6 to 8-year-old children.
Length, frequency, duration
In VUTAMDOGO program a child comes for one and a half hour daily (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) after school sessions and was attended for 1 to 2 years for class 1 and 2 children depending on how individual children performed in the 3Rs, sometimes a child becomes confident in reading, writing and doing arithmetic for a shorter period depending on her/ his level of 3Rs acquisition at the time of enrolment.
Community engagement – general
Engagement of the community members during needs identification and participatory planning was done through community dialogues where the community identified the inadequate literacy and numeracy skills among children in early grades and as a solution, they agreed to develop an after-school program for improving the 3Rs. Youths were identified to take the lead in facilitating the skills to the young children attending class 1 and 2 in 10 primary schools. School head teachers were coordinators of the activities at school level, Ward education coordinators were supervisors and most of them were involved in monitoring and evaluation of the planned activities. The Councilors were involved during mobilization meetings.
Community leaders involved the Mitaa committees to identify safe areas where VUTAMDOGO sessions were held. The Mitaa leaders made follow-ups on the program and made sure that youth facilitators and participating teachers were always attending the learning sessions as planned. Parents and community leaders attended the organized meetings planned by youth facilitators to get children progress feedback and discussions on way forward in improving the VUTAMDOGO program.
Policy environment
Ilemela district was one of the districts which were surveyed and revealed that the majority of children were not learning, as children were completing Primary School Education without knowing how to read and write, the situation led the government to declare that this was a national crisis in 2013. The efforts to rescue the situation is reflected in the Education and Training Policy (2014) which have a focus on 3Rs for class 1 and 2, at the same time the government has put in place In-service training sessions to improve Teachers’ skills in facilitating the 3Rs a program which started in 2015 all over the country. The VUTAMDOGO program leveraged the existing policy as it complemented the government efforts by strengthening the 3Rs among early grade children.
Government engagement
Launching of the program was held by Local government authority (Education departments, DSWO, DCDO). Their engagement with the program was through coordination of the program activities at school levels, supervision of the afterschool sessions, assessment of the 3Rs performance and reporting.
Enablers
Engagement of the community in identification of the literacy and numeracy challenges among children attending early grade classes, finding possible causes and solutions to address the challenges was a key enabler while the community, and local government participation in the implementation of the program enabled the program to succeed.
Limiters
The factors that limited the successful implementation of the VUTAMDOGO program was the big number of children in the co-hort and the teacher’s dependency on the program in addressing the 3Rs rather than mainstreaming the approach in their daily classroom practices.
Human resources required
The program required 206 youth facilitators, 20 class 1 and 2 teachers, 10 head teachers, 2 Ward Education Officers, 2 District Education Officers, 1 Education Quality Assurer, 1 Tutor from a Teachers’ college/ Lead Trainer, 4 TAHEA Staff, 28 Community leaders and parents. All required a minimum of 1 contact hour per month except Youth Facilitators who need 41/2 hours per week and teachers who spent 1 to 2 mentoring hours per month.
Financial and material resources required
Learning and teaching 3Rs basic Kits were provided to 25 learning centers, water and transport was provided to youth facilitators on weekly basis (2,000/= per week), vehicle for monitoring, supervision, and follow-up was provided. During set examinations, planning & examination sessions transport and meals were facilitated to teachers and education officers.
Community contributions
The Community leaders conducted follow-up to the youth groups sessions, parents supported their children with scholastic materials, supervised homework and participated in developing learning materials to support the learning centers, head teachers and teachers worked extra hours in the after-school program and the community provided spaces for learning centers.
Key stakeholders
LGAs, Schools and Teachers made sure that what was being facilitated by youth focus on the existing curriculum content, assessment of the performance in 3Rs for the participating children, and provision of mentorship to youth facilitators to strengthen skills on the 3Rs. Community leaders and Parents, identified safe areas for VUTAMDOGO sessions and made sure that children attend and are safe and protected by the community members.
Adaptations
The Vutamdogo program can be adapted and replicated in different contexts by mainstreaming its approach in the existing education system i.e., increasing the learning materials to facilitate the 3Rs skills acquisition and having playful activities during extra curriculum activities i.e., reading/ writing/ math’s games.
Monitoring, evaluation, and learning
MEL framework was developed to monitor, evaluate, and learn during VUTAMDOGO program implementation. The indicators were both qualitative and quantitative, our overarching goal was to improve levels of reading, writing, and arithmetic of children in early grades of primary school. We were gathering data on children’s attendance to the after-school program, assessing children’s performance in 3Rs (competence tests) and looking at reduction of children who could not read and write by the time they enter class 3.
Evidence of impact/outcomes
12,685 children reached by the program the overall outcome include class 1 improvement in the 3Rs from 49.49% to 78.5% while class 2 improvement in 3Rs was from 58.9% to 87%.
206 youths change agents were able to engage and work with parents, community leaders, head teachers, class 1 and 11 teachers and local government to support literacy and numeracy program improvement among 12,685 children attending class 1 & 2 in 10 Primary schools in 4 years in 5 target communities in Ilemela district.
Children who sat for class 4 national examination in 2019 in the 2 Wards where Vutamdogo was implemented in Ilemela district performed better among the 19 Wards.
Potential for sustainability
Sustainability of the program lies solely on mainstreaming the VUTAMDOGO approach in the daily classroom practices among teachers which has no financial implication after the initial capacity building (a case shown by Ilemela district).
Potential for scalability
VUTAMDOGO program has attracted a number of organizations to replicate the approach, what was needed was the initial capacity building of the approach for them to replicate.
Potential for systemic change
VUTAMDOGO program has the potential to influence systemic changes in the target communities and target district, however it needed to be show-cased in various education platforms for it to influence changes in the education policy and service delivery (Ilemela district has shown the program potential in reducing the number of children who do not perform well in the 3Rs.
Lessons learned and additional considerations
Youth readiness to engage in community development was facilitated by the recognition of them being a resource group which can offer support to their communities.
Youth with secondary level of education had the capacity of being trained and could utilize the acquired knowledge and skills rather than those who complete primary school.
Supportive play-based learning environment and the use of adequate learning and teaching materials during literacy and numeracy learning sessions improve acquisition of 3Rs knowledge and skills among children.
Community engagement and supportiveness of the local government’s increase children’s learning outcomes.
Year
Target number of Primary 1 and 2 students for the program
Actual number of students who improved their literacy and numeracy skills (% of target)
2014
2,057
710 (34.5%)
2015
2,467
1,426 (57.8%)
2016
3,000
2,091 (69.7%)
2017
3,992
3,150 (78.9%)
2018
1,169
949 (81.2%)
TOTAL
12,685
8,326 (65.6%)
12,68 (6,465 boys and 6,220 girls) children aged 6 – 7 years attending class 1 and 2
VUTAMDOGO MODEL
Additional consideration if other organizations should consider when adapting the program is to make sure that if the program involves youth as change agents, access to other services i.e., economic strengthening activities/ livelihood skills/ life skills should be considered as youths need to have an income. Also, the program should be mainstreamed in the school system after addressing the 3Rs challenges for the majority of children attending early grades for sustainability purposes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJeMY9_yJd0&t=9s
CAPACITY BUILDING SESSIONS
Capacity building included financial management for youth groups to manage the sub-granted funds
Training on how to develop learning materials to support learning in children after school was done.
There was a total of 25 after school sites identified in the participating communities facilitated by 206 Youth who were trained by Tutors from Butimba Teachers College and continually coached by class 1 and 2 teachers from the participating primary schools who also received 3Rs training sessions.
After school sessions were done in communities where children were to walked short distances
On-going mentoring from class teachers from target schools was done, giving support to the participating youth who felt some challenges during sessions, but the visits gave opportunities of identifying gaps for further training.
Class 1 and 2 during after school community-based literacy and numeracy skills improvement sessions
ILEMELA DISTRICT ADOPTION OF VUTAMDOGO NUMERACY AND LITERACY SKILLS PROGRAM
Ilemela district was able to adopt Vutamdogo Program, the municipal council commended Tanzania Home Economics organization for implementing VUTAMDOGO program for numeracy and literacy skills improvement in the 4 pilot wards, targeting 10 primary schools. The program was very effective in reducing the number of children who could not read, write and do mathematics and that was a reason for the Municipality to scale VUTAMDOGO in all the 10 Wards of Ilemela. Covering 76 primary schools targeting class 1 and 2 in afterschool sessions (459 held at school levels and 252 held at community levels)
An assessment was conducted between 26/09/2022 to 08/10/2022, four years after TAHEA Mwanza exit in the 4 Wards where Vutamdogo was implemented. Ilemela district has 10 Wards with 76 public primary schools where the VUTAMDOGO adoption happened. The adopted program enabled children to master 3Rs, 9,434 children out of 12,057 (78%) were able to read, write and do mathematics in class 1, while 9,837 out of 11,871 (83%) in class 2 were able to read, write and do mathematics. Only 22% in class one pupils were unable to perform well in the 3Rs and 17% in class 2 also could not perform well in the 3Rs.
Vutamdogo After School Program
Improved Numeracy And Literacy Skills In Early Grades In Through Community Engagement – Ilemela District – Mwanza, Tanzania.
Challenge:
During transition in early primary classes children face many problems which include, poor teacher/ pupil ratio, poor class pupil ratio and the overall school infrastructure, this impacts their literacy and numeracy skills acquisition.
EdData II: Education Data for Decision-Making National Baseline Assessment for 3Rs (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) in Tanzania in 2013 concluded that, students are receiving a strong foundation for basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, yet there is still much work to do. One of the key areas for change appears to be not what the students are learning, but how they are learning. Evidence from EGRA and EGMA assessments indicates that students seem to be performing well on procedural tasks and memorized information, yet they struggle to engage with concepts and make meaning from what they learn. Additionally, to make improvements, there are needs for sufficient and appropriate learning materials and more time devoted to practicing the foundational skills in and out of the classroom. There is also the important role of engaging parents and communities as resources and support for the 3Rs campaign. If improvements such as these are brought to action, the path will be laid for students to make improvements from current performance toward meeting the benchmarks designated as a result of this assessment.
Opportunity:
Resource poor parents and community leaders in the targeted fishing communities in Ilemela district, were prepared to improve the situation by supporting their children through after-school literacy and numeracy improvement program. The key changemakers identified by the community were youths whom the VUTAMDOGO innovative program trained and mentored in literacy and numeracy skills facilitation using adequate learning and teaching materials in the community setting
TAHEA Mwanza believes that communities must be engaged in efforts to bring about change in their contexts and as such we deliberately ensure that community members (women, men, and youths) that we serve are involved in an analysis of their own situation and designing of programs to address social problems.
VUTAMDOGO program aimed to improve numeracy and literacy skills among early grade children through community engagement. The community engagement in the schooling/ learning of the children reduce the number of children who cannot read, write and do arithmetic as they enter in class three.
Target population
VUTAMDOGO after school program targeted 4,000 children attending class 1 and 2, in 10 Primary schools in 5 fishing communities in Ilemela district in Mwanza, Tanzania.
Needs / strengths assessment
The community assessment on the poor literacy and numeracy skills among early grade children found that:
There was engagement of the community members during need identification, program design, participatory planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the planned activities including looking for solutions for their problems which they identify for which VUTAMDOGO program was developed.
Theory of change
Program description
VUTAMDOGO (Pull the little one) is a social innovation to improve literacy and numeracy among children attending class 1 and 2 in primary schools. It looks for alternative ways of other people outside the classroom to participate in improving and promoting literacy and numeracy skills through community involvement. The program uses Youths as agents of change; its delivery is through after school program.
VUTAMDOGO (Pull the Little one) Literacy and Numeracy improvement program in fishing communities was implemented in a community setting targeting children attending class 1 and 11 in 10 primary schools in 5 fishing communities, the program was facilitated by Youths who had a privilege of accessing formal secondary education (O- Level) to help younger children in their community to read, write and do basic arithmetic through after school programs. The VUTAMDOGO program was Youth-led; however, Parents, Teachers/ Para Teachers, Community Leaders, the local government and the community at large had roles assigned to them for collective responsibilities. The program took into account that learning happens in a responsive and supportive home, school and community.
The program was conducted three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) from 04:00 pm to 05:30 pm every day. The program was within TAHEA Mwanza focus where 0-8 children are served with age-appropriate programs which include birth to age three supported through families, 3 to 4-year-old children using center-based programs, 5 years in school readiness program and the after-school program targeting 6 to 8-year-old children.
Length, frequency, duration
In VUTAMDOGO program a child comes for one and a half hour daily (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) after school sessions and was attended for 1 to 2 years for class 1 and 2 children depending on how individual children performed in the 3Rs, sometimes a child becomes confident in reading, writing and doing arithmetic for a shorter period depending on her/ his level of 3Rs acquisition at the time of enrolment.
Community engagement – general
Engagement of the community members during needs identification and participatory planning was done through community dialogues where the community identified the inadequate literacy and numeracy skills among children in early grades and as a solution, they agreed to develop an after-school program for improving the 3Rs. Youths were identified to take the lead in facilitating the skills to the young children attending class 1 and 2 in 10 primary schools. School head teachers were coordinators of the activities at school level, Ward education coordinators were supervisors and most of them were involved in monitoring and evaluation of the planned activities. The Councilors were involved during mobilization meetings.
Community leaders involved the Mitaa committees to identify safe areas where VUTAMDOGO sessions were held. The Mitaa leaders made follow-ups on the program and made sure that youth facilitators and participating teachers were always attending the learning sessions as planned. Parents and community leaders attended the organized meetings planned by youth facilitators to get children progress feedback and discussions on way forward in improving the VUTAMDOGO program.
Policy environment
Ilemela district was one of the districts which were surveyed and revealed that the majority of children were not learning, as children were completing Primary School Education without knowing how to read and write, the situation led the government to declare that this was a national crisis in 2013. The efforts to rescue the situation is reflected in the Education and Training Policy (2014) which have a focus on 3Rs for class 1 and 2, at the same time the government has put in place In-service training sessions to improve Teachers’ skills in facilitating the 3Rs a program which started in 2015 all over the country. The VUTAMDOGO program leveraged the existing policy as it complemented the government efforts by strengthening the 3Rs among early grade children.
Government engagement
Launching of the program was held by Local government authority (Education departments, DSWO, DCDO). Their engagement with the program was through coordination of the program activities at school levels, supervision of the afterschool sessions, assessment of the 3Rs performance and reporting.
Enablers
Engagement of the community in identification of the literacy and numeracy challenges among children attending early grade classes, finding possible causes and solutions to address the challenges was a key enabler while the community, and local government participation in the implementation of the program enabled the program to succeed.
Limiters
The factors that limited the successful implementation of the VUTAMDOGO program was the big number of children in the co-hort and the teacher’s dependency on the program in addressing the 3Rs rather than mainstreaming the approach in their daily classroom practices.
Human resources required
The program required 206 youth facilitators, 20 class 1 and 2 teachers, 10 head teachers, 2 Ward Education Officers, 2 District Education Officers, 1 Education Quality Assurer, 1 Tutor from a Teachers’ college/ Lead Trainer, 4 TAHEA Staff, 28 Community leaders and parents. All required a minimum of 1 contact hour per month except Youth Facilitators who need 41/2 hours per week and teachers who spent 1 to 2 mentoring hours per month.
Financial and material resources required
Learning and teaching 3Rs basic Kits were provided to 25 learning centers, water and transport was provided to youth facilitators on weekly basis (2,000/= per week), vehicle for monitoring, supervision, and follow-up was provided. During set examinations, planning & examination sessions transport and meals were facilitated to teachers and education officers.
Community contributions
The Community leaders conducted follow-up to the youth groups sessions, parents supported their children with scholastic materials, supervised homework and participated in developing learning materials to support the learning centers, head teachers and teachers worked extra hours in the after-school program and the community provided spaces for learning centers.
Key stakeholders
LGAs, Schools and Teachers made sure that what was being facilitated by youth focus on the existing curriculum content, assessment of the performance in 3Rs for the participating children, and provision of mentorship to youth facilitators to strengthen skills on the 3Rs. Community leaders and Parents, identified safe areas for VUTAMDOGO sessions and made sure that children attend and are safe and protected by the community members.
Adaptations
The Vutamdogo program can be adapted and replicated in different contexts by mainstreaming its approach in the existing education system i.e., increasing the learning materials to facilitate the 3Rs skills acquisition and having playful activities during extra curriculum activities i.e., reading/ writing/ math’s games.
Monitoring, evaluation, and learning
MEL framework was developed to monitor, evaluate, and learn during VUTAMDOGO program implementation. The indicators were both qualitative and quantitative, our overarching goal was to improve levels of reading, writing, and arithmetic of children in early grades of primary school. We were gathering data on children’s attendance to the after-school program, assessing children’s performance in 3Rs (competence tests) and looking at reduction of children who could not read and write by the time they enter class 3.
Evidence of impact/outcomes
Potential for sustainability
Sustainability of the program lies solely on mainstreaming the VUTAMDOGO approach in the daily classroom practices among teachers which has no financial implication after the initial capacity building (a case shown by Ilemela district).
Potential for scalability
VUTAMDOGO program has attracted a number of organizations to replicate the approach, what was needed was the initial capacity building of the approach for them to replicate.
Potential for systemic change
VUTAMDOGO program has the potential to influence systemic changes in the target communities and target district, however it needed to be show-cased in various education platforms for it to influence changes in the education policy and service delivery (Ilemela district has shown the program potential in reducing the number of children who do not perform well in the 3Rs.
Lessons learned and additional considerations
VUTAMDOGO MODEL
Additional consideration if other organizations should consider when adapting the program is to make sure that if the program involves youth as change agents, access to other services i.e., economic strengthening activities/ livelihood skills/ life skills should be considered as youths need to have an income. Also, the program should be mainstreamed in the school system after addressing the 3Rs challenges for the majority of children attending early grades for sustainability purposes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJeMY9_yJd0&t=9s
CAPACITY BUILDING SESSIONS
Capacity building included financial management for youth groups to manage the sub-granted funds
Training on how to develop learning materials to support learning in children after school was done.
There was a total of 25 after school sites identified in the participating communities facilitated by 206 Youth who were trained by Tutors from Butimba Teachers College and continually coached by class 1 and 2 teachers from the participating primary schools who also received 3Rs training sessions.
After school sessions were done in communities where children were to walked short distances
On-going mentoring from class teachers from target schools was done, giving support to the participating youth who felt some challenges during sessions, but the visits gave opportunities of identifying gaps for further training.
Class 1 and 2 during after school community-based literacy and numeracy skills improvement sessions
ILEMELA DISTRICT ADOPTION OF VUTAMDOGO NUMERACY AND LITERACY SKILLS PROGRAM
Ilemela district was able to adopt Vutamdogo Program, the municipal council commended Tanzania Home Economics organization for implementing VUTAMDOGO program for numeracy and literacy skills improvement in the 4 pilot wards, targeting 10 primary schools. The program was very effective in reducing the number of children who could not read, write and do mathematics and that was a reason for the Municipality to scale VUTAMDOGO in all the 10 Wards of Ilemela. Covering 76 primary schools targeting class 1 and 2 in afterschool sessions (459 held at school levels and 252 held at community levels)
An assessment was conducted between 26/09/2022 to 08/10/2022, four years after TAHEA Mwanza exit in the 4 Wards where Vutamdogo was implemented. Ilemela district has 10 Wards with 76 public primary schools where the VUTAMDOGO adoption happened. The adopted program enabled children to master 3Rs, 9,434 children out of 12,057 (78%) were able to read, write and do mathematics in class 1, while 9,837 out of 11,871 (83%) in class 2 were able to read, write and do mathematics. Only 22% in class one pupils were unable to perform well in the 3Rs and 17% in class 2 also could not perform well in the 3Rs.
Post Code
TAHEA Mwanza