Lara Evans, Deputy Director Food Security and Livelihoods World Vision, Inc. Improving Early Grade Education through Food for Education.

Lara Evans, Deputy DirectorFood Security and LivelihoodsWorld Vision, Inc.

Improving Early Grade Educationthrough Food for

Education

Problem StatementThere is a Global Learning

Crisis • Hungry children are not

able to learn• Previous efforts to

improve attendance and enrollment rates have not always translated into learning

• Marginalized children have been most affected by this crisis– Reference - Brookings

Institute, A Global Compact on Learning: Taking Action on Education in Developing Countries

World Vision’s Response• Build the capacity of

teachers and volunteers to improve children’s reading

• Strengthen community capacity to support learning outcomes, especially reading

• Ensuring an abundance of relevant teaching and learning resource material

• Effectively monitoring and evaluating reading outcomes

WV’s Children Well-being Aspirations• WV’s child focused

approach is community based and holistic to offer sustained development

• Children “Educated for Life” is one of WV’s Child Well-Being Aspirations. Another is “Enjoy Good Health.”

• Two major education outcomes: – Children, read, write and use

numeracy skills– Children access and complete

basic education• One of the health outcomes:

– Children are well nourished

USDA FFE - Afghanistan• Objective 1: Increase access, entry and

continuation of students--Achieve higher enrollment and attendance rates, with an emphasis on girls, through monthly take-home rations.

• Objective 2: Educational Progress--Improve student achievement levels through improvements in the learning environment/conditions, including teacher training, materials and books, etc.

• Objective 3: Nutrition and Maternal Child Health Progress--Improve maternal, child and student health and nutrition

• Objective 4: Community Development--Infrastructure and community support

Objective 1: Increase access, entry and continuation of

studentsStudent Attendance2003-2009

36388

55857

9002

19217

58516

7535780807

90890

12287

23075 2716833975

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

1 2 3 4 5 6

Program Years

Students

Girls

Objective 2: Educational Progress

• Teacher and Headmaster Training

• Management training for MoE staff

• Technical support to the MoE in the development new national standards for in service teacher training

• Distributions of school kits to students and school supplies to teachers

Objective 4: Community Development

• Creation of Early Childhood Care and Development Spaces

• Support for Education Defense Committees

• School Improvement Program (SIPS) – competitive infrastructure voucher program

• Ongoing community sensitization to the importance of education

USDA FFE - Mozambique

• Result 1: Improved quality of literacy instruction -- more consistent teacher attendance, better access to school supplies, improved instructional materials, teacher and administrator training.

• Result 2: Improved attentiveness-- short term hunger reduced with school feeding

• Result 3: Improved student attendance-- improved school infrastructure, increased enrollment, increased community awareness of benefits of education

• Result 4: Increased use of health and dietary practices-- improved knowledge of health and hygiene practices, increased access to water and sanitation

Increased Skills and Knowledge of Teachers &

School Administrators• Teacher training focused on literacy support and curriculum development

• Develop capacity of school councils and other community members to support learning (e.g. develop supplies from local resources). Using basic education improvement planning strategy to dialogue and plan with community.

• Support Ministry of Education to plan for adequate teaching and learning supplies

Increased Skills and Knowledge of Teachers &

School Administrators• Establish mobile school and community libraries with some materials in local language

• Encourage parents to participate as teaching assistants

• Ongoing monitoring on teacher performance and school environment by administrators, school councils and students

• Assessing children’s literacy skills

Summary of Promising and Good Practice Approaches

• Basic Education Improvement Planning – empowering the community to take local level actions towards improve learning outcomes

• Developing teaching and learning materials using local resources (e.g. supplementary readers, etc.)

• School and community libraries• Teacher training to improve reading• Assessing reading

Conclusions/Take Aways

• A holistic approach is needed to address the educational needs of the more marginalized children:– A nutritious meal for enrollment, retention,

completion and more importantly cognition and learning

– Focusing on teacher skills to improve literacy – Support the community’s demand for a relevant

and positive learning experience for their children through awareness raising and training

• We can see profound impact on girls’ enrollment and retention from this type of program because of this whole school/holistic approach

Questions?

Thank You Very Much!laevans@worldvision.org