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 [email protected]