Think Creative - Issue 7

Right: Building the capacity of Local Government Authorities in Northern Nigeria is helping equip teachers with the training and resources they need to succeed. Below: A teacher in Afganistan observes as her student writes on the board.

ager. “Teachers are learning how to learn from each other, how to work together, how they can provide good feedback to each other. And they are appreciating it.” Even though many teachers in Afghanistan have other jobs as well — since they are not em- ployed full-time as educators — they see it as an investment to carve out time during off hours to attend the teacher learning circles. The project has seen positive results for teach- ers, who now feel more confident, and students, who get to learn in a better environment. According to van Ginkel, students whose teachers receive coaching on a regular basis are performing better than students whose teachers do not receive regular coaching. The Early Grade Reading Assessment midline conducted in Herat showed that coaching is positively associated with student oral reading fluency scores.

“This is not [only] about reading,” Solomon says. “This is about system strengthening to achieve improved learning outcomes.” NEI Plus is building programmatic own- ership among federal, state, and the Local Government Authorities. The project seeks to strengthen local authorities’ ability to train and manage teachers, carry out professional development, strengthen school governance, mobilize community support for learning and ensure the timely distribution of materials. “All we do is strengthen, strengthen, strength- en so the system becomes efficient enough to deliver quality support and services to the Local Government Education Authorities and schools, because they are our main partners,” says Solomon. “I hate the word beneficiary. They are our part- ners. Even the kids are our partners,” he adds. One part of this ownership is, of course, finan- cial. Early in the program, NEI Plus absorbed more cost relative to the host government. Now in the project’s final year, Nigeria state and local authorities have assumed nearly all of the spending. Bauchi and Sokoto are now at the point where they are contributing more than $4 million to material printing and scaling up the teacher training model to more Local Government Authorities. “At some point or another, these states will have to graduate from aid,” says Solomon. “We are sowing the seeds to enable state govern- ments to lead and function within their own financial means.” It is through this system strengthening, both at the remote government level and the tangible community level of a father and son talking together under a tree, that children are able to grow into their potential. n With reporting by Valdimar da Fonseca, Homa- yun Sediqi and Michael J. Zamba

“Any time you provide a teacher with tools to be successful, the success begets success. It’s a wonderful cycle.”

Susan Hirsch-Ayari, Project Director for Afghan Children Read

have been mismanaged, are underfunded, or are enduring conflict. In Nigeria, for example, communities lack trust in weak governmental systems struggling to provide quality education, according to Semere Solomon, Senior Director of Creative’s Africa Regional Center. USAID’s Northern Education Initiative Plus (NEI Plus) is working to improve access and quality of education in Northern Nigeria’s Bauchi and Sokoto states. “In addition to making sure teachers are well-trained, providing quality textbooks and supplementary reading materials, and mobilizing communities, our main focus is to support systems,” says Solomon, who oversees the project.

“Teaching early grade students becamemuch more interesting and effective compared to four years ago,” says Sayed Ahmadzai, a grade 2 teacher inNangarhar province. “Previous- ly there was neither an observation formon which we could evaluate the performances of our students nor a specific teachingmethod for early grade learning. Nowwe have the students’ continuous assessment book, colorful textbooks and teachers’ guides, which helpedme andmy students to be active and enjoy the class.” Supporting governmental systems that work for students When we zoom out from individual school, classroom, family and student settings, there is a larger system at play to support their success. Students suffer when government institutions

Photo by Erick Gibson (top), JimHuylebroek (bottom)

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