June 24, 2020

Quote of the week “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” -  Ben Balden

Our RELI Africa external website is LIVE!!!

We are so excited to have you on this newly launched website which gives us an opportunity to tell our story to the World. Remember to sign up via reliafrica.org

Country Updates

Kenya: On Friday, June 19, members of RELI Kenya submitted their concept paper in response to the Education Out Loud call. From the deliberations, the following focus areas were identified and clearly laid out in the submitted concept paper inclusive of the organizations that would tackle each area: Parental Engagement and Empowerment (Zizi Afrique and Strathmore University) Monitoring of the Education budget (11 organizations led by EachRights and Transparency International) Marginalized communities and the competency based curriculum (7 organizations led by Dignitas)

The Values and Life skills thematic group held their monthly meeting on Thursday, June 4 to update on the progress of the ALIVE project. The group agreed that the Global e-schools and Communities Initiative (GESCI) and Educate! would spearhead and manage learning and advocacy components respectively while Zizi Afrique will coordinate the assessment. The Equity and Inclusion thematic group also held their monthly meeting on June 4 where Lucy Maina from the Grassroots Innovations for Change (GRIC) volunteered to take over the group's core leadership after Peter Galgalo stepped down. The assistant group leader is Ashina Mitsumi. The learner centered teaching thematic group met on June 5 to validate their draft learning paper on education post Covid-19.

Uganda: On June 11, over 60 RELI members across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania participated in the first cross country thematic webinar on the Assessment of Life skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) themed: What does it mean to develop and validate a tool for measurement of non-cognitive competences?  The aim was to learn from other organizations/experts on possible strategies and research designs for the development of life skills assessment tools. The facilitators animated the session with eye opening insights on the development and validation processes of a tool to measure life skills. The need to consider age appropriateness in the choice of target group, prioritization of tool quality, relevance to the context and choice of tools for the assessment were among the key takeaways from the discussion.

Tanzania: On June 6, the RELI Tanzania MEL mentor, Ken Oulu, facilitated a webinar on the COVID-19 education response in the country. The webinar sought to inform and influence RELI Tanzania and partners on one hand, but also to engage Government in their Covid-19 recovery plans, decisions and actions. Some key insights emerged: Systems are inherently inter-connected, the learners left behind are further marginalized as teachers are forgotten, community engagement is critical and evidence of the impact of the pandemic and evidence on the response is scanty.

The teacher development and support (TDS) thematic group initiated a series of events to commemorate the day of African Child and join forces amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; “A conversation on community responses and support towards a child-friendly justice system: A COVID-19 special." More than 40 stakeholders and five panelists joined the conversation where they shared experiences and measures they take to work through the COVID-19 crisis, the support system they put in place to enhance children's learning and their contribution to post COVID-19 plans when children go back to school. Dr Maryam Ismail from the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) was featured in the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) webinar on the strategies for continuation of classes online. The webinar provided participants with tools and methods to enhance the movement of university courses online during COVID-19 and to utilize blended learning approaches after campuses reopen. She also featured in the Teaching and Learning Conference 2020 hosted by the University of Edinburgh where she made a presentation on pedagogies that can widen participation in higher education during and after COVID-19. Dr. Shadidu Ndossa from the St. John’s University of Tanzania facilitated a 5 days training on Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) to primary teachers, School Management Committees (SMCs), Ward Education Coordinators (WECs) and Municipal Education Officials at Ubungo Municipal in Dar es Salaam. RELI members have adopted the TaRL model to help children who lag behind to develop basic reading and mathematics skills. Zaida Mgalla from UWEZO Tanzania and Berthasia Richard from Shule Direct were featured on Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) FM where they talked about what parents/caregivers should know about the preparation and re-opening of the schools in COVID-19 context .

Funding and Opportunity Tracking Resource Following up on the survey that many of you were able to fill out, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund hired a consultant to help scan for funding opportunities. Her findings are available here.

What we're reading this week: Considerations for re-opening schools post Covid-19: Insights from Uwezo surveys in Uganda Listen to this: Comm-unity Civsource-Africa podcast: Returning to fundamentals in education. 10 immediate WASH in schools (WinS) actions - for school heads to manage the response to covid-19

What we're watching this week:

Join the conversation on Twitter by following @ReliAfrica and using the hashtags #RELIAfrica #RELILearning to keep the conversation going. A social media toolkit is available here . Are you a member of the RELI online platform? Click here for more details.