Education South Sudan Project #15476

Room to Learn - Education for Youth in South Sudan

by Winrock International

Room to Learn - Education for Youth in South Sudan

Project Report | Jun 8, 2016
Final Report: RtL prepares to close but our commitment continues

By Jeni Sorensen | RtL Program Consultant

RtL staff visiting community school in Nimule

As South Sudan prepares for the start of its annual rainy season, Winrock International has begun to ramp down its activities under the Room to Learn (RtL) program. Due to the increasing humanitarian crisis and the fragile peace agreement of August 2015, USAID has decided to shift its focus to strengthening resilient and conflict resistant communities in the country; as a result, the RtL program will close in September 2016 – two years earlier than initially planned.

In spite of the dire political and security environment, the RtL Project has entered 388 school communities. By the end of September we will have supported nearly 400 school development plans, trained over 1,400 teachers in literacy instruction, introduced innovative gender and social inclusion approaches and psycho-social support practices, and delivered more than 990 packages of essential education instructional materials for teachers and students across six states. The project is estimated to have supported roughly 233,000 children to date and hopes to reach an additional 60,000 by the end of September.

Your generous support enabled us to supplement our grants to school committees for education materials such as portable blackboards, lesson planning books for teachers, supplementary readers, educational games, and basic school supplies. These materials are a vital complement to RtL’s teacher training efforts, enabling educators to prepare relevant lesson plans and adjust learning materials to be targeted and effective for each level of learner. As Denya Alex Michael, an English teacher at Leikor primary school, notes, “The skills I learned from the <RtL> training helped me to deliver child-centered lessons through the use of handmade teaching aids. Children now report to school on time because they find my teaching interesting.”

On behalf of Winrock and our partners FHI360 and Plan International, we thank you for your generous support. Your commitment has been invaluable in making a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese students and educators in hundreds of communities– an impact that will positively affect these communities for years to come. Winrock and its partners continue to hope that peace and stability will return to South Sudan, and we remain committed to improving educational quality and access for youth and children throughout the country.

RtL delivers desks to school in Magwi

Thank you for supporting students in South Sudan!

Permalink

Apr 20, 2016
Great teachers create great students

By Tom Willcox | Room to Learn Communications & Outreach Manager

Makpwe is a school officer in Nimule County

An inspiring and informed teacher is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement. Now, the primary-level teachers of South Sudan are proving, with the right support and training, they can educate and inspire the future generations of South Sudan’s children.

With the support from USAID’s Room to Learn (RtL) Program, Winrock International – in partnership with FHI360 and Plan International – has trained Master Trainers to train teachers in the five components of reading instruction, plus English language acquisition. The training content also focuses on the use of educational materials supplied by RtL, plus skills training for the creation of teacher-made and learner-made materials. The content of the training, aimed at head teachers and teachers in primary schools, targets literacy, materials management and care, and psychosocial strategies aimed at positive classroom management. Head teachers and mentor teachers also receive training on mentorship to enable them to provide adequate support to teachers post-training. Developing systems that support teachers in sustained professional learning and refinement of teaching practice is perhaps the single most important way to promote student learning and educational opportunity.

Makpwe, a 29-year-old School Officer, and Guma, a head teacher, both attended the same training session in Nimule town, Eastern Equatoria State in December, 2015. After the training, Makpwe commented, “For me personally, I have l learnt a lot of new things, and as a teacher it is very important in my life because this is a training that I didn’t get before and I feel very happy for that because I think it will help me to educate the children that I teach in my school very well.”

Within the first phase of training, the RtL Program has trained a total of 330 teachers from 55 schools between November and December, 2015; 50 percent of whom have been women. RtL will aim to reach 1,472 educators in training by the end of September 2016. These early initiatives have provided a compass for how to build better trainings – affording teachers of South Sudan and, by extension, their future students every success.

We want to thank you for your continued support which enables us to expand our impact in each school community we enter in South Sudan!

Teachers and master trainers at training session.

Permalink

Jan 7, 2016
PTAs Trained to Achieve Greater Impact in Schools

By Tom Willcox | Communications & Outreach Manager

Joice - PTA Member, Terekeka, CES

As a member of the Terekeka Primary School Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) in Central Equatoria state (CES) in South Sudan, Joice, 35, had long felt that the community and local parents should be making greater efforts to ensure more primary-level children were attending regular classes. As a widow and mother of eight, Joice understands the complexities of educating the young, especially girls, in South Sudan and felt that their PTA group had long been ill-equipped to address or resolve these issues.

“As a member of the PTA and of this community, I would often see young children loitering around the village. As a PTA group, we didn’t really know how to mobilize ourselves, how to work together to lobby parents, tribal leaders, or government to start to address these fundamental problems.”

In October 2015, RtL provided the Terekeka Primary School PTA with training on how to mobilize themselves and their school. The training also focused on how to work together, with teachers, parents, and with government structures to improve education opportunities children in their community. The program has changed Joice’s - and her fellow PTA members - entire attitude. They have come to understand the magnitude of the responsibility they hold within the community and they have now realize that they have the capacity to ensure positive change.

“If I see a child in the street I will immediately find out who the parents are and ensure that they are taken to the tribal chief to explain why their child is not in school. ” she says. “So many parents did not even know that the government schools are free! We are now working closely with the tribal leaders, parents and the school to ensure the local children have access to the education they need and deserve.”

RtL, funded by USAID and implemented by Winrock International in partnership with FHI 360 and Plan International USA, aims to reach 388 PTAs across South Sudan with capacity building training in 2016. This training will enable communities to advocate for improved education and attendance in their school communities.

We want to thank you for your continued support which enables us to expand our impact in each school community we enter in South Sudan!

Schoolgirls pose for a picture at school in CES

Permalink

1 2 3 4 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.