Room to Learn - Education for Youth in South Sudan

Following the completion of community entry in Room to Learn (RtL) South Sudan’s first school communities, the project has begun to award the first round of instructional material grants to schools. The schools in South Sudan have been devastated by years of war and conflict. They suffer from limited physical infrastructure, resources and human capacity. RtL’s instructional materials grants are the first grant package that school communities are able to apply for following the completion of their school development plan (SDP) during community entry. The instructional materials grants are designed to address the lack of basic teaching resources available to schools in South Sudan.

The standard instructional materials grant package includes: portable blackboards, flash boards, small slate chalk boards, learning aids for teachers, lesson planners for teachers, storage cabinet, supplementary readers; and learning games. Also included in the package are basic stationery items to help teachers engage children in the classroom, such as: chalk, pens, paper, rulers, glue, scissors, markers, and other items. RtL has already awarded 46 instructional materials grants and aims to award 369 by the end of 2015. Schools that receive an instructional materials grants package will also be able to apply for additional grants to address other needs they identified in their SDPs and teachers will also be able to receive additional training.

These grants provide a start for RtL school communities to improve and create safer school environments for their children. On behalf of Winrock and our partners, we thank donors for their generous support. Your commitment enables us to have a bigger impact on each school community we enter in the coming months!