The Roger Federer Foundation's School Readiness Initiative and Capacity Building for Caregivers
Executive Summary
The Roger Federer Foundation (RFF) has been actively working in Malawi promoting access to quality early childhood development services in community based childcare centres (CBCCs) since 2011. The Foundation School Readiness Initiative aims to enhance preparedness of young learners to have a good start into formal education in a systemic manner due to a smoother transition into primary school and making the schools ready to accommodate children using innovative approaches, by making all relevant stakeholders accountable and use digital and self-guided learning tools is not only very relevant and timely in Malawi.Considering the capacity gap of caregivers and the urgency for basic training, in December 2021, a special intervention on invitation of the Ministry of Gender was developed to train 3000 mentors across the country who should each facilitate training of at least two caregivers from three CBCCs using the KnowHow, a self-guided course in school readiness.
Implementation
The School Readiness Initiative in Malawi aimed to enhance collaboration among stakeholders for improved access to quality pre-primary education and smooth transition to formal schooling. It advocated for professionalization and quality improvement of the pre-primary sector, while building the capacity of CBCC Committees to provide quality early learning. The initiative established procedures for a seamless transition into primary school and facilitated school exchanges. The Initiative raised community and parental awareness about the importance of early childhood education and fostered continuous dialogue through Parenting Reflect Cycles. Immediate improvements were implemented to meet a minimum standard for early learning services. Alongside this, a Caregiver Incentive Fund was established, complemented by business management training. To enhance teaching effectiveness, an innovative Early Learning Kiosk was utilized, while promoting peer-to-peer learning.
Stakeholders and partners involved
5,000 pre-primary class caregivers; 2,020 new CBCC Committees; At least 1,600 Standard 1 teachers; 1000 School Management Committees; A minimum of 183,000 parents; The unprecedented number of siblings of the young learners at CBCCs; In addition, the so-called Early Learning Kiosk has been nationally scaled to 3000 CBCCs through the mentorship programme, financed by the World Bank.
Impact
The School Readiness Initiative in Malawi achieved the following outcomes: Reached 23,208 pre-primary children; High-grade 1 pass rate of over 90% for children from CBCC; 1,342 participating institutions in phase 1, 800 in phase 2, with 80% offering quality pre-primary classes; Capacitated 6,202 caregivers and 596 trained mentors who regularly utilize the Early Learning Kiosk; Established peer-to-peer mentoring system, reaching 100% compared to 23% before the intervention; Ensured regular dialogue with parents in all institutions, which was previously 0%; Provided healthy meals during lean periods in 60% of institutions, with 10% having a full-year food supply; 76% of institutions now have playgrounds; Enhanced coordination among stakeholders and increased joint responsibility for child development; Effective design of the Early Learning Kiosk, with minimal changes needed except for the main language of instruction (English); School Readiness is now a priority in the Ministry and attracting new donors such as the World Bank and USAID to scale the programme components.
Innovations
The Innovative Early Learning Kiosk in Malawi麓s School Readiness Initiative
Advocacy is aimed at engaging stakeholders at various levels to seek a buy-in on the outcomes of the project. Roger Federer Foundation developed and implemented the School Readiness Initiative in Malawi using the well-developed Early Learning Kiosk i.e. a tablet which comprises various apps, guides and manuals to capacitate the caregivers in a self-guided manner such as: The focus on school readiness is trend setting in a country where a pre-primary education year is almost newly introduced and not yet rolled out in the whole country; Peer-to-peer mentoring allows for the assimilation of new knowledge and the occurrence of real behavioral change; Caregiving is on volunteering basis as such trained caregivers turn-over is very high requiring interventions to curb the situation.
Constraints
Challenging socio-economic environment; Low- literacy levels of caregivers