Annual Report: Mureke Dusome October 2017 – September 2018

The project is being implemented by Save the Children and its partner organizations, namely Umuhuza and Urunana DC, through a phased approach, in all 30 Districts of the country from January 2016 to September 2019. The project has been designed to contribute to the Rwandan Education Sector under the Government of Rwanda's national development priorities, whose strategic plan acknowledges the importance of developing lifelong reading habits and ensuring students develop the foundational skills needed to move from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn' across all curriculum subjects. The goal of Mureke Dusome is to improve P1-P3 students' ability to read with fluency and comprehension by strengthening the capacity of school leadership to improve student literacy through school-community partnerships, increasing effective community and parental involvement to improve literacy skills, and fostering a culture of reading. These three interrelated results will improve the quality of school-community partnerships as well as community and home learning environments (HLEs). The theory of change is that children learn to read better in these supportive conditions than if they are receiving classroom-based instruction alone. Mureke Dusome complements the classroom-based interventions of other USAID-funded education programs, namely Soma Umenye. A phased approach to implementation was adopted, with the project launched in Rwanda in 2016. Burera and Gicumbi Districts were chosen as implementation locations in year one, followed by 10 additional districts in FY2017 and the final 18 districts in FY2018. This phased approach enabled the project to build on existing operational and program activities already in place by Save the Children and Umuhuza in these areas. To strengthen the capacity of school leadership to improve student literacy, Mureke Dusome worked in collaboration with the Rwanda Education Board (REB)-School Leadership and Management (SLM) unit to develop the National Standards for Parent-School Partnership (NSPSP). These standards served as the framework for the content of Head Teachers' (HTs) and School General Assembly Committee (SGAC) presidents' and vice presidents' self-study modules. The modules were designed to be led by Sector Education Officers (SEOs), who would guide HTs and SGAC presidents and vice presidents in these processes. After piloting these self-study modules in 12 districts, Mureke Dusome scaled up to the remaining 18 districts. The project also focused on increasing effective community and parental involvement to improve literacy skills. This was achieved through the development and implementation of a literacy communication campaign for social behavior change, mobilization of parents and the community to improve student literacy, promotion and incentivization of local initiatives for community literacy activities, and leveraging existing civic service bodies to support community literacy activities. Furthermore, Mureke Dusome aimed to foster a culture of reading by enhancing the capacity of Rwanda Reads to support networking, coordination, and information sharing among literacy stakeholders, promoting and advocating literacy through Rwanda Reads, strategically strengthening the supply and demand for the local children's book industry, and increasing communities' access to age-appropriate, relevant reading materials. The project's progress was monitored and evaluated through various indicators, including the number of school-community partnerships established, the number of parents and community members involved in literacy activities, and the number of children who demonstrated improved literacy skills. The project's expenditure was also tracked, and lessons learned were documented to inform future programming.