Egypt Literate Village Activity Annual Report (October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020)

The project components worked together to empower both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders with the necessary knowledge and skills to sustain, support, and expand education opportunities for children and their mothers. During the fourth year of implementation, the project rapidly expanded its interventions into Assiut, building on knowledge and experience gained and successes achieved in both Sohag and Beheira governorates. The project's focus on adult literacy led to the opening of 725 new classes in Assiut, 59 classes in Beheira, and 50 classes in Sohag. This resulted in a total of 2,570 classes enrolling 39,553 illiterate women in the three governorates. To provide AL graduates with an opportunity to continue improving their literacy skills, the LV Project continued to open new post-literacy classes for 2,102 women in Sohag and 2,559 in Beheira. A total of 350 classes were established in Sohag hosting 4,507 learners, and 310 classes in Beheira with 3,578 learners. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a significant challenge to the project, but the LV team developed a contingency plan to support beneficiaries at this critical time. The plan involved distributing family learning and hygiene kits to community schools' students' families, distributing disinfectants kits to community schools, conveying awareness messages about COVID-19 to beneficiaries, and conducting online training to PNGO and CDA staff on channels to convey awareness messages to targeted communities. The project also made programmatic adaptations to resume suspended or delayed activities once the lockdown was lifted. The project's efforts to implement various activities under each component continued prior to the pandemic. In November 2019, the LV project renewed the AEA implementation protocol that had expired in October. A central coordination committee was formed to improve the quality of work and provide capacity strengthening for AEA. The opening of new Adult Literacy classes in Assiut showed remarkable progress during Year 4 of intervention, with 725 new classes opened. The project also continued to support AL learners during the pandemic by developing worksheets that included exercises to practice reading and writing, and math skills, as well as a task related to the Intergenerational Literacy approach to reflect interactions with the family. The AL class facilitators played a crucial role in delivering and collecting these worksheets and supporting and assessing the performance of the learners on a weekly basis. A total of 1,257 AL classes learners in Beheira, 1,093 in Assiut, and 871 in Sohag received assignments, with positive feedback received from the learners, facilitators, and CDA staff. The project's focus on adult literacy and its efforts to support AL learners during the pandemic demonstrate its commitment to promoting sustainable learning and improving education opportunities for children and their mothers. The project's ability to adapt to the challenges presented by the pandemic and continue its activities is a testament to its effectiveness and resilience.