National Reading Program – YESA Annual Report October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019

Specifically, YESA will build the capacity of key stakeholders, including MoEST staff at the national, district, and school levels, and communities to gauge and improve children's performance in the essential reading components within Malawi's NRP. The period of performance for this contract is February 22, 2018 through February 21, 2022. YESA aims at contributing to the development objective of improving social development by instituting and sustaining comprehensive assessment and capacity building systems for early grade reading in support of Malawi's NRP. The main four objectives of YESA are to: administer National Reading Assessments (NRAs) while building the capacity of MoEST to conduct NRAs in the future; institute universal school-level utilization of assessment strategies and techniques for reading and school management; build community-level capacity for the performance and informed use of reading assessments and reading activities; and integrate reading assessments into NRP and MoEST Policies and Practices. The main outcomes at the end of this fiscal year include the revision and USAID approval of the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) targets to better align with expected results given the level of resources and against which future progress can be objectively compared. The YESA team finalized and submitted the 2018 NRA Report and District Briefs, and in collaboration with MoEST, disseminated 2018 NRA results at the national level, reaching 49 MoEST officials. Certificates of recognition were presented to districts that performed well during the 2018 NRA dissemination workshop. Additionally, the YESA team collaborated with the Malawi Early Grade Reading Improvement Activity (MERIT) to disseminate 2018 NRA results during NRP review meetings in all districts. The YESA team also worked on building the capacity of MoEST staff to conduct NRAs in the future. This included providing training and technical assistance to MoEST staff at the national, district, and school levels. The team also worked on developing and implementing a system for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the NRP. The YESA team's efforts were focused on supporting the implementation of the NRP and improving children's performance in reading. The team worked closely with MoEST officials, district education managers, and school staff to ensure that the NRP was implemented effectively and that children had access to quality reading materials and instruction. The team also worked on developing and implementing a system for tracking progress and identifying areas for improvement. The YESA team's work was guided by the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP), which outlined the team's objectives, indicators, and targets for the activity. The AMELP was revised and USAID approved to better align with expected results given the level of resources and against which future progress can be objectively compared. The team's work was also guided by the National Reading Program (NRP) policy and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) policies and practices.