Quarterly Program Report: READ Community Outreach - FY2019 Quarter One (July 1-September 30, 2018)

The program aims to strengthen community outreach resulting in improved reading and writing skills of primary school children (grades 1 to 4) in five regions: Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, Tigray, and Somali. READ CO has adopted three Intermediate Results (IRs) to measure achievement towards its goal: IR 1, IR 2, and IR 3. IR 1 focuses on increasing access to supplementary reading materials in vernacular languages. During the FY 2019 first quarter, READ CO finalized the community grassroots supplementary reading materials (CGSRM) guideline and translated it into seven mother tongue languages. The five Regional State Education Bureaus (RSEBs) gave approval of the guideline to be used as a working document. READ CO also completed the redesign of 629 copyright-free and 130 grassroots materials, which were distributed to 2488 targeted schools. IR 2 aims to create opportunities for children to practice reading and writing. During the summer of 2018, a summer reading program was undertaken in 50% of targeted schools in five intervention regions. A total of 116,545 targeted students participated and received reading support. READ CO also promoted youth volunteer incentive packages, resulting in 1,061 youth reading volunteers in Amhara and Oromia regions receiving incentives. IR 3 focuses on strengthening parental and community engagement to support learning to read. READ CO facilitated International Literacy Day celebrations in Tigray, SNNPR, and Amhara regions with the theme "Literacy for Skill Development." The organization also undertook media messages on children's reading in SNNPR region in three intervention languages for an average of 5 days per week. During the FY 2019 first quarter, READ CO held national and regional level review meetings with RSEBs, WEOs, and USAID regional representatives. The organization also conducted a national level planning and implementation progress review with key stakeholders represented from the five key directorates of the Ministry and USAID. Additionally, READ CO developed a no-cost extension plan, which was approved to further strengthen the project implementation quality in all targeted intervention regions. The program distributed 616,353 copies of printed supplementary reading materials to 2488 targeted schools. READ CO also promoted youth volunteer incentive packages, resulting in 1,061 youth reading volunteers in Amhara and Oromia regions receiving incentives. The organization facilitated International Literacy Day celebrations in three regions and undertook media messages on children's reading in SNNPR region.