Quarterly Report: Mureke Dusome, Quarter 3, Fiscal Year 2018

The project is being implemented by Save the Children and its partner organizations, Umuhuza and Urunana DC, in all 30 districts of Rwanda from January 2016 to January 2020. Mureke Dusome has been designed to contribute to the Rwandan Education Sector under the Government of Rwanda's national development priorities, which acknowledge 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. The theory of change is that children learn to read better in these supportive conditions than if they are receiving classroom-based instruction alone. In order 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 for Head Teachers' (HTs) and School General Assembly Committee (SGAC) presidents' and vice presidents' self-study modules; Sector Education Officers (SEOs) lead HTs and SGAC presidents and vice presidents in these processes. After piloting these self-study modules in the current 12 districts, Mureke Dusome is scaling up to the remaining 18 districts in the rest of the country in FY2018. The project's results are expected to contribute to the Rwandan Education Sector's strategic plan, which aims to develop lifelong reading habits and ensure students develop the foundational skills needed to move from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn' across all curriculum subjects. Mureke Dusome complements the classroom-based interventions of other USAID-funded education programs, namely Soma Umenye. The project's focus on school-community partnerships and community and home learning environments is expected to improve the quality of education in Rwanda and contribute to the country's national development priorities. Mureke Dusome's activities are designed to achieve the project's three interrelated results. The project's first result is to strengthen the capacity of school leadership to improve student literacy through school-community partnerships. This is being achieved through the development of the National Standards for Parent-School Partnership (NSPSP) and the piloting of self-study modules for Head Teachers and School General Assembly Committee presidents and vice presidents. The project's second result is to increase effective community and parental involvement to improve literacy skills. This is being achieved through the development and implementation of a literacy communication campaign for social behavior change and the mobilization of parents and the community to improve student literacy. The project's third result is to foster a culture of reading. This is being achieved through the enhancement of the capacity of Rwanda Reads to support networking, coordination, and information sharing among literacy stakeholders and the promotion and advocacy of literacy through Rwanda Reads. The project's progress is being monitored and evaluated through a range of indicators, including the number of school-community partnerships established, the number of parents and community members involved in literacy activities, and the number of students able to read with fluency and comprehension. The project's management issues, coordination, ICT, gender and disability inclusion, local capacity building, challenges, and lessons learned are also being addressed through a range of activities and interventions.