Quarterly Report: Mureke Dusome, Quarter 4, Fiscal Year 2019

The project is being implemented by Save the Children and its partner organization, Umuhuza, through a phased approach in all 30 districts of the country from January 2016 to July 2021. The goal of Mureke Dusome is to improve P1-P3 students' ability to read with fluency and comprehension by strengthening school leadership capacity, increasing community and parental involvement, and fostering a culture of reading. To achieve this goal, Mureke Dusome has been working in collaboration with the Rwanda Education Board (REB) to develop the National Standards for Parent-School Partnership (NSPSP). These standards served as the framework for the content of Head Teachers' and School General Assembly Committee (SGAC) presidents' and vice presidents' self-study modules. The project has also been conducting a comprehensive Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) campaign, which includes training community radio station workers on key Mureke Dusome literacy messages and integrating literacy content into Urunana DC's popular radio drama series. In addition, Umuhuza has popularized and promoted community literacy by training community volunteer Literacy Champions (LCs) and engaging Urugerero youth in the promotion of literacy. Using Mureke Dusome-developed Literacy Champion toolkits, these LC volunteers organize community literacy activities, such as weekly reading clubs and Umuganda literacy activities for children. The project has also set up a Community Literacy Fund to replenish reading clubs and support local initiatives that further promote community literacy activities. Mureke Dusome has phased into 10 additional districts in FY2017 and completed the phasing process by scaling up the project in the final 18 districts of Rwanda in FY2018. The project has also been working with the Government of Rwanda (GOR) at the national and local levels to utilize existing civic service bodies and institutions, such as Urugerero youth service and Umuganda, in supporting community literacy activities. The project's theory of change is that children learn to read better in 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 USAID Soma Umenye. The project's overall goal is to improve the quality of school-community partnerships and community and home learning environments, ultimately leading to improved literacy outcomes for P1-P3 students in Rwanda. Mureke Dusome has made significant progress in achieving its goals, with a comprehensive SBCC campaign and community literacy activities being implemented in all 30 districts of the country. The project has also established a Community Literacy Fund to support local initiatives that promote community literacy activities. However, challenges and lessons learned from the project's implementation will be discussed in the subsequent sections of this report.