Uganda School Health and Reading Program
The Basics:
Funded by: USAID
Prime contractor: RTI International
Contract type: Cooperative Agreement
Sub-contract value: $1.9M (including cost share contribution)
SIL LEAD involvement: 2012-2016
Minority languages served (12): Acholi, Ateso, Leblango, Lugbarati, Luganda, Lugwere, Lukhonzo, Lumasaba, Lusoga, Nkarimojong, Runyankore/Rukiga, and Runyoro/Rutoro
Materials produced: Student Books and Teacher Guides for grades 1-4
Year 3 metrics: 6,474 teachers trained, 503,320 students directly benefited, and 543 libraries developed
Thesis of Project: This 5-year USAID Uganda School Health and Reading Program (SHRP) project was implemented to support Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) to improve the quality of education in Uganda emphasizing early grade reading and HIV and AIDS education. SIL LEAD consultants have led the development of instructional materials in all of the 12 program languages for grades 1-4, provided technical support for training of trainers and teacher training workshops, as well as continued to support the process of orthography development for several languages.
The Uganda School Health and Reading Program was SIL LEAD’s first project. It was a five-year (2012–2017) USAID Cooperative Agreement. SIL LEAD was a subcontractor to RTI International and managed a $1.9 million budget. SHRP aimed to improve early grade reading and promote health-seeking behaviors of students. Direct program outcomes include improved reading skills of over two million primary school students from twelve language communities and sustainable systems for the country to better monitor and respond to the evolving prevention needs of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Uganda.
SIL LEAD facilitated numerous materials development workshops and orthography review workshops to develop highly contextualized literacy materials for mother tongue classrooms. SIL LEAD’s role in the program was to bridge language barriers and improve reading, learning, and instruction in twelve Ugandan languages. SIL LEAD provided technical assistance to SHRP by engaging with speech communities to standardize their writing systems and develop mother tongue teaching and learning materials for Primary 1–4 classrooms. LEAD facilitated the development of ninety-six local language materials (both pupil books and teacher guides) that teach reading and writing in the mother tongue. SIL LEAD led the design and development of the Primary 4 (P4) methodology. Our experts in multilingual education based the materials design on the national P4 Curriculum and developed the materials framework with the goal of preparing pupils to transition to English as the language of instruction.