an initiative of Twaweza.org – badili kwa kiswahili – Linked with Twaweza.
What is Uwezo? Uwezo means ‘capability’ in Kiswahili. Uwezo is a four year initiative that aims to improve competencies in literacy and numeracy among children aged 5-16 years old in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, using an innovative approach to social change that is citizen driven and accountable to the public … (about 1/2).
Homepage; Sitemap;
Latest news; Blog; Uganda; Tanzania; Kenya; ASER; ASER’s key features; Twaweza;
Address: Uwezo, attn. Twaweza, 127 Mafinga Rd, Off Kinondoni Rd, PO Box 38342, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;
Contact.
About 2/2: … Uwezo’s approach will enable policy makers as well as ordinary citizens – that is parents, students, local communities and the public at large – to become aware of the actual levels of children’s literacy and numeracy.
By using this newly acquired awareness they, and you, can stimulate practical and policy change in education across East Africa.
Why Uwezo?
- In recent years there has been enormous growth in primary school has been partially a consequence of large increases in public budgets for education. Despite higher enrolment rates however, education quality has remained low and may have declined. Government efforts to improve quality appear to not have brought the success that was envisioned, and innovative pilot projects prove to be difficult to sustain or repeat a larger scale. Uwezo’s core purpose is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education so that children learn and develop greater competencies, particularly in basic literacy and numeracy.
The Goal:
- Uwezo’s main goal is to contribute, over the next 4 years, to an improvement of at least 10 percent in literacy and numeracy levels among children aged 5-16 years in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Uwezo’s Approach to Change:
Uwezo uses an innovative method to generate new information on children’s literacy and numeracy levels across East Africa. With this information Uwezo aims to inform the public, stimulate countrywide debate and create pressure for policy change from the bottom-up. The method builds on the pioneering approach of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) in India, and has the following key components:
- a large household based survey covering all districts in each country;
- the use of a very simple tool to assess literacy and numeracy that can be easily administered;
- inspiring a citizen volunteer-driven approach to conduct the assessment over a few days;
- instant feedback of the assessment results to parents/guardians, children and local leaders;
- broad communication across the country through the media and other forms to create debate;
- facilitating thoughtful learning and monitoring throughout, and feeding back these lessons into the next year’s preparations, and
- Repeating survey each year to create and sustain momentum for change.
Uwezo’s Methods:
- The ongoing Uwezo initiative aims at improving literacy and numeracy among children in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda through an innovative, civic-driven and public accountability approach to education reform that adapts the successful ASER methodology (www.asercentre.org) from India. Over a four year period, Uwezo will support large scale, citizen-led, household-based assessments of actual levels of children’s literacy and numeracy. Findings will be publicized to create broad public awareness and debate, which will be built on to create social and political momentum to stimulate policy and practical change. The work will be done in partnership with a wide range of key institutions and networks, and promote learning across East Africa. Building on the lessons learnt from and the impact of the current phase, Uwezo will explore the possibility of expanding the initiative to cover other counties beyond East Africa and to establish itself as an independent African entity.
Uwezo Management: … (full text about).