Children receive crowdsourced local language stories, with comprehension questions, via SMS, through Creative Associate's Makhalidwe Athu project in rural Zambia.
Mobilizing community members to submit favorite local stories and folktales and distributing the stories, along with comprehension questions, to early grade students and their families via SMS.
Project Name
Makhalidwe Athu (“Our Way of Staying”)
Location Implemented
Zambia
Technology Used
Communications Technology
Competition Entered
Grant Competition 2014
Reading Skill Targeted
Foundational, Reading
Status
Winner
Collaborators/Partners
The Challenge
In Zambia, children’s ability to master foundational literacy skills has been inhibited by limited access to reading materials, especially in local languages. Despite recent gains in student reading scores and reading instruction, the lack of supplemental materials in local languages prevents parents and community members from supporting children in reading outside of school. Without these materials, children do not have adequate opportunities to practice reading, and continue to demonstrate poor reading skills.
The Big Idea
This project mobilizes community members to help author early grade reading materials by submitting their favorite local stories and folktales through SMS message, voice recording or web form. A literacy expert edited the stories to be grade-level appropriate and parents received them through a series of SMS messages along with comprehension questions to ask their children. This method facilitates parental involvement in their child’s reading and reinforces the importance of practicing reading daily.
Results
Approximately 1,200 students and 40 school communities
Featured Innovation
Makhalidwe Athu: Creative’s mStories Model
ACR GCD-funded innovator Creative Associates shares how it developed its innovative approach for creating mobile stories to address literacy challenges in rural Zambia.
Blogs and Media
Research and Resources
Engaging Families and Communities to Support Student Reading Skills Development
A summary on the impact and potential for scale of four ACR GCD-funded innovator projects focused on improving the engagement of families and communities in children's reading.USAID Impact Evaluation of the Makhalidwe Athu Project (Zambia)
A technical impact evaluation report on the results of the ACR GCD-funded "Makhalidwe Athu (Our Way of Staying)" project, implemented by Creative Associates in Zambia.Makhalidwe Athu: A mobile storytelling innovation for early-grade reading in Zambia
ACR GCD-funded innovator Creative Associates provides a brief overview of its Makhalidwe Athu (Our Way of Staying) early grade reading project in rural Zambia.Makhalidwe Athu: Creative’s mStories Model
ACR GCD-funded innovator Creative Associates shares how it developed its innovative approach for creating mobile stories to address literacy challenges in rural Zambia.Mobile reading project brings local tales home
ACR GCD-funded innovator Creative Associates shares more about its 18-month Makhalidwe Athu project to improve the reading skills of more than 1,200 students in Zambia's eastern province.Creative Associates International / Ayan Kishore
ACR GCD-funded innovator Creative Associates shares their innovation to mobilize community members to submit local stories through SMS message to improve children's reading skills in Zambia.
Connect with the Innovator
Website
http://creativeassociatesinternational.comOrganization Type
For Profit
Headquarters
Washington DC, USA
