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USAID Learn to Read Year 2, Quarter 2 Report (January 1– March 31, 2020) April 30, 2020 This report was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Save the Children. USAID Learn to Read Quarterly Program Report Year 2 Quarter 2 Report (January 1 – March 31, 2020) Cooperative Agreement Number: 72048618CA00002 Activity Start Date and End Date: August 15, 2018 to August 14, 2023 Submitted by: Save the Children Laos Country Office Rue Nerhu, Unit 25, Ban Phonexay, Xaysetha District, P.O. Box 7475, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR This report was made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of Save the Children Federation, Inc. and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... i Acronyms ....................................................................................................................... ii Project Summary Information ................................................................................... 1 1. Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 1 2. Program activities and highlights ........................................................................ 4 Result 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 Result 2 .................................................................................................................................................... 10 Result 3 .................................................................................................................................................... 20 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning ................................................................................................. 25 Management and Administration ....................................................................................................... 26 3. Key Accomplishments ....................................................................................... 33 4. Contributions of the Activity to the RDMA development screens ....... 34 Science and Technology ....................................................................................................................... 34 Partnership .............................................................................................................................................. 34 Gender Equality and Female Empowerment .................................................................................. 35 5. Challenges Encountered ................................................................................... 39 6. Future Directions and Upcoming Activities ................................................. 41 7. Updated MEAL data ........................................................................................... 43 Annex A: Success Story ............................................................................................... i Annex B: Initial Telework Plan ................................................................................. iii i ACRONYMS AOR Agreement Officer’s Representative AWP Annual Work Plan BEQUAL Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR program CACIM Committee for the Approval of Curriculum and Instructional Materials COP Chief of Party CLA Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting DCOP Deputy Chief of Party DDG Deputy Director General DESB District Education and Sports Bureau DFAT Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade DG Director General DoP Department of Planning DPO Disabled People’s Organization DTE Department of Teacher Education ECE Early Childhood Education EMIS Education Management Information System ESDP Education Sector Development Plan ESWG Education Sector Working Group ETS Education Technical Specialist EU European Union FG Focal Group (under the ESWG) G1 Grade 1 G2 Grade 2 GE Department of General Education GESI Gender, Equality and Social Inclusion GIDAP Gender and Inclusive Development Action Plan GM Global Manager GoL Government of Lao PDR GPE II Global Partnership for Education 2 HI Humanity & Inclusion IE Inclusive Education IEC Inclusive Education Center IE-TWG Inclusive Education Technical Working Group IR Intermediate Result Lao PDR Lao People’s Democratic Republic MD Materials Development MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning MEAL Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning MGIDA Mission Gender and Inclusive Development Advisor MICAT Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism MoES Ministry of Education and Sports MOU Memorandum of Understanding OLA Oral Language Assessment PA Pedagogical Advisor ii PESS Provincial Education and Sports Services PO Project Officer PP Pre-Primary R Result REL Research Evaluation and Learning RIES Research Institute for Educational Sciences RM Regional Manager RR Reading readiness RtR Room to Read SC Save the Children SCHK Save the Children Hong Kong SEAMEO Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization SMT Senior Management Team SoD Scheme of Delegation STIP Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnership STTA Short Term Technical Assistance TLM Teaching and Learning Materials ToT Training of Trainers TPR Total Physical Response TT Teacher Training TTC Teacher Training College UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund USDA United States Department of Agriculture UXO Unexploded Ordnance VEDC Village Education Development Committee WB World Bank XKH Xiengkhouang Province iii PROJECT SUMMARY INFORMATION Program Name: USAID Learn to Read Activity Start Date and End Date: August 15, 2018 to August 14, 2023 Name of Prime Implementing Save the Children Partner: Cooperative Agreement Number: 72048618CA00002 Name of Subcontractors/Sub- Humanity & Inclusion awardees: Room to Read Major Counterpart Organizations: Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR): Attapeu, Geographic Coverage (regions): Champasak, Xiengkhouang and Vientiane Provinces Reporting Period: January 1 – March 31, 2020 Introduction: USAID Learn to Read (the Activity) is a five-year project beginning in 2018 and ending in 2023 focused on improving the reading skills of children in pre-primary, grade 1 and grade 2 classes in Lao PDR, with particular attention to non-Lao-speaking children and children with disabilities. The Activity works closely with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and development partners to strengthen the Lao education system with evidence-based approaches, building capacity to scale up and maintain the interventions in the future. The Activity is implemented by a consortium led by Save the Children (SC) that includes Room to Read (RtR) and Humanity & Inclusion (HI). School and community-level activities will take place in 16 districts in four provinces of Lao PDR, reaching an estimated minimum of 65,313 children over the life of the project. The Activity has a Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) available to provide flexibility in responding to unanticipated gaps, needs, and opportunities such as expanding into new languages, new locations, or alternative media such as community radio. Goal and Approach: The overarching goal of the Activity is to improve reading skills for all children in pre-primary, grade 1, and grade 2, with a focus on the inclusion of non-Lao-speaking children and children with disabilities. The Activity will develop and distribute teaching and learning materials, train and support teachers, and engage school communities to help children learn to read on time. The Activity has a flexible, system-strengthening approach to addressing key gaps that limit reading-skill acquisition. The Activity emphasizes MoES ownership and reinforces government and non-government national, provincial, and local-level systems through co-design and co- implementation. The Activity is being implemented in close coordination and partnership with the MoES and with leading donor-funded education initiatives to ensure that the systems-strengthening, school improvement, and community mobilization efforts are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Pre-primary Reading Readiness (PP-RR): The Activity has partnered with Global Partnership for Education (GPE II) to support the MoES Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES) to develop a Reading Readiness (RR) and instructional materials package for pre-primary (PP-RR). In Year 1, GPE II, RIES, and the Activity are working to jointly develop one program for reading readiness in collaboration with other development partners through the newly established RR Task Team. The Activity is working closely with UNICEF and the MoES Early Childhood Education (ECE) department to ensure alignment of the PP-RR package with the Pre-Primary curriculum during the 2019 revision. 1 Primary Reading Improvement (RI): The Activity is collaborating with MoES-RIES to develop a Reading Improvement (RI) package for students in Grades 1 and 2. The RI package will complement the national curriculum which was revised with the support of the Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR (BEQUAL) program. The revision aims to better address the diverse