USAID Vamos Ler! / Let’s Read! FY 20 ANNUAL REPORT OCTOBER 2019-SEPTEMBER 2020 Contract Number AID-656-TO-000003 October 2020 This report was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Creative Associates International, Inc. 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 Creative Associates International and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................... 3 SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 5 SUMÁRIO EXECUTIVO .......................................................................................... 8 1.PROGRAM OVERVIEW ..................................................................................... 13 Program Description .................................................................................. 13 Progress to Date ......................................................................................... 14 Year 4 Progress towards the Program Goal ............................................ 14 Overview of Activities by Intermediate Result (IR) ................................ 17 3. MONITORING AND EVALUATION ............................................................ 72 4. STATUS OF CONTRACT DELIVERABLES .................................................. 74 5. KEY MEETINGS ................................................................................................... 75 6.MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS ................................................................... 80 Security......................................................................................................... 80 Communications ......................................................................................... 81 Staff Actions ................................................................................................. 81 International Travel .................................................................................... 82 Table 22, FY20 Staff and Consultant Travel ................................................. 82 7.PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT QUARTER .......................................... 83 8.APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 84 FY 20 ANNUAL REPORT 2 | P a g e ACRONYMS ABE LEARN Assistance to Basic Education Learn to Read Now AIR American Institutes for Research AWP Annual Work Plan CAI Creative Associates International COP Chief of Party CSO Civil Society Organization DCOP Deputy Chief of Party DINEP National Directorate of Primary Education DIPLAC National Directorate of Planning and Cooperation DNFP National Directorate of Teachers’ Training DNGQ National Directorate of Management and Quality DPEDH Provincial Directorate of Education and Human Development EGR Early Grade Reading EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment G1/G2/G3 Grade One / Grade Two / Grade Three GRM Government of the Republic of Mozambique IDIQ Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity IFP Teacher Training Institutes (Insitutos de Formação de Professores) INDE National Institute for the Development of Education IR Intermediate Result L1/L2 Language One (local language)/ Language Two (Portuguese) LEMA Local Education Monitoring Approach M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MINEDH Ministry of Education and Human Development NGO Non-Governmental Organization OP Oficina Pedagogica OSC Overseas Strategic Consulting PIRS Performance Indicators Reference Sheets PMEP Project Monitoring and Evaluation Plan PMP Performance Management Plan SD School Director SDEJT District Education Offices (Serviço de Educação, Juventude e Tecnologia) STTA Short-term Technical Assistance TOT Training of Trainers TOR Terms of Reference TWG Technical Working Group UEM Universidade Eduardo Mondlane UP Pedagogical University (Universidade Pedagogica) USAID United States Agency for International Development WEI World Education, Inc. ZIP School clusters (Zona de influencia pedagocica) FY 20 ANNUAL REPORT 3 | P a g e SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS USAID Award A Contract No. AID-OAA-I-14-00052 Number USAID Objective B Investing in People (IIP) Title Contract Number AID-656-TO-000003 C USAID Project Title Under Assistance to Basic Education - All Children Reading (ABE-ACR) IDIQ: SOL-OAA-12-000068 USAID Program Education (program area 3.2) D Area and Program Basic Education (program element 3.2.1) Element E Descriptive Title FY20 Annual Report: October 2019-September 2020 Craig Geddes, Senior Project Director Leesa Kaplan-Nunes, Chief of Party F Author Name(s) Christine Beasley, Deputy Chief of Party for Technical Management Trymore Mafucha Dhliwayo, Senior M&E Specialist Creative Associates International 5301 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20015 G Contractor name Telephone: 202 966 5804 Fax: 202 363 4771 Contact: Craig Geddes, Senior Project Director [email protected] Jean-Jacques Badiane, CO H USAID CO, COR Antonio Francisco Mize, COR I Date of Publication October 2020 Language of English, Executive Summary also in Portuguese J Document FY 20 ANNUAL REPORT 4 | P a g e EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Vamos Ler! is a five-year program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), whose goal is to strengthen the Mozambican government’s ability to ensure that students in the target regions of Nampula and Zambézia can achieve grade-level fluency and comprehension in the local language in Grades 1-3. To this end, Vamos Ler! provides evidence-based technical and material assistance to improve early grade literacy instruction in Emakhuwa, Elomwe, and Echuwabo, along with new language acquisition and literacy support to prepare children for transition to Portuguese. Vamos Ler! supports the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) to strengthen classroom and systems support and lay the foundation for sustaining and expanding bilingual early grade reading instruction. In the first quarter of FY20, USAID/Mozambique issued and approved the fully executed contract modification M04 on October 28, 2019. The development of the FY20 workplan had been on hold pending the approval of the modification and was submitted to USAID on November 25 and approved on January 27. The edited Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan was also submitted to USAID on November 25. Vamos Ler! completed the printing of nearly seven million books and other materials, including student books, exercise books, scripted lesson plans, posters and supplementary readers. Working closely with MINEDH directorates, the program provided inputs and budget information to ensure the inclusion of Vamos Ler! activities in MINEDH’s Annual Activity Plan (PdA). Q2 began with the announcement of Her Excellency Carmelita Nhamashulua as the new Minister of Education in January 2020. Vamos Ler! was pleased to be able to collaborate with the Minister and her office on the Dia de Lingua Materna national event. The program’s midline effectiveness evaluation report was completed and submitted to USAID on March 16. The program distributed more than four million TLMs to schools and successfully carried out training for school directors, coaches and teachers. Two rounds of school supervision visits were conducted and joint oficinas conjuntas were held for school management and pedagogy. A highlight of Q2 was the Vamos a Escola campaign, which involved community meetings at more than 500 schools with 30,000 participants. The last half of the year was marked by sudden and unexpected changes. As COVID-19 turned into a global pandemic, MINEDH announced the closure of all schools on March 21 to enforce social distancing and potentially reduce community transmission of the virus. In Vamos Ler! schools, teachers distributed supplementary books produced by the program to students who attended school on March 23rd., just as schools were closed. As it became increasingly clear that schools would remain closed for some time, the Ministry developed a COVID-19 response plan, and implementing partners, including Vamos Ler!, mobilized to redesign activities where possible to support that plan while remaining within the program’s approved scope of work. The two Vamos Ler! pivot activities, Radio Learning and Virtual Professional Development for School Directors and Teachers, were the main initiatives implemented through the end of the year. 1) Early Grade Reading Classroom Instruction Improved The primary focus for IR 1 in Q1 was the printing of close to seven million teaching and learning materials (TLMs), including new Grade 3 materials printed for the first time. In addition to printing the FY 20 ANNUAL REPORT 5 | P a g e Vamos Ler! materials, in Q1 the program supported MINEDH by printing nearly 200,000 additional Grade 1 and Grade 2 L1, L2, and mathematics books for Nampula and Zambézia, Cabo Delgado, and Niassa, and supported the illustration and reformatting of the Grade 3 Portuguese math textbook. Detailed plans and curricula for the January training of school directors, coaches, and teachers were also developed in Q1. Several important changes were made to training content in response to EGRA results.