Kenya: Lwala Healthcare Project

Lwala Launches New eReader Program at Primary Schools

Change the Face of Learning

In early February, more than 400 pupils and community members of rural North Kamagambo, Kenya, gathered at Kadianga Primary School for the launch of Lwala Community Alliance’s eReader pilot project. Among them was Fred Ochieng Ouko, a 12-year-old boy in class 6 at Kadianga Primary School.

Fred is the sixth-born in a family of nine children: three boys and six girls. Three of Fred’s sisters are married, and none of his siblings have attended high school. Fred’s parents cannot afford to buy him his own textbooks, so he shared books with two other students in his class. The three classmates would rotate who would take the course books home after school, requiring the other two to copy down questions in order to complete their homework. Kadianga Primary School did not have storybooks for the pupils to read at school. In fact, besides their course books, the only other books in the classroom were four Bibles, which students would share during pastoral lessons.

Fred’s circumstances are representative of those of many children his age living in Lwala Community Alliance’s rural catchment area. According to a survey conducted among class 6 students in January 2016, 61% of pupils report having access to only 5-10 books at school, and 82% of pupils report having access to 10 or fewer books at home. Yet despite the minimal availability of books, the surveyed pupils express strong interest in reading, with 93% reporting they would like to have more books to read at school and/or at home.

Given this background, Lwala Community Alliance has partnered with Worldreader to launch an eReader pilot project. 150 eReaders — each with 200 books — are being used in this pilot program to change the face of learning in the community.

Prior to the launch of the eReader pilot, Lwala Community Alliance’s education initiatives were exclusively extracurricular, functioning to supplement regular school instruction. This pilot marks the first time Lwala Community Alliance is working with teachers to enhance learning in the classroom. Run by members of Lwala Community Alliance’s education team, the eReader pilot project leverages an existing relationship with class 6 teachers and pupils from the in-school mentoring program. Education team member Alfred Odhiambo, himself a former teacher at Lwala Primary School, is the lead implementer of the pilot. After joining Lwala Community Alliance staff in October, Alfred quickly began working with schools to prepare for the new project. With the support of a Worldreader staff member, he trained teachers on how to use the eReaders and incorporate the devices into their classroom lessons.

Designed as a small-scale comparative study, the eReader pilot is also breaking new ground for Lwala Community Alliance’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) team. Based on the strength of a written proposal, Lwala Community Alliance selected 6 among the 13 area primary schools to participate in the pilot. These six schools were then paired according to achievement (low, middle, and high), and one school from each pair was randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. The three schools in the treatment group prepared to receive eReaders, while the 3 control schools prepared for lessons as usual.

At the start of the 2016 school year in January, the education team delivered a baseline evaluation to class 6 pupils in all 6 treatment and control schools. The baseline evaluation was designed to assess pupils’ reading literacy based on 3 measures: reading individual words without context, reading a short passage, and answering comprehension questions. Each measure was tested in both Kiswahili and English. The evaluation also collected pupils’ demographic information, reading behaviors, attitudes towards reading, and access to educational resources. The evaluation will be conducted again at the end of the school year to assess the effect of the pilot, using a difference-in-differences methodology, changes in literacy levels among pupils in the control and treatment schools, and any changes in pupils’ reading behaviors and attitudes.

Fred now has his own eReader with 200 books to use both at school and at home. Fred can carry the eReader home with him in the evening, which makes completing his homework a much easier task and allows him to share the device with his siblings so they too can develop a love for reading. Lwala Community Alliance believes the new eReader project can help pupils like Fred not only become better readers, but also improve overall school performance and foster a culture of reading and learning in North Kamagambo.

Rehema Atieno Adenyo

Community Role Model

Before joining LCA’s girls’ mentoring program, Rehema had problems with her husband and mother-in-law that resulted from a lack of money, food, and her respect in the family. She argued with her husband and mother-in-law quite frequently, which caused Rehema a lot of frustration and unhappiness. At times, she even moved back to her parents’ home to avoid this difficult situation. She then joined the Minyenya mentoring group and became a star participant. She was asked to join an “advocate” training because of her strong participation in the mentoring program. After completing mentoring sessions, she went on to join the DIG (Development in Gardening) apprenticeship program, where she learned how to farm for income and nutrition. Throughout the mentoring sessions and DIG trainings, Rehema put a lot of effort into learning and growing through the programs.

A few months after Rehema graduated from the mentoring program, LCA’s education team asked her if she would be willing to be a mentor herself. The team recognized her ability in working with other young women and her knowledge in areas of sexual and reproductive health, family communication, and making positive life decisions. Rehema agreed to serve as a mentor, as she really had changed positively because of the program. She was already giving good advice to newly married women in the community, maintaining a clean and hygienic household, and working a fruitful kitchen garden. Furthermore, she had strengthened her relationship with her husband and mother-in-law. Now as a mentor, and with the positive changes in her life, Rehema has become a role model in the community, and other young women admire her and want to follow in her footsteps. Rehema says that her husband is proud of her and always encourages her to work hard. She is currently training to work in a hair salon and hopes to start her own salon one day. She thanks LCA for changing her life and is glad to play a role in creating positive impact in the community at large.