Yvonne Capehart Weah, a co-founder of the WE-CARE Foundation, says that if the programs were to end, a large number of overage girls would not have the opportunity to remain in school and get the quality of education they need.Ashley Fraser/The Globe and Mail
Organizations that promote children’s literacy and provide education programs in Liberia are urging their donors and Ottawa to continue providing crucial assistance, saying that without it there would be dire consequences, particularly for girls.
The WE-CARE Foundation, a Liberian-based non-profit, in partnership with CODE, a Canadian charity, have worked together to implement education programs in Liberia for 16 years.
One program, the Girls’ Accelerated Learning Initiative, is funded by Canadian donors and focuses on educating older girls in school. Another program, Teaching and Learning in Fragile Contexts, aims to improve the quality of teaching and is funded almost entirely by Global Affairs Canada, whose support is set to expire in two years.
Yvonne Capehart Weah, a co-founder of the WE-CARE Foundation, is visiting Ottawa for International Development Week, to share her work on the ground with officials and meet with partners.
She said Liberia has one of the highest proportions of overage students in classrooms in the world – and overage girls are particularly vulnerable to dropping out. Peer pressure, the shame of being among younger students, teenage pregnancy and marriage are just some of the factors that contribute to girls quitting school, she said.
“When you are a teenage girl and you are in Grade 1 or Grade 2 or Grade 3, the chances of you continuing education is so slim,” she said.
The initiative helps girls get up to speed in their classes so they can advance to an age-appropriate grade level, which gives them the confidence to continue in school. The program started with one school five years ago and has since expanded to 40. Before the current three-year program was launched in July, 2023, with a budget of $1.1-million, the investment between 2018 and 2023 totalled $483,000.
Ms. Capehart Weah said 14 years of civil war, the Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close, resulting in the country’s large number of overage students.
The teacher training program focuses on improving the quality of teaching and the development of locally authored and illustrated children’s books. The 4½-year program has an approximately $3-million budget, began in 2022 and is set to end in 2026.
The organizations work with teachers’ colleges and with educators who find themselves working in classrooms even though they are not qualified. The program is designed to help elevate their literacy instruction practices and their skills.
“There are times that we know these teachers are struggling readers, so they have memorized one book that they have and they don’t want to take the risk of getting another book,” Ms. Capehart Weah said. “So we have to build confidence, help them to build skills in order for them to use a variety of books with the students.”
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Janice Ciavaglia, the chief executive of CODE, said her organization is advocating for the teacher-training program to continue. She cited statistics from the World Bank showing that in many low-income countries, most children under 10 can’t read with comprehension.
“If you’re not reading with comprehension, you’re not reading,” she said. “We really need to continue to push to have these teacher program initiatives because, in order to teach children how to read, we need to teach teachers how to teach kids how to read.”
Ms. Capehart Weah said that if the programs were to end, a large number of overage girls would not have the opportunity to remain in school and get the quality of education they need. She said that if a girl is educated, there is a greater chance her children will be educated, that she won’t marry as a teenager, that she will access better health care and nutrition.
“Then we have better citizens and then our population will improve in a positive way because that will trickle down to the community, to the society and to the nation as a whole,” she said.
Ms. Ciavaglia said she’s hoping officials at Global Affairs Canada understand the impact of the investment in literacy in Liberia.
“If you increase literacy rates across the world, you are solving a lot of the problems that we just kind of throw money at to put band-aids on. We’re increasing health care, we’re increasing nutrition, we’re increasing people’s ability to get jobs to then support their families, and having that cycle of education is really important.”
Pierre Cuguen, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said the department is committed to delivering impactful results through its international development programming.