Beeline Reader
Executive Summary
Project Host:
Fellows:
Prof Natalia Kucirkova, Team Lead, Research Fellow
Clint Bartlett, Social Entrepreneur Fellow
Dr Sharon Wolf, Research Fellow
Swetha Prakash, Social Entrepreneur Fellow
Introduction
Despite large increases in school enrollment rates around the world, nine out of ten children in sub-Saharan Africa can not read a simple sentence by the end of primary school. Kenya Connect supports children’s literacy development through three primary programs in Kenya, including a school library program, literacy clubs for children, and a livelihood program for mothers. Evidence-based literacy programs are crucial to address this urgent need so that children have foundational literacy skills to succeed at school and in life.
The aim of this LEAP project was to support Kenya Connect with recommendations drawn from best practices in order to enhance their programs with a comprehensive research and funding plan as well as to generate evidence on and support for Kenya Connect’s programs.
Organization’s role & strength
Kenya Connect's mission is to empower students in rural Kenya for success in the 21st Century through breaking down barriers to education and providing educational enrichment and empowerment programs. Improving literacy skills and fostering a love of learning have been at the forefront of their work. They achieve this through three school-based programs - School Libraries, LitClubs, and LitMoms. These programs integrate digital and physical literacy resources, provide training for mothers, and emphasize the joy of reading, making a lasting impact on children's reading habits, engagement in learning, and social and emotional well-being.
The organization’s mission is to “engage and empower students and teachers in rural Kenya to succeed in the 21st Century.”
Need summary
Kenya Connect is committed to evidence-based practices and seeks to collaborate with researchers to enhance the impact of their programs for schools, children and families through its dedicated initiatives. The organization has identified several funding and research priorities. A primary focus of the LEAP project was to highlight Kenya Connect’s core strengths relevant to children's outcomes, determine its unique features in the broader landscape of literacy initiatives in Kenya, and identify the key components of the programs. From this, a plan to document evidence of impact was developed. Considering the high costs associated with research, a significant goal for the organization has been to establish a practical and sustainable funding plan for research and implementation activities. The LEAP project also aimed to assist with the development of the funding plan and align it with the recommended research activities.
Solution summary & next steps
The Fellows extensively mapped the activities in each of the programs that Kenya Connect runs to articulate their unique proposition and supplemented this with direct testimonials from program participants, independently obtained by our Fellows. This provided anecdotal evidence of effective practices and helped to highlight the voices of program beneficiaries (Deliverable 1). Subsequently, we crafted an evaluation plan rooted in a thorough mapping of all Kenya Connect activities and tailored to the organization’s need for evidence-generation for the focal programs (Deliverable 2). This plan includes a proposed research design (both impact and process evaluations), as well as suggested measurement tools aligned with key outcomes targeted by the programs based on Deliverable 1. As mentioned, the focal programs include the School Libraries, LitClubs, as well as the supplementary value of LitMoms, through a quantitatively-focused study. In Deliverable 3, we charted the funding strategy currently pursued by Kenya Connect and aligned it with potential funding avenues pertinent to the activities and unique value of Kenya Connect in the field. This information was integrated with the research plan to ensure research activities align with and inform fundraising priorities, as well as additional evidence-building strategies, into an overarching evidence strategy document for Kenya Connect (Deliverable 4). This final strategic document will guide the organization's
forthcoming evidence-building efforts, and its methodology can be tailored by other entities in the sector to aid charities and NGOs in their evidence-building journey.