August 22, 2019 – In July, the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) hosted a two-day “Leadership in Literacy” workshop at our Community Learning Center in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement. The workshop was designed to help attendees learn how to promote literacy and learning within their communities, especially for children.
NITEO Africa, one of WPDI’s partners which has been donating educational materials to our network of Community Learning Centers in Uganda and South Sudan, organized the workshop. Twenty-five people, including teachers, student and community leaders, and representatives from government agencies attended. Over a two-day period, many presentations and group discussions were held to explore how to promote literacy rates for children between 3-17-years-old. According to UNESCO, the literacy rate for people over 15-years-old in Uganda has dipped in recent years to just 70.2 percent. It is even lower for women, at 62 percent. To meet this challenge, workshop participants pledged to work together and make reading paramount in the lives of children in Northern Uganda, in an aim to cultivate a life-long love for literacy and learning.
The 25 people who attended the workshop found it to be very instructional and a sound first step toward creating new partnerships. Bosco, a teacher at Panyadoli Secondary School, mentioned that the workshop will help him “develop very good lesson plans” to help him “encourage students to take up reading and writing.” He has also already formed student groups to improve reading and writing skills. Teddy, another workshop participant and a student at the Kiryandongo High School, noted that she learned how to inspire others to become “good readers, develop a curiosity of books and novels, and gain the confidence to read in front of others without fear.” Like Bosco, she has formed reading groups at her school and encouraged others to use the school library.
In the coming weeks and months, NITEO Africa and WPDI will continue to work together to promote literacy and learning in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement. Together, we will help spark a love for reading and writing in Northern Uganda and beyond.
