FAMILY LITERACY INITIATIVE NARRATIVE REPORT Final copy

The FAMILY LITERACY INITIATIVE (FLI)
(WE-CARE/FRIENDS OF LIBERIA/HIPPY Partnership)
First Two Months Instructional Report
JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2016
Introduction
The Family Literacy Initiative(FLI) began in November, 2015 with the partnership of Friends of
Liberia (FOL), HIPPY International and the WE-CARE Foundation. Through this program,
economically challenged parents are directly given the skills and tools they need to teach their
young children at home preparing them to be ready for primary school. It is based on the
truism: the parents are the first teachers of their children. This is the first time such a program
has been initiated in Liberia for children pre-primary age, and it complements the Early
Childhood Development program of the Government of Liberia which was enacted in 2011.
An overview of the Family Literacy Initiative to date includes the FLI office in WE-CARE that has
been furnished, equipped and up and running. This has made it very convenient for FLI regular
Fridays Home Visitor meetings which sets the stage for our involvement with the FLI families in
the communities. Over the period of January and March, 2016, the pilot phase of the program
using the HIPPY USA model has begun in the homes, instructional materials along with storage
containers have been delivered (pictures below show the containers being used as working
table) and the role play lessons to parents are being implemented according to HIPPY
guidelines. There are challenges but it is hoped that the group meetings with the families may
facilitate the means to move forward.
The Family Literacy Initiative (FLI) program is being implemented in three communities:
Caldwell (Benson Street, Samukai Camp and Kukatonor), West Point (Blocks 0402, 0404, 0405,
and 0406) and Duazon (Sand Beach, Ma-zee village, and Free port).
Accomplishments
The objectives of the program for this first quarter were to:
1. Introduce the home visitors to the families/communities
2. Deliver and teach the weekly HIPPY booklet to the parents and
3. Role play the activities in the HIPPY booklet
Home visitor’s visits
The Family Literacy Initiative has six trained home visitors who are assigned in the three
communities mentioned above. The home visitors meet with three of their assigned families
per day (Monday –Wednesday). The week’s lessons are taught through role play for one hour
with each family. This is the regular family visits schedule. The home visitors used one week to
practice the week’s instruction with their practice child before implementing the lesson with
the parents. Thursday is used for rescheduled visits and report writing. On Friday, home visitors
attend a three hours training at FLI office which runs from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
The Home visitors have attended nine of these trainings, and have conducted training with
parents for eight weeks. Ten families are assigned to each home visitor and two home visitors
work with the families in each community. Our Home Visitors and their assigned areas are:
1. Louise Zayzay & Robert Kargba are assigned at Duazon community serving 20 families
with 23 children.
2. Mercy Nagba & Nathanial N.Wreh is assigned at West Point community serving 20
families and 22 children.
3. Henriette Sackie & Polycarp Moseh (Jeff Gbaleh; substitute) assigned at Caldwell
community serving 20 families with 23 three children
Henriette @ Caldwell
Robert @ Duazon
Louise on the right @ Duazon
Mercy on the right @ West Point Nathaniel @ W. Point
Jeff on the right @ Caldwell
Regular Friday training
Asst. Coord. David gives instruction HV prepare activity sheet
HV role play instruction
Coordinators’ visits
Mrs. Gbima K. Bahtokpah and Mr. David R. Sonjor are serving as Coordinator and Asst.
Coordinator respectively for the Family Literacy Initiative program. They implement and
supervise the program by: planning and conducting trainings for the home visitors and families’
group meetings, monitoring and mentoring home visitors in the field, visiting families and
encouraging and motivating them to continue in the program. For this first quarter of the
program, the coordinators are visiting the families and observing home visitors three days a
week to ensure the proper delivery of instructions and distribution of materials to the families.
The coordinators also had to serve temporarily as home visitor in the Caldwell Community for
one of the Home Visitors , Mr. Polycarp Moseh, who is sick and is unable to continue with the
program. Mr. Jeff Gbaleh, who took the HIPPY training but was not applying to be a Home
Visitor, has been recruited to serve as home visitor in Caldwell.
Coordinators Monitoring Home Visitors & Families
Gbima right with Henrietta David right with Nat
Gbima at the back with Louise
Family’s status
Family Literacy Initiative has 60 families in three communities; Caldwell- 20 Families, West
Point- 20 and Duazon- 20 families. Children in these families age range between 3-4 years. We
have worked with these families for the past two months. The families have received
instructional materials and have covered lessons from week one to week eight. During the
period, 14 families dropped from the program (Two families from West Point, three from
Duazon and nine from Caldwell). These families have been replaced by the backup families. a
child in each family has been assessed using the bracken assessment tool. There are 60 family
heads (home instructors) which include 50 females and 10 males. Sixty-nine children are
presently in the program: 41 girls and 28 boys.
Some Families & Home visitors
Mercy & Nat with families in West Point
Henrietta and Polycarp in Caldwell
Robert in Dauzon
Parents received home instructions
Robert & a parent
Henriette & a parent
Gbima & a parent
Louise & a parent
Community Group Meeting
The slogan for these meetings was: Family Literacy – all children can learn. Family Literacy – all
parents want the best for their child.
One aspect of Family Literacy Initiative is to bring families in the community that are in the
program together to share their experiences and build relationships. The community meetings
is focused on this and included an overview of the Family Literacy Program, sharing of
successes and challenges by families in teaching their children and role play of home
instructions by parents. Special emphasis was made on the importance of the families
remaining in the program and why it was important that their children had an "equal start" as
was happening for other children in Liberia. A section was allotted for early childhood
development community education awareness program (ECDCEAP). These activities were
engaging and participants fully participated especially in the role play. From the role play by
parents, we observed that some parents could become home visitors. They were very excited
about the ECDCEAP and asked that other meetings on ECDCEAP be conducted for them.
The first group meeting for FLI was held in Caldwell on February 27, 2016 at 1:00 pm. It
brought together 32 participants; 19 females and 13 males that included: WE-CARE
Coordinator, Yvonne Capehart Weah, 2 community leaders, 6 home visitors, the 2 FLI
coordinators and 17 of the 20 families. Others attending were 1 principal, the PTA chairman
and 2 teachers.
The second group meeting which was held at West Point on the 5th of March 2016 at 1:00 pm
was attended by 42 people including WE-CARE Executive Director, T. Michael Weah, the
Commissioner of the township of West Point, 6 home visitors, 2 coordinators, the 20 families
and 12 other residents from the community. WE-CARE Executive Director and the
commissioner of the township of West Point both in their remarks encouraged the families to
make use of the opportunity to empower themselves and prepare their children for school. In
West Point all the family heads and home instructors are females. Their participation was not
as robust as the Caldwell group but we know they will become more responsive and active as
we continue to work together.
The third group meeting was held in Dauzon on March 12, 2016 at 1:00 pm. There were 30
participants (18 females and 12 males): WE-CARE coordinator, Yvonne Capehart Weah, 2
community leaders, 6 home visitors, 2 coordinators and 17 of the 20 families. Others included,
four people from the community and 18 children that are part of the program. There were high
level of participation by the families. Responses and discussions were lively.
Some of the experiences shared by parents
Successes
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Parents are able to relate to their children better than before
Parent and child are discussing and interacting during the day using experiences from
the lessons
Some children are oriented to correctly handle and read the books from the pictures
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Parents are happy with their children performance
Parents feel comfortable now with the visit of the Home Visitors
People are talking about the program in their communities
Challenges(quoting the parents)
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At first the idea of teaching my child is hard
Leaving my work to find time to teach my child is difficult
The materials look too hard for the me and the child
My child was not responding to the lesson when I started and I was impatient
I think the program should start by teaching the child ABC and not reading the difficult
books.
I am dropping because I am too busy and don't have time to teach my child
A Parent teaching
children at the group meeting
Anecdotal
Recently, two parents were role playing week 2 lesson. A principal from the nearby primary
school in the community raised his hand and stopped the teaching. With an all knowing look on
his face, he said, "Can a three years old tell you what the story in the book is going to be about
by looking at the picture on the book cover? It is impossible!" In chorus the parents said yes it
can happen. They showed the front cover of the book to the child and the child without
hesitating, explain about the picture she saw and what she "thought" would happen in the
story. The principal was very surprise. One of the parents explained to the principal that
when you have gone through the picture and walk through the book with the child, and show
the picture on the cover of the book and ask the child to tell you what they think the story will
be about, the child will tell you what he or she thinks.
Group Meeting in Caldwell
Parents role play instruction
Group meeting in West Point
Group Meeting in Dauzon
Parents role play home
instruction
Parent share her experience Gbima conducts ECDCEAP
A Special Problem: Why families drop from the program
Families left or dropped from FLI program for many reasons. Here are some of the reasons :
 Parents complained that children are not responding to the activities because it was too
difficult for the children.
 Parents were not around to be taught by home visitors and when asked they said they
had no spare time to teach their children
 Some parents thought they would receive materials or cash benefits for teaching their
children
 Families moved out of the community
 After one or two visits by home visitors parent lost interest
Instructional materials
Instructional materials are one of the most important aspects of the program. Each lesson
comes with activities that develop relationship between parent and child and build the physical,
social, emotional and intellectual skills of the child.
Some pictures of items used during activity time.
bottoms
storage
socks
glue
soap, markers
candies
papers
plates, tooth brush, toys, towel
Comments and observations
During this two month of home visits and instructional period, we observed series of important
events that promote and discourage the success of the program. Comments on observation
are:
 At west point there is no area for role play, community/home is too congested
 Most parents are Semi-literate
 Some parents are not working/not employed and seem to live on a day-to day basis
 Most parents are not their child home instructor
But on the whole, many parents have interest in the program and may need time to
understand what it is all about and how they will benefit in the long term.
Successes
During the two months period there have been many successes in the program, from
coordinators to home visitors and up to the families, the targeted group.
 Home visitors have built the confidence in teaching the parents
 Home visitors have developed positive relationship with the families
 Home visits are working as per the schedule
 Home visitors role play activities before distribution of instructional material
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Parents are interacting and building relationship with their children daily
Parents and home visitors have been exposed to ECDCEAP
Home visitors have built trusted relationship with their practice child
Some parents are developing the literacy skills
Families are exposed to HIPPY curriculum
The general acceptance of the program by families
Both parents and children love the materials especially the books.
The program is serving as a refresher for parents who had left formal school
Challenges
Over the past months of interaction with families, the program encountered many challenges
which include:
 Parents absence often from home during the appointed time for home visits
 Home visitors are working overtime just to meet the parent and complete the activity
 Parents moving away from the community
 Parents dropping from the program because of monetary expectations
 No additional materials for replaced family
 Some parents walking away with materials
 Parents are on drugs and have other social problems
 Parents are not spending the actual time with their child/children
 Some parents cannot read well or at all
 Time allocated for the activity with the parents is limited
 Distraction and Interruption from the community during activity is constant
Recommendations
Based on all the information given, we will like to recommend the following:
 That there should be instructional materials for families replacing those who have
dropped
 Have meeting with family before instructional activities
 Bracken assessors should be compensated
 Raingears be provided for home visitors and coordinators (rainy season starts soon)
 Snack should be provided during the regular Friday trainings for home visitors
 Families with two children should be given instructional materials for two.
 WE-CARE provide training/group meeting with families monthly
 There should be more motivation activities for parents
 Transportation for communities travel should be increased