McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program

Challenge

Despite past and present efforts, the education system in Honduras faces many challenges in terms of access, efficiency, and quality. Improving reading instruction and outcomes in the primary grades can have multiple benefits for young people, including increased retention and completion rates and better economic and social conditions that offer youth more promising futures.

Under the USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (FFE), EDC, lead implementer Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and partners carried out preschool and school food for education programs to improve food security, reduce the incidence of hunger, and improve literacy and primary education. Building on its work leading the Honduras Reading Activity, EDC supported CRS in implementing the FFE program in Honduras through a focus on improved literacy instruction and outcomes. EDC led teacher training focused on the revised curricula and its approach to reading instruction and supported educators’ use of revised teaching and learning materials.

Key Activities

With teacher professional development at the core its work under the project, EDC through the Honduras FFE Program led the following activities:

• Reviewed existing preschool curriculum and developed complementary materials for use by teachers
• Designed materials and teacher’s guides focused on building teacher competencies to effectively teach reading and writing
• Developed and led a team of master trainers with expertise in teacher professional development and effective reading and writing instruction
• Trained primary school teachers in literacy instruction and in learning recovery strategies for students who have fallen behind due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors
• Strengthened the capacity of school administrators and education authorities at the departmental and municipal levels to support improved reading and writing instruction and learning

Our Impact

The project had the following impacts:

• Developed teachers’ guides and 20 audio lessons for strengthened reading instruction and outcomes
• Trained 12 master trainers, more than 290 teacher facilitators, and 2,040 classroom teachers in effective literacy instruction
• Contributed to improved learning conditions in over 1,900 schools