USAID Let’s Learn Together!

Project Director:

EDC Staff:

Funded by:

USAID DRC

Partners:

International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Alfalit International

Region:

Africa

Duration:

2021-Present

Challenge

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) adopted a policy of fee-free primary education during the 2019-2020 school year, enabling over 4.5 million children to enroll in school. However, more than 7 million children ages 5–17 remain out of school. With rising enrollment and no proportional increase in qualified teachers, classrooms are overcrowded, and the quality of instruction remains a concern.

Through the USAID Let’s Learn Together! (LLT) activity, EDC aims to improve education access and quality in the provinces of Équateur, Maniema, Tanganyika, and Kinshasa. LLT focuses on helping children ages 6–9 develop foundational literacy skills to support their academic success at a grade 2 level or above.

Key Activities

The project is carrying out the following activities:

  • Collaborate with community leaders, parents’ committees, and school management committees to enroll children into formal and nonformal learning pathways and support the retention of students.
  • Adapt existing teaching and learning materials (TLMs) in both formal and nonformal schools to improve quality, enhance learning gains, and incorporate content and language resources relevant to the Batwa and Bantu communities.
  • Use interactive audio instruction (IAI) to provide high-quality learner-centered literacy content to promote continuity of education and system resilience.
  • Introduce a curriculum that helps teachers create supportive learning environments and teach students constructive ways to interact, resolve conflicts, and build positive relationships. Complement this with a community-focused campaign to encourage collaboration, reduce tensions, and promote a shared commitment to children’s education.
  • Provide school-based training and support to promote teaching best practices.

Our Impact

  • The project will support 170 communities spread over two cohorts through teacher coaching, IAI, adapted reading and writing materials that enhance student engagement, and the training of Parent Teachers Associations.
  • The project’s programming will reach, on average per year of implementation, 13,600 learners and students across grades 1 and 2 and level 1 in remedial education program.
  • The project will establish community libraries in all 170 communities, where LLT-trained community volunteers will facilitate some of the 46 IAI lessons developed by the project (available in both Lingala and Kiswahili) and the read-aloud story time to children in and out of the formal school system.
  • The project produced and distributed 7,810 TLMs, as well as distributed 23,600 donated children’s books, to schools and community libraries.
  • To strengthen resilience at the local level, the project will train 1,020 community members on contingency planning to ensure continuity of learning in the event of a crisis.
  • The project will provide adult literacy training to 425 parents to enable them to support their children’s education.