WALTHAM, MA | January 23, 2013
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has selected EDC to lead a new four-year effort in the Philippines to improve reading skills in the early grades. The Basa Pilipinas (Read Philippines) project will seek to improve the reading skills of 1 million children in Filipino, English, and selected mother tongues by 2015.
EDC will implement the new $23 million initiative that will support the Philippine government’s national reading program by improving teacher and administrator training, developing reading specialists, and establishing a core group of trainers. It will also develop, produce, and distribute age-appropriate and gender- and culture-specific early-grade reading materials; use technology to improve access to reading materials; and create partnerships with the private sector to leverage resources. In addition, EDC will assist the Philippine government in developing reliable early-grade reading standards and promoting reading through national and local advocacy activities with government, private sector, and community stakeholders.
“EDC’s reputation for improving literacy all over the world, coupled with extensive experience working in the Philippines, make us optimistic we will meet and exceed expectations for this new work,” said EDC’s Marcial Salvatierra, chief of party, who will direct the effort. “We’ll be leading a team of experts, including staff well-versed in reading diagnostics, curriculum development, teacher training, mother tongue materials development, and evaluation. We’re excited to begin.”
EDC’s previous work in the Philippines includes leading the Whole School Reading Program, a component of the USAID Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS2) project, a large-scale partnership with the Philippine and U.S. governments in the region of Mindanao. EDC and the Philippine Department of Education also recently began implementing USAID’s All Children Reading, a project focused on improving the collection and use of student reading performance data.
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), is a global nonprofit organization that addresses some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health, and international development. EDC manages 250 projects in 30 countries. Visit www.edc.org.
