Enthusiastic groups of volunteers join the programme
Tue, 7 December 2010
"It has been enlightening, I have taken learned many things. I think as a parent we forget how to praise our children. It is my daughter’s birthday today and today I can go home and encourage her with good words to help her for her future” - Volunteer attending help2read training
REPORT 2: help2read - Literacy Support Programme in Cape Town Metropole
Help2read's literacy support programme relies on training motivated volunteers to lead weekly one-on-one reading sessions with struggling learners in primary schools in the province. At the end of this project, 330 learners in Grades 2 – 7 will have had reading sessions with a community volunteer for 12 months. Help2read will recruit 160 community volunteers in four cycles. These volunteers will undergo a week’s training. At the end of each term, volunteers, support workers and teachers will assess the children’s progress.
The project timeline is March 2010 to February 2011. This report refers to the period between June and November 2010.
Activities and Outcomes
The programme is now active in 94 schools in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha where, to date, 76 volunteers are committed to assisting 114 struggling learners. This represents an almost 40% increase in the number of children attending the programme since June.
Help2read’s efforts to recruit new volunteers into the programme have been highly successful: since June there have been 44 new volunteers.
A refresher workshop for existing volunteers was held in July. Three guest speakers presented topics on praise, conflict resolution and nurturing children’s self esteem to an audience of 107 volunteers. In September a total of 34 new volunteers were trained specifically for working at schools in Khayelitsha.
Eight schools were recuited into the programme: Yellowwood Primary, Eastville Primary, Imperial Primary, Cascade Primary and Liesbeeck Primary in the Mitchells Plain area and Sobambisana Nomsa, Mapongwana Primary School and Kukhanyile Primary, in Khayelitsha. All new schools received a box of literacy resources, containing books, games and stationery for the use of both the volunteers and the school. Yellowwood Primary received an extra box of books to assist in the start up of their school library.
Help2read continues to be active in the promotion and advertising of the programme. Their activities include networking with the Early Childhood Development Forum in Khayelitsha, the painting of murals about the programme by False Bay College students, holding Open Day sessions at community halls and the promotion of the programme on radio.
Expenditure
The total cost of this project is R232 450, of which R34 868 has been paid.
| Description | Total Budget | Total Expenditure |
| Project Management and administration | 120, 000 | 73, 800 |
| Volunteer training workshops (refreshments) | 4, 000 | 2, 782 |
| 1 quarterly skills workshop | 4, 000 | 4, 216 |
| Schools notice-boards | 500 | 500 |
| Literacy resources | 12, 500 | 9, 574 |
| Newsletters | 1, 200 | 1, 028 |
| Volunteer recruitment costs | 10, 000 | 5, 345 |
| Road travel | 15, 000 | 9, 934 |
| Learner pre- & post-intervention testing | 37, 500 | 8, 900 |
| Supervisory/Progress Meetings | 1, 250 | - |
| Volunteer training evaluation | 500 | 345 |
| Report writing | 300 | - |
| Administration costs | 17, 700 | 15, 325 |
| TOTAL | 232, 450 | 138, 472 |
Challenges
Currently the main challenge is the recruitment of schools in Khayelitsha. Schools in the area, which closed for up to three weeks due to strike action, are desperately trying to catch up with the school programme. The resultant time constraints make it very difficult for extra-curricular activities to take place. This has had a direct impact on the programme targets: a number of recently recruited volunteers are now waiting for placement.
The strikes also affected the assessment of new learners entering the programme.
Help2read plans to continue recruiting schools to join the programme. They will revisit their progress at the end of the year and consider redirecting efforts towards other areas in order to utilise the pool of volunteers who are ready to be placed.
Monitoring and evaluation
Data continues to be collected on a monthly basis to assist help2read in determining beneficiary numbers. Volunteers provide quarterly feedback on their experiences as well as on the children’s learning needs.
Post-intervention assessments will be performed at the end of the year. This will provide some evidence of the progress of learners participating in the programme.
Conclusions
Volunteers are now “queuing” to assist learners in their reading efforts. Although learners in Khayelitsha are some of the most needy, their schools are focused on catching up curriculum related activities before the end of the year in order to offset the consequences of the winter strike.
It takes a long time to see the full benefits of any education intervention. This is made even more complicated by the highly demanding environment in which this intervention takes place. Despite facing challenges, help2read has forged strong partnerships with relevant organisations, which should enable further reach and a greater intensity of their activities in needy areas.
