E-readers boost girls’ education in Tanzania
It’s a winning combination: the lived experience of young women graduates in Camfed’s CAMA alumnae network paired with e-reader technology, which brings thousands of books to some of the most marginalized students in rural Tanzania.
Together, they are boosting performance of children at risk of dropping out during the transition from primary to secondary school, where school-going costs rise sharply and the teaching language switches from Swahili to English.
By all accounts, the use of e-reader technology in the classroom is especially empowering for girls. The English literacy programme puts girls and boys on an equal footing in terms of access to technology and helps build their confidence through whole school literacy events, such as debates.
Joanna Martin, Tanzania Daily News
During World Innovation and Creativity Week, Camfed Tanzania’s National Director, Lydia Wilbard, joined a Human Development and Innovation Fund (HDIF) panel discussion on gender and innovation. She described our partnership with Worldreader, supported by HDIF, which brings innovation to 4,500 students across 25 secondary schools in Iringa District, with a special focus on marginalized girls.
Camfed’s literacy programme trains young women in Camfed’s CAMA alumnae network in the use of e-reader technology, bringing diverse reading materials to students who rarely have access to textbooks. In an extension of Camfed’s Learner Guide Program, CAMA members deliver literacy support with the nuanced understanding that comes from having experienced first-hand the challenges of poverty, compounded by a switch in the language of instruction.
Lydia Wilbard speaking on the HDIF panel “Empowering Change through Innovation”.
Read the Tanzania Daily News article: Tanzania: E-Reader Technology Boosts Girls Education