By Judith Nyakaisiki

On 5th February 2025, Uwezo Uganda participated in the Language Development and Advocacy Network (LDAN) Workshop. The Workshop aimed to:

     - Advance ideas, connections and proposals highlighting the roles of languages and communication in

        development

     - Ensure that issues of concern represent broad, diverse, equitable and inclusive perspectives, and

     - Engage with organisations and communities from different world regions working within this field to

       collaborate, advise, learn from, shape and help steer this area of interest, including developing policy,

       research and practice priorities; informing researchers, decision-makers and practitioners; all while

       encouraging local perspectives, priorities and proposals.

Dr Mary Goretti Nakabugo, Uwezo Uganda Executive Director, was one of the panelists at the workshop. Her presentation centered on the relevance of LDAN to a developing country context such as Uganda. She mainly focused on the issue of using mother  tongue / local language as a medium of instruction and how this relates to learning outcomes. She shared that, in Uganda, there is an existing language policy, which requires the use of pupils' mother tongues or a common area language as a medium of instruction from Primary 1 to Primary 3.  She argued that while the policy is well-intentioned, it is faced with a number of challenges in practice and has not yet translated into desirable learning outcomes. For example, due to the linguistic diversity of Uganda even within smaller geographical areas, choosing to use one local language as a medium of instruction in one given village may exclude some learners who do not speak the language, thus, affecting their learning.

In all this, she noted teachers to be a key factor, yet they have hardly been well-supported to implement the language policy. A recent spotlight study report on basic education completion and foundational learning in Uganda highlighted a scarcity of curriculum documents and teacher guides. Where these existed, they were all in English, inserting more pressure on the teachers to be language interpreters while delivering the curriculum (Nakabugo et al 2024)[1].

In her final submission, Dr Nakabugo argued that, improving children’s learning outcomes requires much more than simply having in place a language in education policy that requires the use of local language as a medium of instruction. Other factors, such as support to teachers, availability of resources, the support to learners and parental and community awareness of the value of the policy need to be considered.

The full presentation can be accessed here

[1] Nakabugo, M.G., Kisa, S., Ayikoru, J., Kaburu, A., and Urwick, J. (2024). Spotlight on basic education completion and foundational learning: Uganda. Paris: UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report Team and Association for the Development of Education in Africa. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54676/LHPP9242

Uwezo Uganda is gearing up for the assessment of basic numeracy and literacy skills to be conducted in 29 districts previously assessed in 2021 per the link- https://uwezouganda.org/district-partners. Assessment in the same districts will enable us undertake a comparative analysis and deeper understanding of the post COVID changes in learning outcomes. The assessment planned for July-August 2024, will obtain data at school and household level as well as involve generation of child (4-16) assessment data.

Our previous learning assessment reports can be accessed here: https://uwezouganda.org/publications/reports/

Uwezo Uganda is partnering with Luigi Giussani Foundation to pilot ALiVE assessment tools in three districts of Jinja, Kasese and Oyam. The household assessment has just been concluded 03^rd - 05^th May 2024, targeting adolescents 13 -17 years, in 25 Enumeration Areas / villages in each district and 15 households in each enumeration area.  Overall, a total of 1,125 adolescents have been assessed in the 3 districts. The ALiVE pilot assessment focused on three Life Skills (Problem-Solving, Collaboration, and Self-awareness) and one Value (Respect). The pilot will not only enable further generation of data on these competencies but will also be used to yield a repository of tools for ALiVE's open-source platform as well as those that can be used by partners to evaluate programs that focus on life skills and values integration and nurturing.

Uwezo assessments have been conducted within the last ten years and have specifically highlighted low learning outcomes as well as bringing to the fore inequalities in learning. Through conducting these assessments and sharing findings globally, Citizen Led Assessments (CLAs) have been referenced as credible sources of assessment data and nationally Uwezo findings have triggered educational evaluations and programs for improving learning.

In its strategy (2020-2023), the assessment of basic numeracy and literacy skills is underscored as a core activity that will lead Uwezo to meeting its goals and mission. The last Uwezo Assessment was conducted three years ago in 2018, necessitating the generation of up to date data on the status of children’s learning in Uganda. The assessment to be conducted in 29 districts is planned for June 2021 and will additionally focus on obtaining data on children’s experiences of out-of-school learning during the pandemic as well as other aspects of their social economic background and education. As previously done, the school survey will be conducted alongside the household survey in order to generate data on schools in relation to learning outcomes. This would enrich the school based data through monitoring of the responses of schools to the current circumstances of restricted attendance and the needs of children not in school. The household survey will also include, among others, a question about whether children have been re-enrolled in school and, if not, the reasons given. Further to this, the importance of generating data on WASH and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators both at home and at school will be an add on to the assessment.

Our previous learning assessment reports can be accessed here: https://uwezouganda.org/publications/reports/