JICA: Bringing learning to the children of the world

On June 20, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with the Pratham Education Foundation (Pratham) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) with the objective of sharing knowledge and collaborating to improve literacy and numeracy abilities among children in developing countries. The signatories to the MOC were Rukmini Banerji, Pratham CEO; John Floretta, J-PAL Director of Policy and Communications; and Noriko Suzuki, JICA Senior Vice President.

In Africa, approximately 61 million children, or about 20 percent, are unable to attend primary and lower secondary school. In addition, approximately 200 million children, or nearly 90 percent, do not meet minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. In response to this “learning crisis”, JICA began technological exchanges in 2017 with Pratham, which has expertise in improving the quality of children’s learning as one of the largest educational non-governmental organizations in India, and with J-PAL, which has achieved many research accomplishments in the education sector and has a network of researchers. JICA has also partnered with those agencies to hold two seminars on the School for All project, an education development project carried out by JICA, and the three agencies have mutually shared their approaches, such as innovations for improving the quality of children’s learning through collaboration among parents, teachers and communities, and effective learning techniques for literacy and numeracy.

On the basis of this MOC, Pratham, J-PAL and JICA will further advance their partnerships at the ground level in developing countries, and work on developing innovative models for improving literacy and numeracy abilities among children. These efforts will also contribute toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4, “Improve Quality of Education and Promote Lifelong Learning.”

Original source: JICA
Published on 21 June 2018