The Mali Selective Integrated Reading Activity (SIRA) was a five-year project to improve reading outcomes for Malian students in grades one and two in target regions. The activity reinforced and strengthened the Government of Mali/Ministry of Education capacity to establish delivery systems in a manner that fosters sustainability.
STS supported the Ministère de l’éducation Nationale (MEN) structures by building their capacity at the regional (AE) and district (CAP) levels to conduct bi-annual Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRA) for decision-making purposes for their own management. STS also supported the SIRA research agenda through implementation of a baseline, midline and endline study on Parental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) regarding reading, working in collaboration with Oeuvre Malienne d’Aide a l’Enfance du Sahel (OMAES).
STS led capacity-building of Ministry of Education structures at the central, regional (AE), and district (CAP) levels to conduct bi-annual EGRA testing for their own management and decision-making purposes. These activities were implemented over the course of three phases, during which STS conducted the data analysis, explored the results together with the regional team over online webinars, then supported the regional teams in drafting and finalizing their results reports for dissemination within their region and with the central Ministry of Education.
STS participated in numerous consultations around the study design of the KAP initial study, which also included a gender study, a transversal theme of the project. Ten tools were developed, of which, three were used for the KAP initial study (the parents’ survey, the focus group guide, and the follow-up interview). Additional tools were developed and used in Phase 2 and 3 of the project. As with the EGRA, STS worked with local partners to analyze the data and present results in a final endline KAP report that was submitted in June 2021 to EDC.
