CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING OF THE VITONGOJI MAMAS AND BABAS FOR THE UNESCO – GLOBAL LEARNING XPRIZE PROJECT

Catherine Amri from UNESCO Dar es Salaam conducting a training in Korogwe[/caption]

282 men and women from selected villages in Tanga region have participated in a three days training organized by UNESCODar es Salaam Office to build their capacities in supporting the implementation of the of Global Learning XPRIZE Project for the Promotion of Early Learning through Innovative Technologies in Tanzania.

The group of participants comprised one selected community memberand a member of the village council from each participating village. The selected community members, also known as ‘Kitongoji (hamlet) mama and baba’ will perform the tasks related to the overall monitoring of the project at the community level and conduct the survey in terms of the Social Emotional Impact Study. Each kitongojimama/baba will be supporting a group of about 5 to 21 children, from the selected 141 remote and underprivileged hamlets in Mkinga, Muheza, Handeni, Korogwe, Lushoto, and Pangani districts in Tanga region. The Global Learning XPRIZE Project for the Promotion of Early Learning through Innovative Technologies in Tanzania aims to reach about 2,060 out of school children in Tanga region to promote the improvement of cognitive outcomes in terms of the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic). Catherine Amri from UNESCO Dar es Salaam conducting a training in Korogwe

The training equipped vitongojimama and baba with the knowledge on the goals and objectives of the project, reporting procedures of technical issues, overall monitoring activities and basic skills to identify behavioural and social emotional changes occurring in the participating children and their families in the course of fifteen months of the field test, corresponding to the period which children will interact with the software.The vitongoji mama and baba are key players for the success of the implementation of the project, and building their capacity in terms of the project knowledge, was one of the most relevant milestones regarding the preparation of the field testing and will contribute to empower members of rural, remote and underprivileged communities. A training session in Pangani