My Village is an ambitious learning intervention project aimed at supporting at least one million children to read and do basic math in the next five years through community participation.
Evidence from the PAL Network has shown that schooling does not necessarily result in learning. Many children complete multiple years of formal education without acquiring basic reading and math skills. Before COVID-19, 617 million children and adolescents worldwide did not have foundational skills in reading and basic mathematics, of which 202 million were from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Assessments conducted by PAL members, such as Uwezo and ASER, as well as data from Ministries of Education (MoE), show that almost 50% of school-aged children are unable to read and comprehend a simple sentence. This global phenomenon of children attending school without sufficient learning (as highlighted by the PAL Network’s work) is commonly referred to as learning poverty.
Most learning interventions often target only a fraction of children, and many are conducted within schools. The Accelerated Learning Programs within the PAL Network have been implemented in schools and target children in Grades 3–5. Between 2018 and 2021, the network reached over 164,000 children in more than 2,300 disadvantaged communities across eight countries. This is still only a small fraction of the children who need support. The PAL Network recognises the need to put in more effort to reach more children and support them in acquiring foundational literacy and numeracy skills as building blocks for a better future.