BƐƐKUNKO
Established 2011
BACKGROUND
In 2010, a team of civil society leaders and education specialists travelled to India to learn more about ASER. They went onto Kenya to learn more about how the Citizen-led Assessment model was adapted to the African context. This laid the foundations for Bɛɛkunko – an independent mechanism for the assessment of learning in Mali. Bɛɛkunko means concern of everyone in Bamanakan.
Bɛɛkunko, a L’œuvre Malienne d’Aide à l’Enfance du Sahel (OMAES) programme, is a Mali non-profit that supports improved public policies and programmes in child social protection and promotion. OMAES oversees survey design and implementation, conducts data analysis, develops reports and coordinates dissemination.
BƐƐKUNKO AND OMAES
The Bɛɛkunko survey assesses all children between the ages of 6 and 14 in literacy and numeracy at grade 1. It is the only current source of annual information on children’s ability to read and do basic arithmetic in Mali. Since inception, Bɛɛkunko has had to limit its geographic reach due to security concerns in northern Mali. The first assessment occurred in 2012 in the Ségou and Mopti regions, followed by six, including Bamako and four others in 2014.
THE BƐƐKUNKO SURVEY
LEARNigeria was officially launched at the Nigerian Education Summit, entitled ‘Improving Education Quality: The Role of Accountability’ on March 16 2015. LEARNigeria aims to grow to become a data source that is representative at state and national levels, promote government, parent and citizen action to influence policy and practice.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SURVEY
OMAES has three partner organizations: two regional NGOs and one regional network of NGOs. They oversee data collection in their region, and coordinate dissemination through workshops and regional broadcasting, amongst other responsibilities. ‘Focal points’ are the equivalent of Master Trainers, responsible for training volunteer surveyors. Volunteer surveyors are required to have at least a high school diploma and must be between 23 and 28 years old.
LANGUAGES OF ASSESSMENT
Tests are developed in seven regional languages.