Family literacy

Virtually all of the adolescent girls who become pregnant in Zambia end up dropping out of school. The majority of them never re-enter school. Lubuto’s family literacy program focuses on providing opportunities to young mothers and their children.

Under a 2016-2018 DREAMS Innovation grant from PEPFAR (the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief), Lubuto developed programs based on the premise that public libraries are a uniquely accessible gateway for linking high-risk girls to the information and services that empower them to develop life skills, prevent HIV, and stay in school. Among the DREAMS programs established was a Family Literacy program for young mothers, female caregivers and their young children, offering an inclusive curriculum of adult literacy sessions to vulnerable mothers, equipping them with foundational English literacy skills that facilitate re-entry to formal education, and enabling them to better provide for their children’s educational needs.

Targeting young mothers between the ages of 15-24, the majority of whom were forced to drop out of school after becoming pregnant, Lubuto’s Family Literacy program offers a twice-weekly, two-hour, supportive peer group environment to improve English literacy skills. Young mothers and female caregivers attend the program sessions with their children aged between birth and eight, who participate in a separate early childhood program while their mothers meet for adult literacy instruction—thereby eliminating the barrier to access that finding childcare can pose to vulnerable young mothers. The adult literacy program, conducted in English, focuses on phonics and includes both face-to-face, classroom-style instruction. Participants tell us that one of the most powerful benefits of the program is finding a space where they are welcomed without stigma and supported by their peers.

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