... Conference is an opportunity to create more enthusiasm for reading – USAID
ACTING MISSION director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Jamaica, Andrew Colburn, said his organisation is pleased to be partnering with Jamaica to host the Early Grade Reading Conference, which is to be held on Thursday, September 27.
“USAID Jamaica is pleased to share in this exciting event to build the awareness with stakeholders. The launch of this reading conference is an opportunity to ground the endorsement of the stakeholders, and also to create more enthusiasm in the wider public domain for reading,” Colburn said at the launch at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew on Tuesday.
He added that the USAID is pleased to be one of the foremost international development partners to have assisted the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information to improve earlygrade reading in most of the primary schools across the island.
WILL CONTINUE TO ASSIST
His organisation will continue to assist through the USAID/Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Reads Capacity Programme, which seeks to increase the impact, scale and sustainability of early-gradereading interventions in the Latin American and the Caribbean region.
The USAID/LAC Reads Capacity Programme is coordinated by the American Institute for Research, in association with Juarez and Associates, and has been implemented in Jamaica by EduConnect Jamaica Limited (EduConnectJA).
To sustain effective earlygrade literacy (EGL) initiatives, USAID/LAC Reads Capacity Programme and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will also collaborate with other stakeholders in the early childhood sector to get buy-in and establish an EGL Community of Practice in order to create a ‘think tank’, share business success and evidence-based research, and develop innovative materials.
The conference will be hosted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, the USAID, EduConnectJA and the LAC Reads Capacity Programme, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston under the theme ‘Get reading, right from the start’.