Friends of Liberia, an organization started by former Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Liberia has released the 2018 Liberia Literacy Landscape survey report.
The report, along with the Liberia Literacy Mapping Project, followed a five-year research by Friends of Liberia’s Education Working Group members Virginia Hesel and Mary Gemignani.
The survey documents 13 organizations working in the area of pre-school to adult literacy in the country.
They include the Kids Educational Engagement Project, Alfalit International, Canadian Organization for Development Through Education, Family Literacy Initiative, and Imani House Incorporated. Others are Liberia Reads Association of Literacy Educators, National Adults Education Association of Liberia, PAMOJA Liberia, Peace Corps, Proliteracy International, Rosetta Steps, Self-Help Initiative for Sustainable Development, and We Care Foundation.
It also provides information on the organizations’ programs, funding sources, efficacy, and their contact details.
Both Hesel and Gemignani were Peace Corps Volunteers in Liberia in the late 1960s. They have continued to focus their expertise in the area of education through the classroom and school administration.
The Liberia Literacy Land Scape survey is part of several initiatives FOL continues to undertake in the country.
In September 2016, the group received the Loret Miller Ruppe Award for outstanding community service from the National Peace Corps Association for providing support to community initiatives to contain and prevent the spread of Ebola in Liberia.
It also renewed its 30-year commitment to Liberian education with the Family Literacy Initiative. The program teaches families how to prepare their pre-school age children for reading and numeracy tasks before they go to school.
In partnership with Home Instruction for Parents and Preschool Youth and the WE-CARE Foundation, FOL hired the services of home visitors to instruct parents and caregivers how to prepare their children for school.
Hesel worked in the field of elementary and middle school education as a teacher and school principal in public and independent schools, while Gemignani currently works as an adjunct professor at Northern Vermont University. She previously also served as director of a private early education school, public-school teacher, special educator, among others.
Featured photo courtesy of Lubuto Library Partners
