Deadline: 26-Sep-22
The United States Government, represented by United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/ Southern Africa Mission invites Concept Papers that are focused on Continuity of Pre-Primary Education post-COVID-19 using Community Engagement and Edutainment in South Africa.
This activity aims to support the expansion and dissemination of relevant educational video content and other educational content and materials to pre-primary learners in South Africa. While there is much focus on the use of new and innovative technologies for strengthening educational systems and reaching learners, a historic constant has been the well-documented and compelling cases of the use of video or television segments to support developing country educational objectives.
Whether as complements to broader education projects or as standalone interventions, educational videos that are well-constructed, evidence-based, and of appropriate pedagogy can uniquely capture the imagination of learners, drive social and behavior change, and provide important tools for professional development of teachers. While the use of these tools for in-classroom instruction is also effective, the expansion of educational television, and other forms of mass media instruction (collectively referred to as “edutainment” platforms), are particularly compelling in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has had enormous detrimental impacts on educational attainment worldwide. Moving forward, development of new edutainment approaches and expansion of existing ones must be part of a comprehensive disaster preparedness strategy.
Objectives
The use of co-creation will determine the objective(s), however, possible ideas could be to:
- Develop and test low-cost video dissemination and projection devices to deliver high-quality educational video content, particularly in lower-resource settings;
- Support families within the context of their own homes with materials and in-person activities to promote children’s learning and use of self-regulation techniques;
- Develop mobile play material (toy) libraries and screen COVID-related edutainment for children and their families who are in the most need;
- Engage a local institution of higher education to track student, family, and community outcomes; and
- Instill Learning Through Play methodologies in parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators, in partnership with the LEGO Foundation.
Funding Information
USAID may allocate up to $1.5 million over the course of two years to fund a portfolio of partnerships.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility for this addendum APS is restricted to local entities in South Africa. For the purposes of this section, local entity means an individual, a corporation, a nonprofit organization, or another body of persons that—
- is legally organized under the laws of;
- has as its principal place of business or operations in;
- is majority owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of; and
- managed by a governing body the majority of who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of a country receiving assistance from funds appropriated under title III of the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=343100