Sil Lead

During FY24, SIL LEAD participated as a subcontractor on two education projects funded by USAID, one in the Philippines with RTI International and the other in Madagascar with FHI 360. Each of these projects was designed to improve the quality of education in the respective countries and was carried out in collaboration with the host country through its Ministry of Education. SIL LEAD's involvement in these projects involved technical assistance; enhancement of local capacity through training and consultation; development and production of instructional materials; the training of writers, teachers, and trainers; and/or facilitation and support of workshops. Specific FY24 accomplishments by project follow. 1) Philippines ABC+ (RTI International): The ABC+ program seeks to improve early-grade literacy in the mother tongue and learners' transition of reading ability to Filipino and English. In FY24, SIL LEAD wrapped up its work on the ABC+ program. Our Executive Director and two of our consultants traveled to Kalibo and Numancia in Aklan province to participate in the delivery and celebration of first through third grade materials in the Akeanon language. 2) Madagascar LOVA (FHI 360): In FY24, SIL LEAD organized a research study to determine how well schoolteachers in Madagascar control Official Malagasy, the official language of instruction. We trained staff from the project and the National Ministry of Education to use SIL's Bloom book creation software and developed a set of 40 bilingual books in Official Malagasy and three local varieties of Malagasy. We also recommended classroom strategies for teachers to leverage their students' knowledge of local Malagasy varieties in learning Official Malagasy.

Supporting SIL International with its Bloom book creation software continues to be one of SIL LEAD's service areas. SIL LEAD also serves other organizations by providing training in the usage of Bloom software. In FY24 SIL LEAD: 1) continued to support SIL International's Bloom maintenance and development efforts; 2) issued and maintained Bloom Enterprise subscriptions serving communities in Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan; 3) provided online basic Bloom training to sixteen Central American staff of The Salvation Army on the use of Bloom to create materials and books for their programs. This was followed by in-person advanced Bloom training for five staff and then virtual training for three staff seeking Bloom Trainer Certification. Two staff members completed the process and were certified.

SIL LEAD continued to provide capacity building and other direct services to SIL International and its operating units. Specific FY24 areas of service follow. 1) Proposal development services: SIL LEAD assisted SIL in identifying relevant business opportunities and developing proposals to secure grants with a particular focus on government funding, both for SIL-specific projects and joint projects. 2) Capacity building services: SIL LEAD continued to work on proposals for new areas of business that could expand areas of service for both organizations. 3) Consultant development and management: SIL LEAD's senior multilingual education and literacy consultant continued working on a series of documents that will be leveraged to develop the capacity of current and future SIL Global consultants. These materials may also be drawn on to provide training to client staff and in the field. 4) SIL LEAD provided technical assistance to SIL Global's GRO unit that focused on identifying new service opportunities and improving policies and protocols related to project budgeting.