In early 2022 VVOB kick started the Accessing Basic Competencies (ABC) project. The ABC project is implemented in 1,990 primary schools in Central Province, in collaboration with Ministry of Education (MoE) over the next 5 years. The project will enhance the planning, teaching and assessment methodologies of an estimated 1,990 primary (deputy) school leaders, 3,980 grade 3, 4, and 5 primary school techers and 1,990 primary school mentors, reaching a total estimated number of 174 750 learners in grades 3 to 5 per year in all the primary and community schools in Central Province. The ABC project has built the capacity of over 80 MoE officers at Headquarters, Provincial and District level who oversee the existing MoE in-service teacher training structures to train and support teachers, with an eye on ensuring the sustainability of the program by making use of a school-based Teacher Professional Development approach. The project is working closely with MoE's Directorates of Teacher Education and Specialized Services, Standards and Curriculum and Planning and Information.
The project is a scale up of the remedial ''Teaching at the Right Level'' (TaRL) programme, aptly named ''Catch Up'' (CU) in Zambia and is funded by Belgium. TaRL is an evidence-based methodology that was developed by Indian NGO Pratham Education Foundation with the aim of building foundational skills in numeracy and literacy in targeted grades in primary. It makes use of interactive teaching methods and games that allow children to progress in their skills from the level that they are at, in the 2 subjects, instead of their grade.
The ABC project is part of the larger ambitions and plans of the MoE to scale the Catch-Up programme nationwide. In fact, elsewhere in the Provinces, the MoE and VVOB have already conducted midline-assessments for the Catch-Up programme in a total of 51 districts: 27 districts in Southern and Eastern Province, 7 in Lusaka Province, 4 in Muchinga Province, 4 in Northern Province, 5 in Western Province and 4 districts in Luapula Province are currently training to implement the programme and will undergo baseline assessments in late February. The baseline assessments are cardinal to identify the learning gaps in each individual learner for them to be taught 'at their level' in numeracy and literacy.
In 2016, MoE partnered with Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Pratham International, DFID (now FCDO) and VVOB in Zambia, to pilot TaRL in Zambia, in 80 schools. After the encouraging results, the MoE wanted the programme to be gradually scaled out nationwide. Catch-Up is now being successfully implemented in 8 out of 10 Zambia provinces, through a fruitful collaboration between TaRL Africa and VVOB and with the generous support of multiple funding partners, notably USAID Zambia, The LEGO Foundation, Global Partnership for Education, Co-Impact and UNICEF Zambia.