Improving literacy of children through support from community networks (also known as Unlock Literacy Learning Networks - ULLN)

The research project, Improving Literacy for Children Through the Support of Community Networks, explored how community-based actors (teachers, community leaders, volunteers, parents, administrators, etc.) work together, adapt, and interact with the formal education sector to implement and support community literacy activities (including reading camps) to improve girls’ and boys’ reading fluency within distinct local learning systems/ contexts in Ghana, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The research provides evidence on factors that enable and hinder collaborative stakeholder networks that aim to advance quality, sustainable, scalable, and effective gender-responsive and inclusive education programming for early-grade students (grades 1-3) to improve children’s literacy levels within vulnerable populations

When Self-Presentation Trumps Access: Why Older Adults with Low Vision Go without Low Vision Services

Reasons were sought for low-vision service nonuse in a group of Canadian seniors with self-reported low vision. Audio-recorded semistructured interviews were completed with 34 seniors with low vision: age range (70 to 94 years; mean: 82 years); 16 urban dwellers (12 women); 18 rural dwellers (14 women). Qualitative content analysis and template analytic techniques were applied to transcriptions. Informant nonuse of low-vision services involved: insufficient knowledge, managing for now, and practitioner behavior (inadequate rehabilitation education and management). Underlying seniors’ attitudes that shaped their self-presentation and service nonuse included a strong need for independence, a contextualization of vision loss relative to other losses, and an acceptance of vision loss in life. Service delivery strategies should consider not only knowledge access and healthcare practitioner behavior but also senior self-presentation strategies (e.g., viewing aids as counterproductive to independence). Subtle rural-urban attitudinal differences may further delay access for rural seniors; further research is advised