The Nal’ibali SEF Family Literacy Programme The Nal’ibali Social Employment Fund (SEF) Family Literacy Programme commenced in 2022 and is now in Round 3 of funding.
Project Aims
To increase the availability of literacy and playbased learning activities and resources for young children in under-resourced communities, with the goal of strengthening language and literacy skills and fostering a lifelong love of reading. Our Model and Impact: We employ and train literacy facilitators to work with Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres, parents/caregivers, community partners, and schools to spread awareness about interactive play and the benefits of reading and sharing stories. Facilitators conduct story sessions in ECDs and carry out mentorship sessions in homes, where they model and demonstrate reading aloud, shared reading, and play-based learning practices that parents and caregivers can use to interact with children.
Nal’ibali provides age-appropriate reading resources such as books and the Nalibali newspaper supplement, and these are distributed to ECD centres, schools, Reading Clubs, and households. We also disseminate children’s stories via WhatsApp, collaborate with local libraries in promoting reading, and encourage families to sign up for library membership.
By training and mentoring SEF participants to become literacy advocates, early childhood development practitioners, and reading role models, we create jobs and develop useful work readiness skills among SEF participants, such as public speaking, organizational, and management skills. Literacy facilitators employed through SEF have reported being more connected to and recognized in their communities and related networks, opening up job opportunities and possible career paths.
We also engage children through Reading Clubs, which are safe, fun, and interactive spaces where children carry out literacy-related activities after school. Site-based teams also conduct regular events and reading promotion activations in communities in line with the Nal’ibali literacy calendar, such as World Read Aloud Day, Literacy Month, and World Book Day.
The project is currently implemented in 85 sites across five provinces: Eastern Cape (EC), Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal (KZN), Limpopo, and the Western Cape (WC). In Round 3, we aim to employ a total of 1,000 staff (985 field staff, and 15 administrative staff) across the five targeted provinces. Training Partners: MacMillan Education (play-based ECD in KZN) and Axium Education (reading training in Eastern Cape) How Can You Get Involved?
Training Collaborators: We aim to link SEF participants to a diverse set of training and mentorship opportunities in the field of early childhood development, literacy, and the broader education sector. Please get in touch if you would like to partner in these areas.
Become a Literacy Partner: We aim to strengthen the literacy ecosystem and would love to partner with local organizations to support and amplify your work.