With the Let's Learn to Read and Write (Ann ALE) project in Haiti, FHI 360 will focus on early grade reading and writing (EGR/W) that is coordinated, effective and sustainable. Through this project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the FHI 360-led Ann ALE team is working with Haiti’s Ministry of Education and Professional Training to achieve better literacy for urban and rural children in grades 1–4. 

Ann ALE applies the lessons learned from USAID’s TOTAL project, a two-year research project in EGR/W programming, to improve and expand methods to reach all grade 1–4 classrooms in 550 schools. Unlike previous programs, Ann ALE is anchored in the Ministry to ensure sustained country ownership while strengthening the Ministry’s ability to lead, coordinate, sustain and improve high-quality programming into the future. The Ann ALE team is assisting the Ministry in engaging a wide range of public and non-public stakeholders to directly improve results in Haitian Creole and French for 68,600 children.

The project team offers a unique set of strengths to ensure not only that improved EGR/W materials and instruction reach the intended schools, but that they also result in sustainable gains in literacy within four years. The team supports Haitian solutions — rooted in the country’s arts, culture and social resilience — to address multiple factors that hinder children’s ability to read and to create a durable, enabling EGR/W environment.

FHI 360’s partnership approach draws on the international state-of-the-art expertise, indigenous strength and on-the-ground experience of the Ann ALE team, while also tapping into and amplifying in-country capacity. With this unique approach, the Ann ALE team is capable of building successful partnerships that overcome longstanding barriers to collaboration and positive change, and improve reading and writing outcomes for children.