Tackling learning loss:

cross-country learnings on
Catch-up Clubs
Learning Café, March 28, 2023
CONTENTS

▪ Catch-up Clubs: global overview

▪ Catch-up Clubs in Myanmar
▪ Catch-up Clubs in Bangladesh
▪ Q&A 1
▪ Catch-up Clubs in Malawi
▪ Catch-up Clubs in Uganda
▪ Catch-up Clubs in Colombia
▪ Q&A 2
▪ Catch-up Clubs Global portal Launch
▪ Closing
GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF THE
CATCH-UP CLUBS

Author:
Nora Charif Chefchaouni

2
 SCALING RAPIDLY 11 countries: Colombia, Uganda, Malawi, DRC,
Nigeria, Egypt, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, and the Philippines.
30,000+ children
 Literacy achievement

In Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Malawi,

Myanmar, and Uganda, after spending 50-60 hours in the
Catch-up Clubs:
73% of children can read at least sentences,
including 45% of children who can read a grade 2 level text.

▪ 61% of children
progressed by at
least 2 literacy levels
73% of children
can read
at least
sentences
20% of children
can read
at least
sentences
 How the model works
Catch-up Clubs: an integrated model
Education
- Supporting social and
emotional learning (SEL)
and teaching literacy and
numeracy at the right level
to catch up on learning loss.
- Community-led and play-
based remedial learning.
Cash and voucher
assistance (CVA)
Addressing poverty-related
barriers to accessing education
and protection services.
Child protection (CP)
improving protection,
wellbeing and
overcoming barriers to
education.
5
 13 WEEKS CYCLE
Initial training workshops:
Round 3:
▪ 4-5 days ToT E
2 weeks
▪ 8-10 days for facilitators Break week N
▪ 3 days for coaching 1 Coach visit D
Literacy
▪ Materials’ contextualisation & 1 Learning
Round 2: assessment L
translation Circle
New groups I
2 weeks N
1 Coach visit Refresher E
Break week training
1 Learning
Literacy Circle
assessment
New groups
Refresher
Round 1: training
B 3 weeks
A 1 Coach visit
S 1 Learning
E Circle Gr 3-6 learners
L Each learner is 4-6 sessions/week
assessed x4 times 8-13 years old 90-120 mins/session
I 15-25 children per
Based on ASER 50-60 hours/cycle
N each levelled group
E
Catch-up Clubs in Myanmar :
A community-led education model
to improve literacy and well-being
of children experiencing education
disruption

The evaluation report can be found in the link :

Evaluation on a Pilot Intervention for education model (Catch-up
Clubs) in Rakhine State and Kayin State in Myanmar | Save the
Children’s Resource Centre

Authors:

Silvia Arlini, Jessica Chia,

Than Zaw Oo, and Nishtha Shrestha
 MYANMAR Key Findings
Children’s Literacy Level, over 13-15 weeks Highest Literacy Achievement
After completing the CuCs
Nearly

80% Likelihood of children achieving comprehension level (level 5)

at foundational literacy level 4 or 5:
Baseline Endline57.7%
Story or Comprehension

Non-CuCs Having participated

30.3% 29.1%
31.8%
28.4% Children in CuCs
24.1% 26.4% 26.4%
23.1% 23.1% 21.4%
19.7%
17.6% CuCs 2.3 times
10.0% 9.6% 10.1% children
7.4%
3.9% more likely to achieve the
comprehension level

1.Letter
1.Letter

2.Word

2.Word

5.Comprehen
3.Sentence

3.Sentence

4.Story
4.Story

sion
Control Group Intervention Group
Burmese Children of ethic
children Rohingya
Ethnic less likely to achieve the
Rohingya comprehension level
“At first, I wasn’t doing well. Because of my attendance at the CuCs, I could read and catch
up with the lessons at school and that’s why I’d like to keep going to the CuCs ” children
– Children’s FGD, Rakhine
 MYANMAR
Likelihood of children progressing their literacy by one level
Literacy Progression, within 13-15 weeks
Having participated in
Non-CuCs
CuCs
Children
Greater progression of the CuCs Children
than non-CUCs Children CuCs 7.8 times
children more likely to advance
by one level
54.3%

41.2%
% of children progress their literacy from baseline to endline
32.0% 30.1%
Girls in the intervention group could progress,
achieving nearly equal progression with boys
13.2% 14.9%
10.2%
2.8% 0.8% 0.6% 50%
Control
43%
No progression Progressed by Progressed by Progressed by Progressed by
one level two levels three levels four levels
Intervention
87%
86%
Control Group Intervention Group
boys girls
 MYANMAR
“The children are improving problem-solving skills as they were playing
Children’s Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) together as a team” – CLF/CLIF

Children with high SEL “Mindfulness activities helped the children in stress coping and
stress relieving” – CLF/CLIF
56.2%
49.7%
41.2% “The children are gaining confidence” – CLF/CLIF
39.4%

Baseline Endline

Control Group Intervention Group

“learning while playing makes it easier to remember and learn, and

it's also fun!” – FGD with Children in Kayin

““We are willing to learn from facilitators because their teaching is more
interesting and enjoyable”– FGD with Children in Rakhine
 MYANMAR

Context
Host Communities
nearby conflict-affected areas in
Central Rakhine & Kayin
Conflict-affected and IDP
communities Conflict-affected villages
in Central Rakhine in Kayin

Ethnic Minority: Ethnic Minority:

Rohingya and Rakhine Karen-Poe and Karen-Sgaw

CuCs in Myanmar (Apr-Jul/Aug 2022)

3,056 children enrolled in CuCs Language of instruction: Burmese
Blanket Cash Assistance & Money Matters Toolkit Training Child Protection Service & Case Management/Counselling
 MYANMAR Study Design & Sampling

Quasi-experimental Baseline Survey – Child Survey & Parent Survey

Cluster random sampling Endline Survey – Child Survey (same children who completed the
- Village Cluster Survey baseline survey
- Children in Grades 3-7 ±1200 (control & intervention children)
Intervention Group (n= ±600)
- Subsets of 3056 CuCs children
enrolled in CuCs SCI Project
Children who CLFs/CLIFs
completed CUCS Staff
Control Group Group (n= ±600) (intervention group)
- Random selection -children from Focus
the same townships as the Group 12 FGDs 2 FGDs 1 FGD
intervention group Discussions
- areas were not engaged/exposed
in CuCs
 MYANMAR Acceptability & Successes of the CuCs Interventions

Positive Learning Outcome, Strengthened school

Fun, happy, safe, trajectories:
Improve Self-Confidence
helpful facilitators
& Positive Learning Increased attendance/
Aspiration enrollment to Formal
School

Access & exposure to Great interest to be CuCs

reading/learning material, ambassador & community
Developing positive reading habit facilitators/peer-support
 MYANMAR
Lessons learned
A promising short-term intensive remedial learning approach to support learning equity and learning recovery in the
challenging context – conflict affected areas, ethnic minority belonging

Teaching Burmese as a second language with vocabulary building should be integrated into all
CuCs levels, with a higher focus on the sentence and story levels - as challenges in
comprehension have been identified in multilingual context

Move toward improving the uptake of children in CuCs – by strengthening engagement, advocacy/campaign
strategy and dialogue between community and families on the importance of education/attendance in school

Improving the coordination between the project team and the school leadership
committee prior the CUCs implementation

Strengthen Community and Peer-supports -developing strategy and platform for sustainable
community volunteerism/peer support, including the retention of support
 CATCH-UP CLUBS IN RURAL
BANGLADESH:
bridging the learning gap among
children with learning inequality
and discrimination

Authors:
Roxana Khanom, Moazzem Hossain

Catch Up Club 15
 BANGLADESH Impact evaluation preliminary endline results

Students that participated in CuCs improved two and a half times as much as students that did not participate, by a difference of 19 pp.

Treatment group

Control group
 BANGLADESH Impact evaluation preliminary endline results

Students that participated in the CuCs have a three-and-a-half-time higher probability (19 percentage points) of graduating from CuCs and a
four-time higher probability (14 percentage points) of being able to recognize letters, than students in the control group.
 BANGLADESH POST DISTRIBUTION MONITORING (PDM) Findings

US$ 20 per child

Utilization of Cash Everyone completes 13 weeks of CUC sessions
One time at the end of CUC cycle
31 Total 1875 families
27

19 Effective and
Appropriate
8 Assistance
5 4
1 2 1 2
1% Yes
No

99%

Catch Up Clubs in Rural Bangladesh

 BANGLADESH

Context

Barishal, a south-central coastal

Gaibandha, one of the northern
district of Bangladesh, crisscrossed by
districts of Bangladesh, marked
plenty of rivers.
as very high poverty area.
Barishal situation analysis
In Gaibandha, dropout rate at
discovered 21.2% dropout rate
primary level 41.5% where national
whereas national rate is 17.2% and
level is 17.9% (APSC 2019).
Both districts experience different 81.7% primary cycle completion rate
natural disasters like cyclone, flood, whereas national rate is 95.5%.
drought, and riverbank erosion etc.

CuCs in Bangladesh (Apr-Jul & Sept-Dec 2022)

2159 children participated in blanket survey Language of instruction: Bangla
Child Protection Service & Cash Voucher Support 1836 children enrolled in CuCs
BANGLADESH Challenges and overcome strategies
Challenges Strategies taken

Increased visit, onsite support by

•
Trouble shooting of multi-level Coach, PO
learners' management • Prepared weekly plan, emphasis
1.
sometimes not easy to manage for demonstration, prepared learning
few CLIFs and Coaches. materials and practiced in Peer Circle
meetings

Random selection of learners

for the research created difficulty • Conducted home visit, school visit
2. in children participation. Parents • Met with parents
and teachers were not willing to • Learners replaced from 1st round
send story level learners.
 BANGLADESH Lessons Learned
• School attendance increased of CUC learners comparing to non-CUC learners.
Schools and community highly demanding its expansion.
• Social Emotional Learning activities improving behavior management.
• CUC offers remedial learning opportunities offered the most impacted children
experiencing inequality and discrimination which is highly accepted by the
families and the MOE.
 BANGLADESH Voices from community

“I am very glad that Catch up

Club session came to our “I could not read my books.
community. It helped us a lot for After attending Cath Up Club,
children’s learning. My child I know how to read. Now, I
enjoyed its all activities. Our enjoy reading many things

children now happy to read. ” around me. ”

- A Parent, Barishal - A CuC Learner, Gaibandha
 Classiffied as Public Document

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CATCH-UP CLUBS IN MALAWI:
working with government and
community stakeholders for
sustainable Children's Literacy
Improvement

Author:
Austin Njera
 MALAWI Impact evaluation preliminary endline results

Students that participated in CuCs improved twice as much as students that did not participate, by a difference of 12 percentage points i.e.
in control group, students improved by 9% while in treatment group students improved by 21%

Treatment group

Control group
 MALAWI Impact evaluation preliminary endline results

Students that participated in the CuCs have double probability of graduating (8 percentage points) and double probability of being able
to recognize letters (14 percentage points), compared to students in the control group.
 MALAWI
Context

Ntcheu, is a district in the central region of

Malawi. Dropout rate at
primary level was 3.6% where national
level was 4% (MoE 2020).

Literacy rate for population 5 years and above

was 71%, 13% never attended school (IH5)

CuCs in Malawi (Oct-Dec 2022)

671 children enrolled in CuCs 15 primary schools in Ntcheu Language of instruction: Chichewa
 MALAWI

•Facilitators: 30 High school graduates where more than 70

percent are females

•Community Support: Mother Support Groups, Parent

Teacher Association (PTA) and School Committee support
on Case Management issues.

•Government Support: Child Protection Workers and

District Education offices support with child protection and
mentorship of CLFs respectively
 MALAWI

Key Challenges

Challenge Implemented Strategy

High absenteeism rates in the
mainstream school
Low quality of facilitators in
some schools
Engaging Community
stakeholders to help with
learner tracking
Conducting monthly capacity
building labs and reviews
Forming a peer learning cycle
 MALAWI

Lessons Learnt

• An active Community and School participation is

key to an effective CuC implementation.

• A good number of learners in the Catch up Club

have learning challenges, hence need to strengthen
the inclusive education skills of the CLFs
 MALAWI

Sustainability Plans

✓ Review the role of Matrons and Patrons in schools

✓ Continuous engagement of Ministry of Education

during monitoring and feedback meetings to lobby
for scaling up

✓ Engagement of school management and community

governing structures to support CLFs with monthly
stipends just like they do with volunteer teachers

✓ Involvement of school management and governing

structures supporting CuC learners with meals
before CuC sessions through Caregivers
contributions and establishment of school gardens
 CATCH-UP CLUBS IN UGANDA:
Catch-Up Clubs are being implemented by
Save the Children International (SCI) in
Kyangwali, Nakivale and Rwamwanja Refugee
Settlements in Western Uganda.

4,793 children
(2,495 girls and 2,298 boys).

Authors:
Tebukoza,Ignatius, Mitala, Timothy
Kirsten Mucyo,

CuC Training 32
 UGANDA
85.9% improved by at least 1 reading level Children not in a CUC were 5x more
compared to 25.7% likely to stay at the same level
(more than 3x more likely to
improve at least 1 level)
% learners completing a reading level
100.0%

90.0% 85.9% 86.2% 85.5%

80.0%

70.0%
63.7%
60.2%
60.0% 56.7%

50.0%

40.0%

28.8%
30.0% 25.7%
22.5%
20.0%

10.0%

0.0%
Comparison Intervention Net effect Comparison Intervention Net effect Comparison Intervention Net effect
All Learners Male Female

Acting as an equaliser for learning for girls (85.5%) & boys (86.2%)
 UGANDA
38.8% achieving grade 2 proficiency
after one cycle compared to 3.3%

Grade 2 Proficiency
45.0%
41.3%
40.0% 38.8%
37.2%
36.1% 35.5%
35.0% 33.6%

30.0%

25.0%

20.0%

15.0%

10.0%

4.1% 3.3%
5.0% 2.5%

0.0%
Comparison Intervention Net effect Comparison Intervention Net effect Comparison Intervention Net effect
Male Female All Learner

More boys than girls achieving this highest level of grade 2 proficiency

NOTE: Grade 2 reading proficiency was assessed using the equivalent of a grade 2 text (paragraph) and 2 comprehension
questions about this text were asked. Learner had to correctly read the text and answer at least one question correctly.
 Evaluation Design: Mixed Methods Evaluation

Evaluation Approach
▪ Baseline conducted April 2022
▪ Endline Part A: Jul/Aug 2022 and Oct 2022

Quantitative Qualitative

(I) Quasi-experimental design - Pipeline/phase in

design - a phased learning progress assessment (I) KII with selected education stakeholders
between two different cohorts of CUC learners. To
evaluate the difference CUCs make to learning
progress versus simply continuing to attend school. (I) FGDs with:
(II) Non-Experimental design – Pre-post without o Girls and boys
control group. To evaluate the changes observed
following project interventions. o Community members
• Reading Assessment (ASER adaptation)
o Teachers??
• Child wellbeing assessment (CYRM)
• Child Background Survey (SCI)
• Community Learning Facilitators Survey (SCI)
 UGANDA

Age: greatest gains for older learners

Gender: equal % improving by a level

but more boys achieving grade 2
proficiency.

Refugee or National: Ugandan

nationals made greater gains than
refugee children.

Disability: no significant differences

in learning gains (but small and
somewhat unreliable sample)
 UGANDA
Learning Continuity:
❑ 95% of sampled learners (male=95%,
female=95%) reported that their interest in
continuing with learning had increased or much
increased.
❑ The increased interest in learning was almost
uniform between children who were Ugandans
(95.8%) and Refugees (94.7%).
❑ 89.7% of the learners (boys=90%, girls=89.4%)
indicated that they were at least somewhat
confident (64.5% very confident) to continue
with learning and stay in school
Pre-Post Test Results
Yes, before CUC I used to feel bad because
I never knew how to read. However, after
joining CUC project now I am able to read
words and sentences very well. This has
increased my interest in learning and
continued stay in school.
- FGD with Girls, P4-P.6, Nakivale
Not understanding what was being
taught in class used to frustrate me
and I used to hate school.
- Child P.4 – P.6, Rwamwanja
Initially when I didn’t know to read and
write, I used to fear even when asked to
read and I could feel shy but because of
CUC sessions I am able to stand and read
without fear and also compete with
other learners.
- AEP learners, Nakivale
 UGANDA
Resilience (CYRM):
❑ Average (mean) resilience score for children
increased to 64.6 (SD=12.5) from the baseline
of 59.6 (SD=12.9).
❑ Male and female learners reported significantly
higher average resilience scores in comparison
to the baseline. The mean difference in
resilience score for boys (MD=5.0) was higher
than that of girls (MD=4.0).
❑ There was a significant increase in average
resilience score for both refugees and nationals
(Ugandans). While nationals had a higher
average resilience score, refugees registered
higher increase (Refugees MD=5.7; Nationals
MD=2.3).
Pre-Post Test Results
My participation in CUC has led to the
increment in the interest of learning
because they give us free sanitary pads
during the menstruation period and also
teach us how to make them. This helps
many of us to stay in schools than before.
- FGD with Girls, P4-P.6,
Yes, before CUC we used to be shy and had fear
because most of us we were unable to read words.
However, after joining we have been helped so
much now we are very confident because were
able to read words and spell them correctly. Even
our interest in learning and staying in school has
increased. We no longer have perception of
dropping out of school.
- Boys in AEP Level 3, Nakivale
 UGANDA
Lessons learned

In humanitarian context, attendance/participation of learners in CUCs is lower and less consistent

due to the high levels of vulnerability of children in refugee settings.

Hunger of some learners affecting their ability to concentrate and learn.

Language barrier like in a school, there may be four languages yet our facilitators may
speak only two and creating a risk of leaving others unattended to.

Some girls miss CUC sessions during menstruation period because

of limited number and access to safe rooms.

CUCs are more expensive in a humanitarian context (Uganda).

CATCH-UP CLUBS IN COLOMBIA:
a study exploring community
engagement

Authors:
Ayse Kocak, Tim Murray
 COLOMBIA

Impact Evaluation Results

Overall effect size

(combined reading
score) of 0.53 SD

Proportion of children graduating program reading and comprehending a story, by

initial group level.

.
 COLOMBIA

• Children in the waitlist-

control group started
at a higher level
(despite randomization)

• Children in the
treatment group
caught up
 COLOMBIA
COLOMBIA

Context
Reopening of schools

Norte de Santander

Migration from Venezuela

*Ábrego
*Ocaña
*Hacarí

Effects of violence and armed conflict

Effects of climate change that Cauca

have impacted schools

*Buenos Aires

Wider social and educational inequality

CuCs in Colombia (May – Nov 2022)

534 children (50% girls, 50% boys) students aged 7-14, in grades 3-5, not able to read a grade 2 text
Language of instruction: Spanish
 COLOMBIA

“He aprendido a respetar, a ser una buena
persona, he aprendido que si me sigo
esforzando puedo ser una persona de bien y
no estar en cosas malas”
Niño participante Club de lectura, Buenos
Aires – Cauca
"I have learned to respect, to be a good
person, I have learned that if I continue to
make an effort I can be a good person and not
be in bad things"
Boy participant CuC, Buenos Aires – Cauca

“Yo también aprendí a leer mejor, también

"I also learned to read better, I also learned
aprendí qué las niñas podemos participar
that girls can always participate. I like the
siempre. Me gustan las historias que nos traen
stories they bring us because they are about
por que son de niñas o mujeres que han hecho
girls or women who have done important
cosas importantes”
things".
Niña participante Club de lectura, Buenos
Girl participant CuC, Buenos Aires - Cauca
Aires – Cauca
 COLOMBIA
Results
Children, teachers, caregivers and staff refer a
Social-emotional change in children's attitudes in relation to
motivation in school activities, improvement of
skills school results, but also in social and relational skills
such as respect, empathy, self-confidence,
recognition of differences and diversity, among
others.

Playful reading mediation activities, such as Play activities and other

projected and animated texts, instrumental
music and story building based on participants'
strategies
photographs.

Training for librarians, parents and caregivers in

Girl participant of CuC, in Buenos Aires, Cauca Reading promotion reading promotion strategies and delivery of
material for working with children.
in libraries
 COLOMBIA

Challenges

Agree on school Increase in armed conflict

Volunteer recruitment
schedules due to long and harassment around the Formation of groups due to
and retention
distances and travel schools and natural the size of the schools
times to schools disasters affecting the
schools
 COLOMBIA
Lessons learned

Overall: A promising short-term, intensive approach to support learning equity and learning
recovery which can supplement school-based efforts

Social-emotional skills: Especially in rural areas showed the need to deepen social-
emotional skills due to the dynamics of armed conflict and school violence

Catch-up Vs ALP: Need to have very clear definitions and guidelines

for staff and partners on the different program options and scopes

Volunteering: Key to develop clear strategy and platform for sustainable and
volunteerism and to quantify the cost of recruitment, training and retention
 Classiffied as Public Document

This classification applies to information, which has been explicitly approved by authorised staff member or SCI SLT for release to the public.
 CATCH-UP CLUBS
GLOBAL PORTAL

Waliku

Authors:
Hannah Richards, Mohini Venkatesh
https://bit.ly/GlobalCuC

49
 What next?

• Cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness analysis.

• CuC Numeracy pilot & innovative research in
Bangladesh, El Salvador, Uganda and India.
• 6 impact evaluation reports to be finalised and results
disseminated externally.
• After raising over $20 million, our goal is to raise an
additional $50 million this year to reach more children
• Easily adapted and contextualised,
Catch-up Clubs can support any
geography of interest.
• For more information check the CuC OneNet page.
 Classiffied as Public Document

THANK YOU
Contacts:
luke.hayman@savethechildren.org
nora.chefchaouni@savethechildren.org.au

This classification applies to information, which has been explicitly approved by authorised staff member or SCI SLT for release to the public.