USAID Soma Umenye - Rwanda

A small child stands in the middle of a classroom, using a long rolled up paper to tap the letter "r" hanging from the ceiling on a long string. The alphabet from the letter "e" to the letter "us" is visible within the frame of the photo.
Photo credit: Kate Brolley, Chemonics International
Donor: USAID • Partner: Chemonics International • Timeframe: Nov. 2019 – July 2021

USAID Soma Umenye

USAID Soma Umenye was a five-year project that worked together with the Rwanda Education Board (REB) to improve literacy outcomes for students in grades 1–3 in all government-aided primary schools in Rwanda. A key cross-cutting component of USAID Soma Umenye was the inclusion of all students—those with and without disabilities. Within Soma Umenye, IDP supported a pilot that uses a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach to instruction. The pilot focused on strengthening inclusive education in Rwanda in 25 primary classrooms in one district. Our support included developing a UDL toolkit, training materials, and a coaching guide to help train coaches and mentors on effective UDL support. We also developed a background paper on the challenges in applying the Washington Group Questions to school-based screening and prevalence assessments. In addition, we supported school-based observations to assess and strengthen the use of UDL within the classroom.  

Project Highlights

  • Developed a UDL toolkit and trained educators to implement inclusive education methods in their professional practice, with a focus on early grade literacy instruction in Kinyarwanda.
  • Garnered the following results: teachers were more comfortable using visual schedules, think-pair-share activities, and small group instructional strategies in large classroom sizes with few material resources.
  • Reviewed and advised the digitization of the Soma Umenye teachers’ guides to increase the focus on inclusion and UDL strategies. 

Project Resources