WORLD Vision is encouraging and empowering youth to participate and contribute to enhancing development in their communities and society.
In the last week of July young people from the World Vision Youth Project were among those that participated in a grass roots literacy training workshop in Honiara.
They are now literacy trainers ready to work in village communities where literacy is desperately needed.
One of the World Vision youth trainees Alick Collin, said this is an opportunity to help people in the communities who are in need of basic reading and writing skills.
“I see this program as an answer to raising literacy levels in communities,” said Alick.
He is now one of a team of 10 teachers, who will go out into the Tamboko community on August 16th to deliver two weeks of training in the community.
The intensive training enabled participants to learn a phonics based program which has been developed by Kim Whitmore of the Acts 1:8 Project especially for the Solomon Islands.
Kim has been coming to the Solomons for the past 10 years using her annual holiday time as a teacher in Brisbane, and working in rural communities.
She is the head of a division in her school as a literacy specialist and works with students who have reading difficulties.
At the end of the week the trainees were encouraged by a visit by Prime Minister Manaseh Sogavare view the program and speak to the participants.
He supported and endorsed literacy initiatives like the “Acts 1:8 Project” in the Solomons.
The training helps youth to acquire the necessary skills to deliver a proven program, which will impact communities and raise literacy levels.
World Vision is committed to promoting young peoples engagement in literacy projects across the provinces.
Some 71 participants from LASI, Youth at Work, World Vision Honiara Youth Development, Employment and Small Enterprise Project (HYDESEP), Resources for Education to Advance Development Solomon Islands (READ SI), Literacy League, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, United Church, Mothers Union, and the Acts 1:8 Project Team attended the training.
It was held at the READ SI, Director’s home at Tasahe.
