Sil Lead Inc

THE MISSION OF SIL LEAD IS TO SERVE MINORITY LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES AND SUPPORT THE VISION AND MISSION OF SIL INTERNATIONAL, PRIMARILY THROUGH A FOCUS ON LANGUAGE AND ITS ROLE IN EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN MINORITY LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES.

DURING FY22, SIL LEAD PARTICIPATED AS A SUBCONTRACTOR ON 5 EDUCATION PROJECTS FUNDED BY USAID, 1 PROJECT FUNDED BY UNICEF, AND 1 PROJECT FUNDED BY A NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION. THESE PROJECTS TOOK PLACE IN MALI, PANAMA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, THE PHILIPPINES, SENEGAL, AND SOMALIA. WORK ON THE USAID PROJECTS WAS PERFORMED AS A SUBCONTRACTOR TO THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS: CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL, RTI INTERNATIONAL, SAVE THE CHILDREN AUSTRALIA, AND WORLD VISION. EACH OF THESE PROJECTS IS DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN THE RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES AND IS OFTEN CARRIED OUT IN COLLABORATION WITH THE HOST COUNTRY THROUGH ITS MINISTRY OF EDUCATION. SIL LEAD'S INVOLVEMENT IN THESE PROJECTS OFTEN INVOLVES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN CURRICULUM REVIEW, EVALUATION, AND DESIGN; POLICY REVIEW AND SUPPORT; ENHANCEMENT OF LOCAL CAPACITY THROUGH TRAINING AND CONSULTATION; DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS; THE TRAINING OF WRITERS, TEACHERS, AND TRAINERS; AND/OR FACILITATION AND SUPPORT OF WORKSHOPS. SPECIFIC FY22 ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY PROJECT FOLLOW. 1) PHILIPPINES ABC+ (RTI INTERNATIONAL): THE ABC+ PROGRAM SEEKS TO IMPROVE EARLY GRADE LITERACY IN THE MOTHER TONGUE AND LEARNERS' TRANSITION OF READING ABILITY TO FILIPINO AND ENGLISH. SIL LEAD HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY GRADE READING (EGR) MATERIALS USING BLOOM IN A NUMBER OF PHILIPPINE LANGUAGES. THESE LANGUAGES INCLUDE TAGALOG/FILIPINO, HILIGAYNON, KINARAY-A, MINASBATE, RINCONADA, MAGUINDANAWN, SINUGBUANONG BINISAYA (CEBUANO), AKEANON, BIKOL MIRAYA, AND SOUTHERN SORSOGANON. SIL LEAD CONSULTANTS HAVE LED SCOPE AND SEQUENCE WORKSHOPS FOR MANY OF THESE LANGUAGES AND PROVIDED ORIENTATION TO LANGUAGE RESOURCE EVALUATORS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. SIL LEAD ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDITING GUIDES FOR ALL OF THE LANGUAGES TO HELP ENSURE THAT MATERIALS DEVELOPED ACROSS THE PROJECT IN EACH LANGUAGE ARE WRITTEN CONSISTENTLY. 2) MALI BWB (WORLD VISION): THE OBJECTIVE OF THE MALI BWB PRIZE AWARD WAS FOR SIL LEAD TO DEVELOP 400+ QUALITY, ACCESSIBLE BOOKS IN MALI'S SONINKE AND MAMARA LANGUAGES. ADDITIONALLY, THE GOAL WAS TO ADD SIGN LANGUAGE TO 20 SELECTED BOOKS. THE PROJECT FOCUSED ON ADAPTING EXISTING BOOKS FROM VARIOUS PLATFORMS AND DEVELOPING 25 NEW DECODABLE BOOKS PER LANGUAGE. IN FY22, SIL LEAD CONTINUED TO ADAPT AND CREATE BOOKS USING SIL'S BLOOM SOFTWARE AND ADAPTED 20 BOOKS IN SIGN LANGUAGE FOR THE DEAF AND HEARING-IMPAIRED CHILDREN IN MALI. 3) PAPUA NEW GUINEA YUMI AND COVICEF (SAVE THE CHILDREN AUSTRALIA): IN COLLABORATION WITH SIL PNG, SIL LEAD UPLOADED AND ORGANIZED 500+ BOOKS ON THE YRT BLOOM LIBRARY PAGE INTO LEVELS AND SIGN-LANGUAGE CATEGORIES USING BLOOM'S CARD SYSTEM, PROCURED 2,435 CUSTOM BRANDED MICROSD CARDS AND SHIPPED THEM TO PNG, DEVELOPED 20 SIGN LANGUAGE (SL) BOOKS IN COLLABORATION WITH SAVE THE CHILDREN AND CALLAN SERVICES, AND DEVELOPED 5 PNG SL BOOKLETS IN COLLABORATION WITH PNG DEAF ASSOCIATION. 4) SOMALIA BAB (CREATIVE ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL): BAR AMA BARO ("TEACH OR LEARN") AIMS TO INCREASE ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION FOR OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN AND YOUTH AGES 8-15 THROUGH ACCELERATED EDUCATION PROGRAMS (AEPS) IN TARGETED REGIONS OF SOMALIA. THE PROJECT SEEKS TO INCREASE STUDENT ENROLLMENT AT THE AEP SITES, IMPROVE THEIR SAFETY, AND MONITOR THEIR ACQUISITION OF LITERACY, NUMERACY, AND SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS. IN FY22, SIL LEAD RECRUITED AN ARABIC LANGUAGE CURRICULUM SPECIALIST TO ASSIST WITH THE REVISION OF THE BAB ARABIC LANGUAGE CURRICULUM. 5) SENEGAL RELIT (RTI INTERNATIONAL): AS A RESOURCE PARTNER TO RTI ON THE USAID/ SENEGAL RELIT PROJECT, AN SIL LEAD CONSULTANT TRAINED THE RTI/SENEGAL RELIT TEAM TO USE PRIMERPREP SOFTWARE TO ANALYZE 3 LANGUAGES (MANINKE, SONINKE, AND DIOLA). THE VIRTUAL TRAINING INVOLVED AN INITIAL CONSULTATION EXPLAINING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE TEXT CORPUS FILE(S), RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO CLEAN UP THE TEXT, INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRIMERPREP, AND A DETAILED REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT CORPUS FILES. 6) PHILIPPINES (UNICEF): WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF ITS LOCAL PARTNERS, SIL PHILIPPINES AND THE INGLE TRUST FOUNDATION OF DAVAO, SIL LEAD WORKED WITH 9 LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES TO DEVELOP 5 STORYBOOKS IN EACH LANGUAGE. SIL LEAD HAD THESE BOOKS PRINTED AND DELIVERED TO THE LOCAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OFFICES AND THEY ARE NOW IN USE. IN TOTAL, MORE THAN 13,000 BOOKS WERE PRINTED. SIL LEAD AND ITS CONSULTANTS ALSO DEVELOPED A NATIONAL TRAINING MODULE SO THAT OTHER LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES CAN FOLLOW THE SAME PROCESS TO CREATE STORYBOOKS. 7) PANAMA MECSE (ORGANIZATION OF IBERO-AMERICAN STATES): IN FY22, SIL LEAD WAS CONTRACTED BY THE ORGANIZATION OF IBERO-AMERICAN STATES TO CARRY OUT A PROJECT FUNDED BY THE INTERAMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK. THE SCOPE OF WORK INCLUDED ANALYZING EXISTING EARLY GRADE LEARNING MATERIALS IN 4 INDIGENOUS PANAMANIAN LANGUAGES: BUGLE, EMBERA, GUNA, AND NGABE. IN ADDITION TO ANALYZING THESE MATERIALS AND REPORTING OUR FINDINGS VIA BOTH A DIGITAL DATABASE AND A WRITTEN REPORT, SIL LEAD IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR FACILITATING AND REPORTING ON A SURVEY OF LANGUAGE COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE OFFICIAL ALPHABETS FOR THEIR LANGUAGES. THE SURVEY WORK IS CURRENTLY ONGOING.

SIL LEAD CONTINUED TO PROVIDE CAPACITY BUILDING AND OTHER DIRECT SERVICES TO SIL INTERNATIONAL AND ITS OPERATING UNITS. SPECIFIC FY22 AREAS OF SERVICE FOLLOW. 1) CONSULTANT DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT: SIL LEAD PARTICIPATED IN SIL INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCES ON THE TRAINING AND DEPLOYING OF CONSULTANTS FOR PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. ADDITIONALLY, SIL LEAD'S SENIOR MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION AND LITERACY CONSULTANT CONTINUED WORKING ON A SERIES OF DOCUMENTS THAT WILL BE LEVERAGED TO DEVELOP THE CAPACITY OF CURRENT AND FUTURE SIL LEAD CONSULTANTS. THESE MATERIALS MAY ALSO BE DRAWN ON TO PROVIDE TRAINING TO CLIENT STAFF AND IN THE FIELD IN OUR VARIOUS PROJECTS. 2) PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: SIL LEAD ASSISTED SIL IN IDENTIFYING RELEVANT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES AND DEVELOPING PROPOSALS TO SECURE GRANTS WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON GOVERNMENT FUNDING, BOTH FOR SIL-SPECIFIC PROJECTS AND JOINT PROJECTS. 3) FINANCIAL TRAINING SERVICES: SIL LEAD CONTINUED WITH ITS WORK ON A TRAINING MODULE DESIGNED TO STRENGTHEN THE CAPACITY OF SIL UNITS WHEN WORKING WITH GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. 4) GENERAL CAPACITY BUILDING SERVICES: THE ORGANIZATION ALSO SUPPORTED SIL AND ITS OPERATING UNITS WITH EXPERTISE RELATED TO INVOICING AND OTHER PROCESSES NEEDED IN WORKING WITH OUTSIDE FUNDERS.

BLOOM BOOK CREATION SOFTWARE CONTINUES TO BE ONE OF SIL LEAD'S PRIMARY SERVICE AREAS. IN FY22 SIL LEAD 1) CONTINUED TO SUPPORT SIL INTERNATIONAL'S BLOOM MAINTENANCE AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS; 2) ISSUED AND MAINTAINED BLOOM ENTERPRISE SUBSCRIPTIONS SERVING COMMUNITIES IN GUATEMALA, KYRGYZSTAN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, AND THE PHILIPPINES; 3) MADE 330 BLOOM BOOKS FROM THE AFGHAN CHILDREN READING PROJECT FREELY AVAILABLE TO THE AFGHAN DIASPORA THROUGH BLOOMLIBRARY.ORG; 4) PROVIDED TRAINING AND CONSULTING TO WORLD VISION MALAWI TO SUPPORT THE USE OF BLOOM IN 100 CHILDREN'S READING CAMPS; 5) IMPROVED BLOOM TRAINING MATERIALS; 6) FACILITATED THE TRAINING OF 4 BLOOM MASTER TRAINERS IN LATIN AMERICA AND AFRICA; 7) CONTINUED TO WORK WITH THE BLOOM TEAM, SIL'S CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER, AND OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS TO DEVELOP A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL FOR BLOOM.

COMMUNITY-BASED LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: SIL LEAD ASSISTED COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN THEIR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS THROUGH ITS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION GRANTS PROGRAM.