School Readiness Initiative in Namibia
For more than four years, the Roger Federer Foundation has been active in Namibia to strengthen the quality of early childhood education in vulnerable communities. In line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4.2, until 2026, the Foundation will be focusing on the significant change in life before the transition to primary school. It is important to prepare children well for school and enhance their school readiness. This means that they should be developmentally on track in health, learning, as well as psychosocial well-being before they enter primary school. The transition from preschool to primary school is highly sensitive and full of challenges for children: If they are inadequately prepared for school or badly embedded in their new environment, they are highly likely not to develop properly and to drop out of school. The initiative of the Roger Federer Foundation will therefore not only enhance the children’s readiness for school, but also the schools' readiness for the children. The initiative is process-oriented and bridge-building.
The main goal of the new School Readiness Initiative, which started in January 2018 and will be running until the end of 2025, is to secure a good start in primary education for vulnerable children aged between three and eight. By the end of the initiative, 80% of Namibian girls and boys will have access to quality pre-primary education and will thus be ready for primary school. Furthermore, the initiative is strengthening the Namibian Government in meeting its obligations in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goal 4.2: “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.”
For the School Readiness Initiative, the Roger Federer Foundation has developed an Early Learning Kiosk, which is an offline tablet with several tools and apps to capacitate teachers in early childhood education comprehensively. The Early Learning Kiosk was received everywhere with great enthusiasm because of its cost-efficiency and flexible access to know-how and learning, allowing an easy scale to the large number of unqualified teachers. Read more about the Early Learning Kiosk here.
The programme is a co-sponsorship with the Swiss Botnar Foundation. The Board has approved a total budget of CHF 7’300’00 for the period in question. Its impact objectives are the following:
Increase children’s participation in organized learning at least one year before their transition to primary school
Increase children’s school readiness at primary school entrance age
Decrease repetitions in lower school grades
Decrease dropouts in lower school grades
Establish a child development monitoring system and quality rating scheme (transition phase)
