The id:rc was just contracted by the World Bank to support the design, piloting, and evaluaton of the Read@Home Activities in Iraq.  The Read@Home initiative is a World Bank program working with governments and other partners in 18 countries so far to expand access to quality reading and learning materials, reduce the cost of procuring and distributing books, and support parents and caregivers from the most vulnerable households to engage with their children’s learning.

In Iraq, the id:rc is handling the production and distributing of books and materials to homes of beneficiary families, providing training to the caregivers on the use of those materials with their children and encourage children’s home learning, and collecting ongoing data to monitor implementation on the ground and impact evaluation.

The activity targets 200 households in areas with high district-level poverty and poor education outcomes and will contribute to the Government of Iraq’s new 10-year Early Child Education Strategy which includes a central focus on increasing ECE provision.