Congo-Kinshasa
Kongo Central, CEC

The partnership

ALEF collaborated during the period 2018-2021 with a group of congregations within the Equmenia church and their local partner CEC church to produce teaching materials in Kikongo. Materials for three levels were created, and a program with six groups in all three levels started in the municipality of Wombo. Since 2022, the project has been financed with Sida funds through the Equmenia church's collaboration with BCPAD, the CEC church's aid organization.

 

In early 2023, a request came from BCPAD to use the ALEF materials to scale up and expand the project to a total of 1,000 participants in 2024. ALEF signed an agreement to hold a one-week training for BCPAD's 20 newly recruited coaches, which was carried out in Kimpese in February 2024.

 

The situation

The Kikongo language is one of the four national languages ​​in Congo-Kinshasa and is spoken by several million in e.g. the province of Congo Central which lies like a wedge between Congo-Brazzaville in the north and Angola in the south. Here, many people live in small villages in almost roadless but fertile land. They do not suffer from a lack of food, but due to the poor infrastructure, they have difficulty selling their agricultural products and affording to buy goods and to pay for healthcare, school, etc.

 

 

The courses

During April-May 2018 and 2019, ALEF conducted two seminars in the central city of Kimpese where manuals and booklets for year 1 and 2 were created according to ALEF's method. The courses are constructed in the same way as in the other groups where ALEF has created teaching materials. In year 1, you learn to read and write the mother tongue by working with your own texts as conversations around important subjects. In year 2, you continue reading and writing and add the four methods. Level 3 was created digitally in 2021.​

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