In 2023, the Unifor Social Justice Fund marked its 10th anniversary by making generous contributions to three outstanding Canadian international development organizations working around the world. CODE was honoured to be among the recipients, receiving $100,000 in support of a special literacy project in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
CODE’s Teaching and Learning in Fragile Contexts (TLFC), co-funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, is a comprehensive four-year education program with an aim to improve literacy for primary level students. The project focuses on teacher development (both in-service and pre-service) through intensive workshops and mentorship, as well as on the production and distribution of high-quality and culturally relevant supplementary readers.
Funding from the Unifor Social Justice Fund supported the development of 12 new locally authored and illustrated reading anthologies designed to engage young readers and foster a love of learning. After two years of writing, illustrating, designing, and editing, CODE and our local partners are pleased to report that in recent months the books have been printed, distributed, and are now in the hands of children in the two countries. Each anthology, averaging 85 pages, features a diverse selection of culturally relevant, grade-level and curriculum-aligned texts and includes a teachers’ guide to support effective classroom use.
Over 60,000 copies of the new Reading Africa anthologies, along with 10,000 reprinted CODE storybooks, are being distributed to more than 100 primary schools and ten teachers’ colleges. These resources support the literacy and learning of nearly 30,000 girls and boys, as well as teacher training, across the two countries.
Working alongside our local partners, the Association of Language and Literacy Educators in Sierra Leone and the WE-CARE Foundation in Liberia, CODE drew on extensive experience and international networks to support both book development and the capacity building of local authors and illustrators.
CODE is sincerely grateful to the Unifor Social Justice Fund for its generous support and for helping bring these culturally relevant reading materials to life for young learners.
About Unifor Social Justice Fund
Unifor is dedicated to tackling the social and economic conditions that contribute to injustice and inequality to improve the lives of workers, families and other marginalized communities in Canada and around the world. One way that UNIFOR fulfills this commitment is through the Unifor Social Justice Fund. Over the past decade, the Unifor Social Justice Fund has supported over 290 international projects in over 60 countries, including across Canada, supporting programs and initiatives around protecting human and workers’ rights, supporting gender equity and women’s rights, promoting water justice, supporting access to education, improving health care services, fostering community development, providing emergency aid and disaster relief, and much more.