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MANILA – Ryan Washburn, the Philippines Mission Director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), recently visited Negros Occidental to highlight USAID’s partnerships for water and economic resilience, as well as to launch a technology-based reading program for early-grade learners.

On March 22, Washburn joined National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary Roderick M. Planta, Governor Eugenio Lacson of Negros Occidental, Representative Francisco Benitez, Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines president Ma. Cecilia Alcantara, and local government officials for a ceremonial tree planting commemorating the Partnership for Water and Economic Resilience’s first anniversary (P4WatER).

P4WatER is a four-year watershed conservation initiative led by Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines Inc. and the Multisectoral Alliance for Development-Negros that aims to restore watershed regions and give rice and sugar farmers with a sustainable living.

USAID also assisted the provincial government of Negros Occidental in establishing its first water security plan.

“When we conserve forests, watersheds, and water resources, we’re also protecting communities from climate risks, and more crucially, we’re giving them the tools they need to recover and rebuild their lives after the devastating effects of climate change,” Washburn added.

The Beginning Reading Initiative, a technology-based learning program that uses low-cost electronic tablets called Learn Kernels to help children in Kindergarten to Grade 3 learn to read, was also introduced by USAID through its flagship ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines programme.

USAID handed out 300 Learn Kernels preloaded with USAID-developed early grade reading resources in various mother tongue languages in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the American company Learn Kernel Corp.

These electronic tablets, which can be used without Wi-Fi, will allow youngsters to receive education regardless of where they are or how connected they are.

“Reading is a key tool for thinking and learning,” Washburn said, adding that it has an integrated and cumulative influence on comprehension in all subject areas. “The program’s purpose is to ensure that no youngster falls behind in their studies.”

He also read a USAID-created storybook to local youngsters and presented Lacson and DepEd Region 6 Assistant Director Pedro Escobarte with Hiligaynon and Sinugbuanong Binisaya language reading materials.

Since the outbreak, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has sent almost 1.5 million early grade reading resources in these mother tongue languages to students in Western Visayas.

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