African Literacy Campaign – Summer 2026
Building the Capacity to Learn
The Challenge
Despite Ebola, COVID and post-genocide poverty and corruption, there is one constant over our 20 years of work in West Africa: children striving to learn in off-again, on-again school systems turning out generations of functional illiterates.
In Liberia, the education system is still recovering from years of civil war, tripped up twice by pandemics. Only about half of children complete primary school. For those that stay the course to adulthood, real learning gained is closer to two years by developed world standards. Students move from grade to grade without a strong foundation, while teachers do their best without the practical tools to support real understanding.
In Ghana, the situation appears hopeful on the surface. Access is strong. Institutions are stable. A national competency-based curriculum is already in place. But national test results still show that many students struggle, especially in math and English. Teachers are being asked to teach in new ways without enough hands-on training to make a meaningful difference.
In both countries, access to school is not the problem. It is whether actual learning is occurring. And so, in 2026, we continue our delivery with expanded Liberian teacher training over May and in the months to follow.
The Progress to Date:
2006
This work began through the African Human Rights Leadership Campaign, engaging young people in Liberia and Ghana around civic education and leadership.
2006–2014
While we were able to activate thousands of youth as peer human rights educators across West Africa, it became clear that literacy and learning capacity were the roots of many larger challenges.
2014–2015
The Ebola shut down of Liberia’s schools redoubled our determination to focus directly on learning itself.
2016
We formally partnered with Applied Scholastics International and began delivering structured, competency-based student and teacher training focused on how learning works.
2016–2019
Multiple workshop trainings in Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone, working with teachers, universities, and education leaders.
2020–2021
While COVID halted travel, training continued online. Teachers completed APS courses such as "Learning How to Learn" and "Dictionary Skills," helping maintain momentum.
2022
We returned to Liberia and Ghana, training some 80 professors and instructors at Cuttington University’s main campus in Liberia as well as educators and policymakers in Ghana’s Central Region.
2023
Training expanded, including the faculty at Cuttington’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies in Monrovia, Liberia and 90 teachers across Ghanaian regions, moving the Ghana Education Service to request broader scale-up.
2024
Fully shifting our focus to a trainer-of-trainers model led by local educators, the demand accelerated sharply. In Ghana, local APS trainers introduced Study Tech to more than 500 educators in just a few weeks, with many more showing up than we could accommodate. We also trained teachers affiliated with the Federation of Liberian Youth, the oldest youth service organization in that country.
2025
We now have 20 certified trainers in Ghana and more than 12 in Liberia. We have trained more than 1,000 teachers over the life of the campaign, with more than 700 since 2024. The GES has formally requested expansion toward 22,000 teachers in the Central Region, with a long-term vision of nationwide rollout.
Meanwhile, Campaign Director Joseph Yarsiah trained at APS Spanish Lake to certification as a course room supervisor, in December successfully apprenticing by training the another African country’s minister and his delegation.
The Road Traveled and Ahead in 2026
In the opening four months this year, we have strengthened our foundations while new government demands open even greater opportunities.
1. Global Cares Mission Academy: In Monrovia, 11 of 12 Global Cares teachers completed full certification in the Progressive Teaching Tools course. One teacher remains in progress, with certification targeted for early May 2026. Global Cares is now a planned APS licensed school, with a dedicated learning room planned as part of its construction expansion.
2. Bong County Teachers: Liberian counties are the equivalent of American states. Bong is Liberia’s center and crossroads, Gbarnga its capital. 20 high school educators completed a two-day seminar on the three barriers to study, enabling effective education to the hundreds of students they instruct. On the rapid word-of-mouth of the workshop's success, the County Education Officer has formally requested Study Tech training for over 300 additional teachers from remote districts outside Gbarnga.
3. Cuttington University: We returned to Cuttington’s main campus in Suakoko, Bong County, with 53 students completing a two-day Study Tech seminar, coordinated by VP for Development Dr. Rosemarie T. Santos. Cuttington has requested annual Study Tech delivery for all incoming first-year students, with faculty training proposed for July.
With every venue asking for more, we return to Liberia this month for:
● As the next step towards APS licensing, Global Cares Academy faculty to complete Teaching with a New Approach, a seven-day intensive check-sheeted course, building directly on February delivery; and
● With Dr. Odewumi Oletundi, also a fully trained APS supervisor, joining Jay from Abuja, Nigeria, another 100 teachers from Bong County’s poorest regions to train in Study Tech, enabling them to reach thousands of students in turn. With success, we expect county government to call for universal training of all educators under its charge.
Conclusion
Again, to our supporters, past and to come: thank you. None of this was or would be possible without your generosity.
Together, we are not just bringing hope were too often there has been none; we are bringing the effective learning tools for competency to make that hopes and dreams the reality.
Together, let this be our legacy.
Jay Yarsiah
Atlanta, Georgia
Tim Bowles
Pasadena, California
Sunday, May 3, 2026