19 Years of AIDGLOBAL Impact
In Mozambique, where teaching reading, and writing and the lack of pedagogical resources are still the biggest challenges faced by the educational system and Mozambican society, AIDGLOBAL opened a delegation in the Chibuto District in 2009 to increase Literacy levels. Over 19 years, the Organization has directly impacted over 68 thousand children, young people, educators, teachers, and municipal technicians. Since then, it has equipped 31 School Libraries, benefiting more than 68 thousand students, who now have access to books in their schools. It also trained 917 teachers in promoting reading, offering quality resources and training, and donated 70 thousand books.
Between 2021 and 2024, AIDGLOBAL created 6 Community Schools, which benefit 824 children aged 3 to 5 years. The Escolinhas offer Early Childhood Education, through an innovative bilingual model, focusing on nature and the use of local and sustainable pedagogical resources. Among the resources, the 8 Bibliotchovas stand out — mobile libraries created by AIDGLOBAL in 2011, adapted to serve preschool children. The management of the Escolinhas is led by the community itself, promoting a participatory and local management model.
In Portugal, the Education for Development and Global Citizenship projects promoted by AIDGLOBAL reached more than 100 schools from the north to the south of the country, including the islands, raising awareness of around 11 thousand students on issues of development and civic participation. The initiatives also involved the training of 1,000 teachers on topics such as equality between men and women, sustainability, and Human Rights, with the creation of around 29 pedagogical resources prepared in partnership with teachers.
About the “Livros para Começar” Collection
The bilingual collection “Livros para Começar” is made up of titles that invoke the rich Mozambican cultural heritage, written in Portuguese and translated into the XiChangana language, awakening interest in reading in children, from early childhood. With illustrations, created by Mozambican artists, which pay homage to the art of Mozambique, the books address educational themes that encourage the development of fundamental skills and values such as citizenship, empathy, and solidarity.
The collection reinforces the Organization's commitment to children's literacy and contributes to the formation of future generations of critical and informed readers. The books were developed to expand access to Mozambican children's literature, written in one of the national languages, encouraging a taste for reading and learning in children's mother tongue, while at the same time enabling, from an early age, contact with the Official Language. The initiative was developed within the scope of the project “Educators in Motion - An Itinerant Education for Early Childhood”, which works towards the integral and harmonious development of preschool children, in the District of Chibuto, in Mozambique, through the promotion of Education for Early Childhood.
In the words of the Founder and President of AIDGLOBAL, Susana Damasceno, “In these 19 years, we have seen how change happens through Education. With this collection, we hope that every child can find a door to the world of reading and a future with more opportunities.”
The project “Educators in Motion - An Itinerant Education for Early Childhood” has as its main financier the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, as co-financier Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P., as promoter AIDGLOBAL, project manager, as partners the District Service for Youth, Education and Technology of Chibuto (SDJET) and the District Service for Health, Women and Social Action (SDSMAS) of Chibuto – entities that guarantee the articulation of the project with public policies.
We invite you to read the birthday celebration message from the Founder and President of the Board, Susana Damasceno, here: https://www.aidglobal.org/newsletters/
