Sweaty palms. Shifting feet. Nervous smiles. It could be any spelling bee in the world. But this spelling bee is special: it’s the first-ever Malawian Sign Language Spelling Competition for learners who are deaf. Eighteen learners, divided into two groups, competed in the event, signing their answers to the challenging words presented to them. Unlike a traditional spelling bee where each word is announced, this competition split students into two groups and used a series of photos as prompts. Judges assessed the students’ accuracy in vocabulary recognition, fingerspelling, and sign language fluency. One top prize went to Teleza Livala, 14, for the most words finger spelled correctly, and Chifundo Thabwa, 13, won first place for correctly matching the most written words with their corresponding photos.
This groundbreaking event, held on July 21, 2023, was organized by the local partner organization Malawian National Association of the Deaf (MANAD) under the All Children Reading (ACR) initiative, a Grand Challenge funded by the World Vision and the U.S. and Australian Governments.
According to an article published in the Nyasa Times, “Malawi is the second country in Africa to conduct such a competition after Botswana, which conducted its first in 2019,” setting Malawian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) apart as visionary leaders in inclusive education.
With support from ACR, MANAD, a local deaf-led organization, has not only extended its work on deaf education to engage local stakeholders, broadcasting networks, NGOs, and Malawi’s Directorate of Special Needs Education — but it has also grown as an organization, transitioning from being an ACR subcontractor to an ACR prime implementing partner under the initiative.
From Subcontractor to Prime Partner
MANAD’s initial engagement with ACR was as a subcontractor. The organization received funding to support the creation of books in underserved languages via its prime, eKitabu, and jointly produced the first set of 50 Malawian sign language storybooks. MANAD also supported eKitabu’s development of an online Malawian sign language early-grade vocabulary resource that documented over 400 signs.
Following this successful collaboration, ACR initiated a capacity evaluation of MANAD with the prime, resulting in a technical assistance award to MANAD. MANAD trained educators in each of the seven specialized schools for the deaf in Malawi on Universal Design for Learning principles that give all students an opportunity to succeed through flexible approaches in how they access materials and in how they demonstrate their learning. MANAD also distributed Android tablets loaded with 50 Malawian sign language story books and open digital library apps and trained teachers on how to use these to supplement their curriculum with visually based learning materials.
MANAD, with support from World Vision Malawi, simultaneously trained parents and caregivers to create support networks for parents of deaf children and introduce them to Malawian sign language to improve intra-family communication and advocacy around their children’s rights and access to an equitable education.
“Local deaf-led organizations like MANAD are well positioned to advance the educational outcomes of all children in Malawi, in support of the initial vision that created ACR over 11 years ago,” said Erin Williams, Program Manager for ACR. “MANAD’s success is a case study in how nontraditional mechanisms can harness innovation through small investments that yield large returns in the inclusive education sector and impact future generations of learners.”
Building Momentum and Knowledge
Upon completion of the sign language storybooks, ACR designed a prize open to local organizations that had worked on storybook production as subcontractors. MANAD received a follow-on award as a prime partner and, under this award, successfully subcontracted their previous prime partner to support them in piloting a spelling bee competition with deaf students to enhance their reading abilities and to also produce television episodes drawn from the Malawian sign language books they had jointly produced.
“We grew so much as a subcontractor under Begins With Books, and benefited a lot. We enriched our skills and knowledge through the sign language video production, which eventually positioned us for a prime role whilst utilizing skills capitalized from that subcontractor role, enabling us to produce 24 episodes and ten additional sign language books,” said Sekerani Kufakwina, Advocacy Committee Chairperson and Sign Language Books in Action Lead for MANAD.
MANAD’s momentum has not been lost on private and public sector stakeholders. In September 2023, MANAD entered a partnership with the prestigious Malawi National Spelling Bee competition. This partnership established, in collaboration with the Malawian government over the next ten years, what will be the first inclusive National Spelling Bee for deaf students in Malawi.
In November 2023, MANAD partnered with the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation to broadcast Malawian sign language–based TV episodes every Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. for 30 minutes, representing the first-ever sign language–based television content that both deaf and hearing children and the general public in Malawi can access and enjoy.
Reflections on the Journey
Along its remarkable path to prime partnership, MANAD benefitted from a close relationship with the donor and technical partners, allowing MANAD to demonstrate how their innovative ideas would advance their shared organizational goals while meeting donor requirements. As the organization serving as Fund Manager for ACR, World Vision took an approach that moved beyond compliance management to a focus on mentorship and leadership development. World Vision also ensured that program activities were refined based on inputs from MANAD and other local organizations of persons with disabilities with whom they worked.
Kufakwina noted, “Most local organizations of persons with disabilities face the same budget and brand awareness limitations that MANAD does. Accessing grant funding requires continual learning, reflection, and intentionality to better understand more about what international donor requirements entail. It is also critical that organizations of persons with disabilities, at the same time, continue seeking strong partnerships that ensure their unique skill set is represented and clearly included in the project design and deliverables to ensure local expertise is used to optimize all project activities.”
Grant funding effectively acts as a springboard for local organizations into thought leadership and endorsement as key partners with local stakeholders. Although MANAD historically had played a prominent role advocating for the rights of deaf persons in Malawi, grant funding enabled MANAD to tangibly demonstrate their subject-matter expertise. Furthermore, MANAD has strengthened its organizational reputation, leading to a transformed and more effective working relationship with Malawi’s Ministry of Education and Directorate of Special Needs.
These successes would not have been possible without the vision, mentoring, and creative solutions developed by MANAD and the ACR team to systematically remove barriers that traditionally kept local organizations—especially those organizations led by and serving persons with disabilities—from accessing donor funding. Today, MANAD is a stronger organization because of this donor funding, and is well-recognized by peers and the government. Their increased credibility within the local system has empowered MANAD to evolve into a leader, amplifying their efforts to improve inclusive education and accessibility in Malawi.
“From this experience, we have learned that it is possible to make inclusive education a reality, and we will continue to lobby and advocate for the meaningful and effective inclusion of deaf children in Malawi in addition to equitable and accessible materials. We wholeheartedly believe in the slogan ‘Nothing about us without us,’” said Kufankwina.
For Chifundo, winning first prize in her category in the spelling bee has been a source of tremendous pride, giving her more confidence as she continues her studies. Thanks to MANAD’s support, she is motivated to keep studying and to encourage her classmates to do the same. She now dreams of an opportunity to compete in an international spelling bee — one that will inspire her and her classmates to keep working hard, knowing that their education is the gateway to untold opportunities ahead.
Click here to see Chifundo share about her experience competing in the first spelling bee for deaf students in Malawi. For additional resources from All Children Reading, check out WV Malawi’s Bloom bookshelf with accessible content, eKitabu’s open digital library of Malawian sign language books, reading innovations for children with disabilities, Bloom Library’s sign language books, and RIT NTID’s Deaf World Around You online book creation platform and collection of books in over 25 local sign languages.
This article was originally published on a former U.S. government platform dedicated to development partnerships. The article was written by Erin Anderson Williams, former Program Manager for All Children Reading, which funded MANAD through their innovation challenges; Lauren VanEnk, former Senior Technical Advisor for Locally Led Development at World Vision; and Thandeka Nkhonde, who served served as a Education Technical Program Manager with World Vision and held a role in higher education program management for the U.S. government in Malawi.
