Magsimulang Magbasa Program: A Year of Building Early Literacy Foundations
In early 2025, the Adarna Group Foundation (AGFI) initiated the development of the Magsimulang Magbasa Program (MMP), a capacity-building initiative aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of child development workers (CDWs) in teaching early literacy, with a focus on the six domains of reading readiness. Rooted in AGFI’s vision of helping every Filipino child become a reader, the program was shaped through collaboration with early childhood care and development professionals, local government units, and partner organizations. It transforms a shared aspiration into a comprehensive, community-centered program that nurtures children’s love for reading.
Implemented through six workshops across the school year, the program teaches various strategies to enhance oral language, listening comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, print awareness, and emergent writing among young learners. Grounded in the National Early Learning Framework, the MMP is developmentally appropriate, play-based, inclusive, and culturally responsive to the needs of children. It also recognizes the parents as essential learning partners and their homes as an important environment for early literacy development.
AGFI, together with LBC Hari ng Padala Foundation Inc., successfully completed the program in 72 child development centers, reaching 65 child development workers and more than 1,600 daycare students and parents across Samal, Bataan; Anao and Pura, Tarlac; and child development centers supported by Kagabay Foundation and Move.Org Foundation. As part of this initiative, AGFI and LBC Hari ng Padala Foundation were able to distribute more than 16,000 learning and reading materials to CDWs, daycare students, and parents, including training modules for CDWs and parents, big books for each child development center, and picture books for daycare students.
Monitoring and evaluation findings for the program point to meaningful gains in both educator practice and learner support. Results showed increased knowledge and strengthened classroom practices among CDWs across reading readiness domains, particularly in storybook reading and the use of story-based learning activities to support early literacy.
While the year-long implementation has yielded meaningful outcomes, AGFI’s monitoring and evaluation also surfaced opportunities for further strengthening. Among these is the need to deepen partnerships between daycare teachers and parents, and to strengthen follow-through activities at home for children to experience a more holistic and consistent learning journey across settings.
As AGFI continues to refine and strengthen the Magsimulang Magbasa Program, these improvements are guided by a commitment to remain responsive to the needs of children and their learning communities. This program also seeks to stay aligned with the recommendations of EDCOM II, particularly in enhancing accessibility and strengthening support for learning.
AGFI invites communities, partners, and families to advance a shared vision of making every Filipino child a reader. Partner with AGFI and help nurture a generation of readers.