Funda Wande

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Our Vision

South Africa is virtually unique among upper-middle-income countries in that 81% of our children do not learn to read for meaning in the first three years of school. Without this core skill, they fall further and further behind as they are promoted into higher grades.

1All South African children can read for meaning by the end of grade 3.

2All Grade R-3 teachers are well-equipped to teach children how to read by 2030.

What do we do?

Funda Wande, a member of Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies, is a not-for-profit organization that aims to equip teachers to teach reading-for-meaning and calculating-with-confidence in Grades R-3 in South Africa. We do this by hiring the best people we can find and work as a team to create high-quality materials, experiment with different teacher training approaches, and independently evaluate everything we do. Our materials and training are created in the languages that children speak and understand and are freely-available for anyone to download and use. Our programs and materials are all evidence-based, independently-evaluated, policy-aligned and cost-effective.

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Our courses

If all children are to learn to read for meaning by 2030, we will need many more coaches, subject advisers and teachers to be trained on how to teach reading for meaning. Funda Wande has developed courses that are specifically tailored to early literacy and to teaching reading in African languages. Our courses are available as a formal qualification through Rhodes University through the Advanced Certificate in Early Literacy teaching in the foundation phase, or the course materials are freely available on our website.

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