Community-based evidence on what children can actually do

Languages

Citizen-led assessments are designed to be administered in languages that children are familiar with. Assessment languages therefore vary by country and sometimes by region.

SDG 4.1.1a and minimum proficiency

Older citizen-led assessments were not always designed for direct SDG 4.1.1a reporting, but they provide important evidence on foundational reading and numeracy. Minimum proficiency is usually defined by the highest task level successfully completed.

The People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network brings together civil society organizations to assess the basic reading and numeracy competencies of all children, in their homes, through annual citizen-led assessments.

Use the map to explore the languages of assessment and see participating African countries. 

Get the data

Some earlier PAL Network datasets were previously available through the PAL Network datasets page, but access is uneven and some older links are inactive. Users may need to contact PAL Network member organisations for specific datasets.

What is assessed?

Reading: Simple reading tasks designed to show whether children can read letters, words, sentences, or short texts, depending on the country and assessment round.

Numeracy: Foundational number and arithmetic tasks, typically designed to be simple, intuitive, and easy to administer in households.

How is it administered?

Each of the organizations implementing citizen-led assessments work with a network of partners across their respective countries to mobilize and train volunteers in the use of a very simple tool for effectively measuring children’s basic reading and math levels. Citizen volunteers then visit households in a sample of villages and test every child one-on-one within a given age range. They include children in and out of school, making them especially useful for understanding who is being missed by school-based assessments.