18.9 % of children in Malawi aged 7–14 years have foundational literacy skills, (Malawi M ICS, 2021), 14 % of 7 & and 8-year-olds can read a short story at a required level. Malawi literacy rate being 68 % signifies the need for literacy skills as addressed by Bloomers initiative having trained 1415 students in primary and secondary in creative writing, has published 5 books and built 1 library.
The Bloomers initiative enhances creative writing while also initiating reading. The initiative trains students in creative writing, in which they come up with their own short stories based on the current issues in their communities such as discrimination, poverty, child marriages, gender-based violence, corruption just to mention a few. The creative work is later on compiled and published into a book. The initiative uses the mentorship model in which the trained students also train other students as mentors. The initiative has also published a book in braille by students with visual impairment, and the book " My dream " by students with hearing impairment has so far won two international, African Authors Honoree awards (South Africa), Mulher Forte Awards (Botswana), It also emerged as a finalist for Eltons Local Innovation by British Council, London. The initiative also fosters reading hence has donated 1996 books and built 1 library for students at karonga School for the deaf.
The initiative does face to face trainings for the students through their teachers and the Bloomers team; by visiting them in their schools, it also publishes its work through face book and has so far trained 6 teachers in Nigeria on the same using zoom app. The trained students train fellow students through the Bloomers clubs established in the trained schools hence creating a multiplier effect.
There is a need for having the training either physically or through zoom or google meet. The trainee will be assessed on prior knowledge, taken through the basics in creative writing through a guide called the Bloomers rubric and later given a posttest after the training through question and answer. They are then allowed to come up with their own creative work based on the trained and published
.PNG)
