A Critical Time for SET: Spreading the Word

Support.Education.Togo.
A Critical Time For SET: Spreading the Word

February 2026
Where are we?
Kodjo Mlope and Sam Hometohou continue to work intensively in our 12 schools in Togo. They regularly visit classes to observe and coach Teachers; hold workshops with Teachers, Principals and Regional Directors of Education to share ideas; distribute salary top-ups to Volunteer Teachers; distribute school supplies to students so that a new learning approach can be implemented; expose what SET is doing for government officials.

In addition, SET funded upgrades to another four schools in the summer of 2025 at a cost of $9,000 per school.

We are most excited by the results of gathering data from 641 students in grade 3 in 2024. Substantial differences were shown to favour SET’s approach to teaching literacy over existing teaching methods.

Now the challenge –
Opening Doors

What must happen to have SET’s approach to teaching literacy cemented into the nation-wide school system in Togo? Scaling up our approach to learning has many paths. Each has obstacles and uncertain outcomes in terms of spreading the word. This is a pivotal time for SET. Some current paths being followed are:

Interacting directly with the Togolese government
Ideally, the Department of Education would move the SET approach to other schools based on our evidence of improved results. The barriers to success here include:

• Funding education may not be near the top of the government’s priority list.
• Several changes recently being made to department appointments. New appointees, including the Minister of Education, are not familiar with SET.
• Several departments need to be involved in assessing our approach, a lengthy process with many obstacles.
• Suspicion of a foreign approach to a Togolese challenge.

In August 2025, Kodjo Mlope and team met with Madame Pyahalo Kebina, Director of the National Centre for the Evaluation of Learning. SET was represented by Kodjo Mlope and Sam Hometohou, our representatives in Togo, and Angèle Aklah, a member of SET in Canada. Madame Kebina implied that several government officials and departments would need to be involved in assessing our approach.

Working with Principals and Regional Directors of Education
At every step of the way, Kodjo and Sam have included the Principals and Regional Directors of Education. They encourage them to profile SET whenever they meet with higher-level government officials

Spreading the Word through Teacher and Principal Transfers
This has two impacts. First, Teachers transferring out, spread the word. Second, as new Teachers move into SET schools, they are exposed to SET’s approach.

Presentations and the National Institute for the Science of Education (Teachers’ College)
Interest was shown in our approach to teaching literacy among 105 participants in a two-day educational workshop focused on Educational Innovation and Research.
As a result of Kodjo’s presentation at the workshop, he was invited to lead a 36-hour session over six weeks at the University of Lomé’s National Institute for the Science of Education. This work did not explicitly highlight SET but did get Kodjo more deeply connected with future graduates who will be teaching Teachers at Teachers’ College.

Publications
A scholarly article based on the evaluation of our approach is being sent to various education journals, some with a focus on Africa. If accepted, SET’s approach will be known beyond Togo.

And so …
This stage in SET’s journey requires optimism and support from donors like you. Many students in the SET schools experience a real difference in their literacy learning which can make a difference to themselves, their villages, and Togo as a country.