Designing a Family Literacy Programme for Low-Literacy Mothers in Niger State

Family literacy programmes that develop mothers' literacy skills alongside early childhood stimulation knowledge can multiply ECD investment by improving both parent capacity and child outcomes, and designing one for low-literacy mothers in Niger State addresses compounded disadvantage in North Central Nigeria. This study designed a family literacy programme for low-literacy mothers of children aged 0 to 5 in Minna, Lapai, and Mariga Local Government Areas, Niger State. A community needs assessment was conducted with 100 low-literacy mothers and structured consultations were held with 10 literacy education specialists, 8 ECD programme officers, and 15 community health workers. Assessment confirmed that 67 percent of targeted mothers could not read simple Hausa text and that most had never received structured parenting or child stimulation guidance. The programme designed integrates functional literacy (reading, writing, and numeracy for everyday use) with ECD-focused stimulation activities in a single weekly session model delivered over 36 weeks. Sessions are facilitated by trained community literacy volunteers. All materials use visual learning approaches accessible to pre-literate learners. Take-home activity cards reinforce weekly learning at home. Expert review by nine family literacy and ECD specialists confirmed the programme's integrated design quality. Recommendations include delivery through the Niger State Agency for Mass Literacy in partnership with primary health centres, monitoring of both maternal literacy and child HOME scale scores, and national replication in comparable low-literacy ECD contexts.

Keywords: family literacy programme, low-literacy mothers, Niger State, ECD stimulation, parenting education