SIL LEAD (Language, Education and Development) is a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping communities use their languages to improve their quality of life. Our vision is a world where all peoples have a voice in their own development—in their own words. We help local, community-based organizations achieve their own vision by managing internationally-funded projects focused on their needs. Through our network of expert consultants and local partners, SIL LEAD offers extensive capabilities in language, communication and education.

Partnerships
SIL LEAD brings together people and institutions around shared goals for internationally funded projects.  SIL LEAD works in partnership with SIL International, a nonprofit organization that works alongside approximately 1,500 minority language communities and publishes the Ethnologue: Languages of the World, a catalog of the world’s 7,105 living languages. Leveraging this expertise, and a network of other local partners, SIL LEAD makes it easier for communities to use their own language to reach their goals. 

SIL LEAD is also a member of the Basic Education Coalition (BEC) and the CCIH Network - Christian Connections in International Health.

Multilingual Education
SIL LEAD uses its expertise in mother tongue-based multilingual education to improve reading and learning. We help to establish a foundation of learning and literacy in a language that students speak at home and gradually build competence in additional languages. Our training and technical assistance helps:

> communities to create and manage a library of locally created reading materials in their language that are age and grade appropriate

> education officials to build or adapt curricula to accommodate multiple languages and to develop new pedagogical materials in the mother tongue

> teachers and teacher trainers to develop contextually appropriate pedagogical approaches for reading instruction

 

Health Localization

People need relevant information to make healthy choices. When public health campaigns ignore lesser known languages, remote and oftentimes marginalized communities cannot access information they need to make positive decisions about their health and livelihoods. 

 

Localization can bridge this gap by translating or adapting vital messages accurately into a community’s distinct language, culture and context. That way, health efforts can achieve desired goals and communities can develop healthy behaviors in a relevant way.   

 

SIL LEAD uses its expertise in localization to make life saving information relevant and accessible. We help communities and their partners convey disease prevention messages more effectively by using: 

• Templates:  Carefully crafted templates can be adapted to a new language and culture more easily
• Technology:  A platform like Bloom helps facilitate the localization and book creation process
• Training:  We help staff identify appropriate cultural metaphors and do skilful translation and adaptation of resources
• Theater:  Embedding vital information in a dramatic story helps people apply the message in a context they are familiar with and can readily recall
• Tools:  Putting the story in the right media, through which people will engage with the message

 

Technology and Innovation

As the cost and complexity of language localization creates barriers to information and participation, marginalized communities face a digital divide.SIL LEAD helps communities and their partners leverage technology to simplify the complex process of language development, making health education and early grade reading programs more effective. 

 

Technology can simplify the complex process of language development. SIL LEAD supports innovations that make it easier for:

• Local authors to create and share their own books
• NGOs to adapt publications across multiple languages
• Educators to create graded reading materials
• Communities to create and organize their own dictionaries