Photo credit: Sakha Esthu
It's not always about the resources, it's how efficiently you put them in use. In this article we are introducing five impactful innovations, that have come up with unique and novel ways of providing their solutions. They are tiny but mighty - and have a huge potential for expanding their impact wide and far.
They come from all fields and have very different target audiences: Some focus on inclusion of people and communities traditionally left at the margins of formal education through the arts and storytelling. Others making novel uses of education technology in emerging markets, such as formative assessment in Brazil. They also have a strong commitment to equity, creativity and students’ agency. With connections and resources nationally, regionally or internationally, we are excited about the potential and scalability of these innovations.A common thread between some of these tiny and mighty innovations is their commitment to involving community members.
“These innovations are working in amazing ways that have a huge impact on the kids they reach. These innovations are also often working with marginalised communities to make big changes in the ways students, teachers, and caregivers interact with each other.”
- Crystal Green, Head of Research, HundrED
So who are they? Let's start with Dialogic book-sharing, an innovation that provides training for caregivers through an 8-session group learning process and teaches participants how to use wordless picture books with their child. The outcome? A more sensitive and reciprocal relationship between caregivers and their children. To share the innovation, they have been training and mentoring community-based organisations and health-workers to deliver the book-sharing programme with families in their communities. This train-the-trainer model is impactful and scalable as it builds community capacity from the ground up and can be used to spread the innovation widely.
Similarly, Sakha Esthu - Parent Support Programme focuses on providing resources for community conversations about children’s health. They use trained community mentors and competent caregivers to host small discussions with parents and community members in order to transmit valuable childcare knowledge and create safe spaces for sharing and encouragement. In fact, Sakha Esethu means “It starts with us, we’re building our own”, demonstrating how impactful community-lead initiatives can be.
HundrED Head of Research, Crystal Green, shares how she is inspired by these innovations:
“These innovations are working in amazing ways that have a huge impact on the kids they reach. These innovations are also often working with marginalised communities to make big changes in the ways students, teachers, and caregivers interact with each other.”
Get to all five of the tiny and mighty innovations from the Global Collection 2023:
Creative Partnerships Hungary - prepare creative practitioners and teachers to work together with students in a way that encourages teachers to shift their classroom practices towards relating learning to real-life situations and sustaining student engagement
Dialogic book-sharing - using wordless picture books to foster engaging interactions between children (under 6) and their caregivers
Mother Jungle - experiential professional development programs for Indigenous communities in Indonesia to empower them to preserve Indigenous knowledge, raise environmental awareness, and encourage participation in cultural and natural conservation
Sakha Esthu - Parent Support Programme- a community-based support group in South Africa where caregivers and parents can discuss burning health issues
Sapientia - a gamified application that can be used as a tool for formative assessment
To learn more about these innovations and many more, download the Global Collection 2023 Report.
