Imagine Worldwide

Imagine the future of learning

All children have immense potential, but millions lack access to the learning they need. Our innovation is a massively scalable solution using evidence-based education technology that can deliver foundational literacy/numeracy to millions of the most marginalized children. Our solution has been rigorously tested and works offline/offgrid.

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HundrED 2024

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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

HundrED Global Collection 2024

Web presence

2017

Established

15K

Children

7

Countries

Target group

Students basic

Updated

July 2023

Literacy/numeracy are the keys to unlocking a child’s potential. Girls, in particular, receive long-term benefits from improved education, including better health, having fewer children, and earning higher incomes. Education is critical for peace and for addressing global challenges like climate change. Without action to reduce learning poverty, we face a learning and human capital catastrophe.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Literacy and numeracy are the building blocks for all other education outcomes. These skills also improve a child’s long-term health, wealth, and social outcomes — benefits that extend to future generations. Currently, 90% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa can’t comprehend a simple written text by age 10 and the situation will only worsen as 450mm children will be born in Africa in the 2020s.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

We believe child-directed, tech-enabled learning can deliver foundational literacy and numeracy skills to hundreds of millions of children. In our model:
- Students learn at their own pace using tablets that work in any setting (school, refugee camp, home) and work offline and offgrid (solar-charged)
- Adaptive learning software from onebillion (rigorously tested by 8+ RCTs) offers a full curriculum in national languages and research-based pedagogy
- Each tablet is used by an average of 5 students per day for 30-60 mins each, leading to an annual unit cost of $8 per child and declining
- Projects strengthen community ICT infrastructure, stimulating future innovations and providing renewable energy for 20+ years

How has it been spreading?

This is an unprecedented moment in time when the talent, opportunity, and momentum in Africa can accelerate critical access to learning. We focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, as our solution is well-suited to overcoming critical systemic challenges including overcrowded classrooms, scarcity of instructional materials, and lack of electricity/connectivity. The significant positive results of multiple RCTs of our model have led to increasing demand for our innovation.
Our deepest engagement has been in Malawi, where we are working with the government to serve 860,000 learners in 1,450 primary schools over the next two years. Similarly, we are seeing significant demand in other countries like Sierra Leone where we are partnering with the government to expand the model to 150,000 students.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Our ground-breaking work in Malawi is creating a roadmap for other countries to follow. To learn more about our work, visit our website, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on social media, or reach out to us at info@imagineworldwide.org. (Get involved: https://www.imagineworldwide.org/get-involved/)

Impact & scalability

HundrED Academy Reviews

The data-evidenced implementation approach allows for efficient and equitable distribution of ICT resources for schools while the capacity-building sessions provided by the solution providers helps assure the quality of teaching pedagogy.

This innovation is easy to replicate in other contexts, as anyone with a tablet in their hands can immediately start using the solution without the requirement of access to the Internet.

- Academy member

Academy review results

High Impact
Low Scalability

High Impact
High Scalability

Low Impact
Low Scalability

Low Impact
High Scalability

Media

Summer Update 2023: https://www.imagineworldwide.org/updates/summer-update-warm-welcome-to-co-ceo-rapelang-rabana-plus-big-momentum-in-malawi/

Annual Report 2022 - Imagine Worldwide

Why ‘Offline’ Digital Learning Is Critical To Impact Children Worldwide

Implementation steps

Scalable model

Imagine has a simple and easily replicable model which can work in any context and setting. Children are provided with tablets that are preloaded with learning content. Children can drive their own learning under the supervision of a trained facilitator who can be a teacher or other community member. So anyone with a tablet in their hands can immediately start using the solution. The steps below explain the process we take to implement the tablet program model in a new context.

Step 1: Develop government partnership

Establish government relationship and start to build support for the program. The long-term goal of all our implementations is for the government to fully own, operate and fund the program in perpetuity.

Step 2: Organize ecosystem and map stakeholders

Identify and establish relationships with all actors in the foundational learning ecosystem in addition to the government. This includes civil society groups, donors (philanthropic and bilateral/multilaterals), service providers, etc.

Step 3. Raise and deploy philanthropic capital

Raise early capital dedicated to pre-scale phase activities. We have found that early phases of innovative programs are massively underfunded by governments and bilateral/multilateral funders as they are deemed too risky.

Step 4: Co-creation for pilot implementation

Work with the government to co-create the implementation plan, KPIs, target schools/geography, budget, etc. Identify and engage high-quality local partners and conduct a feasibility study to determine the local infrastructure, implementation model, etc.

Step 5: Procurement

Procure devices, peripherals and solar charging systems.

Step 6: Train monitoring staff

Train local implementation partner staff on tablet use and troubleshooting, data collection and other program best practices. Imagine uses a suite of digital and analog tools and training.

Step 7: Set up schools for intervention

Ensure that the school infrastructure is ready for implementation.

Step 8: Teacher training/community sensitization

Provide training to the teachers so that they understand program objectives and how to use the tablets to facilitate student learning. Engage community stakeholders to get buy-in for the initiative.

Step 9: Implementation and monitoring

Conduct implementation and include regular monitoring to ensure progress as planned. Analyze real-time data and make program refinements as needed.

Step 10: Generate country specific research

Analyze program data and conduct research studies to build evidence on the impact of the pilot.

Step 11: Address government gaps

Diagnose government capacity gaps in areas like M&E, ICT capacity, accountability systems etc. and formulate plans to address them.

Step 12: Plan for Scale

Partner with government to plan for the next stage of expansion.