Why did you create this innovation?

Despite decades of peace and stability, the Zambian educational system is providing neither the access to nor the quality of education that its citizens demand. Primary and secondary school age children in the poorest countries are nine times more likely to be out of school than those in the richest countries. This inequity is the main factor in our work to serve rural communities within Zambia.

How does your innovation work in practice?

Impact Network developed the eSchool 360 to address the widespread inequality in global education, which disproportionately affects children in rural Africa. While technology is not a silver bullet to solving these problems, it can be leveraged to increase education quality while also lowering costs. Our eSchool 360 system provides locally-hired teachers with tablets and projectors to deliver eLearning lessons, using an interactive, “learning-by-doing” curriculum that moves away from traditional rote learning, the norm in much of Zambia. Around this, we have built a successful model for holistic education bolstered by intensive teacher coaching, weekly management through mobile data collection, eco-friendly solar power, and community ownership. We complement this model with additional programs to improve education outcomes, including guided reading programs, Family Literacy days and Early Childhood Education classes for three to six year olds.

How has it been spreading?

Impact Network started a little over a decade ago with one classroom of 50 students. Today we work in over 40 schools reaching over 6,000 students from early childhood through Grade 7. Additionally, we have programs for out-of-school girls and the communities where we work, impacting over 25,000 lives. Over the last two years we launched Impact Girls and Impact Health – two important areas of work that we are prioritizing over the next decade to improve the lives of rural communities. Finally, we launched Impact Radio during the COVID-19 pandemic to share literacy, numeracy and health lessons to children that do not have access to typical remote learning options. Our long-term goal is to reach 1 million students and additionally benefit 5 million rural citizens across Zambia.

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

Impact Network has improved outcomes in very rural and remote villages in Zambia. We developed the eSchool 360 model as a way to sustain high-quality education for less than $5 a month per student. We believe this solution is adaptable to work in other countries and originally created a play book detailing how this solution might work for others. Please contact info@impactnetwork.org