We are delighted to be embarking on our first projects using the Learn Appeal Capsule – we will be supporting Barnardo’s in the UK as well as four amazing projects in sub-Saharan Africa, Complitkenya in Kenya and the Children’s Entrepreneurial Training Village (CETV) in Malawi, M-Ubuntu in South Africa and the Brooke, an international animal welfare charity dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules. To make a difference we need your help so please contact us or email lesley.price@learnappeal.com to get more information on the projects and what you can do to help us support them!
Barnardo’s has a long history of supporting children, young people and their families in the UK. The services they offer are wide ranging , including drop-in and training centres. Whilst some of these centres have computers with access to learning resources, opening up their network to allow those they support to access this content using their own devices is just not possible as e-safety has to be a priority, particularly when you are working with vulnerable communities.
There are also areas of the UK where free WiFi is not available ‘on the doorstep’. In parts of rural Scotland, young people have to travel 20 miles to the nearest centre and that can involve a 2 mile walk to the nearest bus stop. The Learn Appeal Capsule will enable Barnardo’s to deliver relevant elearning and other useful resources to help improve life skills and employment opportunities. Connected users will use any mobile device to be able to learn and share whilst in the centres or even in their own homes, in the knowledge that it is a safe and secure environment.
The initial phase of this project is being supported by Closer Still/Learning Technologies. However, we still need your help! You can help in two ways. We need sponsors of Capsules and also Learning Designers to work with the Subject Matter Experts so that we can make paper-based content and workbooks into an interactive learning experience. So please contact us or email lesley.price@learnappeal.com today if you can help with either of these requirements.
Complitkenya, headed up by CEO, Eric Kimori, has a huge ambition – to establish world-class e-Community Centres that will promote Community ICT Development, promote e-learning and enhance youth employment through ICT strategies in a bid to address digital disparities by establishing a free, fast and reliable communication highway for marginalised rural communities. However, in many areas this is not possible as there is no internet access. Enter the Learn Appeal Capsule! Whilst the Capsule can’t provide direct access to the internet, it will enable Complitkenya to establish e-community centres and give connected users within a range of 1km access to elearning and other relevant information stored on the Capsule via WiFi. Pilots are already underway in Kenya.
Eric has described the Capsule as being an ‘invaluable reservoir of learning’ which will make a huge difference to those who have no access to the internet. For the first time, many of them will be connected to the digital world.
This project is a bit more ambitious – as well as providing Capsules and content, we also want to provide mobile devices so that those who don’t have their own devices are not further disadvantaged. Our initial pilot will involve providing Complitkenya with sufficient resources to support 10 ‘off-line’ e-Community centres.
Once again Closer Still/Learning Technologies have come up trumps and they are going to be sponsoring the first of these. We have also received generous donations from Virtual College and Spirax Sarco that will enable us to provide resources for the other nine. What we need now is content! So please contact us or email lesley.price@learnappeal.com today if you can help Eric Kimori and Complitkenya achieve this ambition.
CETV is a project that we are sure all those in the learning community will engage with. The project it open to young people from the Chiuta Orphanage and all vulnerable youth in the area. There are 300 orphans in the surrounding villages and many one-parent families due to HIV Aids.
Unemployment is very high, as there is hardly any economic activity and that’s where together, using the Learn Appeal Capsule, we can help CETV to make a real step change!!
This project will help young people not only develop vocational skills, but also the entrepreneurial skills required to set up their own businesses. This initiative has the potential to have a huge impact both individually and on the community around them. The young people who gain these skills will be able to support themselves and grow their local economy.
The problem in this rural part of Malawi is not just internet access – there isn’t any – there is no mains electricity either! The Learn Appeal Capsule can make a huge difference as it has been specifically designed not only to provide elearning content and resources via WiFi, but it also has an internal battery which lasts eighteen hours and can be recharged using a 12v battery so doesn’t need mains electricity to provide learning.
This project is being supported by Virtual College who will be providing a Capsule and WiFi enabled devices. However, we are also going to need relevant content that can provide these young people with the skills so that they will have the opportunities for success that we, so often, take for granted.
So please contact us or email lesley.price@learnappeal.com today if you can help the young people supported by CETV gain the vocational and entrepreneurial skills they need.
M-Ubuntu applies the Zulu concept of Ubuntu – best translated as “I am because we are” to South Africa’s enormous illiteracy challenge. At the heart of the project are several teams of reform-minded principals, teachers, volunteers and their enthusiastic learners.
The M-Ubuntu project uses inexpensive, low-threshold mobile phone technologies to empower teachers to address Africa’s literacy crisis. South Africa with a population of 53 million, in which the life expectancy is below 57 years and where around 12 million of its citizens are illiterate, is a country in need of educational support; the M-Ubuntu project strives to provide it.
The project is having a positive impact, however it relies on internet access or pre-loading the mobile devices with learning content. The Learn Appeal Capsule can enable M-Ubuntu to deliver dynamic learning resources via WiFi to connected devices without these restrictions. The community functionality will allow connected users to take part in active learning by generating their own content, comments and activities and share their learning with others. Also, the loading of curriculum-related content onto the Learn Appeal Capsule supports a pedagogically positive environment where undistracted learning can take place.
Brooke is an international animal welfare charity dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules. Operating in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, they reach over two million working horses, donkeys and mules – more than any other organisation. They employ around 900 staff worldwide, including vets, animal welfare experts and development specialists.
Two field trials were carried out in 2017, funded by a grant from Brooke’s Innovation Fund. These trips have provided the means to generate resources and test both the material and the technology “on the ground”. Both of the trials were very successful and will be expanded to other countries in 2018.
To make these projects a reality, Learn Appeal needs your support, so please contact us or email Lesley.price@learnappeal.com for more information about the projects themselves, sponsorship or providing content.