A rugged learning solution that empowers children across Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve their full potential

Big Idea

Education is the foundation for a better life. However, millions of primary school students across Sub-Saharan Africa struggle with literacy and numeracy — never learning to read or do basic math due to under-resourced, overcrowded classrooms. Working in partnership with governments, philanthropists and communities, Imagine Worldwide is scaling nationwide programs in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania to address the literacy and numeracy crisis through child-directed, tablet-based learning that is affordable, scalable and built for the most challenging environments. Its solar-powered tablets operate fully offline and deliver instruction in local languages, enabling children to learn independently alongside classroom teaching. This learning program not only dramatically improves literacy and numeracy, boosts attendance and narrows gender gaps, but is also built to last, with governments assuming full ownership and Imagine building their capacity to sustain it.

Plan

Across nine randomized controlled trials, Imagine’s tablet software (by onebillion) has demonstrated dramatic learning gains — with one RCT showing at least 50% more children reaching reading benchmarks and 70% achieving expected maths levels within 13 months. By 2030, Imagine will scale its solar-powered learning solution to reach more than 4 million students annually across Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, while also improving school infrastructure, providing solar power to schools and building teacher capacity for the learning innovations of today and tomorrow. This will effectively triple the number of students achieving emergent or fluent status in literacy and numeracy each year — opening the door to quality learning for over 70% of primary schools in Malawi, over 50%in Sierra Leone and 15% in Tanzania (with over 70% penetration in five high-need regions). By partnering with local and national governments, and assisting them in assuming full ownership of the program, Imagine is proving that educational technology can work at scale in the world’s most resource-constrained environments, empowering millions of children with the skills to thrive for a lifetime.