harnessing icts for greater access to education for girls and women

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Harnessing ICTs for greater access to education for girls and womenGWI Conference, 24 August 2016Steve Vosloo

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Agenda01The ask and opportunity

02Project Literacy: Read to Kids

03Every Child Learning

04Challenges and recommendations

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Image by Sudipto DasImage by Sudipto Das

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The ask

757m people are illiterate, 520m women

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The opportunity

Digital revolution has brought many private benefitsSOURCE: WDR 2016 team; http://www.internetlivestats.com/one-second/ (As compiled on May 29, 2015)A typical day in the life of the internet

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Number of small & medium enterprises on Taobao (Alibaba):5 MILLION & COUNTINGSOURCE: http://www.alizila.com/chinas-online-cowboy-rounds-buyersDIGITAL MARKETPLACEDigital technologies are transforming BUSINESS

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DIGITAL PAYMENTS Number of mobile money accounts worldwide: 300 MILLION & COUNTING(end of 2014)SOURCE: John Owens, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, June 2013.

Digital technologies are transforming PEOPLES LIVESWhere mobile money accounts outnumber bank accounts

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DIGITAL IDENTITYIndians with digital identity: 950 MILLION & COUNTINGSOURCE: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Trafficking-Victims-see-New-life-in-Aadhaar/2015/03/30/article2737396.ece. GSMA, The Mobile Economy Africa 2016

Digital technologies are transforming GOVERNMENT

IN AFRICAOperators are tackling this issue in Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda (400 million people unregistered)

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The mobile revolution in AfricaAt the end of 2015

46% subscribed to mobile services, equivalent to more than half a billion people

300 million mobile internet subscribers

The tech start-up ecosystem is growing: approximately 310 active techhubs across the region, including 180 accelerators or incubators

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10SOURCE: GSMA, The Mobile Economy Africa 2016

Many mobile services benefiting society. I will focus on literacy

Literacy

Project LiteracyPearson has convened Project Literacy, a diverse, coalition-led campaign to close literacy gap

Our goal is that by 2030, all peopleregardless of their geography, language, race, class or genderare able to fulfil their potential through the power of words

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Partners13

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Key activitiesRaising awareness and mobilizing action> More than 1bn people reached

Advancing best practice> Supporting programmes that are proven and conducting research

Innovating for new solutions> Project Literacy Lab> Read to Kids

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Raising awareness and mobilizing actionOver the course of 2015, we reached 969 million people through online campaigns and media outreach.

Advancing best practiceProject Literacy is partnering with organizations implementing proven literacy interventions and helping them grow. Why? Because there are some things that we already know work to improve literacy, and we need more of them.

Innovating for new solutionsPearson and the Unreasonable Group launched worlds first accelerator programme, the Project Literacy Lab, helping growth-stage, for-profit entrepreneurs who are dedicated to closing the global literacy gap.

Read to Kids.14

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SOURCE: Mark West/UNESCO, Reading in the Mobile Era, 2014

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16SOURCE: Mark West/UNESCO, Reading in the Mobile Era, 2014

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Recommendations from report: - Teach women and girls how to use a mobile phone for reading.- Target outreach to men and offer more content targeted to men.18


1 in 3 mobile readers already uses his or her mobile phone to read to children and an additional 1 in 3 would do so if more content was available.

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SOURCE: Mark West/UNESCO, Reading in the Mobile Era, 2014

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www.readtokids.com

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Read to Kids overviewPilot project in Delhi to promote pre-literacy skills by encouraging parents and caregivers to read to and with their young children (age 0-6) via mobile

Timeframe: May 2015 May 2017

KPIs: 20 000 frequent users200 000 unique users

Goal: learn how to create behavior change >> learning pilot

SOURCE: Annya Crane, Worldreader

WR50+ countries400K readers every month37,336 Titles70 Genres43 Languages331 Publishers

According to the most recent Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), only 52% of children in Grade 5 are able to read a second grade level text.22

Research questionsParental Behavior Change Research conducted Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED) in Delhi.

How has R2K changed parents' attitudes about reading to young children?How has R2K changed parents' understanding of the value of reading to young children?How has R2K changed parents' behaviors related to reading to children (frequency, duration, and quality of interaction)?


Programmatic questions that will be answered via the Learning Lab data:What are the most effective activation modalities for driving frequent use of mobile reading among our target audience (one-on-one, community meetings, home visits, word of mouth, etc.)?What activator messaging tends to be most effective in driving frequent use of mobile reading among our target audience?What activator characteristics, skills, and behaviors are most effective at driving frequent use of mobile reading among our target audience?What type of content is most effective at driving frequent use of mobile reading among our target audience?What are the characteristics of frequent users (age, gender, relationship to children)?How effective is the wide-reaching media campaign at driving frequent use of mobile reading among our target audience?

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Webapp Hindi, Bilingual and English storiesMessaging the benefitBest practice tips for parentsCulturally relevant, appropriate content in Hindi and English


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Lessons learnt so farTheres no reading to children culture in India (both in our target audience and above)Access to smartphones is high >> native android app in the futureWillingness to use the data plan for reading is an issue Parents lack confidence to readParents might need more than books to get them to use their phone to read to children (Audio, interactive app)A broad-based approach is needed: app, content, activation points (Reading Champions host reading corners in clinics), media campaign


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Every Child Learning

Every Child LearningThree-year partnership with Save the Children, worth over 1.5 million

Goal: increase educational opportunities for Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan, and innovate new solutions to help improve the delivery of education in emergency and conflict-affected settings

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Every Child LearningTo research and develop new solutions we are:

> Gaining a deep contextual understanding of the unique needs of Syrian refugee children

> Combining ethnographers and local researchers with our curriculum experts, learning and UX designers

Site visits, journey mapping of Nour, etc.

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Challenges

SOURCE: WDR 2016 team based on Research ICT Africa and ITU data

1. A significant digital divide remains6 BILLION without BROADBAND

4 BILLION without INTERNET

2 BILLION without MOBILE PHONES

0.4 BILLION without A DIGITAL SIGNAL

Divides persist between and within countriesin access and capability

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Digital technologies have spread rapidlySOURCE: World Bank. Data at http://bit.do/WDR2016-MapO_1. The world, based on internet population (2014)

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By 2020 60% of the [African] population will still be unconnected. Significant barriers to adoption remain, particularly for underserved groups such as women, rural communities and young people.GSMA, The Mobile Economy Africa 201633Presentation Title Arial Bold 7 pt

In Africa, subscriber growth rates are now beginning to slow as affordability challenges become a key barrier.

Over the next five years, an additional 168 million people will be connected by mobile services across Africa, reaching 725 million unique subscribers by 2020. Mobile internet penetration2015: 25%2020: 41%

SOURCE: WDR 2016 team, based on Research ICT Africa surveys (various years) for 10 African countries. between and within countriesin access and capability

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The largest barriers are not in technology. We need to address cultural, societal, religious, political, economical, attitudinal, and geographic or security constraints.

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RecommendationsBe gender sensitive, not only gender specific

ICT is not a panacea address the non-technology issues

Community sensitization and mobilization as well as political support are key

Making the technology more affordable and coverage wider

Content must be relevant

Embed ICT and literacy improvement within life skills development for empowerment and voice

Use ICT appropriately, design with the user

36SOURCE: Mark West/UNESCO, Reading in the Mobile Era, 2014; Carolina Belalcazar/UNESCO, Mobile Phones & Literacy: Empowerment in Womens Hands, 2015

Affordability: WC citizens currently spend 20.1% of income on communications. Globally this is 5%. SOURCE: Western Cape Digital Readiness Assessment 2015

Linksstevevosloo.com

Project Literacy / Project Literacy Lab / @rewritinglives

Report: Reading in the Mobile Era, 2014 (UNESCO)

Report: Mobile Phones & Literacy: Empowerment in Womens Hands, 2015 (UNESCO)

UNESCO Mobile Learning Week 2015: Leveraging Technology to Empower Women and Girls

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