The Community Lab

In March 2019, Zimbabwe experienced Cyclone Idai. UNICEF revealed that 140 schools in Zimbabwe lost infrastructure and learning resources. The International Organisation for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix conducted for the region in April 2020 reveals that less than 25% of children have access to study materials at home. It is uncertain when they will return to school. The COVID-19 pandemic further restricts access to education. We intend to launch a solar - powered digital learning platform for primary school children to provide access to educational resources, and to implement training for the farming community. In neighbouring Mozambique, 335,000 children had their education disrupted by the cyclone. Globally, 535 million children are living in emergency settings and are 3 times more likely to be out of school than children living in stable but low income countries. The Community Lab will provide proof of concept for a solution for these communities. 

Research reveals that teachers and pupils were traumatized by their experiences of the disaster. Disruptions have a long-term effect on communities, with school drop-outs expected due to extended absenteeism and family break-ups. The impact on agricultural activities is huge, with damage to support infrastructure and loss of arable land. This will have an impact on livelihoods, food and nutrition security, and resilience. Cyclone damages directly affected smallholder farmers the most. In the X Community X children are currently out of school, due to the loss of school infrastructure. Women and girls represent approximately 50% of the affected individuals in a disaster situation. In the case of Cyclone Idai, 140,400 girls and women were affected. A recent report from Theirworld reveals that education is rarely a core focus in emergency responses. 40 million children a year have their education interrupted by disasters, and many will never return to education. In the wake of a natural disaster the initial shock suffered by communities is followed by the fight for survival. Children require protection and education in order to avoid falling prey to child labour, early marriage and other risks. Women and children are those responsible for on farm labour in developing countries. 

The Community Lab will address the challenges met by communities in accessing contextually relevant educational content prior to the resumption of normal school routines, facilitate community engagement, and provide relevant skills the community can leverage to improve livelihoods. This will be effected through a digital learning solution for children of primary school age (5 to 13 years) and agricultural training for the smallholder farming community, which comprises 60% women. Our vehicle is the Studybox, a tool currently being employed by the Learning Factory. The StudyBox is a lightweight, solar powered learning management system which allows users to access digital educational resources offline and off the grid. Each StudyBox allows up to 20 simultaneous client connections; ideal to enable a standard sized class to use the resources at the same time. The high storage capacity of the StudyBox allows content for all subjects to be loaded onto each StudyBox. Students will be accomodated in groups of 20 to access educational content, starting with lessons in agriculture aligned with local curriculum, while older members of the community will be trained in various aspects of modern agriculture including crop preservation and value addition for crops grown locally in the region, and sustainable agriculture. 

The project will be implemented in close collaboration with a Community Library that is under construction in the Chikukwa Community in Chimanimani. Our strategic partner is the Library founder who is working with the community to establish the Library. Chikukwa has a population of 7,000 individuals. The community is in a mountainous region that borders a national park and neighbouring Mozambique. The people have practised community based agriculture for almost 30 years, and have learnt about agricultural ecology through the Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust, and Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organisation Trust. We have identified Agriculture as the initial point of focus for primary education and for community members as this is a community entrenched in agriculture and currently revisiting how they can build resilience. In a community experiencing trauma - a trauma centred approach to learning is required. Teachers and students endured trauma with some losing families and homes, food insecurity is a major concern. Our view is that a "bite - sized" approach starting with a familiar subject, and an inclusive model which allows girls and women's involvement as the major contributors to farming activities and thus subsistence is key to gaining traction. 

40% of girls and women with limited access to educational resources are in the Sub Saharan region. In an emergency situation, their vulnerabilities are increased. The immediate needs are survival which essentially encompasses facilitating income generating activities, protection and education of children. The Community Lab presents an opportunity for children to learn in a safe space and to engage communities in relevant programming to stimulate livelihoods through augmenting existing practices and existing income streams. The Chikukwa community faces barriers to education and skills training due to the extensive damage by the cyclone, and further isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Zimbabwe there are various entities running E - Learning Platforms including Ruzivo and Wagona. These platforms focus on revision of taught material. In addition, there is no tutorial support provided by these platforms. The platforms require access to power and internet. Our review of EdTech for learning in Emergency and Displaced Settings revealed the following:

• Current models do not take into account the availability of infrastructure to support learning platforms
• Adult/Teacher led facilitation is key to productive learner engagement with technology
• Curriculum aligned content coupled with application of principles learnt is key to assimilation of various subjects

The key facets of the Community Lab are as follows:

• Facilitation by a trained individual including community members and teachers. 
• The pilot project engages members of the farming community to demonstrate practical application of principles taught by the school curriculum but also transfer skills to further the local agricultural economy
• Entirely solar powered solution and material can be accessed offline
• A safe learning space which also encourages children to use the Community Lab with mothers and sisters. 
• Expansion of the project will involve uploading the various subjects onto the StudyBox, and incorporate use of videos shot with the aid of AR tools (already being used by the Learning Factory) to demonstrate Science Subject in a virtual lab. 
• A lesson is up to 50 Megabytes and the StudyBox has 27 Gigabytes storage space allowing over 25,000 lessons per StudyBox to be uploaded

The Technology is based on Raspberry Pi and is programmed in Javascript. 

Our solution is a combination of tablet and desktop computing combined with use of a solar powered storage device. The hardware required includes 20 tablets, a laptop for a teacher/facilitator, 2 solar panels, 10 LED lights and a solar powered LED Display Screen. 

• 1 kVA solar system to power s StudyBox and 20 tablets
• Studybox is a low cost server that employs solar power and is a storage device that enables users to upload numerous courses that are accessible offline. 
• Users access digital content which is loaded into StudyBox units by means of wi-fi enabled devices.
• Content on StudyBox units is accessed using internet browsers or mobile applications. No special software or setup is required on client devices to connect to StudyBox units.
• 5kWh of energy storage allow up to 8 hours of use 

According to UNESCO - Of all regions, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion. Over one-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 are out of school, followed by one-third of youth between the ages of about 12 and 14. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, almost 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school. The effects of lack of access to education are well - known; the most marked being the perpetuation of a cycle of poverty, and gender inequality. The increase of conflicts and the effect of climate change around the globe demand innovative and tailored approaches to the delivery of education, and to models that enable inclusion of all members of society. At the heart of our initiative is cognisance of the need for community engagement, and the inclusion of girls and women. To effectively leverage innovations, a recent recent UNESCO report highlighted the importance of designing with “deliberate consideration of the environment in which an innovation will reside.” Agriculture is the most important sector of the African economy and will have to be its driving engine out of poverty. It accounts for 65% of the continent's employment and 75% of its domestic trade,” according to the Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Kandeh K. The Community Lab addresses barriers to access, relevance and continuity and has a an initial reach of at least 5,000 primary school students and community members. In addition, partnerships with Government and Private sector entities dealing with education and community building presents a viable low - cost opportunity to scale this solution across the country to rural and marginalised areas, and to replicate the model across Africa. The transition in creating content for all school subjects and innovating delivery of STEM subjects through use of virtual labs by leveraging AR and VR provides a robust and low - cost model which also serves for inspiration, experiential and effective learning for the user. 

 We are currently conducting 4 courses in 17 schools across the country in user training activities. We expect to grow this number to 400 schools and 25,000 students by 2022. In addition to the projected reach, becoming an MIT solver and securing this grant enables us to exponentially increase our impact by providing a solution to communities in dire need of learning solutions, and an opportunity to effect lasting change. Our pilot project in the Chikukwa community will directly impact 3,000 learners and 2,000 smallholder farmers, 60% of which are adolescent girls and women. The provision of proof of concept will stimulate subscription by government schools, private schools and urban schools. This will ensure sustainability of the initiative and enable Community Labs to be established in marginalised areas and disaster settings and allow access to these communities free.

Once proof of concept is established, we would like to scale our model to remote areas of the country with limited or no access to educational resources. In the beginning of the second year, we intend to replicate our model in other countries starting with Mozambique, which was also affected by Cyclone Idai. This will be made possible once proof of concept is established. It is It is entirely feasible to target at least 2% of children living in conflict and disaster situations across Africa which represents a population of 10.6 million children. This is our 5 year goal.

Gaining traction has been a challenge without proof of concept which is the motivation for this application. In addition the uptake of Educational Technology has met with resistance by educators and communities. The recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has rendered society more receptive to technological solutions. In addition, Education Administration in most countries prescribes a traditional rote method of learning, which has resulted in regression of marginalised communities and students being unable to integrate into the working world, or even apply those principles to everyday settings. The generation of educational content requires a massive drive to create material that involves teachers and industry to demonstrate application. It has been a challenge to convince the corporate world to package their business models and processes to be relevant to learners as part of their messaging and marketing strategy. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated use of digital media for business and education, which presents an opportunity for the community lab to gain traction. targeted pitching to key industry players will afford the project an opportunity to secure funding and collaboration with various local and international entities. Leveraging the combined networks of the 3 founders of the community lab is key to implementing this strategy. Addi Mavhengere is the founder of the Learning factory an EdTech company and Munashe and Robin Goneso are the founders of Neon, which is a content creation company. Addie is a well - known innovator in the Education Sector, and Neon is a well known entity in the digital media and audio visual equipment space, having served various non - profit and corporate entities for the last 10 years. Recently the Learning factory has been approached to implement a learning solution for an urban community. We have a pool of trained teachers and intend to implement a Train the Trainer programme for Digital Literacy for teachers and Community members.