Cuddly Nanny

The Government of Uganda indefinitely closed kindergartens to avert the risk of spreading Covid 19 and consequently, children below 5 years stay home with nannies while parents engage in productive work. A year into this sudden change of affairs, teachers are stranded at home with no jobs and parents have limited learning solutions for their children in foundational years of life, the effects of which will spill over to generations if nothing is done. Cuddly Nanny will tap into existing resources, the unemployed teachers and nannies. We will train nannies to carry out creative art and play, supervise reading and independent study. Teachers living in each community will be mobilized through WhatsApp to design instructional materials, organize rotational 2-weeks face to face learning sessions in small groups and do home-based assessments. The approach will be to increase scaled in low income communities to increase access to basic literacy for survival.

 Children below the age of 5 years are not in school due to the global pandemic and specifically in low income communities, they can't afford private pre-school education. Home based learning has become the new normal however with 41.7% of the population living in extreme poverty, facilities like internet services, computers and private tutors are indeed a luxury that many cannot afford.

In addition to this, many parents are illiterate and they cannot teach their children or even help them to study instructional materials provided. Other parents are very busy working to earn a living, 75% of the women in Uganda are working even when traditionally, they are the primary childcare givers. 

Children are stunting in homes without any academic engagement. Reviving their learning abilities will be an uphill task and as result many will drop out of schools early hence increasing human capital challenges in future. Teachers have also been greatly affected, schools could not sustain paying them when business is closed so they are currently unemployed. The solution will keep both teachers and children engaged but also be integrated into the low-income communities' set up to promote early childhood development, creative thinking and basic literacy skills.

We are creating a community-based learning eco system for children aged 5 years and below through a coordinating network of teachers living in the same locality to provide instructional material, small group teacher -learner session for peer learning and home-based learning assessment and support for children in the same community. Not only will this create low-cost access to learning but it also will promote unity and avenues for community problem solving using local resources.

The other component of our solution is training and coaching of nannies in creative play, art and Early Childhood Development (ECD) techniques to foster cognitive development. This skill. which nannies in middle a nd low income communities don't adequately posses will help them engage children in creative learning and brain stimulation. They will also supervise independent study at home after community-based teacher network has taught the children. We shall set up model ECD centers in communities where child care givers to get ECD knowledge and skills, and apply them at home. The centers will also have libraries to promote reading culture and access to age appropriate reading materials.

The solution serves low income working parents with children aged 2-8 years both those who have not enrolled in schools or currently at home due to school closures due to the pandemic. These children are under the care of untrained nannies who don't skills in stimulating children's learning through play, reading, singing and art. This makes the children dormant and retard their learning ability and academic excellent. In the long-term, such situation keeps the communities in intergenerational poverty. We also target children of stay-at-home parents who cannot support their children's home-based learning due to illiteracy, poverty. 

The surveys and data we have previously collected shows that nannies lack skills in brain stimulating childcare because they do not get specialized training before deployment. They spend substantial amount of time with children but do not necessarily engage them in learning. The program will close this gap.

According to a study conducted by UNCEIF, only a tenth of children aged 3 to 5 years are able to access pre-primary education. This effects the quality of human capital and development in the country. This program therefore provides both a post-covid learning solution and a mechanism for creatively scaling early childhood education among low-income communities.

We conduct customer surveys to understand the problem and continuously seek for feedback through interviews and reviews.

One of the unique features about our organization is evidence/data based programming, we listen to pain and gains of the beneficiaries and incorporate them in our program design.

Our ability to serve last mile communities through our headhunters and coaches network positions uniquely for more coverage and impact.

Children are not studying because some schools are closed, parents cannot afford tech-based learning as a post covid strategy, others cannot afford pre primary education and child care givers have limited capacity to guide learning at home.

We are equipping childcare givers with skills to engage children in activities that continuously stimulate their brains, supervise independent study at home and coordinating a network of teachers to develop and deliver instructional materials through EdTech innovation that allows virtual interaction.

The program shall also set up model early childhood education centers with locally-created play materials and age-appropriate reading materials.

We started in 2019 and 2020 we tested the service with customers in Jinja and Kampala. We served 53 mothers last year through our childcare recruitment services. We have spent the bigger part of 2021 improving our business model and internal processes based on the feedback we receive from customers. 

The pandemic opened new challenges and need to support communities in new ways so we have designed this program for teachers and nannies to support learning while children are at home.

Parents have been looking for people to teach their children from home due to the pandemic and trained teachers have mainly been working away from their communities in search for better paying schools. Currently, they are jobless or venturing into other trades for survival.

This program is innovatively designed to build the capacity of community resources persons - the nannies and teachers, and mobilizing them to offer a valuable service, teaching. It is also premised an important African value-solidarity so it will be embraced by communities.  We do not know how long the pandemic will stay but some things will never be approached the same old way. Empowering nannies and teachers to facilitate learning of children within their communities facilitated by technology is the way to go. Childcare strategies will totally change to encompass early learning due to its many benefits. In fact, this is the best approach to promote inclusion in learning because it is not only convenient but also low-cost. For example, a private school offering quality primary Education in Kampala charges $350 tuition fees and we are offering virtual learning at $120 per term. Teachers will be serving more children than just a physical class of 45 pupils in one school.

Early childhood learning and in low-income communities has only been happening in pre-primary schools and not at home. The solution has a component of training parents and childcare givers in early childhood development which will shift in attitude about learning and sustainable increase access to learning.

We have trained 128 childcare care givers, serving 337 children in families living in peri-urban areas located in Kampala and Jinja.

Target by December 2022 (1 year)

•  850 children enrolled in the virtual and community based learning programs
• 150 childcare givers serving of 700 children in 3 Districts
• 15 ECD Centers in 3 Districts serving 15,000 children.
• Recruit 20 Teachers onto the program

By December 2026

• 3,600 enrolled on the virtual and community based learning program
• 1,000 childcare givers trained, caring for 2,500 children
• 45 ECD centers in 5 Districts serving 90,000 children
• 20 Teachers

Measurable Indicators for our solution,

Increasing literacy rates among low-income communities.

• 3,600 students enrolled onto the virtual learning platform 
• Low-income areas covered (2 urban slum area, 2 peri-urban sub-Districts covered)
• 40 teachers recruited onto the community-based teaching program.
• 1,400 children with limited access to internet are enrolled in community-based learning.

Improved school readiness and academic excellence among children.

• 1,500 nannies trained in Early childhood development and placed on jobs.
• 70% school readiness for children on the program
• 25 Early Childhood centers and libraries are set up and functional.

3 people on Management team 

20 Teachers -Part time

12 coaches -Part time

4 contractors 

2 support staff

The team leader/CEO has a Bachelors in Adult and community Education with 12 years experience in development work in Uganda. She has been working with NGOs in rural Uganda for over 10 years and has concrete understanding of what low-income communities go through to acquire basic needs for survival. she is immensely passionate about social justice and has skills in program management, partnership management, business development. Esther is also an alumni of the Acumen East African Fellowship 2018 which has helped her build network with social entrepreneurs around East African. She is a mother of 3 children and has lived the challenges of learning during the pandemic and limited learning facilities first-hand.

Our sales lead -Priscilla Nampiima has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and 7 years marketing experience with some of the biggest brands in Uganda including Crown Bottlers (Distributors of Pepsi in Uganda) and Jesa Uganda. She was raised by a single mother and is passionate about Education as she believes its the best gift her mother gave her which helped her attain a better future.

Damalie is a nursery teacher with a diploma in Early childhood development and was running a Kindergarten before the pandemic. She has unmatched passion for children and brings to our organization the values and voice of teachers plus skills in children's cognitive development and learning through play, drawing, reading and singing. She leads our care givers training. 

Our network of teachers is ready and fit to design and deliver instructional materials.

We are committed to inclusion in terms of race, color, gender, sex ,religion and national identities. 

Our Board has 2 men, 3 women, 3 Ugandans, 1 Canadian and 1 South African, to mention but a few. 

We shall not discriminate anyone based on the above mentioned categories.

Regarding our solution, we are targeting low and middle income population and inclusive of all religions, ethnic groups, gender and sex.

The MIT solve challenge is aligned to the current learning challenging in Uganda caused by the pandemic but also the solution can be scaled to increase literacy in low-income communities. We are applying to get funding and enrich our idea through a community of like-minded solvers. We are confident that this solution will enable many children who currently stunting in homes to start or resume learning and achieve academic excellence.

Human Resource

Our vision is to have a vibrant and high performing diverse team in terms of skill, culture, nationality and gender.

However with a lean budget, we need some volunteers to team up with our full time team to deliver quality work. It will be helpful to get these through this program/challenge.

Business model and strategy

We have expanded our programs to meet needs arising from the effects of the pandemic, for the long term, these services must all be incorporated into our business model to operate sustainably. We need support on how to achieve this and develop an appropriate pricing and marketing model.

This solution is designed to improve livelihoods for women through providing skilled childcare support for working women and decent  work for young girls who will be employed as nannies . In Uganda childcare is a responsibility of women so this solution seeks to take care of challenges caused by employing unskilled nanny like child abuse, inappropriate nutrition, low cognitive development by skilling childcare givers/ nannies to provide better services and ensure that children start learning effectively before joining the formal school system. In this way, mothers can pursue their careers and actively engage in productive work without worrying about childcare services.

98% of childcare givers are women and girls and through this solution they will receive skills in child care, modern parenting, early childhood development which will not only help them acquire jobs but also be used to nurture their own children. In other words, we are changing perceptions about childcare and early learning to set up successful future human capital in Africa.  The innovation for women award will suitably be used to support women to get into and remain in productive employment spaces with their male counter parts and provide a chance at employment  for the 83% unemployed youth in Uganda.

Over 35,000 children will enroll into school through remote learning using virtual learning technology, independent study with support from on call teaching professionals and early childhood development facilitated by childcare givers. All of these are new innovations in low income communities in Uganda. The solution is highly qualified for the AI for Humanity prize for using technology to improve access to learning for a sizable number of children so as to create a thriving, equitable and sustainable future for them.

Over 35,000 children will enroll into school through remote learning using virtual learning technology, independent study with support from on call teaching professionals and early childhood development facilitated by childcare givers. All of these are new innovations in low income communities in Uganda. The solution is highly qualified for the AI for Humanity prize for using technology to improve access to learning for a sizable number of children so as to create a thriving, equitable and sustainable future for them.