Tilli

From the age of 15, my personal mission was to tackle the issue of child abuse and sexual assault. To find a way of breaking victim-perpetrator cycles of violence. What we’re building at Tilli is an evidence-based, social-emotional learning-focused solution to the issue. If I am selected as a winner the funding and support I receive will be directed towards building and scaling the work Tilli has done thus far so that every child will have the skills, tools, and mindsets they need to stay safe, healthy, and happy. I will dedicate the funding to our two key priorities at Tilli. The first is to invest in social-emotional learning research and accessible learning technologies focused in the global south towards. Our aim is to create a learning tool that is fun, outcomes-driven, and accessible to every child irrespective of ability to pay. The second is to build partnerships across South Asia and the MENA region to localize our learning tools to suit different languages, regions, and dialects. Currently learning tools focused on social-emotional learning, child safety, and well-being are mostly in English and geared towards a western/affluent audience, our vision is to make high-quality social-emotional learning accessible and low-cost.

I was raised in a small village by the name of Deraniyagala in Sri Lanka by a strong, resilient single mother, after my father; a brave police officer was assassinated by a drug cartel. 'Safety' was an aspect of life that I craved for, having been raised despite immense economic hardship and in communities that were mostly unsafe for a child. At the age of 8, I was sexually assaulted by someone I knew and trusted and my life paused. For 10 years I lived lacking the vocabulary to tell anyone what had happened. It was that simple - I just need to know how and who to tell. At the age of 16, joining the girl scouts, allowed me to regain my lost sense of agency. For four years, I led a campaign where I trained over 2000+ young people on safe touch, consent, and Sex.ed. Even though I never had the strength to speak my truth, with every child I trained, I felt like I gained control of my own life back. Tilli is a culmination of my own story, the grassroots experiences I've had as an educator, and research in social-emotional learning and EdTech.

Globally, up to 1 billion children aged 2–17 years, experience physical, sexual, or emotional violence every year. Violence operates in cycles and the right kind of social-emotional learning has the power to reverse this.

Tilli is a game-based, AI-powered social-emotional learning tool, that builds empathy, critical thinking, and metacognition in kids. 

Tilli addresses three main problems: 

Research shows us that conversations around topics like bodies, consent, and power can be difficult and confusing for parents and caregivers to have. This means they are avoided or happen too late. Tilli targets children in their most crucial years of cognitive development (ages 5-10) and gives parents and caregivers a fun set of tools to engage in these critical conversations.

The mismatch between current learning experiences and the kind of skills and mindsets that young learners need to stay safe, problem solve, recognize their emotions, and regulate them. Tilli targets three key SEL competencies in a measured and structured way. 

The absence of consistent measurement for learning outcomes and progress, in social-emotional learning, persists today due to the complexity of subjective experiences, feelings, and emotions. Tilli leverages machine learning to measure the child’s learning and to personalize the experience.

We are one of the few learning interventions that is tackling the issue of child safety and well-being through a research-backed, data-driven approach. A bulk of the tools in this space is focused on passive content consumption where we are unable to track, measure, or understand the child's learning, cognitive growth, or behavioral change outcomes. Tilli leverages machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to measure and understand each child's learning trajectory. 98% of parents reported that they had a meaningful and engaging conversation with their kids through Tilli’s conversation prompts, many for the first time! We had 73% of kids trying out the bonus features and completing the entire learning experience. 96% of kids felt confident that they were able to use their learnings from the Trust module to avoid an unsafe situation. 

Ethical and Inclusive Design: Most social-emotional learning tools and material are built by and for the global north. The characters, colors, and vernacular is designed for a more western audience. Tilli was co-created by activists, educators, parents, and kids by and for them. We have tested every part of the learning journey with over 270+ children in Sri Lanka, India, Nigeria, and Turkey.

Tilli's north star is to ensure that every child, everywhere is equipped with the skills, tools, and mindsets they need to love a safe, healthy, and happy life before they reach the age of 10. 

Tilli has been used by over 270+ learners in just 3 months with high metrics on engagement, learning, and completion. 

1. 97.8% of parents felt confident that going through this learning experience will help their child avoid an unsafe situation in the future. 
2. 97.8% of parents reported to having a more meaningful and open conversation with their child during the learning experience
3. 73.3% completion rate, which was measured by the number of kids who completed the bonus feature.
4. 86.7%  of educators who tried Tilli, thought the story cards were relevant to the everyday lives of their child.

This year, we signed an MOU with one of Asia's largest Telcos - Dialog that has agreed to white-label Tilli on their platform which will put Tilli in the hands of 4.5 million learners and 150 Smart Schools in South Asia over the next 6 months. This means that kids, teachers, and parents can gain applicable social-emotional learning skills without even having internet access.