The Vision Catcher

IVR allows more teachers & parents in Papua to remotely learn about literacy teaching & psychosocial support for their children.

Papua Province is considered by many as the most underserved area in Indonesia. In fact, it has the lowest literacy index, highest percentage of poor population (35.69%), lowest human development index (60.44), & lowest percentage of  access to the internet (25.52%) of all 34 provinces in Indonesia. All these facts make it very challenging for Papuan local communities to participate in any remote learning which has become a new normal since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. 

We provide an accessible, cost-effective, and scalable remote training through interactive voice response (IVR) for even the simplest of mobile phones. This phone-based remote training will contain a mobile learning curriculum in the form of pre-recorded messages, including subject matter quizzes and gamified edutainment content that equips 6,00 teachers and 4,000 parents in Papua Province, Indonesia with the necessary knowledge to increase elementary school students’ literacy levels as wells well as providing teachers with essential psychosocial support (PSS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In an attempt to increase the literacy index of Papua Province (which is the lowest of all 34 provinces of Indonesia), WVI has been implementing a holistic community-and-school-based literacy program that seeks to empower all levels of the child support system. However, the number of community members that have benefited from the program is relatively limited due to face-to-face delivery methods. The Covid-19 pandemic has also made the program delivery even more challenging due to social restriction policy enacted by the Government of Indonesia.  

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) can be an alternative solution to the above challenge. Nevertheless, many areas in Papua Province still have poor access to ICT. In 2019 only 355 villages had access to 4G/LTE internet signal, 275 villages to 3G/H/H+/EVDO, 414 villages to 2.5G/E/GPRS, while 1,276 villages had no access to any internet signal. Apart from that, while 58.22% households owned/used a cellular phone, only 31.31% households had access to the internet (Source: the Statistics Central Agency of Indonesia).  

For that reason, the availability of an accessible, cost-effective, and scalable ICT is critical to ensure that more community members in Papua be able to participate and benefit from WVI's literacy program so that the impact resulting from the program can be more significant.  

The solution is expected to have a significant impact on local communities in Papua Province, Indonesia that has the lowest literacy index, highest percentage of poor population (35.69%), lowest human development index (60.44), & lowest percentage of  access to the internet (25.52%) of all 34 provinces in Indonesia. The IVR technology will make it possible for not only teachers but also parents in the area that only own a simple cellular phone & lack access to internet signal to participate in remote learning in order to gain access to comprehensive & relevant information on child literacy & psychosocial support through a safe & effective method. By receiving such information, both teachers & parents will strengthen their capacity to provide literacy & psychosocial supports for their children so that more children aged 6 – 11 year old in Papua can read with comprehension and, as a result, have better educational outcomes. 

The solution targets local communities in the most disadvantaged & outermost area in Indonesia, which is Papua Province. In 2020 Papua has the highest percentage of poor population (35.69%) and lowest human development index (60.44) of all 34 provinces in Indonesia. In addition, only 25.52% of its population ever accessed the internet in the last three months in 2020 (Source: The Statistics Central Agency of Indonesia). This situation is further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the learning-from-home solution available is highly dependent on internet connectivity and has been noted to present additional physical and mental challenges and pressure for students, teachers and parents.  

To address the above challenges, continuous capacity building and psychosocial support for teachers and parents as educators are necessary to reduce the learning gaps that exist in the region. Given the above situation, it is also necessary that the solution be accessible (without sacrificing the health and safety of providers and beneficiaries) and affordable. The IVR remote training curriculum will be easily accessible to those teachers and parents, as it does not require any advance phone or access to the internet. For teachers, we will also offer a limited amount of in-person training on top of the IVR remote training. 

Syeren Amanda

We implement simple mobile interactive voice response (IVR) technology on low literacy, low connectivity areas to provide capacity building for teachers to improve their literacy and ICT skills, as well as increase their knowledge on psychosocial support to allow them to provide the necessary support in their communities. Our solution also allows training and capacity building to be done at a low per person cost, in a safe (for both providers and receivers) and effective manner. 

The solution was previously implemented by Viamo Indonesia in 2020, when providing ICT training for health workers & teachers in Papua & Papua Barat Province with a 78% lesson of key message completion rate, and 100% of participants that responded mentioned that the modules were easy to understand and beneficial to them. Globally, remote training is also done in Rwanda to 2,000 learners on a financial literacy course. The result showed that an average of 94% of the learners answered the quiz questions correctly. In another project, USAID’s Transform Nutrition in Mozambique also set out a remote training to support the capacity building of community health workers to increase nutritional health in one of the country’s poorest districts between March and May 2021. The result came out with on average 92% of the CHWs completed the 5- lesson module of the first remote training and 98% completed the 4-lesson module of the second remote training.   

Interactive voice response (IVR) technology is utilized by various industries (e.g. banking, dining, transportation, hospitality, etc.) to provide automated customer service responses to telephone callers. We're repurposing this simple technology to disseminate reliable, local language training content in the form of interactive audio curricula that can be accessed via any mobile device at no cost to the recipient. Viamo's IVR platform provides important, life-enhancing content to nearly 2 million subscribers per month worldwide with important, life-enhancing information. Viamo pioneered the IVR remote training approach in 2019 and has since conducted more than 100 remote trainings across 27 countries, with more than 290,000 individuals trained on more than 5 million minutes of audio training content. 

This Theory of Change provides a framework on how to achieve the goal of children aged 6 – 11 year old in Papua able to read with comprehension. Two preconditions are necessary to achieve the goal. Firstly, it is necessary that elementary school teachers be capable of teaching reading. This is indicated by the proportion of teachers that utilize the acquired skills to teach reading. Secondly, it is also necessary that parents be supportive towards developing a friendly environment for literacy activities. This is indicated by the proportion of parents that actively participate and support child literacy development.  

The series of remote & offline learning for teachers on literacy teaching & psychosocial support is intended to improve teachers' capacity in teaching how to read as well as providing psychosocial support for their children. The success of this intervention is indicated by the number of teachers that complete the remote & offline learning.  

Meanwhile, the series of remote & offline learning for parents is intended to raise parents' awareness on the importance of child literacy as well as improve parents' capacity to support child literacy. The success of this intervention is indicated by the number of parents that complete the remote & offline learning. 

This Theory of Change works under a few following critical assumptions:  

• Teachers and parents in the target area have a simple mobile phone; 

• Teachers and parents in the target area have time to participate in the trainings; and 

• Phone signals are available in the target area.

The goal of the IVR remote training is to create a significant and positive improvement in the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of those trained. This will be evaluated using the same IVR approach through the pre-tests, post-tests, and some quizzes inside every training module. The IVR pre-test will be sent through a first call before people listen to the training modules, with the post-tests following in a call once the training has been completed. The quizzes will be embedded in every training module, allowing for real-time data during the training deployment while also making the training more dynamic and participative for the trainees. 

In addition, we will also perform Baseline and Endline studies to evaluate teachers' and parents' perception and behavior changes through quarterly monitoring tools using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to receive both teachers and parents' feedback with respect to both program implementation and impact.  

Below are the roadmap or milestones that WVI has set up with respect to child literacy improvement in Papua, Indonesia:

• Year 1 → Master teachers & community facilitators are trained in literacy.
• Year 2 → Parents are trained in literacy and parenting skills. Master teachers train teachers. Advocacy. Local reading materials are available. Reading camps are utilized by children.
• Year 3 → Students reading comprehension increases to 70%. Teachers’ pedagogy and ICT skills increase. Reading camps are sustained by the community. The materials and program are adopted by District Education Office.
• Year 4 → Locally reading materials are widely available. The District Education Office is engaged in literacy program budgeting.
• Year 5 → Children’s ability to read with comprehension increases to meet the minimum standard of 80%. The District Education Office monitors the literacy program. WVI’s literacy program is endorsed by the Ministry of Education.

To achieve the goal, WVI will do a few things as follows:

• Partner with the District Education Office and the Ministry of Education since the beginning of program to receive feedback with respect to the program.

• Monitor program impact throughout the program implementation.

• Perform joint-resources with the District Education Office and village government.

Technological infrastructure (uneven mobile connectivity), budgetary constraints, digital literacy, amount of materials that can be delivered through mobile calls

Remote training can be an alternative to traditional face-to-face training during Covid-19 pandemic where face-to-face meetings are restricted. Even under normal circumstances, remote training can be a strong supplement to traditional training methods, as it is very effective at providing training to a large number of beneficiaries in a cost-efficient and timely manner. When more individuals benefit from the remote training, it can result in a greater impact.  

Nevertheless, many areas in Papua Province still have poor access to ICT. Given this condition, the local communities in Papua need a ICT solution which is affordable and can function under a low connectivity environment, such as IVR technology. 

Since WVI does not have expertise on ICT solutions, then it is essential for WVI to partner with an ICT-solution company, such as Viamo to deliver the solution. In terms of technology, Viamo as the technology partner has an established partnership with XL Axiata, one of the largest MNOs in Indonesia, to allow calls to be delivered at a more cost-effective rate across all mobile networks. The principles of economies of scale will also come into play as more beneficiaries are reached, since we will be able to push down the training cost per person per module. Furthermore, WVI and Viamo will work together to re-modeled the curriculum narratives to maximize the effectiveness of phone call training deliveries. 

Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to work and collaborate to empower the most vulnerable children, family and community through community development, advocacy, and emergency relief for sustainable transformation regardless of religion, race, ethnic or gender. 

For more than 60 years WVI has carried out various child-focused community development programs that have benefited more than 80,000 children in Indonesia. Every day WVI brings impact to more than 400 most vulnerable children through health, education, child protection, and economic development programs in more than 500 villages throughout Indonesia. In addition to being a winner of Milenium Development Goals (MDGs) Award as well as a partner of the Government of Indonesia on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), WVI is also a trusted partner of World Vision International that has nearly 35,000 employees located in 100 countries, spanning six continents. 

WVI develops this solution to address one of the most prominent barriers to the delivery of its education ministry impact in Papua Province, which is poor access to ICT infrastructures (such as internet signal, smartphones, etc.). It is also in line with WVI's National Strategy 2022 – 2025 whereby WVI will focus its education ministry in Papua, the most underserved & outermost area in Indonesia. The solution is also necessary to expand WVI's digital education portfolio that can help deepen & scale up its existing education ministry impact as well as reposition WVI as one of the leading non-profit organizations in digital education. 

The solution team will consist of around 3 WVI staff from based in WVI's headquarter office in Jakarta, Indonesia and around 4 - 6 WVI staff based in Papua Province.

Viamo has a partnership with one of the largest mobile network companies in Indonesia, XL Axiata, which allows us to send calls in the most cost-efficient manner to any mobile subscriber in Indonesia. Viamo has also delivered several IVR Remote Training programs in several remote areas across Indonesia (including Papua), some of which were done in collaboration with WVI.

The curriculum of WVI's literacy program is adopted from World Vision International's literacy program model that has been piloted in more than 30 countries with a focus on building foundational learning and core reading skills rather than just supporting school attendance. In Indonesia WVI has been piloting the curriculum in remote areas in 5 regencies spread across 3 provinces and has brought impact on more than 2,700 children. At national level, WVI's literacy program has been successful in improving child literacy skills from 50% to 60% within only 1 year of intervention. WVI also has established a partnership with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of Indonesia to implement a literacy program that covers as many as 245 schools and targets 1,000 teachers as well as 10,000 students.

WVI has been very open to any sort of innovation that can deepen and / or scale up its ministry impact on its target communities. This includes any innovation in terms of education programs, such as the incorporation of education technology into the program. 

Over the past several years, WVI has been collaborating with Samsung Electronics to implement a Smart Learning Center in an elementary school in Papua Province. It's the first Smart Learning Center in the area that can become a model for replication purposes.  

At the moment WVI is also collaborating with Yayasan Anak Bangsa Bisa (YABB) to distribute a certain number of laptops and desktops to underserved communities in Kalimantan Barat Province, Indonesia.

• Ministry of Education, Culture and Research → We work with them to review our module and disseminate the impact of the literacy program. Currently, we also partnership with them in literacy program in 245 schools in 5 district (3 of them located in Papua).  

• Provincial Education Office → We work with them to ensure the quality of the literacy module that we use.  

• Provincial Education Quality Assurance → We partner with them to review our module including contextualizing and simplifying.  

• District Education Office → We partner with them to mobilize teachers during this literacy program and receive their feedback in terms of the process and quality assurance.   

• Samsung Electronics Indonesia → We are piloting a Smart Learning Center with Samsung that will benefit children, parents and teachers.  

• Google Indonesia → We partner with google Indonesia to train teachers in ICT even though they live in remote areas. We are able to train 600 teachers across Indonesia in ICT.  

• Yayasan Anak Bangsa Bisa (YABB) → We partner with them to provide the hardware of ICT for teachers and schools.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a growing need for ICT infrastructures & competency among teachers and students in order to adapt to the changing learning settings, from the traditional face-to-face setting to the remote one. Aside from that, the Government of Indonesia also plans to develop a technology-based national educational platform because Indonesia will be more digitally literate according to the existing trend. It is estimated that half of the Indonesian population will have at least two smartphones and 70 percent of the population will use the internet on daily basis by 2024. 

In light of the above trend, WVI is seeking to expand its digital education ministry portfolio in order to deepen & scale up its education ministry impact as well as reposition itself as one of the leading non-profit organizations in digital education. In its new national strategy 2022 – 2025 WVI will focus its education ministry in its service area in Papua Province, the most underserved and outermost area in Indonesia. The Octava Social Innovation Challenge is in line with this strategy because it will allow WVI to address one of the most prominent barriers to the delivery of its education ministry in Papua, which is poor access to ICT infrastructures (such as internet signal, smartphones, etc.). Viamo's IVR technology will provide an equal opportunity for more teachers & parents in Papua to benefit from WVI's education ministry. 

The total proposed amount of funding for this challenge is $ 65,000 with a breakdown as follow:

• Remote training via IVR → $ 47,872 (13 lessons for 4,000 parents and 600 teachers)
• Offline activities → $ 7,128 (for meetings, trainings, and monitoring & evaluation)
• Other administration costs → $ 10,000