1ROOM

In Kenya, high-risk early pregnancy has been a societal challenge. Governmental demographic data from 2014, the latest available, show that 15 percent of girls aged 15-19 had already given birth, and another three percent were pregnant with their child (Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, p. 106). Teen motherhood is one of the leading reasons why girls do not complete high school. Teen pregnancy also affects boys, as young fathers can face pressure to quit school to provide for their children. Traditional high schools are not designed for flexible or part-time studies, leading to the majority of teen parents dropping out of school. Many older teens face additional time pressures related to farm labor or general income generation, especially if they have younger siblings or if their parents have passed away. If schools could offer flexible hours and part-time studies, then a large proportion of teen parents or workers would be able to continue their studies on a part-time basis. Pratham has shown that flexible part-time learning at the secondary school level works in India through its Pratham Open School (formerly called the Second Chance Program). Pratham has helped thousands of young women complete state and/or national high school exams as private candidates through part-time tutoring centers and largely paper-based learn-at-home programs. If secondary education can be offered on a flexible, part-time basis, then a large portion of the young adult population will be able to continue their education while balancing work and family demands.

The vast majority of rural students have to walk to school by foot. In low-density rural areas, the geographic catchment area of a high school can have a radius as large as 10-15 km. The roundtrip commute time for families living further than 5 km from the school poses a significant indirect cost, if not an outright barrier, to students with even minor physical disabilities. These rural populations effectively live in “education deserts”. If the minimum viable secondary school size could be reduced to 20-30 students, then we could operate small schools in rural villages that are otherwise too small to support a full-blown secondary school. By operating a multi-grade, multi-subject one-room schoolhouse, even offline and off-grid, we can transform each education desert into an education oasis.

1Room is a pioneering schoolhouse model that operates with just one classroom and a single staff member, delivering a complete curriculum to students of any grade, even in off-grid and offline environments, at a fraction of the cost of a traditional school. Our approach empowers students to pursue individual study plans tailored to their needs, supported by specially trained coaches, a vast library of digital learning content, and low-cost tablets or Android smartphones.

We have developed a range of programming options that recognize the diverse goals of our students, offering distinct tracks for those on different paths:

1. Traditional Track: Focused on maximizing scores in national exams.
2. Vocational Track: Geared toward enhancing short-term employability, economic self-sufficiency, and overall well-being.
3. Academic Track: Aimed at fostering higher-level cognitive abilities, learning skills, and problem-solving.

At the heart of our model is the KOLIBRI software, developed by Learning Equality. Running on a Raspberry Pi server, KOLIBRI broadcasts preloaded information stored on micro SD cards. Students access this content via client devices such as tablets, smartphones, and desktops connected to the Kolibri WIFI network.

Lessons are presented in concise 6-10 minute videos, allowing students to pause and rewind as needed, catering to individual learning paces. Each lesson concludes with self-checking revision questions, providing immediate feedback to learners. Progress for each pupil is stored on the device, enabling remote tracking of individual interactions and topic progress. To enhance engagement, students earn points for each interaction with a video or lesson.

Additionally, our specially trained teacher acts as the 1Room coach. The coach can pre-plan and assign lessons, monitor progress, and provide personalized support to students facing difficulties.

While 1Room will initially focus on teenagers and young adults from lower- and middle-income backgrounds in East Africa, our model's inherent flexibility allows for customization to serve a variety of underserved populations. Ultimately, we believe that our approach has the potential to improve the quality and accessibility of education for a wide range of individuals, including:

• Adult learners
• Part-time students
• Gifted learners
• Those with disabilities
• Stigmatized populations
• Indigenous peoples
• Rural and remote communities
• Refugees

We understand that these underserved populations have diverse and sometimes complex needs. Addressing these needs effectively may require significant time and effort. However, 1Room is committed to continually evolving and expanding our offerings to ensure that all individuals, regardless of their circumstances, have access to quality education.

Our organization comprises a dedicated team consisting of four full-time staff, as well as part-time staff, consultants, and volunteers actively engaged in this project. At present, we do not anticipate facing challenges related to competing priorities, as this project remains our primary focus.

The core team of 13 members has been instrumental in driving the project forward since its inception in 2016. Beginning with the development of digital resources, we have successfully implemented pilot programs and are now poised to expand the initiative to cover Western Kenya in the short term, with a long-term goal of extending its reach to encompass the entirety of Kenya.

We aim to capitalize on the core skills and expertise that our team has cultivated over the years to ensure the success of this endeavor. With firsthand experience both at the desk and in the field, our team members possess a deep understanding of the project's intricacies. Their confidence in serving as project hosts stems from this comprehensive understanding. Additionally, they believe that collaborating with LEAP fellows will accelerate our progress and enhance the efficiency of our operations.

The journey of 1Room began in 2014 with research and planning conducted by Partners for International Development under the project name "Radically Affordable Rural Education" (RARE). Seed funding from D-Prize and the MIT Ideas Global Challenge enabled the opening of pilot classrooms in September 2015, established through partnerships with the Olive Branch for Children in Tanzania and The Pamoja CBO in Kenya. In 2016, the Tanzania pilot project transitioned into an after-school remedial education and tutoring program focused on ESL and Math.

In 2017, after registering two former dropouts for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, PfID terminated its partnership with Pamoja CBO due to funding constraints. Subsequently, PfID shifted focus to digital content development for the KCSE curriculum, funded by personal grants and donations from volunteers. Key accomplishments include:

• Assembling a collection of digital lectures covering at least 70% of the Form 1-4 curriculum for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics.
• Developing exam-review lessons and practice questions with solution videos for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics.
• Creating comprehensive digital lessons in regional accents for Agriculture, Business Studies, English, Home Science, History and Government, and Kiswahili.
• Progressing towards bridging gaps in creative commons materials for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics.
• Designing labs and science practicals for subjects with applicable components in the curriculum.
• Developing exam-review materials for non-science subjects.
• Creating modules on various topics including sexual and reproductive health, physical health, mental health, effective studying, peer counselling, communication and conflict management, and anti-oppression and human rights.
• Establishing the "1ROOM Kenya" YouTube channel for content delivery, garnering significant subscribers and views.

In 2019, with funding from a Rotary Foundation Global Grant (RFGG), PfID partnered with two secondary schools in Kisumu, Western Kenya, to launch the pilot program known as the Second Chance Program (SCP). Despite challenges, including lack of space and bureaucratic hurdles, the program evolved into an after-school initiative providing personalized education to students in need.

In 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, 1Room launched a full-time program in Vihiga County, Western Kenya, offering free access to resources for high school dropouts and primary graduates. Despite challenges, the program has successfully enrolled and graduated numerous students.

In 2021, partnerships were formed with two public primary schools in western Kenya to offer an after-school math program through 1Room, benefiting over 400 pupils. Additionally, over 42 teachers and coaches in western Kenya have received training on 1Room pedagogy and technology.

Overall, 1Room continues to expand its reach and impact, empowering students and educators in rural and underserved communities.

We are applying to Solve because we believe that with their financial and technical support, we can achieve our goal of making the 1ROOM program self-sustaining, reducing our dependence on grants and donations. Our innovative social enterprise business model aims to ensure the longevity of 1ROOM and its associated projects.

We are confident that with funding and technical assistance to acquire necessary equipment and technology for storing and distributing our 1ROOM content, we can offer our services to our established client base. Through community interactions and testimonials from past clients, we know that many potential users, including breadwinners, parents, and young adults, would prefer to access our materials remotely, from the comfort of their homes or workplaces. To facilitate this, we require hardware such as power sources (power banks), connections (Raspberry Pis), service devices, client devices, storage (SD cards, flash drives, CDs), and miscellaneous items (power cords, earphones), as well as maintenance costs.

Our social business model aims to sustain onsite 1ROOM programs in identified locations, primarily serving impoverished households. Our long-term vision is to expand our operations to at least five counties in Western Kenya within the next three years, and eventually reach remote areas of the country, including refugee camps.

Furthermore, we seek technical support and professional advice from the Solve community on transitioning from the pilot stage of our solution to the growth stage, while ensuring the sustainability of 1ROOM. Specifically, we are seeking training and professional development for our staff in Kenya on program operations, branding and marketing, and resource mobilization.

With the support of Solve, we believe we can significantly increase our reach and impact, enabling more individuals to access quality education and pursue their academic goals.

While most educational technologies serve as supplements for traditional classrooms or at-home learning, they often represent an added marginal cost to end-users without addressing inherent problems within the school system. Our solution stands out for its innovation in delivering a comprehensive high school education, fully aligned with each country’s national exams, without the need for a physical school, internet access, grid electricity, or specialized subject teachers.

Drawing inspiration from Pratham’s Second Chance Program in India, our approach shares similarities but incorporates digital learning technology. In Pratham's program, girls who dropped out of school between grades 6-9 received part-time instruction from a master teacher in a one-room schoolhouse. They then completed individual study sessions in a flexible, self-paced manner, largely at home. While participants achieved a high pass rate on grade 10 exams, scalability was limited due to the high cost of relying on a master teacher with expertise spanning all subjects.

In East Africa, e-tutoring apps such as Eneza and M-Shule have gained popularity, but they often fall short in offering comprehensive curriculum coverage due to their reliance on simple SMS. Similarly, while smartphone e-learning apps like Byju (India) and Zeraki (Kenya) have seen explosive growth, the high costs of internet access remain prohibitive for most low-income families in developing countries.

The latest report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 indicates that nearly 35 percent of Kenyan high school students will not complete their education by 2030, despite significant government investment to achieve 100 percent primary-to-secondary school transition.

Furthermore, a research study conducted by Lombo Lombo (Walden University) reveals that many Kenyan high school dropouts lack a viable re-entry option. Without a high school diploma, they are unable to access tertiary or higher education institutions for further training and career development. While privately-owned Adult Learning Centers exist, primarily in urban areas, they cater mainly to financially capable clients, leaving students from impoverished households and rural areas at a disadvantage. The absence of access to high school education perpetuates poverty in a world increasingly reliant on higher education and specialized skills.

1Room targets these underserved populations, including high school dropouts, primary school graduates, parents, and young adults in need of flexible or part-time studies to complete their education and obtain their high school diploma. Our approach delivers a comprehensive high school curriculum aligned with Kenya's national exams, without requiring a physical school, internet access, grid electricity, or specialized subject teachers.

Since 2017, 1Room has served over 250 high school students in Western Kenya (Kisumu and Vihiga Counties), both on full-time and part-time bases. Additionally, we have provided math and science after-school programs to over 600 primary school pupils during the same period.

Many beneficiaries of 1Room have accessed vocational training centers, colleges, and universities in Kenya. We closely monitor former 1Room students and are proud to report that many have succeeded in obtaining tertiary education, training, and employment opportunities. They have become beacons of hope in their communities for those who had lost hope of completing their secondary education. Moreover, 1Room has played a crucial role in improving literacy and numeracy skills, particularly for students who initially struggled with basic reading and writing.

Phase 1: Impact Assessment During Program Refinement

During this initial phase (Year 1), the program will undergo refinement based on feedback from our beneficiaries, alongside the addition of new digital learning content onto our servers and storage devices. Consequently, our focus will primarily be on quality-control impact metrics that form part of a continuous improvement feedback loop. These metrics will include:

1. Written student surveys conducted three times per year, critically evaluating the program and their instructor.
2. Semi-annual student interviews conducted by a staff member other than the students’ instructor.
3. Comparison of our student attrition rate with the attrition rate of comparable populations at the local high school.
4. Comparison of our student attendance rate with the attendance rate of comparable populations at the local high school.
5. Exam scores on internal assessments demonstrating at least 6 months' worth of curriculum progress for every 6 months of full-time enrollment in our program. "Curriculum progress" will be defined as achieving a grade of C+ or higher on new material, as a C+ is the minimum score required for students to qualify for publicly-funded post-secondary education in Kenya.

Phase 2: Impact Assessment During Rigorous Impact Evaluation

In the subsequent phase, we will engage an independent impact evaluation team to oversee a randomized controlled trial (RCT) starting in Year 2. This trial will involve repeated data collection every 6 months for four years. We aim to partner with a university, although we possess the necessary expertise in-house to design and analyze a scientifically rigorous impact evaluation.

The RCT will employ a random lottery to select students to participate in our program from a large pool of eligible applicants, while those not selected will form the randomized control group. Additionally, we will track a case-control group of students who enrolled in a nearby public secondary school and share similar socioeconomic profiles to our randomized groups.

For these three student populations, we will track the following metrics every six months:

1. Performance on a common set of exams.
2. Attendance.
3. Attrition.
4. Self-reported life satisfaction and well-being.

By the end of the four years, all full-time students will have completed the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. We will measure impact using absolute KCSE performance, as well as comparing their relative ranking in the KCSE to what would have been predicted given their relative ranking in the equivalent national primary school exit exam (the KCPE).

The 1Room Program operates on KOLIBRI software, utilizing a Raspberry Pi as a server to broadcast information from a preloaded micro SD card to client devices such as tablets, smartphones, and desktops. Learners log in to access the offline library on the KOLIBRI learning platform.

Our lessons are delivered in the form of MP4 videos, allowing students to pause and rewind as needed, catering to the needs of slower learners. At the conclusion of each lesson, self-checking revision questions provide immediate feedback to students, enhancing their learning experience. The device stores the progress of each pupil, enabling remote access to track individual interactions and topic progress. To incentivize engagement, students earn points for each interaction with a video or lesson.

Additionally, we have trained a teacher to serve as the 1Room coach. The coach can plan and assign lessons in advance, monitoring progress and providing individualized attention to students experiencing difficulties. Upon logging in, the coach can view the progress of the lesson, including students who have not started, those in progress, and those who have completed the assignment. This feature enables the coach to identify and assist learners who may be struggling.

Full time staff - 7 

Part-time staff - 6 

Volunteers - 5 

Consultants - 1

We have been working on our solution for about 8 years now

We have a dedicated team comprising full-time and part-time personnel, volunteers, and consultants working together to sustain 1ROOM. These hardworking individuals come from diverse cultural backgrounds, including the USA, Canada, Tanzania, and Kenya. Within our team, we have professionals spanning various fields such as teaching, anthropology, education, engineering, economics, and accounting.

Committed to upholding international labor laws, our recruitment process reflects our dedication. All full-time staff undergo a rigorous selection procedure involving thorough interviews for advertised positions.

Our 1ROOM policy handbook, provided to every staff member at the start of their contract, clearly outlines professional and legal responsibilities, complaint resolution procedures, occupational health and safety guidelines, as well as protocols for separation and termination from 1ROOM.

Recently, our staff participated in a professional development training seminar organized by PFID. The seminar covered several important topics including effective communication, conflict resolution, anger management, self-awareness, giving and receiving feedback, handling failure, and maintaining professionalism.

Additionally, our staff have received in-house training in marketing and management from a seasoned businessman with experience in the banking sector. The training covered valuable topics such as quality customer relationship management, customer service excellence, and the attributes of a successful employee.

The changing global landscape has brought a harsh reality to light in Kenya and across Africa: meaningful employment is nearly impossible to attain without a high school diploma.

While Kenya's overall unemployment rate stands at 12.7 percent, the youth demographic (15 – 34 years old), comprising 35 percent of the population, faces the highest unemployment rate at 67 percent. Each year, over one million young people enter the job market without any skills, many having either dropped out of school or completed their education without further enrollment in college.

In a world increasingly reliant on education and people skills, the lack of access to higher education perpetuates poverty. At 1Room, we confront this challenge daily. Our solutions aim to revolutionize the education system while ensuring access for all.

Initially, our ambition mirrored that of many charitable organizations worldwide: to provide free education. While we remain committed to supporting students from impoverished households who demonstrate dedication and strive for academic excellence, we've recognized the inherent challenge of sustainability. Funding must come from donations or grants, which are often difficult to maintain.

As a result, we are transitioning to a self-sustaining social enterprise model. We plan to sell or loan educational content to students at a nominal fee, significantly lower than traditional high school tuition or private adult learning centers. Content will be loaded onto micro SD cards, CDs, or flash drives, organized by subject and grade. Clients can purchase or borrow the storage device with the content, with higher fees for ownership. Upon completion, they will receive content for the next grade.

In addition, we will include internally developed modules on essential topics such as the science of learning, effective studying techniques, physical and mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and anti-oppression and human rights.

Proceeds from the social enterprise will cover expenses at 1Room learning centers, where deserving but impoverished students receive education for free. For those who demonstrate dedication, 1Room offers part-time work opportunities within the program, providing a pathway to gainful employment. We are committed to seeking employment opportunities for these students within 1Room, including roles such as technology setup, library assistance, and maintenance tasks.

1ROOM aims to achieve sustainability through the sale of its products, specifically the digitized KCSE content. Currently, the majority of 1ROOM's operations, including the onsite program at a local resource center in western Kenya, have been funded by the President of Partners for International Development out of his own pocket. However, due to insufficient funding, especially since the onset of COVID-19, it is clear that this approach is not sustainable in the long term. Therefore, we must explore alternative sources of funding that are viable for the continued success of 1ROOM.

Recently, we formed a partnership with an adult learning center in Kisumu, where we provided them with access to our educational resources for their teachers and students. The majority of students at this center are financially capable but can only attend part-time classes due to their employment commitments. Many of these students have expressed interest in acquiring our content for at-home studies and are willing to pay a small fee for the services. This initial response indicates significant potential for expanding our client base. We have also received inquiries from potential clients in other parts of the country, particularly Kisumu and Nairobi, who are interested in purchasing or borrowing our content to study and sit for the KCSE exams as private candidates.

In response to this demand, we have developed a business plan for a social enterprise that will generate funds while ensuring that our clients are satisfied with the services provided. We believe that this model can serve as a sustainable revenue stream in the long term, allowing us to continue diversifying our operations and reaching as many clients as possible throughout the country.