What is the name of your organization?
Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA)-Ethiopia
What is the name of your solution?
Leveraging ATB for RACE
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
ATB is an innovative, user-friendly audio device developed to share life-changing information with low-literate and hard-to-reach communities
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA)-Ethiopia Country Office is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. SAA is registered with the Ethiopian Authority for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO) and operates in various regions across Ethiopia.
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
ETH
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Our solution addresses two interlinked challenges in agriculture: the impacts of climate change and digital divide in access to information. Smallholder farmers, particularly women and youth, often lack sufficient knowledge and access to climate-related information and improved agricultural technologies. Their understanding of climate change is shaped largely by local norms and personal experiences, limiting their ability to adopt effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. Women, despite their crucial role as universal primary caregivers to households and their substantial contribution to farm activities, they face restricted access to institutional services like extension, market information and opportunities. Hence, they are often marginalized and shoulder more burden of poverty and associated consequences.
Climate-smart digitals offer a transformative opportunity to bridge these gaps by delivering localized, inclusive, and actionable information. When designed to consider literacy, gender, and access barriers, these tools can empower marginalized groups, reduce cost of extension services, and increase the adoption of sustainable practices. In rural Ethiopia, where digital access remains low (mobile/internet access penetration of 8%/3%), leveraging appropriate technologies like audio-based platforms can significantly enhance outreach and impact. Integrating women into technology-based nutritious food production and utilization not only boosts productivity but also strengthens social and economic resilience at community level.
What is your solution?
Our solution is Amplio Talking Book (TB)-a rugged, battery-powered audio device designed to deliver essential nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart information to low-literate farmers. Resembling a semi-digital radio, TB plays pre-recorded audios organized into playlists tailored to the needs of communities. Content is created in local languages and aligned with specific nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart topics. These messages are uploaded to TBs using Amplio’s software, including a content manager, playlist loader, and web-based analytical dashboard.
TB supports both individual and group learning where farmers can listen at their own pace and discuss them in groups or families, sparking community dialogue with minimal/no involvement of experts. Uniquely, it allows farmers to record feedback, questions, or comments, creating a two-way communication channel. The device is powered by rechargeable batteries, making it ideal for off-grid areas. Its audio prompts and visual icons make it easy to guide navigation for users. It is also friendly to women, who rarely have access to formal extension services. Usage data/feedback collected from TBs are analyzed to improve content relevance and delivery. By combining localized content, easy-to-use technology, and real-time feedback, the TBs bridges the digital divide and strengthens climate extension services for the most underserved communities.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution directly serves 2,040 smallholder farmers (60% women) and 5% persons with disabilities (PwDs)-in the Angacha District of the Central Ethiopia Region and Meket District of the Amhara Region. These communities are among the most underserved in terms of access to agricultural extension services, largely due to infrastructure limitations and low literacy levels. As a result, farmers lack timely, actionable information on climate-smart and regenerative agricultural practices.
The project will organize selected host farmers into 17 listener groups, each with 30 households consisting of men headed households, women in men headed households and women headed households, further divided into subgroups to facilitate peer learning. Participants will receive Talking Books and training on how to use the Amplio Talking Book, which will deliver localized audio content in four seasonal deployments per year. These messages will guide farmers in applying climate-smart inputs and techniques that can help them improve crop productivity and income, and build their resilience.