What is the name of your organization?
Bombeke Foundation
What is the name of your solution?
Bombeke Studio
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Equipping children in refugee settlements to imagine, design, and locally fabricate learning tools through a child-run, tech-enabled studio model.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Kampala, Uganda
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Uganda
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Children in Uganda’s refugee settlements face multiple barriers to foundational learning—overcrowded classrooms, trauma, limited access to learning materials, and a lack of play-based approaches that support cognitive and social-emotional development. These challenges are especially acute for displaced children aged 6–16, many of whom experience disrupted schooling, minimal exposure to creative learning, and few opportunities to shape their own learning environment.
Globally, 250 million children lack access to formal education. Even among those in school, a majority are not achieving minimum proficiency in literacy and numeracy. The gap is wider in conflict-affected regions, where education systems are overstretched and under-resourced.
What is your solution?
Bombeke Studio is a community-powered microfabrication and learning initiative where children use digital design tools and 3D printing to co-create physical learning aids, story-based objects, and classroom tools that address local learning challenges.
Each Bombeke Studio is hosted in a community space or school near a refugee settlement. Using laptops, open-source design software, and PLA-based 3D printers, children (ages 6–18) participate in facilitated sessions where they explore curriculum-aligned content by designing physical models—ranging from letter blocks to geometric puzzles to household objects that reinforce numeracy and scientific thinking.
A rotating Youth Design Studio Council provides input on objects to be prototyped, co-leads exhibitions, and facilitates feedback loops from peers and caregivers. The solution amplifies child agency, contextual relevance, and joyful engagement—turning learners into local inventors.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
The primary beneficiaries are displaced and host-community children aged 6–16 in Western Uganda. Most are enrolled in overcrowded classrooms, lacking tailored learning tools or access to creative, play-based methods. These children face trauma, learning disruptions, and disengagement from traditional rote instruction.
By participating in Bombeke Studios, these children:
-Reinforce foundational concepts through hands-on design (shapes, storytelling, problem-solving).
-Build confidence, curiosity, and self-expression in a safe, peer-supported environment.
-Strengthen identity and community ties by designing tools grounded in their lived realities.
The solution also engages caregivers, teachers, and local youth as facilitators—enhancing the capacity of local education ecosystems to deliver tech-enhanced, inclusive learning.
