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EmpowerPack launching digital inclusion in Zambia

EmpowerPack has partnered with MentorNations, ThinkZambia, and Chasten Education Center to launch the Digital Inclusion Zambia program to provide online education, professional upskilling, and digital inclusion to youth Zambiae

The platform will be developed by MentorNations’ existing curriculum with new learning content from EmpowerPack, and then localized based on collaboration between the partners. The delivery of the app and instructor-led training will be managed over an 18-month period via bootcamps with classes of 40 teens per class and 800 impacted teens. Access to these three vital skills will drive mobile adoption in Zambia due to increased digital intelligence and excitement for the possibilities of technology and its potential to drive education, economic, agricultural, and healthcare outcomes in the lives of participants

Zambian youth taking part in the program will be empowered and inspired by providing opportunities for entering the digital economy. They will learn to be safe and secure online, increase their emotional intelligence, understand how to apply digital communication skills in a virtual setting, manage their online footprint, decipher between real and fake news, understand the introductory building blocks of data literacy and computer science, obtain introductory financial literacy skills, recognize their online rights, manage their online identities, and grasp the concept of healthy and balanced usage of technology. Youth will become aware of the opportunities available in technology entrepreneurship with encouragement and reduction of social attitudes attributed to youth entrepreneurship. Those skills will be nurtured throughout the camp and via the mobile application. They will be encouraged to understand how to gain work experience through innovative means such as volunteerism and community action. Lastly, they will be introduced to role models within the community actively involved in the entrepreneurship sector.

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EmpowerPack deploys digital school and library systems to Remba Island

EmpowerPack is working with the Lacey Rotary Club to deploy digital library and school kits on Remba Island in Lake Victoria, Kenya.

The Lacey Rotary Club is the sponsor Club for a global grant from Rotary to develop the water, sanitation, and hygiene project on Remba Island in Lake Victoria, Kenya. The rocky island previously lacked any sources of potable water or safe hygiene facilities.

EmpowerPack joined the project and delivered 2nd generation EmpowerReader and EmpowerSchool kits to the island to establish community reading and digital education programs in September 2019.

The community quickly adopted the kits for training programs, and participating students increased the academic performance significantly within one term.

[This project is ongoing, and updates will be posted to this thread].

One of the children participating in the EmpowerPack digital education program receives a certificate of achievement from the local school.

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EmpowerPack deploys e-readers in Maasai Mara conservation region, Kenya

EmpowerPack is collaborating with The Maa Trust in Kenya to provide access to technology and education for children throughout the Maasai Mara conservation region.

“The children absolutely loved the EmpowerPack tablets and took to them like a duck to water …”
— Dr. Crystal Mogenson
CEO, The Maa Trust

  • Children in Maasai Mara, Kenya read from an EmpowerReader tablet
    The EmpowerReader tablets featured a combination textbooks, storybooks, and STEM apps
  • Children in Maasai Mara, Kenya read from an EmpowerReader tablet
    Most children involved in the pilot program had disabilities or came from disadvantaged backgrounds
  • Children in Maasai Mara, Kenya read from an EmpowerReader tablet
    The EmpowerReader kit contained a combination of materials in English (blue tablets) and Swahili (red tablets)
  • Children in Maasai Mara, Kenya read from an EmpowerReader tablet
    The content and format enabled the children to study collaboratively with older participants assisting younger students
  • Children in Maasai Mara, Kenya read from an EmpowerReader tablet
    Education content on each EmpowerReader tablet was grade-mapped to each age group, with location and country-specific books and curricula
  • Children in Maasai Mara, Kenya read from an EmpowerReader tablet
    The form factor of the EmpowerReader tablets enabled five or six children to read simultaneously from each device.

“There were about 50 children of various ages and some had very little school experience. They all came from disadvantaged home circumstances or have disabilities or health concerns. Some of the girls are at risk of being married/sold to men 3 times their ages as a second wife. However it took these students about 2 minutes to figure out the EmpowerPack tablets and they even realized they could take selfies using the tablets at the end of the session. Much laughter. I lent the girls my cell phone and they had fun taking photos. Didn’t need any instruction for this either. My group of students worked on the math problem where the rats had to cross the river. They did great. They don’t mind sharing in a group at all. They can read very well upside down. I believe this could be that they are very used to sharing books in the classroom.”

— Stella Podmore, project donor and volunteer.

To learn more about the EmpowerReader solution, click here.