While these challenges are felt globally, they are particularly pronounced in areas like Dalaba, Guinea, where connectivity issues and limited resources pose significant barriers. Despite these constraints, Digital Promise, Jeune Espoir, and Learning Equality have been working together to facilitate high-quality digital learning in Dalaba.
This work began in 2023 when April Williamson, Digital Promise’s project director for global programs, traveled to Dalaba to work alongside Community Engagement Exchange fellow Aissata Bah and her team at Jeune Espoir to train local educators on strategies for implementing powerful blended learning. Based on the educator feedback from those sessions, Jeune Espoir identified a need to create a curated repository of locally relevant digital content options that could be accessed by educators and learners on a range of devices and without consistent internet access.
That’s where Learning Equality came in. Their Kolibri ecosystem includes open digital products and tools centered around an offline-first learning platform. Kolibri is specially designed to enable quality teaching and learning with technology– but without the internet– which is crucial for a community like Dalaba, where internet access is unreliable. Digital Promise had previously collaborated with Learning Equality on a blended learning pilot in Haiti. Given some similar needs and conditions between Haiti and Dalaba, the organization saw a valuable opportunity to leverage Kolibri in Guinea as well.
Kolibri is well suited for contexts like this because it can support a variety of learning and hardware models. In addition, it enables organizations to use their own learning materials offline and select from an existing openly licensed content library. Kolibri’s interface is available in 33 languages, including French, making it a good fit for Francophone learning contexts like Guinea. The Kolibri Learning Platform, Kolibri Studio curriculum tool (which can be used to align content to curricula), and onboarding materials are also freely available on the Learning Equality website for any organization to use.
“Jeune Espoir exemplifies how an organization can leverage Kolibri’s tools to design a program that aligns with existing pedagogical practices and meets identified needs,” said Laura Danforth, Learning Equality’s head of global community engagement. “We’re excited to see their blended learning program grow and thrilled that Kolibri is helping make their content accessible offline.”
To meet the educational needs in Dalaba, Jeune Espoir has established a computer lab with a Kolibri server at a local partner school, Lambiri. This setup allows for the distribution of digital content to both the lab computers and community members’ mobile phones without needing an internet connection. Students can download the materials onto their phones, explore new concepts, complete assessments, and periodically share their progress via the classroom server. Meanwhile, teachers and school administrators can utilize Kolibri to create virtual classes and assign lessons and quizzes to students.
Utilizing this Kolibri installation with Digital Promise’s powerful blended learning approach, Jeune Espoir’s educators are designing engaging learning experiences that combine digital content with face-to-face instruction. For example, in Jeune Espoir’s Conversational English classes, which are part of the U.S. Department of State’s Access program, students are grouped based on their vocabulary skills. While one group engages in a discussion about identity and family with a native speaker, a second group studies vocabulary on the same topic using the Kolibri learning platform to prepare for a group discussion, and a third group works with the teacher on conversation prompt cards related to the same theme. Access teachers also assign additional learning tasks to students who need extra support or enrichment. Jeune Espoir has observed that dividing classes into smaller groups based on students’ learning needs and providing diverse learning methods have significantly increased student engagement and collaboration.
Moreover, to enhance support for schools in Dalaba and beyond, Jeune Espoir has been migrating its secondary math and science content to the Kolibri Learning Platform. The organization is also training teachers in Dalaba to create courses on the platform, add digital activities, enroll students, and assign lessons and quizzes. Before the current school year ends, Jeune Espoir plans to deploy Kolibri servers at four partner schools in Dalaba and train additional teachers in powerful blended learning.
These initiatives will provide thousands of students, particularly those in remote areas facing teacher shortages, with continuous access to digital course materials. This approach will facilitate collaboration among teachers and students, enhance student accountability, and foster a more engaging learning environment. With continued support from Digital Promise, Learning Equality, and local school leaders, Jeune Espoir aims to transform educators’ teaching methods and align Guinea’s educational outcomes with the demands of 21st-century education.
What stands out most about this partnership is how each organization has leveraged its unique strengths to address the challenges in Dalaba. Jeune Espoir has contributed digital learning spaces, locally relevant content, and strong community engagement. Learning Equality has provided open-source, offline-first educational tools specifically designed to overcome challenges like those in Dalaba. And Digital Promise has offered pedagogical training on how to use local tools and resources to create high-quality educational experiences that seamlessly blend digital and face-to-face learning.
“I strongly believe that this learning method will allow each one of our students to reach their fullest potential, both in finding or creating jobs and in becoming servant leaders,” shared one of Jeune Espoir’s Access teachers. A student in the Access program added, “I wish I had studied like this throughout my education because this method allows me to master educational content by being engaged, rather than by struggling to memorize.”
Together, these three organizations are proving that high-quality digital learning doesn’t require extensive resources. Instead, with a shared vision, contextually relevant tools and content, strong pedagogy, and deep community connections, young people in Guinea and beyond can access valuable digital learning opportunities. This initiative is not only effective but also scalable, serving as a model for other organizations to adopt similar approaches in their respective contexts.
Sekou Mansare, Jeune Espoir’s executive director, emphasized the positive impact of this partnership: “Growing up, most of the Jeune Espoir staff got opportunities to learn by collaborating, being engaged, and creating through missionaries and Peace Corps volunteers, allowing them to tackle social problems destroying their community. Collaborating with Digital Promise and Learning Equality enables us to more effectively share the same type of learning with hundreds of young people more formally. Jeune Espoir is immensely grateful to both organizations and invites other stakeholders to apply the model and all education champions to support this partnership.”
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