Can SMS messages change a refugee’s life? We think so.

by Sara Cohen, Head of Learning at M-Shule

There’s a huge problem…

According to UNHCR, more than 82 million individuals around the world have been forcibly displaced. This conservative figure includes 26.5 million refugees. At present, 1 out of every 95 people on our planet has had to flee their home due to persecution or conflict.

Refugees face myriad challenges that are unique to their precarious situation. Refugees in East Africa are often locked out of education, formal employment, and economic activities due to gender, nationality, and language. Many live on less than $1 per day; 40% of their businesses collapsed during the pandemic. Of the 3.25 million refugees in the region, most earn less than $70 a month. With almost 90% of African learners already in learning poverty, refugee youth were some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged with school closures during coronavirus.

While much of the rest of the world has the option of online learning, significant gaps remain in regard to the ability of refugees to access equitable education and skill-building opportunities. In fact, fewer than 20% of the African population in general has regular access to the internet and smart devices, instead using basic feature phones that only call and text.

But we can help solve it…

June’s World Refugee Day provided the ideal opportunity to reflect on and share the work M-Shule is doing to ensure equitable access to impactful learning and training resources for everyone, while simultaneously reducing the cost of providing such access. M-Shule is the only platform in Africa to combine the “appropriate technology” of text messages with personalized training, peer learning, and community sensitization. Our basic training platform has the power to transform whole communities, opening up doors for better education, growth, and sustainability for millions.

How do we do it? Adaptive learning technology, which uses AI to tailor content to learners’ personal performance, has been proven to increase skills and knowledge for marginalized learners up to 100%. M-Shule leverages artificial intelligence to deliver tailored, bite-sized content to users all through an SMS interface. The system automatically tailors courses based on the learners’ needs, interests, language, and performance and tracks real-time data on their progress.

CASE STUDY: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SKILLS

M-Shule developed a livelihoods “post-training assistant” platform that provided complementary, post-workshop support and a data collection system to its client’s urban livelihoods team and their beneficiaries. The platform used SMS to deliver “in-service” remote training on business management, entrepreneurship, and leadership to refugee beneficiaries as well as performance data and insights to the project team. The platform contributed to the marked improvement of beneficiaries’ knowledge, usage and adoption of best business practices; improved the frequency and quality of business data collected; and made it easier for the project team to identify gaps and better support their beneficiaries. All of this will lead to better success for the beneficiaries’ businesses, livelihoods, and communities.

“We have been able to transform lives and livelihoods in the community using an SMS learning platform. Micro and small enterprises have improved performance of their businesses through the skills and knowledge gained.”

“I want to receive more of these mini-courses because I want to be able to grow my business skills as well as be able to show off my skills. [This] training has given me a chance to know things I probably would never have known due to my circumstances. If you give me more content I would have a chance to get out of employment and start my own business.”

With a learning platform accessible to everyone.

To date, M-Shule has worked in partnership with 6 organizations and CBOs as well as refugees themselves to successfully leverage its innovative design-thinking approach in order to create accessible, tailored, and impactful SMS training programs — on topics including business and financial literacy, leadership, income generation, record keeping, and running VSLAs. What have been the results?

• We have worked with approximately 2,000 refugees from Somalia, Rwanda, DRC, Burundi and Uganda as well as their Kenyan host communities.
• We have supported close to 500 refugee-led businesses across 13 sectors.
• Our skill-building programs have been translated into 5 different languages.
• 600 refugees successfully built and ran savings groups.
• More than 750 refugee children in grades 4–7 have learned with our English and mathematics revision content aligned to the Kenyan national syllabus.

Across the board, M-Shule’s programs have helped refugee learners of all ages perform better in school, increase their incomes, grow their self-resilience, achieve financial independence, start new micro-enterprises, improve business success, and drive leadership in their communities.

Additionally, M-Shule’s real-time data dashboards have given our partners and clients the ability to quickly identify issues and make critical follow-ups in a matter of days, not weeks.

CASE STUDY: PRIMARY SCHOOL LEARNERS

In response to COVID-19, M-Shule sought to specifically engage and support refugee primary learners that had been sent home from school. Through the Humanitarian Education Accelerator (HEA) with UNHCR, M-Shule and Xavier Project piloted providing SMS courses to refugee learners (in this case, primary students) through the support of refugee-led community-based organizations. We trained community-based organizations to identify, onboard, train, and support learners in their communities and households. We were able to reach hundreds of learners, reduce costs of education learners, and keep COVID-19 safety measures. Not only did this approach support new learners, but we identified positive, community-focused and sustainable growth models.

“I am really grateful and thankful to M-Shule for providing affordable learning to those who would have got it. You are playing a key role in educating a nation. As a parent, I am really proud because I know my child is bright after learning with you”.

Finally, M-Shule’s platform is in line with key findings and guidelines on the use of EdTech in emergency settings published by renowned stakeholders such as UNESCO and Save the Children.

Let’s work together!

As the number of displaced people continues to grow exponentially year upon year, M-Shule is driven and committed to continue evaluating and exploring additional ways of providing educational opportunities to even those in the most challenging settings.

Want to find out more? Check out our website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, and our recent webinar on refugee education. To discuss partnerships and collaborations, reach out to us on partnerships@m-shule.com or at +254 799 008 387.