Junior Achievement Zimbabwe ready for next decade
I have already introduced a couple of times, what I together with my colleagues Markus and MaryJane am doing in Zimbabwe. Sadly admitting the time we have spent together is coming very fast till it’s end.
Just yesterday, we have had our last final presentation in front of almost every JA Zimbabwe Team coming either personally or joining virtually.
Thanks to our facilitator Mary Jane we have surprised our dear host organization with a nicely decorated meeting room inclusive coffee break. Every one of us had contributed to the whole atmosphere enormously.
We have been presenting our achievements throughout the whole project. Starting with introducing the objective and vision.
Create a Digital Learning Platform to bring JA Zimbabwe to the next level reaching 330.000 stundents by 2024.
increase the number of students by digitalizing the content
automate monitoring and evaluation processes
refocus existing resources to schools without digital access
Following with current situation in terms of the number of children in primary and secondary schools. Well-founded with the rising numbers of internet users by 31% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate).
When we summarized the background information we moved with the program to the Digital Platform itself. I received clear expectations, what proposed platform must fulfill.
- Support up to 330.000 users by 2024
- Courses also available off-line in the local app to continue learning without an internet connection
- Easy content creation for JA staff and teachers
- Possibility to handle gradings and certificates
After deep research, we concluded that moodle.org is the right path to go. Have a look, how did the testing of the platform with real JA content has been perceived by the students.
Feedback we received immediately after testing has been shared with the audience. Just a quick snap out of:
Now, I can concentrate on my own way and speed to complete the tasks.
Combination of activities, which motivate to learn, have fun and move forward
After the platform presentation, we had still some topics to cover. One of them was, of course, the financials and resources part. This part brought a breath breaking finding!
“Less than a DOLLAR per YEAR!”
Cost savings and scaling through Digital Platform reduces cost per student and year under one dollar.
Engaging one student will be less than a 1$. I must admit, once we came to that number, we needed to recalculate it, again and again, putting different financial models into the place, but the result did not change anyhow. Engaging on the platform will be less than a 1$ per student per year.
However, is that news exciting there is still a lot of work to be done. Our presentation we concluded with the scheduled rollout plan, how not to lose the momentum and keep carrying it further.
I loved the energy the JA team approach the upcoming tasks, as they immediately volunteered for some of the expected roles, which needs to be covered.
Already now I know, that’s not the last presentation or interaction with JA Zimbabwe, as we all felt in love and being a part of their JA Zimbabwe family, their brand, who don’t care about themselves on the first place, but their focus is always on children, collegiality and bringing the programs forward to lead and be pioneer in the digitalization within the whole JA world wide. JA Zimbabwe is the lead in it already now!
