Pre-Design Phase: The Importance of Engagement with Local Educators, Experts, Implementers, Teachers, and Students

• In Event: Learning Through Broadcast: Enhancing Girls’ Education In Grades 7-10 Through Multimedia Distance Education In Afghanistan

Proposal

To better design the multimedia distance science education program, the first step was to extensively engage local educators, experts, implementers, teachers, and students. The purpose of this engagement was to understand the current level and nature of distance education programs (if any), a mapping of the types of actors and partners, existing challenges, and key considerations for a large-scale national distance education program.

This pre-design assessment was carried out through informal qualitative interviews that utilized a semi-structured protocol. This protocol included all the relevant and important aspects of education service currently provided in Afghanistan and the challenges therein. Additionally, the protocol called for information from various stakeholders around challenges they perceived for a potential distance education program and solutions to overcome those, both with regards to delivering the programming by an implementing organization as well as accessing and learning challenges faced by students in the target group.

In this paper, we present key insights into the existing landscape of service delivery, partners, challenges, and potential solutions in Afghanistan. In this presentation, we will offer main takeaways for similar initiatives.

Authors

• Mohammad Jawed Nazari, New York University

• Dana Burde, New York University

• Heddy Lahmann, New York University

• Abdul Hamid Hatsaandh, New York University