Scaling Sustainable Offline Connected Education Solutions for Refugees: Using Project-Based Learning for Foundational and SEL Skills Development

• In Event: Bridging the Digital Divide: Advancing Refugee Connected Education through Global Collaboration

Proposal

As the global refugee crisis persists, providing quality education to build foundational and social-emotional learning (SEL) skills for displaced populations remains a critical challenge. This presentation explores strategies for scaling connected education solutions, specifically through Kolibri, to support refugee learners. Kolibri is an open and adaptable ecosystem of tools built by Learning Equality for offline-first teaching and learning in contexts with limited or no access to the internet.
Our approach builds upon a successful pilot program with 714 out-of-school learners in the Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda with a new digital curriculum employing a playful blended model with project-based learning (PBL) to address foundational literacy, numeracy, and SEL. The pilot demonstrated statistically significant gains in learning outcomes over a 12 week period, with large effect sizes, along with high teacher satisfaction and motivation. Though only half the learners could read a word at baseline, using an adapted Teaching at the Right Level assessment by endline, 100% could read a word and 73% a paragraph. Moreover, at baseline, 49% could do 1-digit addition but by the end, 99% could. SEL outcomes also improved over all 6 domains.
Building on the pilot, we expanded the scope and sequence for a 19 week curriculum supporting a modularized approach to expand educator agency. In 2024, we engaged 660 mainstream learners in the Primary 3 grade level. To further enable sustainability, we released a public PBL Curriculum and Toolkit as part of the public Kolibri Edtech Toolkit to support organizations to contextualize, adapt and implement the program on their own.
This session will highlight how Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning were used to inform program iteration for ensuring sustainability and scalability of these initiatives.

Key topics will include:
1. Implementation Models: Lessons learned regarding hardware and related blended learning modalities, capacity necessary for sustained low-cost and effective implementation, and needs-driven support to educators with their use of offline-first edtech for project-based learning.
2. Scaling and Sustainability: Strategies ensuring local organizations have the necessary tools and skills to lead Flying Colors independently and that teachers are supported through adaptable curriculum, tools within the Kolibri platform for data-driven instruction, and peer mentoring.
3. Inclusive Education: Considerations for refugee inclusion in national systems for both in- and out-of-school learners.
4. Engagement from Various Actors: Examples of building partnerships with community groups, NGOs, local governments, educational institutions, and headteachers to support learning outcomes
5. Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning: Comprehensive data collection methods enable understanding of project progress, areas for improvement, and outcomes that demonstrate program effectiveness, while ensuring implementing organizations have the tools to rigorously measure processes and outcomes independently in future.

This presentation highlights how Kolibri, combined with PBL, can build foundational skills and deliver sustainable education solutions for refugees while supporting their integration into national broader educational systems.

Author

• Navya Akkinepally, Learning Equality