The Mobiles for Education (mEducation) Alliance is a non-governmental organisation focused on the evidence-driven and sustainable role of technology in education to advance quality educational outcomes. Initially formed in 2010, the mEducation Alliance is a unique, multi-stakeholder convening platform for government and donor policymakers, other investors, researchers, and practitioners to work together, particularly in lower-resource, developing country contexts.
In the past, VVOB has focussed heavily on ICT integration in education and supporting teachers to integrate ICT in the curriculum. The role the international community is ascribing to technology in education has been steadfast in general, but the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures has been catalytic – for VVOB too.
“The timing of this new technology-focussed partnership fits us perfectly”, comments Tom Vandenbosch, Global Director of Programmes at VVOB. “As part of our COVID-19 response, we have doubled down on our investments in building the ICT skills of teachers and school leaders and strengthened the use of messaging apps with short videos for supporting education officials. In the future, we want to invest in interactive voice response systems for remote coaching of teachers and to support out-of-school adolescents through digital platforms for self-paced learning guided by teachers.”
“We want to take our ‘ICT in education’-plans to the next level, and the Alliance will be instrumental for us. We’re looking forward to sharing and learning more about how to embed and scale effective ed-tech innovations in education systems.”
The COVID-19 pandemic aside, VVOB has reimagined how we can use technology-enhanced learning to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of continuous professional development opportunities for teachers and school leaders. Our work on open education resources recently won a Digital for Development (D4D) prize. We also make use of ed-tech to increase our reach and impact. For instance, VVOB developed an interactive and free story-telling app to address gender stereotypes and gender-based violence. We also develop online trainings for teachers and school leaders about professional learning communities. But we’re also looking at future-proofing the skills of young students, with e.g. projects to develop teachers’ capacity to stimulate their learners’ coding skills.
"We are delighted that VVOB is now one of the members of the Alliance”, expresses Anthony Bloome, Executive Director (and founder) of mEducation Alliance. “We have followed VVOB's noteworthy and innovative edtech work for many years and the expertise and experience they bring will be a welcome addition to the Alliance's work."
Tom Vandenbosch reciprocates the enthusiasm: “We are eager to strengthen the mEducation Alliance for effective ed-tech within the international education community and engage in networking, brokering, advocacy and research wherever we can be a lever for change. We value partnerships and we strongly believe we can reinforce each other in such a movement. We invite the other members of the Alliance to develop joint interventions.”
