RefreshED

Inspiration

Almost nothing happens locally to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially in such extreme conditions as the Covid-19 crisis. Given our experience with the schools in rural and small-town areas in Mehedinti county, Romania, there is an urgent need for a refresh to the way education is tackled. Thus, we want to:

1. create partnerships with schools, which will give us lists of the most disadvantages families whose children do not have acces to internet or have limited access
2. deliver material and educational resources to disadvantaged youth
3. assist teachers in delivering high quality remote education
4. deliver survival packages to disadvantaged families

What it does

Basically, our solution to remote education is both a management tool but, most importantly, a mechanism for rapid transition to remote learning.

Management tool:

• helps children from rural areas to participate in online classes through: buying phones+sim cards with internet, installing all the necessary apps
• survival kit for the families of the targeted children
• trains pupils on how to use the phones and the apps + why is worth using them;
• trains teachers on how to use the apps (Zoom, kahoot etc.), how to engage students and make lessons interactive
• builds a database of lessons with teachers based on the school curricula and each subject and builds lessons on a common set of digital apps to be used

Mechanism to replicate:

• collaboration between NGOs that are closest situated to rural areas (or areas in need of inclusive education), Schools and Town/Villages Hall.
• While the NGO manages funds, logistics and transport, does the aquisition of goods and invites the other 2 actors to the table, the other 2 can forsee how the NGO does the work and can provide help when needed and possible. They provide lists with the vulnerable families and children. While Halls can co-facilitate the process of bringing survival kits, Schools (through Principals) oblige all the teachers who aren't able to self-transition to remote learning to be assigned a tutor and get assistance from NGOs.

How I built it:

We have contacts and other collaborations with rural and small-town schools, know-how on working with youth (one teacher, one sports specialist and on youth worker) and other volunteers and alreasy succeded in other educational campaigns and gathered feedback from the local community on their needs. We thus found a mechanism that could be easy implemented and replicated all around Europe.

Challenges:

We have two big challenges: money and time. Money to buy the phones as soon as possible and time because the online classes have already started and there is a chaos in the way classes are happening in those areas.

Challenges I ran into

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Our values: VOLUNTEERING, INCLUSIVE SOCIETY, CIVIC PARTICIPATION

We completed 3 campaigns: • "Great Christmas Elfishness" (Marea Spiriduseala de Craciun): collection of material donations, involvement of children between 10-15 years in packaging and distribution of gifts / donations to disadvantaged families; caroled in Vanju Mare; Christmas party • "Spread the Love": gathering declarations of love / admiration in conditions of anonymity and publishing them on social media on February 14 and 26; awarding the most special statement • "Useful Martisor": making spring decorations by children between 7-18 years old in partnership with Vanju Mare and Corlatel Gymnasium Schools, sale by children and usage of the budget earned as agreed by the children

What I learned

We've gathered precious insights from experts and our mentor Khadija L. on pitching and finding technical solution for putting our project in practice.

What's next for RefreshED

Finding partners and donors. Partners who:

• have developed digital apps ready to provide interactive learning based on gamification
• want to scale our solution designed for rural areas, as well as to urban ones anywhere else in Europe.

Donors who:

• want to provide smartphones/tablets/laptops to disadvantaged youth (old versions/provide offers)
• want to partner with us in scaling our solution