Building the Next Generation with Ubongo

I’m Nisha Ligon, the co-founder, and CEO of Ubongo. My first classroom was my backyard, where I spent most of my time exploring plants and bugs. This childlike wonder led me to the biology and media labs at Yale University. I have an MSc. from Imperial College London and a B.S. from Yale, and also studied at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. I've always had a passion for using media to share my love of learning with others, so I went on to produce science and educational media for the BBC, the Guardian, online learning platforms, and an award-winning documentary about Tanzania’s women’s soccer. I returned to Tanzania in 2013, and co-founded Ubongo with four other changemakers, to help kids discover new ways of learning that would harness their creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking. Now, Ubongo is the biggest classroom in Africa with 17 million learners. 

Africa's 500 million kids are the world's largest demographic and have the potential to solve some of our greatest challenges, however 87% of third-graders are unable to read a simple sentence. There is a learning crisis in Africa where lack of access to preschool and early stimulation has left 44% of 3 to 4-year-olds with low cognitive or social emotional development. Kids enter school with insufficient learning readiness, and the under-resourced school system is unable to help them build a strong foundation.   

Ubongo’s edutainment leverages the reach of mass media and mobile technology, the power of storytelling, and rigorous kid-centered research to create and distribute free multilingual pan-African learning to kids ages 3-14. Ubongo is already elevating learning for 17 million African kids, and our vision is to equip the 500 million kids in Africa with the educational foundation, critical skills, and mindsets to change their lives and the world.

Across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the education systems struggle to address issues of access, quality, and equity for its 500 million kids. 

SSA has the highest rate of education exclusion globally, with 60 million children ages 6-11 out of school (UNESCO). Worse off are the 50% of refugee children and 90% of disabled children unable to attend primary school (World Bank 2018). Girls also face barriers to education, and those who do go to school can expect 5 years of schooling (compared to 17 in developed countries).  

Moreover, education quality remains a challenge. Between 50-80% of 2nd graders cannot read a short sentence, and despite additional years of schooling, most children continue to fall behind. 87% of 10-year-olds are unable to read a simple story (Jackson et al. 2017). Schools also struggle to develop other vital cognitive, social-emotional, and creative skills that are the basis for learning how to learn (World Bank 2019). As a result, the majority of children do not acquire the foundation they need to further their learning in and outside of school. 

Outside of school, while most families have access to TV, radio, or mobile, very little educational content exists for these platforms (Burns 2020).

Ubongo Edutainment (educational entertainment) brings kids fun top-quality localized learning through accessible technologies. We are Africa's biggest classroom and currently reach 17 million households in 6 languages and 18 countries on TV and radio through our two edutainment programs: Akili and Me teaches 3 to 6-year-olds the pre-literacy, numeracy, and other school readiness skills, and Ubongo Kids teaches 7 to 14-year-olds STEM and life skills.. 

We use a comprehensive process of human-centered design (HCD), powerful storytelling, distribution at massive scale, and rigorous impact analysis to create and deliver life-changing edutainment to millions of kids. 

• We work directly with kids and caregivers to develop and deliver content that has a real impact on their lives.

• Kids learn best when they’re highly engaged and having fun, so we use engaging storylines in local languages, catchy songs, beautiful animation, and beloved characters to educate and entertain kids. 

• We work with TV and radio broadcasters, and other distribution partners across Africa to reach kids where they are.

• Research shows that our programs improve young children’s school readiness, numeracy, literacy and language skills (Borzekowski 2016 & 2018). And they boost older learners’ math, science, reading and life skills (Coffey International 2019, Watson 2020 pending publication).

There are 500 million kids in Africa, and the majority of them don't have access to quality learning. Ubongo Edutainment is a low-cost and scalable solution that can help Africa’s next generation realize their full potential. To ensure that our edutainment has real impact, we have a comprehensive feedback mechanism that includes:

HCD: We conduct initial user research through observations with children as well as interviews with caregivers. We also run workshops to co-create and test prototypes with children and caregivers to ensure that beneficiaries guide product development from the start. We also test content from initial outlines through to animation and language adaptation and use this data to maximize engagement and learning. 

Stakeholder Meetings: We conduct educator roundtables to co-design each season’s curriculum, and we periodically run stakeholder meetings with government and development partners to align priorities. 

Analytics and Surveys: We continuously monitor viewership, media ratings, and run SMS and telephone surveys to understand country-specific broadcast reach, engagement, and get qualitative feedback. We also conduct annual nationally representative surveys to understand our greater audience.

Impact Studies: We work with independent researchers to conduct RCTs that measure the success and cost-effectiveness of our edutainment across different countries, contexts, and users.

Over 82% of learners in Africa don't have access to computers or the internet, which widens the learning gap and earning potential between kids in developed and developing economies. We address this gap by ensuring that all kids can have access to learning resources via high, low, and no technology. Moreover, while Black kids are the world's biggest demographic, they are severely underrepresented in children’s media. Our edutainment centers Black characters and represents them as positive role models for all kids. We also elevate girls by giving female characters 60% of screen and speaking time and challenging gender norms.

Ubongo started in 2013 out of a shared passion of a small group of artists and innovators in Tanzania to use media and technology to transform how kids learn. We were frustrated with the slow progress of educational reform in Africa, and felt that even some of the goals of the movement were somehow off the mark. We wanted to take a more modern and kid-centered approach, so we started creating content with the goal of bringing kids in Tanzania fun, localised and top quality learning, no matter what school they go to or background they come from. We responded to those kids’ reactions and feedback, evolving our content and products to better fit their needs. In January 2014, with six kid-approved educational cartoon episodes in Kiswahili completed, we launched Ubongo Kids on TV in Tanzania. We’ve been growing ever since, adapting our programs to 6 languages, and becoming truly multi platform, with learners joining us across TV, apps, radio, interactive voice response, and YouTube, all in service of our vision to support a new generation of kids in Africa with the education, critical skills, and positive mindsets to change their own lives and their communities for the better.

At Ubongo, we create edutainment that equips kids in Africa to realize their full potential. I’d like to think that the work we do is my path to realizing my full potential. I was inspired not by sitting in a classroom, but by the characters and stories I loved growing up. Mulan showed me that a girl can save a nation. Captain Planet made me want to study science, while Jane Goodall and Chinua Achebe introduced me to Africa.

The stories and characters we love in youth stick with us throughout life. They help us form our ideas of what we can be. My life’s mission is to use stories to help kids change their lives for the better. 

As an exchange student in Tanzania, I saw how students filled with intelligence and potential were let down by a system that focused on memorization to pass tests, handed down from a colonial system, rather than learning critical skills or following their passions.   

I co-founded Ubongo to help kids in Tanzania and across Africa find a love of learning through their own stories, and hopefully the inspiration to use that learning to change their lives and the lives of others.

I’m a social entrepreneur with a background in media and science, and a passion for education. My previous work includes producing science, technology and education content for the BBC, the Guardian, London Science Museum, directing award-winning documentaries, and helping develop online learning platforms. I led content design and development for the Fuse School, an open educational video platform that’s helped millions of global learners with math and science. I have a B.S. in Biology from Yale and MSc. in Science Media Production from Imperial College London, and also studied at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - experiences that have instilled a strong commitment to research backed and driven development.

Since co-founding Ubongo in 2013, I’ve focused on doing whatever it takes to get our products made, tested, and released - from acting as lead visionary to being a screenwriter and fundraiser. I’m someone who loves to do things like: read every relevant paper on early literacy acquisition, create and test a dozen prototypes (including embarrassing puppet shows), and translate that into a format for a new TV segment. This has helped me to position Ubongo on the cutting edge of educational and behavior change media. 

Organizational management I’ve learned along the way, with the help of incredible mentors and programs like UPenn’s EDSi accelerator, the Unreasonable Network, Edupreneurs and the Rainer Arnhold Fellowship program. I continue to learn everyday, and I’m excited to keep bringing my skills and passions to Ubongo in new ways as we grow.

In 2017 the Tanzanian government took a strong anti-LGBTQI stance. I was summoned by the Director General of the government broadcaster and told to remove all rainbow-colors from our rainbow-themed series, or be taken off-air and risk further consequences.

We had a dilemma: removing the rainbow from Akili and Me was virtually impossible without pausing new production to re-animate 2 years of content, and though the rainbow wasn’t gay-pride related (it was requested by kids), we were hesitant to take actions that would align with discriminatory policies against our values. 

But, Akili and Me was the only local language preschool content available in Tanzania. We didn’t want to risk millions of families losing access to our edutainment. 

We decided to stand our ground, trusting the power of our audience, and told the station that our show would be delivered as is. We also made the series available free to all other TV stations in Tanzania, to ensure access even if they removed us. The government decided to show the series in black and white to “protect children” from the rainbow colors, but 3 other major broadcasters picked up the show, and we were able to increase our reach and impact.

When the first COVID case was confirmed in Tanzania, I realized I had two responsibilities: to protect the health and wellbeing of Ubongoers, and ensure that families across Africa got access to whatever educational resources we could get to them at home. 

We immediately switched our team to working comfortably from home. Amongst the education community, I sensed a desire to wait and see about; the government response, funding opportunities, and what others would do, before making hard decisions. But seeing everyone else waiting made it clear that we needed to act first.

We quickly made our entire library of content available online and shared it with TV and radio stations, Ministries of Education and NGO’s across Africa. We separated from partners who insisted on limiting access to content, and created health messaging for families hungry for information. In a month, we launched on 10+ new stations, and within 3 months we expanded from 11 to 18 countries and launched a new radio show to support parents and kids to learn together at home.

This has been a true test of my leadership skills, as I’ve brought our team together to do so much more for Africa’s children.

Ubongo Edutainment is a proven, scalable, supplementary resource that can achieve improved learning outcomes for tens of millions of kids across Africa immediately while complementing other long term efforts at improving educational systems.

We were the first to market Pan-African edutainment, leveraging mass media technologies such as TV, radio, and mobile to build a user base of millions. We have used HCD to continuously improve and design our products for efficacy and adaptability. By taking a  Pan-African approach to creating content that's designed to be quickly and effectively adapted, we have been able to produce educational series that are effective in multiple African languages and achieve impact at extremely low cost per child. We reach kids in Africa with broadcast content for $0.07 for content in the language of instruction and $0.19 for content in local language per child per year. We will reduce this cost per user as we scale.

Research (pending publication) has shown that Ubongo Kids is one of the most cost-effective educational interventions available. Using the J-PAL educational cost-effectiveness analysis methodology, a PhD student found that Ubongo Kids achieves 1354 standard deviation gains per $100. This is an order of magnitude more cost-effective compared to any other intervention to which this methodology has been applied, including providing future earnings information to students and teacher incentives, which were found to achieve less than 100 standard deviation gains per $100 and are considered highly cost-effective.

There is global evidence for the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of using educational media to improve education outcomes and equity, especially for kids from underprivileged backgrounds (Borzekowski et Henry 2010). Educational TV (ACPR 2008) and radio programs have been shown to improve children's learning outcomes (UNESCO 2002). 

Our Ubongo model focuses on getting kids and parents to engage with fun learning in the home and community, to improve learning outcomes for millions of kids. To achieve this, we focus on the activities of human centered design and content co-creation (to ensure that content is highly engaging), adaptation of content to numerous Africa languages (to help families learn in the languages they understand), and building partnerships with the highest reach free TV and radio platforms (to reduce the barriers to access).  

Our key outputs are: localized kids edutainment media and parenting/ caregiver support made available to users on free radio, TV and online; and shared with partners via toolkits, so they can distribute them to vulnerable and marginalized families. 

Our target intermediate outcomes are for kids and parents to tune in to watch or listen, actively engage in learning, and enjoy themselves enough that they come back for more. We are seeing success in this outcome as shown through high reach (17 million), receptivity (over 50% of Tanzanian children recognize Ubongo characters), engagement (high repeat viewing and 43% parents co-viewing with children). 

Our ultimate target outcomes are improvements in cognitive and social emotional skills. Improved outcomes have been shown through independent studies on Ubongo’s programming, and with clear and significant effects on school readiness, math, language and literacy skills (Borzekowski et al. 2016, 2019, Coffey International 2019, Watson 2020).  

At the cost of $0.07 per child per year, our programs achieve 1354 standard deviation gains per $100 and are more cost-effective than any other intervention to which J-PAL educational cost-effectiveness analysis methodology has been applied (Pending publication, Watson 2020). 

Our long term impact goal is to equip a generation of kids in Africa with a stronger educational foundation and positive mindsets, so they become agents of change in their own communities.

One year ago, Ubongo had impacted 11 million viewers in 11 African countries. Since then, we’ve expanded to reach 17 million kids in 18 African countries, and in 6 languages - English, Kiswahili, Kinyarwanda, French, Hausa and Juba Arabic. By the end of 2020, we plan to reach 20 million kids in 9 languages - adding Chichewa, Sesotho, isiZulu, and Yoruba. We’re setting ambitious goals to make effective edutainment freely available to kids in all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the next 5 years, scaling to impact over 60 million kids by 2025. 

To achieve this massive scale, we leverage accessible technologies that African families already have, like radio, TV, basic and smart mobile phones, and print to deliver engaging, localized learning. Our research-based content with beloved characters, catchy songs, and engaging stories in local languages keep kids coming back to learn more.

To reach massive scale and impact, we’re making 2020 a year of change, developing systems for sustained growth.

Production: We’re completing Season 5 of Ubongo Kids and Season 3 of Akili and Me, undertaking R&D on a new playful learning series for 6-9 year olds, and aim to have our shows in 9 languages by year end. 

Partnerships: We’re exploring our first government partnership to provide our content to schools.

COVID-19 Response: With schools across Africa closed, we’re supporting families in their child’s continued learning and wellbeing, sharing critical health messages and providing COVID-19 specific social and emotional support. We’ve made all our content freely available to broadcasters and partners and launched on over a dozen new TV and radio stations since schools closed. 

We’re working with education sector partners on quick-turnaround projects to support home learning and have launched new programs to support sustained home learning and wellbeing, including COVID specific videos, and a play based learning radio series.

Over the next 5 years, Ubongo aims to:

1. Make free, localized edutainment accessible for kids in all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

2. Reach 60 million kids and help them grow their cognitive, social-emotional and life skills.

3. Grow an industry-leading Pan-African team and culture, spearheading a movement to create change for kids!

To effectively scale, we’re systematizing our stepwise process of entering new countries. We first concentrate on reach and awareness through broadcast, then engagement and deeper learning through online and offline activities, and finally on last-mile reach through on-the-ground partnerships.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there are several challenges that we are facing in the short-term, including: 

• Production delays: We have to adapt safety measures to ensure that both our talent and employees are safe while working. We work directly with kids as voice actors and to conduct user research and testing to develop our content, however, we've had to stop in-person recordings with kid voice actors and have adapted digital based user testing measures. 

• Market Entry: A major barrier to entry for new markets in Africa is the need for proximity and presence, so we must travel extensively to build partnerships with broadcasters. During the Covid-19 pandemic period, we will have to rely on calls and emails even though they rarely suffice.

• Reach to the last-mile: We work with different distribution partners and NGOs who work directly with remote communities, however, many of them have paused their operations due to COVID-19.

The main long-term barrier that could potentially affect our mission and vision is the lack of funding opportunities due to the economic downturn associated with COVID-19. While we have multiple revenue streams, we do rely heavily on grants and donor funds. As financial markets struggle so do investments that could potentially affect the pool of funding available for impact innovations like Ubongo Edutainment.

• Production delays: We are adapting safety measures and workflows in collaboration with our health advisors. We've purchased equipment for home and remote voice recording, put in safety measures for limited use of our office studio, and have ensured that all Ubongoers are set up with home internet and the tools they need to continue production from home.. 

• Market Entry: While we can't travel to countries to meet with broadcasters, more and more broadcasters are reaching out to us due to the increased demand by both families and the government to have educational programming on TV and radio that supports remote learning. We have also created a self-service online platform for broadcasters to register, agree to terms and conditions and download our TV and radio programs, to reduce the time it takes to put in place broadcast agreements and deliver broadcast ready content to partners.

• Reach to rural and marginalised groups: We are currently reaching kids in remote communities by increasing production and showtimes of our radio content (almost 90% of households in Africa have access to radio). We also launched our toolkits website, which allows partners and users to browse and download our learning materials for free in their own programs. 

We plan to address the potential lack of funding by building a strong network of mentors, influencers, and industry leaders that can advocate for our brand and help us fundraise in developed markets, especially, amongst individuals who care about education and representative content for kids.

At Ubongo partnerships are critical for growth. Our partners are diverse and serve different roles in supporting our growth. Funders support our projects financially and help us build partnerships with other potential funders. Our current 2020 funders include: 

Mulago Foundation: We are working with Mulago to further scale Ubongo’s reach and impact through greater broadcast reach and the development of a third learning series/brand for launch in 2021.

We also work with International Development and Non-profit organizations who want to reach millions of families in Africa with critical messages to co-produce episodes, and in some cases distribute it through their on the ground interventions. 

We also partner with:

• Local broadcast partners: 22 TV stations and 14 radio stations in 15 countries

• Technology partners: Viamo, Worldreader, and Curious Learning to scale interactive voice response (IVR) content, distribute ebooks, and develop mobile apps. 

• Adaptation partners: Hiventy and 3 other local partners, who adapt our content into 7 African languages.

• Research partners: The University of Maryland School of Public Health which conducts independent research on the impact of our edutainment.

Other partners, including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), UNESCO, and many more who distribute our content to our most vulnerable kids. We will also work with solar companies, who distribute content along with solar panels and TV sets.

Ubongo bridges the early learning gap for African kids between the ages of 3 and 14, and supports the parents and caregivers who are critical agents in their development. On average these children start school at age 5 or 6, with a class ratio of 177 kids : 1 teacher, and spend most of their school life memorizing facts to pass a test, often in a language they don’t speak or understand.  

Our Ubongo model combines the power of entertainment, the reach of mass media, and a commitment to educational and human centered research to deliver effective learning through accessible technologies. We produce two series Akili and Me (early literacy, numeracy, SEL, motor skills and ESL for 3-6 year olds), and Ubongo Kids, (STEM and life skills for ages 7-14), and distribute our content through TV in 18 countries across the continent, as well as radio and mobile phones (e.g. apps, Interactive Voice Response and SMS).

To ensure quality we collaborate with research partners like the University of Maryland to measure impact and efficacy. We’ve demonstrated  effectiveness in early literacy, numeracy, and school readiness and parents and kids alike find our content valuable and engaging (Lean Data, 2018). 

To provide the localized, low cost, and accessible content parents are looking for, we leverage mission aligned partners to grow our on-the-ground engagement and ensure we are reaching the last mile. These partnerships help us to scale rapidly while keeping our cost per child low (between $0.07-$0.19).

As a non-profit social enterprise, Ubongo is supported by a combination of grants and earned revenue streams. The majority of our funding comes in the form of contributions and grants which subsidize us to be able to deliver free, effective edutainment at a cost of less than $0.07 per child per year.

We also generate earned revenue through the following revenue streams. 

Ubongo Impact (Co-Production): Our Ubongo Impact offering allows partners to join forces with our beloved characters to deliver life-changing messages and education to families in Africa. Partners fund production of specific content (episodes, storylines, or shorts) within our programs to target specific messaging or outcomes. These come both in the form of commercial contracts and grants. Past Ubongo Impact partnerships have included teaching Malaria prevention with Malaria No More and children’s rights with the United Nations.

B2B Sales and Licensing: Sales or licensing of our existing content, characters, or brands to other businesses or organizations. This includes licensing of content to Paid TV or VOD (video on demand) operators, sales of content kits to schools and NGOs, and licensing of character rights. 

B2C Sales and Royalties: Revenue earned from end users purchasing products or royalties from products sold by 3rd parties.These include sales of DVDs and albums, branded merchandise, and apps.

Advertising: Payments by 3rd parties to place their own Ads or PSAs on our content. This is usually done by the TV station or distribution platform (such as YouTube), with us receiving a revenue share.

Ubongo’s 2020 Year-to-date Funding

• Grants: $751,615

• Co-Production Funding: $84,315

• Commercial Revenue: $123,776

• Individual Giving and Donations: $223,653

Current Grant Funders:

• Imaginable Futures

• Human Development Innovation Fund (Funded by UKAid)

• Grand Challenges Canada: Saving Brains

• Templeton World Charity Foundation

• The Mulago Foundation

• The JBJ Foundation

For more details, please reach out directly to Ubongo at iman@ubongo.org 

We are currently fundraising for our 5 year strategy to reach our Ubongo 2020 vision of changing the lives of 60 million kids through localized and effective edutainment distributed in all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

We are seeking both restricted grants for specific projects such as new series production, language adaptation and impact evaluation, and unrestricted funding for organizational growth. Our goal is to scale rapidly as our funding increases, keeping the cost per child low (currently it is $0.07 per child per year) and reducing it further through economies of scale. 

Our Funding targets for the fiscal year (FY) 2020 include:

• Restricted Grants: $2,730,658 by Q4 close

• Unrestricted Grants: $700,000 by Q4 close

• Co-Production: $168,000 by Q4 close

• Crowd-Funding: $141,920 by Q4 close

Fiscal Year 2020 Projected Expenses:

$1,360,000 - Personnel (assuming average of 56 full-time employees)

$186,000 - Contractors

$337,000 - Operating Expenses

$38,000 - Capital Expenditures

$28,000- Finance and Interest Expenses

$170,000- Sales and Marketing

$232,000 - Subgrants

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$2,351,000 - Total Expenses

At Ubongo, we’ve developed a deep understanding of our key audience, caregivers and children in Sub-Saharan Africa, by working closely with them to create top quality content delivered through existing, accessible technologies. While we are effective on-the-ground operators and have a  plan to scale our impact for children in Africa, we have yet to develop the global brand and influence to connect those children with a global community who can support and learn with them - to further elevate a generation of future African leaders and changemakers. 

We’re concerned about a shortfall in funding opportunities due to the economic downturn associated with COVID-19, however our work is currently more important than ever, as many children are out of school and rely on our programs for learning. As noted before, we have multiple revenue streams, but we rely heavily on grants and donor funds. To continue bringing our top quality edutainment to kids across Africa and grow to massive scale, we need a sustainable source of support and funding. We believe the Elevate Prize can help us bridge the gap between these two worlds by elevating our mission and cultivating a community of global leaders who can advocate for our brand and the work we do on-the-ground. This support and advocacy can help us scale our fundraising in developed markets, especially with individuals who care about education and representative content for kids.

Millions of families across Africa know our brand and love our edutainment shows, however, they aren’t able to pay for the services we offer. As a result, our revenue model relies heavily on development partnerships and grants, which can be significantly affected by the financial markets and changing ‘areas of interest and focus’, for example, more funding going towards direct emergency response services during health crises, then education. However, the rate of giving and fundraising in developed markets like the U.S. is consistently growing (Giving USA), especially for causes that address societal inequalities. We believe that the Elevate Prize will help us strengthen our revenue pool by marketing and exposing Ubongo to families, high-net-worth individuals and foundations in developed countries, who care about education and diverse learning content that centers girls and Black characters, who are underrepresented in children’s media.

The Obama Foundation: Their mission to connect people to change the world resonates with our belief that connecting African children with a global community can help them to become the change makers and leaders of the future. 

• Collaborate on initiatives to connect our audience of African children with a global community

• Elevate our mission and voice to:

  • Reach a US audience interested in our edutainment content

  • Build a US support network 

 Global Citizen: Their vision of empowering young people to be catalysts of change at both a global and local level is core to how we approach development. 

Beyonce and BeyGOOD: For years Beyonce has championed greater opportunity and representation across media, business, and education. BeyGOOD’s commitment to elevating young changemakers could help us broadcast our message on a global scale. 

• Elevate our voice to:

  • A global audience who could benefit from our edutainment content

  • Build a global network of individuals and influencers interested in supporting early education and empowerment 

George Lucas Educational Foundation: Their focus on education through lifelong learning and building 21st-century skills directly aligns with our own. 

• Join a community of advocates for modern education reform

MIT Media Lab, Lifelong Kindergarten: The lab’s mission to foster lifelong creativity and learning aligns closely with our belief in learning through play. We see them as thought partners who can support us in developing new and innovative ways to engage both children and adults in lifelong learning through creativity, and to call attention to the importance of learning through play.