La Aldea: Scaling-up quality education

For rigid, non-relevant, excluding, prescriptive, low-quality education systems that systematically seem to fail in greater extent those in need, La Aldea represents an agile, child-centric fable universe, where children, teachers and parents interact with metaphors of society as described through endangered animals and village they live in. Through this multiplatform of print, radio, TV and digital contents of carefully crafted stories and activities, current themes can be integrated into the mainstream curriculum, or as interactive materials for out of school children and youth (OOSCY) in any given context, nudging their 21st century skills which will help them thrive in an unpredictable world. 

Alongside more than 60 years of internal armed conflict, Colombia faces deep rooted inequality, corruption and violence, while being highly exposed to natural hazards. Since 2015 the country has gone through the shock of 5 million Venezuelans either settling in or passing through. All these situations have impacted the education provision greatly. The Venezuelan influx has added 455.000 students to the system; the country’s performance in OECD’s PISA is far from the averages, and educational achievements in SABER test vary greatly across the income distribution; only 56% of the households have internet connection; and 75% of 0-5 population has no access to care services thus exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities. Pedagogical training is archaic and contents are not relevant nor respond to the above mentioned circumstances: hence the apathy for the school system. La Aldea reaches children in their context: despite their connectivity or public education access, at the same time working with teachers to upgrade their training and dynamics. Nudging the development of imagination, creativity, and 21st century skills, children in every corner have access to the same quality provision. Most importantly, La Aldea links the educational experience with communities hence generating deep long lasting impact… it takes a village. 

Not all children are enrolled in an education program, and those who are, not necessarily receive good quality services. During COVID’s school closure, it was evident that not all had access to technology and connectivity: the most vulnerable ones were once more the most deprived. The fables that come from La Aldea represent good quality content for all: no matter their context, access to devices, connectivity or tutor’s availability. Offered in different print, digital, TV and radio platforms, La Aldea’s contents reach the child in the last proverbial mile, but also assure relevance for different learning styles (visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinesthetic). Through print and digital books, videos, podcasts, radio programs and a corresponding IVR system, and TV shows, children and families are to explore the fables and dynamics that La Aldea offers, however, the classrooms of those who are in school may also be filled with the adventures and reflections of the characters who live in this village through their teachers, who, at the same time, are assisting training sessions that will help them plan their classes from a more constructivist perspective, where students are at the center, and fun and play are the vehicles for learning.

La Aldea’s contents are a direct reflection of today’s world. Social, political, economical, health dilemmas are all part of the situation the animals from La Aldea face: for example a virus struck the village last year and characters had to deal with bio-healthy standards and all the dilemmas of the situation the real world faced; or one of the characters is a migrant chameleon that conducts a radio show to help fellow migrants transit their emotions. Being a direct reflection of what the world is going through ensures the content is relevant, engaging and useful for users from different contexts. All contents are piloted with their target audiences and through diverse channels (WhatsApp and Facebook groups, teacher training webinars) we are in permanent contact with the users of the contents to make sure we are really responding to their needs and interests. 

Our three groups of end users are: children, parents and teachers. Children find that the materials are adapted to their world, helping them to relate and engage at school in a different and meaningful way. For those who are out of school, this solution could represent a non-formal education setting that serves their needs and connects them to the real life dilemmas they would discuss in a classroom setting. Parents, on the other hand, feel their role is complete as they are expected to support the teachers job while connecting with their own kids' learning. Finally, teachers realize that crafted educational material would improve their classes and impact while connecting in a different way with the students.

La Aldea addresses two dimensions: engagement of learners and supports teachers. It ensures that all learners have access to quality, safe, and equitable learning environments by being a scalable solution with a multiplatform design that enables the contents and didactics to reach every child, anytime, everywhere, that aims at bypassing many of the barriers and challenges ed systems currently face, and that targets teacher trainings as well to help enhance school attractiveness in contexts where other activities, such as child labor, seem to challenge the prioritization of education.  

We have been designing educational materials for 10 years, including print, radio, TV and digital solutions. Since 2019, we have been working alongside partners such as Unicef, the Lego Foundation, the International Rescue Committee and local government in Colombia to scale La Aldea. We have since then reached over 170.000 students and 5.000 teachers in 17 regions of Colombia and in Venezuela and Mexico. During the Covid-19 confinement, La Aldea was selected as Unicef’s national emergency education strategy and the World Bank initiated an impact evaluation which has not yet been completed. We are currently looking for partners and investors to grow the tech platforms (web, app, IVR, Moocs) to be able to reach more people, despite their connectivity situation. We have built strong, entertaining, profound and relevant ed content and we are seeking to grow those platforms in the two years to come.

Multi-faceted, flexible learning platform and instruments. We created a fun, engaging and easily adaptable curriculum accessible by print, radio, TV and digital platforms to cope with any type of emergency and become a tool for teachers and families. It is aimed at delivering entertaining, quality educational content which fosters curiosity, critical thinking, socio-emotional wellbeing and resilience. Contents can be easily adapted to different contents, curriculums, school communities and contexts.

Providing parents support to re-envision their role. La Aldea encourages parents to engage in meaningful conversations and activities with their children, and support the teacher’s role.

Focus on social emotional learning. La Aldea provides the necessary skills to be able to decipher, understand, listen, and cope with emotions within and outside one’s self.

Build teachers communities. La Aldea currently provides training with 4500 teachers in 600 school communities. The sense of belonging, created learning communities all over the country in which peer-exchange became relevant. (see https://bit.ly/3gokzVm)

Reaching critical mass efficiently in an emergency. Despite the logistical challenge, more than 130k books were distributed to children in 17 regions. La Aldea served as an anchor of the learning process, becoming the link between teachers and families. We also distributed digital resources and grew partnerships with local radios to broadcast audio contents.

Currently: 170.000 students, 5.000 teachers, 3 million radio listeners

In one year: 250.000 students, 8.000 teachers, 3 million radio listeners

In five years: 1 million students, 50.000 teachers, 5 million radio listeners

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The four areas that might represent challenges to achieve La Aldea’s goals relate to having more capital to grow this edutainment universe both in Colombia and internationally, therefore learn how to pitch La Aldea to investors making it attractive without losing our north; scale the model at the public policy level in other to close the public-private and rural-urban quality and access gaps; having the appropriate technology to leverage the content in ways that are most useful for the users; not losing quality while scaling, knowing that La Aldea is moving in the right direction by assessing its implementation in different contexts and measuring its impact in students, teachers, communities and the education system as a whole.