NABU GLOBAL INC

Winning The Elevate Prize will allow us to make several proposed app updates to transform our current reading app into a comprehensive literacy tool. The new aspect of the tool will be the implementation of a layer of formative literacy assessment into the NABU reader app, to enable us to understand how culturally relevant, mother tongue books impact children’s learning environment, and their literacy comprehension, and to improve it over time. 

We will work with researchers to implement gamification throughout the stories to help assess and improve children’s literacy skills including knowledge, vocabulary, sentences, connections and gist, developing a framework that can be applied to any language. As caregivers are a critical factor in early reading development, we will implement a tool to measure the social context, by having a pop-up question at the start or end of each book that asks the reader who they are reading with or if they are reading alone. To ensure scalability into other languages, we will integrate a user interface into our existing Content Management System, so that our content creators can input and review the literacy assessment games.

My name is Tanyella Evans and I am the Executive Director and Co-Creator of NABU, which I founded in 2013. From its inception as a kickstarter-funded success story, I helped grow the organization into a leading publisher of multilingual children’s books, using technology to accelerate children’s literacy. With a mission to aid in solving the global literacy crisis by 2030, NABU is currently impacting the lives of over 300,000 children through its low bandwidth tech platform by providing access to high quality mother tongue books that help children learn to love to read. 

Prior to NABU, I served as Executive Director of Artists for Peace and Justice, where I established a school for 3,000 students in one of the poorest communities in Haiti. In 2010 I helped to launch the social enterprise Giveacar in the UK generating new revenue streams for local charities. I started her career at the Campaign for Female Education. 

I was also the recipient of the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award, an International Literacy Association 30 Under 30 Leader, an Echoing Green Fellow, and one of Forbes 30 Under 30: Social Entrepreneurs. I graduated from The University of Cambridge in 2009, with a major in political science.

NABU is a leading publisher of high quality, early grade readers in mother tongue languages, providing an essential bridge to literacy for the world's most vulnerable children. The potential scale and impact of NABU’s technology  is huge - 40% of children globally do not have access to books in a language they speak or understand, dramatically increasing their likelihood of repeating a grade, or dropping out of school altogether. Through our free low bandwidth reading app - NABU.ORG - we are providing inclusive and equitable access to literacy, ensuring every child can read and rise to their full potential.

At NABU our approach is innovative because we have designed a bridge to literacy that doesn't forgo community, culture and recognises the importance of representation and mother tongue languages. Stories are an integral part of our identity, our community and culture. Our content is created by local authors and illustrators which enriches the process with their perspective, art and heritage. These local authors, through their stories and illustrations can empower children in their communities to rise to their full potential. At NABU our core values rely on this relationship between the content and the community. This ensures that all of the content on our platform is high quality, and culturally relevant. It also ensures that marginalised populations are heard and represented through our technology. 

 There is substantial evidence supporting mother tongue learning as one of the most cost effective interventions in early grade reading. There are marked gains in educational outcomes when children learn first in languages they speak and understand. No other literacy organisations exist that have an EdTech solution that focuses on community design and implementation and mother tongue languages at the scale of NABU. Our solution transcends borders and spreads culture, dreams and opportunity to children globally.

NABU is targeted exclusively at marginalised populations in the developing world, as well as underserved minority groups in developed countries. By solving our three key pillars - access to books, in mother tongue/culturally relevant languages, and with sufficient engagement - we can help marginalised children achieve basic literacy. 

We see first-hand the transformative impact of the NABU.ORG reading app, as for many children it is the first time they have seen themselves reflected in the pages of a storybook. We also provide opportunities for local illustrators and authors to create culturally relevant mother tongue books. There is a substantial body of existing evidence that demonstrates that there are marked gains in literacy when children learn first in languages they speak and understand. Additional benefits also include improved cognitive development, improved self-identity, increased access and equity, and stronger parental involvement in children’s education. 

Economists have proven that investments into early childhood education have the highest rate of return for both the individual and for the economy. Even a one percent increase in literacy scores relative to the international average would result in a 1.5% rise in GDP per capita in developing countries.

NABU has the highest adoption of any literacy and education app in our current markets, and directly serves over 350,000 children and families through the nabu.org reading app, a number which is growing exponentially. Our users are mainly parents with young children who are between three and ten years of age. Readers read on average for 10 minutes per day, which independent research shows can boost literacy outcomes by up to 35%. We recently integrated more sophisticated user management into the platform with a separate caregiver and child login. 

In the next 12 months, we are on track to reach 1.2M families in Haiti, Rwanda, Kenya, and through a new program in the Philippines.  In addition, we are developing app-based gamification, alongside community-based offline interventions to support families in reading together at home. NABU’s unique approach is to harness the power of local, mother tongue content, technology, and community-based reading ambassadors to improve children’s literacy outcomes. 

In addition, NABU is directly impacting the lives of 40 illustrators and authors, and 2,000 Reading Ambassadors, who are provided with training and employment opportunities, and we expect this number to double in the next 12 months. 

NABUs impact goals are increased and equitable literacy gains for children, and higher caregiver involvement in reading activities. We expect at least a 35% boost in phonological awareness, literacy comprehension and fluency at the early grade levels, 25%  increase in time spent reading and book completion rates as well as higher child receptive vocabulary and working memory scores after 12 months of using the combined app and support-based approach. We will achieve this by implementing gamification, audio/alt text and a formative literacy assessment.

 As a tech-enabled organization, our data collection is both qualitative (user surveys, focus groups) and quantitative (real-time analytics of anonymized user data). NABU will measure the impact of this project by tracking within-person longitudinal literacy gains across time using a Likert scale, app usage data, reading comprehension scores generated via gamification and demographic variables collected upon sign-up in line with privacy regulations.

The biggest barrier to our progress in the next year is awareness of the availability of the NABU reading app as we move into new markets. We need the guidance of Elevator Prize mentors to help us effectively leverage our corporate and government partnerships to the greatest effect. Awareness drives access; for example, after a joint radio campaign and Reading Ambassador training earlier this year, in April we saw more families installed the app than had done so in the previous 3 years!

In addition, we face technical and financial challenges in building sustainable funding streams to support NABU’s growth as a free reading app. We would like support in engineering and launching our fundraising platform - NABU Live - where donors can track 100% of their funding as it supports families to read. 

As CEO, I need help using my platform to amplify the work of NABU - whether through social media, speaking engagements or thought leadership. I value support and coaching to be the best leader I can be and take NABU’s impact to the next level. 

As an Elevate Prize winner, I would use the platform to champion mother tongue learning as a proven and cost effective solution to the global literacy crisis. Only increased awareness, and a moderate amount of sustainable funding, stands in the way of us empowering local communities to create and distribute mother tongue books. Even if we only published reading collections in our top 4 target underserved languages - Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil and Hausa - these are spoken by almost half a billion people in regions where literacy rates are the lowest. We often get feedback from our supporters that it is so evident that children need books in a language they speak and understand, but they never thought about it until they heard about the mission NABU. Together we can create the kind media campaigns that will make mother tongue learning famous! 

I would also leverage the platform to reach out to some well-known multicultural authors or illustrators to ask if they would co-publish a book with one of our mother tongue creators. In addition, I could deliver a TEDx, get some high profile guests on my podcast, and create a powerful intro video on the power of mother tongue books. 

At NABU we believe that diverse teams of varying racial, gender and ethnic makeup produce better impacts. They perform better financially, gain a competitive edge, experience less employee turnover, and offer greater benefits for those they serve. NABU leadership reflects the diversity in the communities we are serving. Our Directors are Tanyella Evans (female, White/Caribbean), Taniya Benedict (female, Tamil Sri Lankan/Australian), Michael Ross (Male, Australian), Christopher Thompson (Male, African-American) and Amos Furaha (Male, Rwandan).

 Without leaders who reflect the diversity of these communities, education organizations are not operating at optimal performance, and they may not be developing solutions that effectively address the needs of the populations they’re working to serve. Our solutions are created in consultation with our local teams, stakeholders and extensive consultation with communities. Our in-country teams are composed of qualified and experienced local staff who led NABUs distribution and engagement. NABU’s mission is to empower marginalized communities through literacy is reflected in our full time, part time and contracted staff. 

NABU also has a diverse and collaborative global Board who are raising the core funding for the organization, and working together between Board Meetings on key initiatives to help the organization achieve its objectives.

I, Tanyella Evans, have spent my entire career in global education. After living in Uganda as a teacher, and building a school for 3,000 children in Haiti, I co-founded NABU because I had seen first-hand the growing penetration of mobile, and I wanted to have a scalable impact through technology. In 2013, I found my co-creator, Isabel Sheinman, an incredible connector, and we successfully seed funded NABU on kickstarter with $100,000! Taniya Alexander, our third co-creator brings legal skills and an operational mind, joined us in 2015. All of us have similar life experiences that lead us to this work. Taniya’s parents fled ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka when she was an infant. Isabel’s family fled the Cyprus conflict in the 1970’s. My grandfather, a Black Jamaican and one of nine children, came to the UK as part of the windrush generation overcoming inumerable racial barriers to become a loved and respected teacher. We are a team who believes in this mission and we have seen the way that NABU is transforming lives. As descendants of refugees and immigrants, we experience our extraordinary education as a privilege, and a gift we must ensure all children have access to.

Six years ago, one of our founding team members left the organization due to professional differences, causing huge disruption amongst our Board and supporter base. At the time, I was terrified that key donors and funders would lose faith in our team and our mission. As a leader, I was shaken by the loss of such a close friend and colleague. The only thing that kept myself, Taniya, and Isabel moving forward was the belief that the mission was bigger than any one of us. We had to do the very difficult task of rebuilding our demoralized Board, and calling all our donors, partners and asking them to keep believing in us. We charted a new strategic direction, and all of our major donors signed on. We found new Board Members who were passionate and generous champions for our cause. We re-built a team founded on values of transparency, connection, and tenacity. Looking back, I am so grateful for the experience. I value culture on the Board and team, and we strengthened our governance and accountability systems, which I believe has helped us build an organization that people love to be a part of. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7znh2elLAyE

https://www.beyonce.com/womens-history-month-2020-tanyella-evans/

https://vimeo.com/568386510

Funding from the Elevate Prize would be catalytic in enabling us to invest in our mobile reading app, turning it into an even more powerful and comprehensive literacy tool by integrating fun word games and audiobooks and alt text to help accelerate children’s literacy. Our goal is to apply our learnings through fast- cycle iterative testing with NABU’s existing active user base, to accelerate their literacy gains, and provide a learning model that can scale quickly to support millions of children's literacy.

Secondly, at NABU we highly value research, and we want to invest more in actively building research partnerships. Our ability to be more impactful relies on the data collected and analyzed as well as new knowledge in the education and technology fields. MIT SOLVE has access to experts and researchers that can help this investment go even further. NABU’s research team would greatly benefit from developing a robust and comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan to be able to measure long-term literacy gains. 

Like any technology business, NABU has high up-front costs that can now be scaled to millions of users, and we will use this funding to help us expand access to NABU to new communities. 

Our project model is premised on building strong partnerships in each country to ensure the sustainability of our work in the long run. To achieve this, we develop relationships across all sectors, including government, not for profit, telecommunications, school and local media.  

In Rwanda we have partnerships with the Rwanda Education Board, Ministry of Education, Kigali Public Library and the Ministry of Youth and ICT. Also with civil  society including Imbuto Foundation, Save The Children, Partners in Health, Zanmi Lasante, Summits Education. and many other civil society and NGO partners in  Haiti  and East Africa.

 In Kenya, we have partnered with The Aga Khan Foundation East Africa (AKF) to collect data and The Kenya Primary Schools Headteachers Association. (KEPSHA) to help drive NABU.ORG’ app’s distribution and work with schools in Kenya. 

In Haiti to build the local reading culture, NABU works alongside 5 local schools with tablets and a reading hub, provided by local tablet manufacturer, Surtab.

In the Philippines NABU has partnered with Globe Telecom. We have also worked alongside UNICEF Australia in the region to provide 300,000 children with age-appropriate COVID-19 focused books.