Dream Again, Children!
An offline GED (General Education Development) study application that enables children in war-torn countries to complete high school education.
Did you know that 1 in 6 children are living in conflict areas?
In 2021, an staggering 449 million children, or one out of six globally, were forced to live in war-torn conflict zones. These innocent children are subjected to unimaginable hardships, including displacement from their homes, emotional trauma, and a dire lack of access to education.
According to UNESCO, the effects of armed conflicts on education are devastating, with an average of one in four schools closed, damaged or forcefully taken for military use in countries affected by conflict. This means that millions of children and young people are unable to attend school and complete their high school education.
An estimated 1.3 million children are affected by the ongoing conflict in Myanmar and unable to continue their highschool studies as in UNICEF reports. In fact, Save the Children identified Myanmar as one of the 10 worst countries impacted by armed conflicts for children.
The consequences of this problem are far-reaching and devastating for the children who have already suffered so much. Lack of highschool education leads to a cascade of negative effects such as:
- Limited economic opportunities and poverty in adulthood
- Difficulty accessing higher education or vocational training
- Difficulty obtaining skilled or well-paying jobs
- Difficulty participating fully in civic and political life
- Increased vulnerability to exploitation and abuse
- Limited ability to contribute to the development of their communities and countries.
It's a tragedy that these children, who have already suffered so much, are denied the opportunity for a brighter future through education.
We help children to continue and complete their highschool education through our offline GED (General Education Development) study application. It covers essential subjects such as mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts, all available in local language.
The application will help children study through an extensive library of readings, visual infographics, interactive flashcards, and quizzes.
We use Flutter framework and Dart code language technologies for seamless cross-platform experience in every device type.
Our solution serves children in Myanmar impacted by war conflicts who are unable to continue their highschool education.
They are primarily from ethnic minority groups who have been affected by the ongoing conflict in the country. They may have been displaced from their homes and communities, and have limited access to education and other basic services as a result of the conflict.
These children are currently underserved in several ways. They may lack access to education facilities that are safe and secure, or face challenges in accessing education because of their displacement. They may also lack access to education materials in their local language, which can make it difficult for them to understand and engage with the material. Additionally, they may have experienced trauma as a result of the conflict, which can affect their ability to learn and concentrate in a classroom setting.
Our solution aims to address these needs by providing access to essential high school subjects through an offline GED study application. The application covers subjects such as mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts, all available in the local language. This will help children to continue their education despite the challenges they may face due to displacement or lack of access to education facilities. Additionally, the offline nature of the application allows children to access the material even if they don't have a consistent internet connection.
By providing access to education in their local language and through an offline application, our solution can help these children to continue and complete their high school education, despite the challenges they may face as a result of the conflict.
Our team leader, Ko Thaw Lin Oo was born and raised in a small town of Myanmar. There, he first handedly felt the gap of education access between the privileged ones and the underserved children who live in the rural area of Myanmar. He never had a chance to dream about his future due to lack of quality education. With a strong desire to help other children dream, he founded Alpha Learn, an online education initiative, in the form of for-profit social enterprise. Through Alpha Learn, he and his team served over 1 million children of Myanmar by holding career-related webinars and providing free online classes for more than 10,000 youths. When he found out about local children in IDP camps affected by armed conflicts, Thaw knew he needed to do something about it. This is how Dream Again Children came into founding, with a mission to empower the children in war-torn countries to continue their high school education and rebuild their future.
Our team's co-leader, Thaddar Eain Si joined the team a few weeks after the founding. Being a humanitarian and educator, she has done the educational initiatives for the youth at Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps in war-torn areas of Myanmar through a non-profit youth organization she founded, named Myanmar New Generation Association- MNGA. While implementing the alternative education workshops at the IDP camps of Kachin State, she had an opportunity to experience the desolate lives of being out of reach from the education together with the youths there. She witnessed their wide eyes filled with enthusiasm and hope when she and her team conducted the workshop for them in their camps. When over 100 IDP youth expressed their desire for an opportunity to receive education in unison during the discussion session, her heart was heavy, but strongly determined to help the underprivileged, yet highly-capable youth from underdeveloped areas of Myanmar.
Yes, our team has taken several steps to understand the needs of the population we want to serve. Our team leader, Ko Thaw Lin Oo, is from Myanmar and has firsthand experience of the gap in education access between privileged and underserved children in rural areas of Myanmar. He founded Alpha Learn, an online education initiative that has served over 1 million children in Myanmar through career-related webinars and free online classes for more than 10,000 youths.
Our co-leader, Thaddar Eain Si, is a humanitarian and educator who has implemented educational initiatives for youth at Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps in war-torn areas of Myanmar through her non-profit organization, Myanmar New Generation Association (MNGA). Through her work at the IDP camps, she has had the opportunity to experience the lives of children who are out of reach from education and has witnessed their enthusiasm and hope for an opportunity to receive education.
We have also conducted research with potential users by talking to children, youth, and their families at IDP camps affected by armed conflicts. We have also volunteered and worked with existing organizations working on this problem, such as MNGA and other non-profit organizations that are providing education services to children in IDP camps.
We have also engaged potential users in the design and development of our solution by involving them in the testing and feedback stages of our offline GED study application. By doing so, we can ensure that our solution meets the specific needs of the population we want to serve.
- Improving learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on (Learning)
- Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model
Our solution provides a new or significantly improved approach to the problem of children impacted by armed conflicts being unable to complete their high school education by providing them with free access to essential subjects in their local language through an offline GED (General Educational Development) App. This approach is innovative because it addresses the issue of limited access to education in conflict-affected areas where internet connectivity may be unreliable or non-existent.
This solution could be catalytic in several ways. Firstly, by providing free access to essential subjects in the local language, it could increase the number of children who are able to complete their high school education. This would have a positive impact on the children's future opportunities and could contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty and conflict in the affected areas.
Secondly, by creating an offline GED App, the solution could be easily replicated and scaled in other conflict-affected areas, thus having a broader positive impact.
Lastly, by providing a successful and sustainable solution to the problem of education in conflict-affected areas, it could inspire other organizations and individuals to address this issue in similar ways, leading to a change in the market for education in these areas.
Our impact goal for the next year is to provide access to high-quality education to at least 10,000 children impacted by armed conflicts in Karen and Karenni regions of Myanmar, allowing them to complete their high school education through our offline GED (General Educational Development) App.
To achieve this goal, we plan to implement the following strategies:
Developing and updating the offline GED App to include essential subjects in local languages and make it user-friendly for children in conflict-affected areas.
Partnering with local organizations and schools in conflict-affected areas to distribute the App and provide training on its use to teachers and students.
Conducting regular assessments and evaluations of the App's effectiveness and making necessary adjustments to improve its impact.
Building a strong and sustainable business model to ensure the long-term sustainability of the solution.
Building a team of experienced education professionals, software developers, and experts in the field of conflict-affected areas to ensure the highest quality of the App.
Creating an evaluation and monitoring system that will help us to track the progress of the students using the App and measure their success rate.
By implementing these strategies, we believe we can achieve our impact goal of providing access to high-quality education to at least 10,000 children impacted by armed conflicts, allowing them to complete their high school education.
Our offline GED App is powered by Flutter, a mobile app development framework that allows us to build high-performance apps that run smoothly on both iOS and Android devices. The app is built using the Dart programming language.
The app uses offline content storage frameworks to store the educational content, so that the students can access the material even in areas with limited or no internet connectivity. This allows the app to be used in remote and resource-constrained areas where access to the internet may be limited.
Overall, the combination of Flutter, Dart and offline content storage frameworks enables us to build an app that is both responsive and user-friendly, while ensuring that the students have access to the educational materials they need, even in areas where internet connectivity is limited.
- Software and Mobile Applications
- Myanmar
In 2023, we plan to serve 10,000 children affected by armed conflicts in the Karen and Karenni regions of Myanmar. Most of them reside in IDP camps. The number of IDPs (Internally displaced persons) in Karen State alone surpassed 300,000 and included 100,000 children in 2022 October, according to the Karen Human Rights Group.
Our organization may face several barriers in the next year in providing assistance to the children affected by armed conflicts in the Karen and Karenni regions of Myanmar, including:
Access restrictions: Ongoing armed conflicts in the region may make it difficult for us to access IDP camps and other areas where children are in need of assistance.
Financial constraints: Providing assistance to IDPs in remote areas can be costly, and we may face financial constraints that limit our ability to scale up our operations.
Legal and regulatory barriers: We may need to navigate complex laws and regulations in order to operate in the region, which can be time-consuming and costly.
Cultural barriers: We may face cultural barriers when working with communities in the region, particularly if there are language and communication barriers to overcome.
Security and safety risks: Our staff may be at risk of violence and other security threats while working in the region, which can pose a significant barrier to operations.
Logistics challenges: The region's poor infrastructure, lack of transportation and communication facilities can pose significant logistical challenges for us.
There are several organizations that work in the field of education and children rights in Myanmar and they are interested in collaborating with our organization to empower children impacted by armed conflicts to complete their high school education. Here are some we're currently in talks with (partnerships not finalized yet):
Save the Children: They work to improve access to education for children in Myanmar, focusing on increasing enrollment and retention in primary and secondary schools.
Room to Read: They work to improve literacy and gender equality in education in Myanmar by building schools, training teachers and developing libraries.
UNICEF: They help to improve access to education for children in Myanmar by providing funding, resources and support to schools and communities.
Plan International: They work to empower children in Myanmar by providing education, healthcare, and support for children and families affected by conflict.
At Dream Again Children, we aim to provide FREE highschool education for the children in war-torn regions across the world through our offline GED Applications. Our non-profit iniatives will be financed through governmental / non-governmental organizations' grants, philanthropic organizations' support as well as corporates' sponsorship. So, they'll be our key customers. By working with us, they'll be able to uplift children's future in war-torn regions and give a future for them. Our beneficiaries, the children will receive FREE highschool education which will allow them to continue their higher education as well as will have a chance to being connected with local employment opportunities after escaping from the conflict areas, to recreate their lives.
As a non-profit initiative, we plan to fund our work through 3 different sources. They will be as below:
Non-governmental organizations' grants: Many governments have programs in place to fund social enterprises that align with their goals and priorities. For example, our organization could receive funding from a government agency that focuses on education or child welfare in war-torn areas. We plan to work with The ASEAN foundation as well as Save for Children Myanmar and UNICEF Myanmar.
Philanthropic foundations: Many foundations and charitable organizations are interested in funding projects that address social and humanitarian issues. They may be willing to fund our social enterprise if it aligns with their mission and goals. We intend to identify those who has resonating values and mission for non-profit education as much as we do, and collaborate with them.
Corporate sponsorships: Local companies may be willing to sponsor our social enterprise as a way to support a cause they believe in and to improve their corporate social responsibility. This could be through financial or in-kind support. Some companies we have in mind are from banking sector of Myanmar as well as telecommunications. Usually they have a large budget for CSR programs, thus, making them a good choice for us to partner with.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer