1 Year LEAD Learning!
When COVID-19 hit, we at LEAD Edu developed a new internal mantra: “Crisis reveals character. Crisis yields opportunity.” One year later, the program we developed at the onset of the pandemic, LEAD Learning, has delivered quality leadership lessons to more than 134,000 children globally. This week, we celebrate LEAD Learning’s one-year anniversary by telling our story.
A World in Crisis – April 2020
As the world stood still and 1.6 billion children were out of school, nearly 90 percent of Education Ministries launched distance learning programs. These programs leveraged Zoom, television, and / or radio lessons – whatever the context allowed – and ensured hundreds of millions of children continued learning core subjects such as Math, Science and Language Arts.
As this unfolded, we at LEAD Edu identified two fundamental problems. First, radio learning was the most accessible solution in low-income countries, but it was impossible to track listenership, student performance, and retention. Second, children needed to continue with basic literacy and numeracy training, but they also needed something new – something that would give them the critical thinking, problem solving, and social-emotional skills required to navigate a new world.
In response, we established LEAD Learning – a new program that delivers the leadership course we have been teaching at our Hubs in Liberia and Morocco since 2015.
Innovation and Iteration – Launching LEAD Learning in June 2020
We began by adapting our leadership course into 12 radio scripts. From there, we partnered with French telecom company Orange and American data analytics firm UpMetrics to develop an innovative solution to content distribution and impact measurement. Through an interactive voice recording system and a separate digital platform, LEAD Learning’s content became accessible to thousands of Liberian children via the Internet, mobile phones, radio, and SMS.
On top of the above, by including questions at the end of each lesson that students could answer via the Internet or SMS, LEAD and our partners were able to track listenership, student performance, and student retention.
One year on and our leadership curriculum has reached more than 134,000 Liberian children. The successes of our program in Liberia have enabled LEAD Learning to scale in early-2021, reaching 1,905 children from 90 villages in Bangladesh, as well as hundreds of students in schools across Morocco and Liberia.
Moving forward, we are strengthening our course content and coordinating pilots in several settings, allowing us to test the efficacy of LEAD Learning in schools, after-school programs, and sport clubs across the world. And I couldn’t be more excited.
My Personal Journey – Why I Joined LEAD Learning
Encouraged by LEAD’s Executive Director, Will Smith, I joined the team in April 2021 as LEAD Learning’s Program Manager. I knew it would be a challenging journey, but truly believed the program already had the power to impact millions of children around the world.
I have spent my career working with inspiring leaders in Argentina’s Ministry of Education and at the National Congress. My experience in government, coupled with my current role as a Congressional staffer, has enabled me to witness firsthand the impact non-governmental organizations can have on education outcomes. I learned that governments can’t work as the sole agents of change, but must actively rely on third parties to improve education systems while the world navigates paradigm shifts. After familiarizing myself with LEAD Learning and considering its potential to scale, I was very keen to commit myself to driving the program into the future.
Over the next three years, we aim to land LEAD Learning in at least five more countries. Together with governments, private providers of education, and nonprofit partners, we will deliver critical leadership skills to millions of children globally.
We are building a movement to incubate a generation of skilled, ethical, and effective leaders. I hope you’ll join us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marin Maurette is a Program Manager at LEAD Edu and a staffer in Argentina's National Congress for Senator and Former Minister of Education Esteban Bullrich.