Broad Class - Listen to Learn

Problem

Pakistan faces a critical problem that of providing access to about 22.6 million children. Of these, 49% are girls who do not attend school and 34% are primary grade dropouts. Many Pakistani public schools have few resources, particularly those in remote areas. Around half of Grade 5 students have not reached Grade 2 levels of learning, pedagogy consists of rote memorization, teacher training is limited, parental/community participation is minimal (ASER Report, 2018).

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Solution

Broad Class - Listen to Learn is a low cost Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) program capable of delivering interactive, student-centered instruction that is welcomed in many resource poor local communities. It covers basic skills using cross-cutting themes using universal principles for early childhood education through relevant cultural and geographical scenarios. Based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it is a success as measured by quantitative and qualitative participant data.

Target Beneficiaries

The Program provides a high-quality interactive radio program to children attending formal, non-governmental, religious schools (Madaris) and community schools. The program has benefited 87,062 children in 2,386 classrooms levels KG through Grade II, 3,338 principals and teachers in 838 schools, 172 educational supervisors, and 21,679 school council members, parents and community groups. Due it being publically broadcast, it reaches 3 million children who are currently not in school.

Mission and Vision

POWER99 envisions an educated Pakistan where people respect diversity, human rights and resolve their conflicts non-violently. The mission of the POWER99 Foundation is to transform Pakistani education into an effective tool for providing modern knowledge, critical and scientific thinking skills and non-violent behaviors for peaceful coexistence.

Innovation Description

A child-centered, holistic, culturally relevant approach based on the principle that effective education for children needs to be active, interactive and relevant to children and their families. This is something totally new in Pakistan’s classrooms. The program applies child-centered strategies, such as cooperative learning, emphasizes links between educational domains and content areas. In addition, literacy, English, science, culture and arts are taught through children performing interactive rhymes. Curiosity and excitement about learning is communicated in each program. The involvement of all stakeholders at every step of implementation develops everyone's understanding,and ensures continuity and sustainability. The universal themes of global peace and economic prosperity are implemented in the classroom with the children, teachers and wider community. The content is broadcast and accessible to all and therefore it is not seen as a threat. There are economic benefits to teachers because they are empowered with improved skills and pedagogy, and with access to materials and resources. There are benefits to communities because they have job and business opportunities, such as making materials, books, and radios. Program is an example of adding economic value to the community along with long term opportunities in the national and international arena.

Competitive Advantage

Broad Class offers innovative and cost-effective interventions for education that are underpinned by student-centered learning pedagogies and effective teaching practices that improve learning outcomes, attendance and dropout rates across the board. Compared to other ICT models, Currently no identical competition in the market exists that is offering ubiquitous low-cost education interventions such as Broad Class as it's a practical and cost-effective solution that leverages the ubiquitous radio footprint for Standardized delivery of high-quality lessons to reach out to maximum number of communities ones of vastly different socio-economic backgrounds and geographical locations. Relatively high barriers to entry by virtue of organizational experience, use of in-house facilities for production, broadcasting success stories and ,Customer or sponsor loyalties to existing causes and focus areas.

Planned Goals and Milestones

The organization plans a two-pronged strategy for the scale-up. Horizontally, focus on expanding outreach to other geographic areas with needs for quality education. Vertically, expand the brand to a range of product lines that are built around quality educational material. We will explore different delivery mechanisms, such as online resource, web portal, and mobile app and also explore partnering with publishing houses, and teacher training institutes to expand the audience base.

	Funding Goal	1,552,588
	Projected Cumulative Lives Impacted	250,000
	New Implemented Countries	Pakistan
	Recruit	The POWER99 Foundation is registered as a non-profit development organization under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984. The Foundation has undertaken to follow a democratic, non-political and a transparent system with the overarching principle of promoting equal opportunities for women & children. It has a diverse team of 20 staff members from various faiths, religions and professional experience. Existing staff members possess the experience and expertise of providing trainings and support in administration, finances and logistics, as well as identifying areas for capacity building. The organization has set policy and procedure manuals (HR, Travel, Financial and Procurement Policies) approved by the Board of Directors. All the programs and projects of the POWER99 Foundation go through both technical and financial audits by collaborating chartered accountants and donors. The monetary affairs of each program and project are handled by our expert staff in accordance with the financial procedures and regulations of the donor organization. The Foundation uses a combination of internal and external monitoring and evaluation methods to measure the performance of program objectives. The management team ensures that all financial expenses are in accordance with the planned activities of the project in an effective manner. The program and finance department ensure that all policies and procedures are followed for all project related expenses. The inclusion of a check, counter check, and balance system ensures that the funds are spent in a cost-effective way and all activities lead to the accomplishment of project outcomes and bring project impact.
	New Feature	The core strength of the Broad Class Listen to Learn brand is that it embodies a range of product lines that are built around quality educational material and teachers professional development. A new part of the project is the exploration of different delivery mechanisms. We will explore an online resource or web portal where children and parents listen to 5-minute audio podcasts on different subjects and topics. We will explore expanded access to lessons through subscriptions and financial support from corporate donors, enterprises, and individuals. We will market the solutions as VAS to telecom operators by creating short one-minute educational audio packages accessed via an IVR system or SMS. The idea is that this evolves into a mobile app that eventually will be cost-free because of advertisement. We will also explore partnering with publishers and teacher training institutes to distribute the material and offer training. The goal is to reach the widest audience of teachers by making the content low or no cost because it is subsidized by a third-party partnership.