We shouldn't underestimate ourselves for anything. We will plan together and try to focus on achieving our goals as Spots, for my community and for the entire world.
(EduSpots’ Catalyst, Akumadan)
The EduSpots Model has been designed collaboratively by over 500 local Catalysts across the last eight years. This guide is dedicated to their commitment and aims to build their visions for the future.
As a united team of trustees, advisors, staff, Catalysts, learners and community members, we are constantly reflecting on our purpose, our core ways of working, and the strategies we use to best achieve our core vision of enabling communities to unite to create the futures they want to see through education.
If you are interested in learning more about our work, contributing to it, or providing financial support, do not hesitate to reach out at info@eduspots.org. Together, we believe we can transform the lives of thousands more learners, who are fast becoming the Catalysts of tomorrow.
Why do we exist?
The EduSpots way
Theory of Change
Dream Spot Model 11 steps to Spot success
Who is involved?
Local Spot team roles
How do we support Catalysts
How does an Eduspots strand work? EduSpots’ Learner profile
Why do we exist?
To promote community-led models of development and strengthen the relationship between communities and schools
In EduSpots, everyone is a member of a growing movement advancing educational equity. Our work is built from the aspirations and actions of community members, rather than driven by those outside the community who might lack understanding of the context or hold the ability to sustain an initiative over time. Intrinsic to our model, is a principle that communities must not only lead the change at the local level, but actively contribute to the design and delivery of EduSpots’ programmes and the wider organisational strategy, partly through the development of a staff team which are 60% drawn from the Spot network.
Through our Spots, we encourage wider community members to involve themselves in education, and promote the connectedness between curriculums and the local community context thus ensuring the relevance and cultural specificity of education.
To advance access to quality and future-fit learning opportunities and resources
In Ghana, 29 per cent of children do not complete primary school, 53 per cent do not complete lower secondary and 65 per cent do not complete upper secondary (UNICEF, 2020). These figures are lower in rural areas of Ghana where we typically work, with access to pre-primary education just 38%, compared to 90% for urban areas. The communities we work with often have no books aside from a few core textbooks, and regurgitative teaching and learning practices are still dominant despite the government's aim to promote student-centred learning and a range of soft skills. Our four learner strands and community-connected and sustainable resources promote play-based, practical pedagogy that relates to the community context and promotes the needs of future generations.
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To strengthen and leverage the skills and aspirations of local changemakers creating a connected network of educational Catalysts
Many Catalysts in our network want to be the change they want to see for their communities but often lack the resources, training and encouragement. Getrude, a young Catalyst from Dulugu, Bolgatanga, shared that her ‘education ran out when the chalk ran out’, with her homework completed through the light of a torch shared by her family.
Through our Spot application and Catalyst training programmes, hundreds of Catalysts have been supported in creating and sustain Spots in their home communities, with several Catalysts, such as Getrude, transitioning into Peer Mentor or Catalyst roles. This enables them to strengthen their skills in education, entrepreneurship and teamwork in the process. Through investing in the development of Catalysts, we empower learners of all ages to overcome barriers to thrive in a rapidly changing global and local environment, enabling learners to become the future Catalysts of change inspired by role models from their own communities.
To tackle gender-based challenges and promote gender equity
In 2021, 118.5 million girls were out of school (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2022). In Ghana, 1 in 5 girls 20−24 years are married before 18 (UNICEF) with 26% of girls reporting sexual violence (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2019). 220,000 females 15−24 yrs are illiterate (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2019) and 2765 girls in 10 Northern districts did not return to school after Covid closures (The Graphic, 2021).
EduSpots addresses these challenges by creating safe and inclusive learning spaces that expand access to quality educational opportunities and resources for all learners. Our Ignite Equity strand involves learners in solving gender-based challenges through sustainable community-led solutions, also increasing the confidence of learners to create valuable changes for themselves and their communities.
To open access to digital learning opportunities and tools
We address the challenge of digital inequity, realising its consequences for health and well-being, employability, connectivity. In Ghana, digital access is limited in rural areas, where internet uptake rates are at 54% compared to 80% in urban areas (World Bank). A 2023 study we conducted suggested that 50% of learners at the Spots had no access to a digital device, and were learning ICT on a blackboard.
Our solar-powered spaces offer consistent electricity in Spot communities during periods of power outages, and we provide all Spots with tablets and wider IT equipment, to enable them to have the digital tools and skills needed to thrive, with digital training embedded in our programmes via our EduSpots app.
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To promote environmental sustainability understanding and practice
In 2023, 80% of teachers in our network agreed that their students had limited or no understanding of climate change and its causes. In Ghana, there has been a sea-level rise of 2.1mm over the last 30 years, and a projected SLR of 0.8m by 2100 will intensify coastal flooding and erosion. This will also contaminate soils and groundwater, and impact ecosystems, towns, and critical infrastructure, with 30% of the population occupying the coastal zone. Other areas of environmental concern include high air pollution and challenges relating to waste management (UNDP, 2021).
EduSpots integrates sustainability education across our programmes, empowering Catalysts to promote environmental practice through the Spots in line with our Catalyst-led Eco Code, with an annual Green Spot Innovation Challenge promoting the creation and sharing of local solutions. The EcoSTEM strand engages learners in practical sustainability related challenges through regular club meetings whilst upskilling Catalysts in the science behind our environmental impact.
We work as a team
The EduSpots Way
We commit to EduSpots’ vision as a whole, exploring how we and others can best use our skills and knowledge to contribute to its actualisation, developing the organisation and Spots through collaborative decision-making and action and instilling an understanding of shared ownership.
We allow communities to lead
We make decisions that enable us to best drive sustainable change in line with our theory of change. We use resources and funding with the impact at the community level on learners and Catalysts, constantly focusing on their development. We drive sustainable impact
We are caring
Communities own and lead the Spots, their activities and Catalyst recruitment. Our programmes are built through the needs and aspirations of learners and community members, with Catalysts leading activities in their Spots and contributing to programme design. Over 60% of the staff team hail from Catalyst backgrounds, with the Inspire Mentoring Programme designed to ensure a strong Catalyst voice in all staff meetings
We are playful
At the heart of our pedagogical approach and our interactions with Catalysts and staff is the creation and promotion of a culture of hands-on play. We foster curiosity, encourage discovery through risk-taking, and nurture imaginative and creative thinking.
Keeping learning spaces and activities safe for learners and Catalysts is a fundamental priority, with one of three elements of the Spot Model dedicated to this through an integrated approach to safeguarding. We also recognise that with high ambitions for change can arise challenges to mental and physical health; we take active steps to understand the well-being needs of everyone in our network and actively promote a culture of care
We act through passion
We do what we do because we passionately believe in the vision of a world where collective input into our futures matters; everyone has a stake in the future, and therefore, we believe that everyone should be empowered to create the futures they want to see for themselves, and their communities.
Our Theory of Change
EDUSPOTS’ PROGRAMMES with EduSpots’ app as key tool
Catalyst-led, supported with context-relevant resources, Spot Lead hub and mentorship
School-based teacher pedagogy is more practical, inclusive & community-connected
Catalysts gain confidence, optimism and teamwork skills
Diverse actors are involved, protected and included.
Students become active citizens and the future Catalysts Catalysts
Dream Spot Model
This is the model all Spots are working towards
In 2024, EduSpots is working towards an aim of 50 active Spots, which are stretched across 15 regions of Ghana in underserved communities, with one international Spot in Kenya.
Spot Leadership
Community engagement and participation (locally, and in the network)
Team building and Catalyst capacity development
Core systems - including resource, financial & data management.
Delivered through the Spot Lead strand of Ignite and the Catalyse Leadership Programme, intending to create a sustainable community-led Spot operational structure.
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Environmental sustainability Communication for change
Fundraising, enterprise & events
Project design & implementation
Digital tools and skills
Child safeguarding and protection
Rights and responsibilities of the child and learners of all ages
• Health, safety & promotion of well-being
Educational Equity
Delivered through the Ignite Programme. Note that Spot teams have to choose at minimum one learner strand, though many run all strands. All Spots engage in community-led activities and resource usage.
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• Active usage of the Spot promoted including for book borrowing, study, homework groups, mentorship etc.
• Other community-designed clubs (e.g. on another theme e.g. drama, arts, vocational training, dance)
• Community-led events (such as literacy festivals, PTA meetings etc)
EduKidz (KG-Basic 3 learners)
Keeping Spots Safe
Delivered through the Spot Lead strand of Ignite
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• Early years education activities for learners, Catalysts with active parental involvement, including a focus on literacy, psychomotor, numeracy & social-emotional development
• Phonics education
• Literacy & digital skills activities promoting creativity, critical thinking and teamwork
• Promoting reading and leadership across the Spots DigiLit (Basic 4−6 learners, with skills embedded in other age-specific clubs)
EcoSTEM (Basic 7−9 learners)
• Practical STEM education leveraging local resources
• Environmental sustainability education and action
Ignite Equity (Basic 8 learners)
• Gender equity clubs, focused on youth empowerment and addressing gender-based challenges through sustainable locally-driven solutions
• Topics include careers, study skills, sexual harassment, menstrual hygiene, social vices, and active citizenship
During the Basic 9 year, we offer training to support learners in transitioning into Catalyst roles, including being reading buddies for EduKidz learners, mentors for the Ignite Equity strand, and EcoSTEM and DigiLit club champions.
Steps to the Dream Spot Model 11
Community-based teams apply to become a Spot via online form, interview and community visit, gaining an understanding of our ‘Dream Spot Model’ (3 elements: Spot Leadership, Keeping Spots Safe, and Educational Equity) and providing a space to house Spot activities and resources.
Selected teams engage community and local schools to create a Spot Committee comprising a range of local stakeholders and recruit further local Catalysts.
Teams enter a specific Spot and Catalyst induction process delivered through the Ignite Programme. This includes training, ongoing mentorship from regional coordinators, and a partnership agreement. At least one Spot Leader joins the Catalyse Leadership Programme.
All Catalysts engage in safeguarding training, and roll this out at their Spots through engagements with learners, teachers and wider community members with resource support on promotion of safety and well-being.
Teams are given devices loaded with EduSpots’ app and other digital resources, alongside books and strand-related resource kits once the probation period is passed.
Spots set up wider systems, using the app, including systems for finance, resource and Catalyst team management with environmental sustainability embedded into local and organisational ways of working.
Teams choose one or more education strands (from EduKidz, DigiLit, EcoSTEM & Ignite Equity) alongside Spot Lead challenges for Catalysts, engaging in WhatsApp communities of practice, in-person Academies and online workshops.
Spots are supported in setting up key communication channels to keep the Spot learners and wider community informed, including local WhatsApp groups, noticeboards, local social media accounts, and engaging community stakeholders.
Spots identify ongoing costs considering aims for the future. They are supported in creating a local income generation and resource acquisition plan, with in-house opportunities to receive flexible grant funding for projects driving sustainable change.
Alongside sending Spot information using the app as a tool, Spots are supported in communicating their own impact, giving key information and updates to stakeholders and actively learning from the wider network of Spots and Catalysts.
Spots, Catalysts and learners are recognised with monthly and annual awards with transformative stories of change and examples of educational outcomes shared across the network.
Who is involved?
300+
Catalysts
EduSpots’ Catalysts are teachers, students and community members who are ready to be the change in their communities, benefiting from further resources, capacity building and wider opportunities to achieve their dreams for themselves and their communities.
76% of our volunteers are under 25, and 96% are under 35, with older members of the community supporting on Spot committees and in wider oversight and advisory capacities. 42% of our volunteers are female, with active steps being taken to increase this statistic through our gender equity strategy.
Learners (including 2000 club members)
Learners are from typically underserved rural Ghanaian communities (81% aged 4−18 years), with Junior High School being the most active age group. Learners are fast transitioning into roles as Catalysts. While passionate teachers and supportive parents can make a big difference, Catalysts report that the typical rural school experience often involves teacher absenteeism, rote learning, limited access to books and technology, and inadequate furniture and infrastructure. This can lead to low literacy levels, poor exam results, and school dropouts as learners struggle to balance their education with supporting their families.
Teachers impacted
An estimated 60%+ of our Catalysts are teachers, with an estimated 250+ schools using the resources and space of the network of 50 Spots. We believe that our work may enable over 2500 teachers to have improved access to educational resources for their classes, and benefit from the ripple effect of pedagogical training that our Catalysts engage in, leading to increased confidence, motivation and educational outcomes for their learners. 2500+
50,000+
Parents and the wider community (including 300 Committee Members)
Several strands of our work engage with wider community members such as parents directly, with sessions exploring safeguarding and child rights, gender equity, and early childhood development.
Young people developing core education skills such as literacy or digital skills may benefit parents and family members through providing support in areas such as accessing health care, completing official documents, and also bringing in further income that benefits the community more widely. More students attend university and gain employment, with many continuing to support the Spots with their funds, skills or connections whether in person or remotely.
Staff, Peer Mentors & Interns
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EduSpots’ Catalysts are teachers, students and community members who are ready to be the change in their communities, benefiting from further resources, capacity building and wider opportunities to achieve their dreams for themselves and their communities.
76% of our volunteers are under 25, and 96% are under 35, with older members of the community supporting on Spot committees and in wider oversight and advisory capacities. 42% of our volunteers are female, with active steps being taken to increase this statistic through our gender equity strategy.
Local Spot Team Roles
Spot Management Committee (SMC)
• Host school headteacher/representative
• PTA representative (male and female representatives)
• Community Chief representative
• Assemblyman/Unit Committee Chairman
• Other community schools reps
Note that all of these local roles are voluntary unless payment is given through local income generation or through government (e.g. if a national service personel
Spot
Lead (Project Leader - A Catalyst)
Key responsibilities
• Building a strong Catalyst team and creating a Catalyst rots, and clear opening hours
• Overseeing resource management and book borrowing
• Overseeing Spot finance. communications and fundraising
• Overseeing events and local enterprise
• Overseeing all activities at the Sput
• from a logistical perspective Ensuring the app is used effectively
• Other representatives as selected by communities
NB: One of the above members should be appointed as the committee Safeguarding Lead and active steps should be taken to include members of all genders
Keeping Spots Safe
(Project Leader - A Catalyst)
Key responsibilities
• Leading safeguarding training events (learners, Catalysts and teachers)
• Engaging parents and wider community members
• Ensuring safeguarding information is presented at the Spots, and widely understood and applied.
• Completing a regular risk assessment at the Spot
• Leading on first aid and welfare. Leading on the completion of the
• EduSpots Keeping Spots Safe certificate
Whilst we need to determine responsibilities EduSpots promotes a team ethos, with the voice of all Catalysts and committee members equally respected
Key responsibilities
Note that Spots can also create any other roles and responsibilties that they see as valuable locally er harness specific skills. EduSpots’ staff support
Educational Equity (Project Leader - A Catalyst)
• Overseeing the learner strand leads
• Overseeing the quality of educational provision of the Spot
• Overseeing any educational events or programmes.
• Encouraging team-wide engaging in EduSpots Ignite Tolks, Catalyse Workshops, strand workshops and WhatsApp discussions.
• Supporting with EduSpots monitoring, evaluation and learning on programmes & strands
• Edukidz
• Digikit strand lead
• EcoSTEM strand lead
• Ignite Equity strand lead Optional Catalyst
Roles
How do we support Catalysts?
Ignite PROGRAMME
The Ignite Programme ensures all Catalysts understand our core ways of working and Keeping Spots Safe practices, equipping them with the skills and resources needed to use their Spots as a vehicle for driving community-centred change.
Regional 3−day in-person training Academies including a day for new Spot induction with a focus on advancing pedagogy, Keeping Spots Safe, and core ways of working in EduSpots, including Spot management.
Formal induction process including Keeping Spots Safe (safeguarding) training & Catalyst handbooks.
Engagement in the Spot Lead strand, monthly leadership challenges and workshops, alongside an opportunity to lead 1−4 of EduSpots’ learner strands.
Team coaching and learning visits with regional coordinators.
Access to our structured and collaborative WhatsApp channels
Access to strand resource kits, books and digital devices.
Flexible grant funding to expand physical Spot spaces, with wider opportunities shared.
Online Ignite and Catalyse Workshop Talks with experienced guest speakers.
Catalyst recognition awards and certification, and references support.
Though the programme, Catalysts lead 1−4 strands for learners, based on their interests and needs
EduKidz Early years (KG-B3, typically aged 3−8)
Supporting early years learners with the basic tools to build a strong foundation in literacy whilst upskilling Catalysts and the wider community in early years childhood development understanding. Exploring ways to ensure the Spots are early years friendly spaces.
DigiLit
B4−6 (typically aged 7−11, with some B7−9 learners as mentors)
Advancing learners’ digital and wider literacy skills whilst developing their creativity and critical thinking, enabling learners to make effective use of books and the new EduSpots’ tablets, digital resources, and apps.
EcoSTEM
B7−B9 (typically aged 11−14), with some primary level learners.
Leading activities to nurture creativity and discovery in learners, increasing their engagement and confidence in practical science, technology, engineering maths and environmental sustainability education, linked to the community context.
Ignite Equity
B8 (typically aged 12−13)
Leading regular activities to involve both girls and boys in addressing gender-based challenges, recognising the role both can play in upholding or challenging gender unequal norms. Some sessions will be held with the boys and girls combined (e.g. communication, gender stereotypes, future careers), and others separately (e.g. sustainable period projects, sexual abuse and harassment). There are community-integrated events and activities, and the programme supports a learner transition into Catalyst roles in B9.
In addition to these four strands, Spot lead runs to develop the skills of all Catalysts, promoting teamwork:
Spot Lead Catalysts
A structured curriculum with monthly challenges exploring community engagement and participation, team building, systems - including resource, financial & data management, environmental sustainability, communication for change, fundraising, enterprise & events, project design & implementation and digital tools and skills. We have a particularly strong focus on communication skills, with Comms Mondays advancing Catalyst skills across community engagement, social media, design, photography and more.
Catalyse Leadership PROGRAMME
This programme aims to develop our most committed Catalysts with the skills and experience they need to move their Spots towards the ‘Dream Spot Model’ whilst developing their own skills as leaders. The programme involves:
• Training in mentoring and coaching, alongside key professional skills (e.g. google workplace, excel training, Canva, and task management skills)
• Monthly professional development sessions
• 1−1 support from staff members in skill development
• Opportunity to apply for flexible grant funding and resource support for their Spots
Inspire Mentoring PROGRAMME
Those who successfully graduate from the Catalyse Leadership Programme can apply to be a Peer Mentor, joining the staff team on a 6−12 month internship, working alongside a staff member on a specific area of EduSpots’ work, receiving a small stipend.
• Training in mentoring and coaching, alongside key professional skills (e.g. google workplace, excel training, Canva, and task management skills)
• Monthly professional development sessions
• 1−1 support from staff members in skill development
• Opportunity to apply for flexible grant funding and resource support for their Spots
The Accelerate Leadership PROGRAMME
There is a strong focus on leadership and wider capacity development within the EduSpots staff team, through formal and informal elements of the Accelerate Leadership Programme.
This includes:
• Monthly online workshops exploring themes ranging from coaching strategies, to monitoring, evaluation and learning, to effective communication and building theories of change.
• We organise a bi-annual Staff Training Academy to provide a structured time for focused collaboration, creativity and skill development.
• Staff receive high-level mentorship from their managers, with a focus on coaching strategies, and providing detailed feedback to improve quality of work and skill development.
• Every 6 months, we lead a 5−week leadership development programme targeting the skills of managers, but open to all staff.
• All staff (and Catalysts) are given opportunities to contribute to organisational strategy and contribute to high-level decision-making, contributing their ideas and insights.
How does an EduSpots strand work?
1. Learning opportunities for Catalysts
EduSpots offers a range of in-person and online training opportunities, with a focus on collaborative learning, co-creation and leveraging digital technologies.
a. Regional Academies (3−day in-person training)
b. WhatsApp communities of practice for each strand
c. Monthly online coaching sessions and group calls
d. Session observations & reflections with staff
e. Mentorship from specialist staff and Peer Mentors
2. Monthly challenge
At the start of every month, each strand launches a practical team-based challenge, which communities are supported to complete with resource packs, training, and guidance. A friendly points system aids motivation whilst promoting intrinsic motivation through reflection on learning outcomes.
a. Monthly team-based challenge
b. Accompanying resource pack for Catalysts
c. Personalised feedback
d. Leadership board
e. Role modelling practice
f. Certificates & recognition opportunities
4. Promotion of community-designed activities
EduSpots aims to provide sustainable resources that reflect the local Ghanaian context and support educational processes becoming practical and play-based whilst also encouraging Catalysts to draw on locally available materials to create their own resources
The following system applies to all our learner strands - EduKidz, DigiLit, EcoSTEM, Ignite Equity for learners - with Spot Lead for Catalysts following a similar approach. Increasingly, this system will be run through the EduSpots’ app after a period of technological transition.
3. Sustainable resources
Through all the strands, we also support Catalysts in gaining the confidence, skills and resources to design their own activities. This can include, but is not limited to:
a. Creating & sustaining their own club sessions and activities
b. Events, festivals, campaigns, innovations and spelling bees
c. Enterprise development to support clubs
d. Resource collection drives
a. Resource kits to accompany challenge materials
b. Using locally available materials to create their own resources
c. Books (with a focus on those by local authors and relevant textbooks)
d. Digital tools, with all Spots equipped with IT kits, including tablets and wifi kits.
e. Communities devise their own Catalyst and learner leadership roles and responsibilities
EduSpots’ Learner Profile
The learner profile outlines the key qualities, values and competencies that we aim to nurture in learners and Catalysts through our programmes.
Our staff & Peer Mentors design monthly challenges that promote progress across all these areas, enabling them to build up these skills through practical activities, also role modeling through our own training sessions.
Future-oriented active citizens:
Good ancestors, not just inheritors, of the futures they want to see for themselves, their communities, and the wider world, with the practical skills, knowledge and mindset required to work as a team to create positive futures for themselves and their communities.
Team Players Adept collaborators who understand that true leadership means bringing out the best in others through active listening, open mindedness, and working together to drive collaboratively created and sustained changes
Caring: Driven to create a more equitable world through empathy, thoughtfulness and understanding the diverse conditions people need to thrive, partly through taking care of our local and global environments.
Creators: Confident innovators whose potentials are unleashed through playful exploration and experimentation to connect ideas in unexpected ways.
Communicators: Skilled in using their voices to connect, inspire, foster understanding, and break down barriers through various media.
Problem solvers: Catalysts for our collective future who mobilise communities to curiously seek solutions and embrace opportunities for positive change driven by optimism.
Digitally skilled: Proficient across new technologies to thrive in an ever-evolving world.
Lifelong learners: Instilled with a love for learning that inspires continuous personal and professional growth both in themselves, and others.
Educational principles
Our philosophy
At EduSpots, we ignite a lifelong love of learning by redefining the learning space and its activities. We believe in the power of embodied and relational learning, where learners and Catalysts connect their bodies, minds, and environment through play-based & participatory pedagogies. These principles, which are rooted in local cultural practices, are the vehicle through which we aim to support learners in their journey towards becoming future-oriented active global citizens, drawing on their own interests and aspirations in this process.
1. Inclusive
We welcome learners and Catalysts from all backgrounds with open arms. Our activities represent the diverse cultures, languages and experiences in our Spot communities. Every learner & Catalyst has an important voice that deserves to be heard, understood and responded to.
2. Learning by doing
Our learners and Catalysts learn best by actively exploring with their hands and minds. We use art, experimentation, movement and outdoor adventures to make sessions come alive through discovery.
3. Fun and playful discovery
We inject fun, play and imaginative experiences into learning activities to cultivate joyful exploration and intrinsic motivation to learn. Gamification and age-appropriate resources create an energising environment where learners and Catalysts look forward to continuing growth.
4. Creative knowledge construction
Learners and Catalysts are empowered to construct their own understandings through inquiry. We celebrate local knowledge systems as vital sources of innovation. We leverage our open-ended monthly challenges to spark curiosity and idea creation.
5. Collaborative exploration
Our club and training sessions, and the spaces that house them, are designed for learners, staff and Catalysts to work together towards shared goals. Whether solving local problems, creating group presentations or mentoring each other, we take turns to play diverse roles that require effective communication, active listening and synthesising our collective ideas. Our Catalysts or staff act as facilitators, guiding productive group discussion rather than being didactic to build empathy and respect.
6. Multimodal learning
We leverage multimodal media and digital tools to create interactive, participatory encounters that amplify learning. As creators and not just consumers of technology, we embrace the possibilities of catering to diverse learning styles while building digital literacy skills.
7. Learning for transformative action
We inspire learners to apply their knowledge and skills practically to address pressing issues that they identify in their local communities, thereby empowering them to become active citizens and Catalysts of change. Learners are encouraged to take on real-world problems through our monthly challenges and wider activities. For instance, they might tackle an environmental issue by developing a community recycling programme or perform a play at a local festival to advocate against gender stereotypes.
What makes our model innovative & effective?
“In Akumadan, we don’t wait for EduSpots to give us grant funding. We do our own fundraising through events and door-to-door calls for support. We sustain ourselves.”
(EduSpots Catalyst, Akumadan)
1. Sustainable change
EduSpots has involved the communities in the development of the organisation from the outset, positioning Catalysts as members who are truly invested in EduSpots’ vision, having played a role in creating it. The existence of a growing and connected network across Ghana ensures a strong grassroots presence at the foundation of our work, enabling us to move through staff team changes without changing our core work and impact.
Because the Spots are truly owned and led by the community, with high levels of agency and ownership witnessed in our Catalysts, the change created endures over time. EduSpots’ range of Catalyst programmes promotes Spot sustainability by enabling Catalysts to lead their own local partnerships development, fundraising and resource acquisition, and communication policies, reducing reliance on EduSpots’ central staff team.
EduSpots creates a new space in the community or school, which creates a longer-term systems change in the environment, both in terms of usage of resources and through the type of practical, inclusive and play-based pedagogy that the Catalyst teams promote.
2. Value for money
Under our model, it currently costs £17 per learner to access a Spot for a year, including access to a range of local clubs, mentorship, resources such as books and digital devices, and a quiet place to study with electricity. 300 Catalysts and 28 staff engage in transformative leadership training in the process.
We estimate that Catalysts contribute 30,000 hours a year of voluntary civic action with the learners of today, fast becoming the Catalysts of tomorrow.
3. Emergent network
We do not ‘come in’ to communities; rather, our locally-driven team invites applications to join an organic, passion-driven movement, with 7 cases of Catalysts who have moved communities to establish new Spots. Current learners are fast becoming the future Catalysts of change with a high level of organic local adoption of our model.
4. Community ownership of EduSpots
Over 60% of staff come from Catalyst backgrounds, with a focus on collaborative decision-making via WhatsApp, zoom meetings, calls, conferences and team-based action. Catalysts believe that advancing outcomes in their community is their responsibility, with Spots owned and sustained by communities, ensuring that solutions created are driven by a lived understanding of the context.
6. Quality of education outcomes & pedagogy
Collaboration, creativity and play are at the core of our pedagogy with the integration of digital skills; Catalyst-run clubs supported by resources, including practical teamwork-centred projects that are community-connected whilst curriculum-linked. Catalysts gain motivation and intercultural knowledge through sharing ideas across multiple regions via WhatsApp. These skills align with Ghana’s national agenda on learners’ developing ‘skills for the future’.
5. Spots model behaviours
Spots are innovation hubs for wider change in the community, with environmental action and discussions of gender equity igniting wider conversation.
Likewise, students are not only taught citizenship, digital and sustainability skillsthey see volunteerism modelled, and become the future Catalysts of change, leading to a multiplier effect.
7. Leveraging technology
Our unique App enables communities to create and sustain their own community-led education systems, bringing community stakeholder groups together, linked to our Dream Spot Model. Accessed via tablets, this enables local tracking of information such as user sign-in, resources, fundraising and finance, with Catalysts accessing training and resources, submitting challenges, and gaining recognition. Catalysts from 30 selected communities are involved in trialling the app and tablets, reviewing the functionality, and adding additional features in line with their needs, ideas and ambitions for their
