Million Hours EdTech Challenge
Insights
Imagine a world where all young people have access to quality education, no matter what circumstances they find themselves in
The problem
Why a challenge prize
Climate change is already a leading cause of human displacement that ranges from short-term relocation, whether internal or international, to permanent migration. Many low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are being disproportionately affected and this is only set to intensify. By 2050, the number of environmentally displaced people is expected to range between 25 million and 1 billion.19
Challenge prizes are effective at incentivising innovations to develop and scale in ambiguous contexts. Traditional grant models are typically restrictive and prescriptive, requiring grantees to adhere to preset deliverables. Venture capital’s preference for proven track records and quick returns on investment limits access for unproven but promising teams and inhibits innovation cycles that require longer time periods, as is the case in education. Challenge prizes, however, encourage experimentation and innovation alongside the development of viable business models. Their focus on outcomes allows innovators to adapt and improve ideas while enabling funders to support a range of solutions.
Many environmentally displaced young people are unable to access a high quality of education. EdTech provides a promising opportunity to create and deliver flexible curricula suitable for students and communities who have been environmentally displaced.20 Although EdTech is a growing and promising market, few solutions have been successfully adapted to meet the needs of displaced people at scale. To deliver on their potential, EdTech solutions will need support to develop and adapt their technical, content and business models.
Co-creating with communities (access, innovator skillset)
Accounting for different stakeholders (teachers, learners, community leaders)
Designing for different delivery contexts (formal informal settings)
Resources
Building a multi-disciplinary team (e pertise and sectoral)
Time to iterate, user test and scale
Accessing support needed to develop a sustainable business model
£1M to the first community-centred edtech solution that delivers one million hours of quality education to young people displaced by climate change The Million Hours Edtech Challenge will support solutions that are community-centred involving caregivers, teachers and other members of the community in delivering educational outcomes. Consortias led by LMIC innovators will be encouraged
Barriers facing EdTech innovators
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Design
Designing for practical realities (hardware, internet access, energy access)
Developing flexible curricula, accounting for linguistic and cultural differences
with tailored packages of support provided to enable their success. The winning solution will be responsive to the complexities of delivering quality education, rapidly and at scale, to children displaced by climate change.
Indicative Timeline 19. A .Flavell et al., IOM Outlook on Migration, Environment and Climate Change, IOM (2014). 20. M. Alfarah and M. Paniagua, The role of ICTs in rebuilding education in areas of armed conflicts: The Syrian case, Edulearn16 Proceedings, 6325-6331 (2016).
24
Climate Possible: How funders can accelerate innovation for a resilient future
Month 1
Month 12
Month 24
Open call
Piloting and testing
Scaling
- Innovator outreach
- Capacity building
- Capacity building
- Consortium building
- Grant funding
- Grant funding
- Submission of proof of concepts
- Demonstrations in community
- Refining solutions
- Semi-finalists selected
- Finalists selected
- Developing business models - Generating evidence - Final submissions
Month 36 Selection of winners - 1M to the winning team