Key Individual:
Charles Omofomwan
Who can benefit from this study?
Policy/decision-makers
Technical people
Civic Tech initiatives
Researchers
Organisation responsible for case study:
Name: Noble Missions
Org. type: Non-Profit
[icon name=”external-link-square-alt” prefix=”fas”] https://itakeactions.org/
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Noble Missions – Improve access to quality education for children
Post Status:
Main Project Location: Abuja
Project country/countries: Nigeria
Project dates: 2018 –
Last updated: 23 March 2022
Brief overview of the Case Study
Noble Missions is a tech non-profit social enterprise based in Nigeria with support from volunteers all over the world. Through HER flagship program, ‘I Take Actions’, Noble Missions empowers citizens to demand accountability from the government in the provision of quality education in Nigeria. They deploy technology to realise the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Their vision is to see a world where technology is available and accessible to all citizens to foster sustainable development and reduce hunger. And their mission is in using digital tools to advance education in Africa.
The challenge or problem
Public education in Nigeria, especially in rural communities, is characterised by dilapidated buildings, lack of qualified teachers and inadequate learning resources, among other issues. According to UNESCO, Nigeria ranked 103 out of 113 in the Education for All Development Index (EDI) rating of 2015, scoring 0.714. Studies show that dilapidated learning environments, insufficient classrooms and learning resources, are among the main factors shaping the system’s decay.
There is a big failure of the Nigerian government to respond to these issues and in meeting their obligations
According to the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Nigeria needs at least 250,000 new teachers to address the challenge of the shortfall of teachers in basic education
It is estimated that over 10.5 million children in Nigeria are out of school even though primary and junior secondary school education is supposed to be free and compulsory. Social, political and cultural factors have contributed to the lack of proper education in Nigeria.
The solution that was implemented
Noble Missions is based 100% on volunteer-ship
Its itakeactions.org platform enables citizens to take civic actions towards the advancement of public education in Nigeria. The platform serves as a feedback mechanism between citizens and the government, whereby citizens can report the infrastructural condition of schools in their communities to the government. Citizens can also use the platform to draw attention to critical educational issues, and demand for improvement in the education sector by sharing tweets, signing petitions and sending emails among other civic actions. Citizens are rewarded as they take these civic actions with the platform’s digital currency called ActBit Coins. These coins can be used to shop for gift items, events’ tickets and sales discount on the platform. The platform also features educative and informative articles about education for all stakeholders.
Noble Missions launch of a new program called ‘Give a Teach’ in 2020 which aims at providing free, equitable and quality basic education for children in Nigeria. Through the platform at www.giveateach.org, they recruit working professionals as volunteer teachers to teach special subjects like ICT, Foreign Languages, Creative Writing, Fine Arts, Human Rights, etc., in low resource public schools, especially schools in rural communities where there have been no teachers for these subjects.
They use technology and social media tools to make the public aware of the government’s negligence towards the public education sector in Nigeria.
What results were achieved?
N/A
Lessons and recommendations
The growing opportunity for collaboration with and support from big global tech companies for non-profits in Africa contributed immensely to the success so far of Noble Missions’ programs
One of the challenges experienced so far is getting buy-in from the relevant government agencies
Civic tech projects need to be planned the way for-profit tech startups are planned and set up
There is a need to create new revenue models with multiple sources of revenue
Need to attract partnerships and collaboration from different partners
There should be value in what civic tech offers. In other words, the civic tech must provide a solution to a need
Non-profit civic tech can offer pay-for-service features and activities to generate revenue
Volunteers including teachers are a crucial aspect in the functioning of Noble Missions as an organisation and meeting their goals
Technological infrastructure is a crucial element in the work of Noble Missions
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