We connect, train and equip a network of 400 collaborative local changemakers to enable them to set up education spaces named ‘Spots’, through which they involve thousands of learners for all ages in playful, holistic and co-creative learning experiences, whilst promoting wider civic action.
Community educators can feel unable to create the futures they want to see, with reliance on outsiders. This has led to a disconnection between scaled solutions and local contexts, cultural impositions, and, ultimately, a reduction of agency for local people, which feeds into reduced well-being and widening educational inequity. For example, in rural areas of Ghana, access to pre-primary education is just 38%, compared to 90% for urban areas; 35% of children in rural Ghana do not complete primary education (UNESCO, 2020). Digital access is limited in rural areas, where internet uptake rates are at 54% compared to 80% in urban areas (World Bank).
Unlike top-down interventions, our solution empowers voluntary community-based Catalysts — parents, youth, and teachers — to lead and sustain change. Their ownership is proven: 25% of our existing Spots were launched by past Catalysts expanding the model organically; 60% of our staff team have Catalyst backgrounds, ensuring lived expertise guides our approach. Learners don’t just benefit—they become Catalysts, creating a self-multiplying effect.
Our pedagogy is playful, co-creative and holistic, enabling Catalysts (who are 70% teachers) to engage in a new model of education through monthly challenges, which they go on to apply in their wider teaching and community roles. The EduSpots App supports programme and Spot logistics, aiming to act as a tool that enables community teams across the world to set up and run their own education systems. We use 10+ WhatsApp groups to enable learning to continue long after Spot doors have closed with a range of creative digital learning strategies.
We are ultimately creating a grassroots network of active citizens, engaged in developing their home communities through education; students observe the volunteerism they benefit from, and become future community changemakers reimagining the future of their communities through education.
Watch our recent TedTalk here:
Read our 2024 Model of Change guide here:
Please find our 2023 Impact Report here:
Watch this video from Hafsa and Adam in Kalpohin Spot, to understand the impact and strong local ownership of our work.
