Member Article

North East charities team up to improve access to educational resources around the world

Two North East charities have joined forces to improve educational opportunities for children around the globe through the launch of the world’s first 3D printed, solar-powered projector. COCO (Comrades of Children Overseas) has formed a partnership with ‘tech for good’ charity Global Teacher, to support the rollout of Pod, a ground-breaking new technology designed to make digital education accessible anywhere.

Sunderland based Global Teacher was founded by Chris Nutman, a Design Engineer who studied education in the developing world at university. After discovering a significant barrier to learning among students in rural parts of the developing world with no access to the internet or mains power, he made it his mission to teach one million marginalised students by 2025 and developed Pod as a solution. The projector utilises a solar-panel, battery pack and bespoke offline learning management system to make digital education accessible to those who are offline and off-grid.

Newcastle based COCO was founded in 2000 by Steve Cram CBE and British Army Major Jim Panton with a mission to provide sustainable sources of quality education to children living in poor, marginalised communities in East Africa. Since its inception, COCO has raised over £4.5 million to fund its work and along with its partners, has now undertaken 66 transformational projects in 16 countries, positively impacting on the lives of over 200,000 people.

After being introduced to Global Teacher and hearing about the difference that Pod can make to the quality of children’s education in the developing world, COCO was keen to get involved. The charity has utilised its partnerships with several schools in Kenya to provide Global Teacher with an opportunity to trial Pod, at the same time benefitting teachers and students for whom access to resources remains a significant barrier to learning.

Jess Whitaker, Global Teacher trustee and COCO partnerships manager, says: “After being introduced to Chris and hearing about his innovative, sustainable plan, I jumped at the opportunity to join this inspiring movement. We’re looking forward to collaborating with Global Teacher to improve the quality of education in partner schools in rural East Africa. In these schools, accessing learning resources is difficult and expensive, which hinders lesson planning and leaves staff and teachers without the information needed for effective learning. The idea will transform education for schools in the Global South. Global Teacher’s innovative technological design and passion for bringing opportunity to marginalised students are what makes the organisation unique, and we are sure that they will change the lives of thousands with their exciting programme.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Lines .