The United States Embassy in Honduras and Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc., work with the Honduran Ministry of Education to bring digital learning to rural Honduras
The U.S. Embassy Honduras, Public Affairs Section provided $110,000 in funding to Shoulder to Shoulder, for the development and distribution of digital curriculum via the Kolibri platform to more than 1250 children. This work supports the official Honduran textbooks and is being closely coordinated with the Honduran Ministry of Education who is assisting in the implementation.
This effort enhances educational opportunities of vulnerable youth in areas with low Internet connectivity. This project brings digital textbooks, video lessons, and a library of digital library books right into student homes via the Kolibri Learning Platform. With this, they can continue to learn during times when schools are closed due to COVID-19. The U.S. Embassy has provided funding for the transcription of Honduran textbooks onto inexpensive Android tablets and their deployment to students in 30 public schools in Southern Honduras.
Emerging Standard Over the past four years, Shoulder to Shoulder has implementing additional projects using US based donors and grants. Now we are working the Inter-American Development Bank funded by the Japanese Special Fund and also in a cooperative agreement with World Vision. Others are under discussion. Overall, we are serving nearly 5000 students. With these projects and others, Kolibri is emerging as the standard for digital curriculum in Intibucá.
Vice Minister of Education, Gloria Menjívar, pictured below holding a tablet, said “Acceso, retención y promoción de educandos es nuestras prioridad y Kolibri es una herramienta de gran apoyo para que estudiantes y docentes puedan desarrollar de mejor manera su proceso enseñanza aprendizaje.” Additional pictures are of students with their tablets.
Kolibri is developed and maintained by Learning Equality. It delivers a growing library of open educational resources designed for offline teaching and learning via open source software. The software and content are entirely free. It is centered around a learning platform with built-in educator support that can run on a local server device, e.g. laptop. It is complemented by tools to organize these resources and others to the local curriculum. In Honduras, Shoulder to Shoulder has implemented the complete set of textbooks needed for K-12 education plus a digital library of over 1000 books organized by grade level.
While Shoulder to Shoulder has been working with the US Embassy and Learning Equality on testing early releases of Kolibri for several years, what is unique about this new programming is that learners can take home tablets with Kolibri containing exercises, video lessons and reading assignments on a self-contained App — all without the Internet. When students periodically meet at school for in-person class sessions, the progress of their work on the tablets is electronically synchronized with the teacher’s device, who can then assign lessons to specifically address their individual needs.
About Shoulder to Shoulder
Shoulder to Shoulder a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation has worked in rural Honduras for over 30 years. Shoulder to Shoulder works collaboratively to create and operate sustainable and accessible health, nutrition, and educational services.
Learn more: https://Shouldertoshoulder.org and https://CREE.HN.
About Learning Equality
Learning Equality is a United States-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. It is committed to enabling every person in the world to realize their right to a quality education, by supporting the creation, adaptation, and distribution of open educational resources, and creating supportive free tools for innovative pedagogy.
Learn more: https://learningequality.org/
