Name: Wakesho Nyaboke

Nationality: Kenya

Title of Innovation: Hadithi Hadithi

Countries of Implementation: Kenya, Somali and Uganda

Number of years implemented: 1.9

Category: Top 3(Second Winner)

Problems being solved: The foundation to every child’s education is literacy, and yet even in the most developed countries, like South Africa and Kenya, only 25-30% of children in Class 4 can read fluently. This means that their education will be stunted, and they won’t progress to secondary school.

If we can improve reading and writing right from the start of school, we will see benefits throughout a child’s school life, and later in society and the economy at large.

Description of innovation:”Hadithi Hadithi!” means “Story Story!” and it’s what a Kenyan grandmother calls to her grandchildren when she calls them around the fire to tell them a story. It’s the name of our literacy app for children aged 5-8, and it’s made up of hundreds of stories, written by teachers, read by actors, and illustrated by artists all over East Africa.

With each story is a set of comprehension, spelling and letter tracing apps that combine to make up the Reading to Learn pedagogy, shown to improve progress in reading and writing four times faster than traditional methods.

By teaching children to read in our own languages, by creating stories and illustrations that we can relate to, read in voices that are familiar to us, we can help millions of children learn to read and write fluently all across Africa.

Unique outcomes and Impact: Over the last two years, we have created five literacy apps in different languages for schools in Kenya and Uganda that are now being used by tens of thousands of children. Our android version helps parents read with their children on their phones.

Last year, we created the first Somali literacy app which was designed for Dadaab Refugee Camp, with stories from their community. It was used by thousands of youth who had missed out on school.

Incredibly, we saw over four times faster improvement in reading fluency in our community education centres compared to other centres. Now that app is used in over 100 schools across Somalia.

Replication and Sustainability: When we began this project, we tracked down a US company that had similar apps to teach English. They wanted $1 million to create similar apps in different languages.

Our technology allows us to create apps in any language for just $40,000 less than 5% of what it would cost just five years ago. By using newer technologies and engaging Kenyan developers we can create world-beating apps right here.

We are already piloting in two provinces in South Africa that will be the foundation for Zulu and Xhosa apps, and we plan Nigerian versions in Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo. By 2022, there will be 10 Hadithi Hadithi! Apps all across Africa.