Mwabu: The Evidence

Three multi-year comparative studies in collaboration with UNICEF, Impact Network and the Peter Cundill Foundation have found that interventions delivering Mwabu content and training in very poor, remote areas all showed that:

• Mwabu-trained teachers deliver active, engaging, child-centred lessons

• Mwabu pupils achieve better learning outcomes than their peers

• Mwabu is cost-effective and affordable for use in ordinary primary schools across Africa

• Mwabu supports untrained teachers working with large classes in difficult conditions

• Mwabu is popular with educators and pupils, and builds support for education in the community

• Girls and boys learn equally well with Mwabu

Equal opportunity for girls

Boys and girls taught with Mwabu achieve better learning outcomes than their peers. In Lukulu, in the remote Western Province of Zambia, UNICEF research showed a significantly greater improvement in literacy in Mwabu schools over the period of just one year, between grades 1 and 2, as compared to the control group schools.

Mwabu has conducted observations in different contexts to detect discrimination in use of tablets in the class – whether the girls get an equal turn to hold them and to use them, or whether they are more likely to watch as boys take the lead – and has concluded that they were getting fair access. Moreover, with the tablets being interactive, girls are getting their chance to give their answer and get accurate feedback.