BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Meet The Woman Who Is Building Digital Schools And Wants To Put Herself Out Of Business

This article is more than 9 years old.

“Katrin Macmillan is digitally democratizing education, she recently spoke about it at SXSW and she’s one of the most aspiring female social entrepreneurs I have ever met.” That’s how I was introduced to Katrin. I thought, “Sounds exciting, but what does digitally democratizing education really mean?” The answer: Katrin is the 35-year-old founder of Projects For All, a nonprofit that launched “Hello World,” solar-powered digital schools called "Hello Hubs" that give under-privileged children and adults in Africa access to the opportunities that the Internet provides. These community designed and built Hubs are loaded with computers, educational software, cameras and video cameras. Katrin has a plan for Hello Hub builds in Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru, Nigeria and beyond. She wants to be so successful that she puts herself out of business.

Hugh Jackman, actor and founder of Laughing Man Coffee & Tea, said, “Considering how difficult it has been for even a wealthy country like the U.S. to bring internet access to its own schools, the accomplishments of Project Hello World cannot be understated.”

This is Katrin's story:

Restauri: What needs to be fixed in the world?

Macmillan: We won’t solve the global education deficit until we find a model that can affordably reach every child. A new paradigm for education is needed. We need an affordable, scalable and sustainable education system that really can reach children in need, no matter where they live.

We live in an increasingly unjust world and the inequality that we see all around us, in every country, is intolerable. 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all children left school with just basic reading abilities, yet 134 million children have never been to school. 32 million of these children are in sub-Saharan Africa – a number equivalent to all the primary school children in U.S., UK and France put together. This needs to be fixed!

Restauri: What are you doing to help fix it?

Macmillan: In 2013 I started Hello World, an initiative that provides Internet access and digital education to remote communities. The first of the outdoor solar-powered computer stations, called “Hello Hubs,” has been installed in Nigeria and reaches over 1500 children and adults.

Hello Hubs give children the power to teach themselves using educational software and the vast body of knowledge that is the Internet. When we give them the tools to learn, children take their education to greater heights than we could ever have imagined. Hello Hubs also allow children and adults to connect with the world, to tell their story, make friends abroad, play, take photos, make movies and even host a radio station. And it benefits everyone. When we are connected directly to the poorest communities, we not only support them but we learn so much from them as well.

There isn’t enough money out there to give every child access to a physical school and teachers. That’s why we started Hello World: so that it really is possible and affordable to reach every child in need of an education. It seems unbelievable but it costs us only $22 to provide a limitless education for a child for life.

And here’s one of the best parts - we want to be put out of business. When that happens we will know that we have been successful! We are planning Hello Hub builds in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru, Nigeria and beyond. We open source all of our methods and technology and hope that others will pick up our How-To guides and build Hello Hubs in their own communities. One of the founding principles of Hello World is that every component part of a Hub can be readily sourced. And we want the Hubs to be simple enough to build so that anyone can follow the instructions and make their own. This means that communities can build them for themselves without us. In fact, the open source nature of the project means that people will be free to improve our designs, add to them and tailor them to their own needs. This project becomes infinitely scalable when Projects For All doesn’t have to be at every build. Now that is exciting!

The benefits go beyond the digital education. Working as closely as we do with a community gives us a unique ability to discover committed local activists who are doing extraordinary work. Because we come across brave and inspiring individuals who are working against the odds on some of the worlds most pressing and intractable issues, we started an adjunct project called “Our Heroes.” I met Joy and Og Amazu, the founders of Challenge 100, and told them about one of the amazing activists whom we met in Nigeria, Gift Abu. The Amazus provided Abu with a lifetime salary so that she can get on with her incredible work to end the horrible practice of “breast ironing.” This will, in turn, protect thousands of girls from this brutal physical torture.

Restauri: What’s the story behind your story?

Macmillan: It all started when I was living in Ethiopia. It seemed that everywhere I went there was a need for information: for books, teachers and schools. There is also a pressing need for some of the most isolated and marginalized communities to be able to tell their story, to put themselves on the world map, advocate for their rights, and write their own news.

I visited the Hamar Tribe in South Omo and they told me, as so many communities before had done, that they hoped only for the future of their children. They believed that their lives were spent, but their children had a chance at a better life if only they could find a way to work. In order to work they needed to be able to read, write, count, speak the national language and preferably English too. They identified education as the key to their survival, despite a very obvious and pressing need for food, water, health care and sanitation, the basics. Many people also told me that they wanted to tell their story, to let people know that they exist. Story telling is critical to human survival. These ancient communities have important knowledge to share; we could learn so much from their understanding of the land and environment.

My work is a response to my anger at the struggles and injustice all around us. I think it’s impossible to be entirely happy knowing what we know about the suffering of many.

There's no such thing as a meritocracy, it is a nonsense notion bandied around by those of us with wealth and opportunity, to justify our success. In general, those of us who have money and access were born into it and given every chance to succeed. There is a wealth of untapped skill and energy in even the poorest communities. They are just waiting to be recognised and play their part in the world. Imagine if we could hear from, and learn from, them. Without education and connectivity that will never be possible.

Restauri: What's working in your fix?

Macmillan:

1) Hello Hubs are community-owned and granny-policed! The first Hello Hub was built a year ago in Suleja, Nigeria and it’s still standing. It hasn’t been damaged and it hasn’t been misused. It is currently being used by over 500 children a week. When we first set about raising the support to trial this project I was told over and over again that the Hub would be vandalized, the technology stolen and that the community would use the Internet connection to watch pornography. None of this has happened. The community owns the Hub and they know that it is their responsibility to protect it, and they are given the skills to maintain it. The Hub is out of doors and the screens are public so inappropriate usage is policed by the entire community. People are unlikely to sit about watching porn if their granny could walk past at any moment!

2) We don’t parachute in an idea that we conceived in Silicon Valley.  We are most proud of our methodology and process. We don’t show up and stick a Hello Hub into a community. We partner with a community to build the Hello Hub together, making an equal investment in the success of the project. We provide the hardware and our skills, and they bring their skills, time and the land. They put us up and transport us to and from the site. So the investment is equal. We live and work with our partner communities. That’s what makes Project Hello World work.

3) Children are amazing. They will do anything for an education because they know it’s their chance for a better life. Their capabilities, both technologically and educationally, far outstrip our expectations of them. The children are the reason for the success of Hello World; day and night they tap away at the Hello Hub, using educational software and the Internet to learn and connect with the world.

4) It costs us only $22 to provide a limitless education for a child for life.

Restauri: What's not working in your fix?

Macmillan: Funding. We’re struggling to raise the funds we need. Child-led digital education takes some explaining, as does our community-led methodology. It’s different, and although people say they want cutting edge thinking and innovation, they generally also want things to fit nicely into traditional funding brackets. We’re not building schools out of bricks and mortar - that’s the model people are used to funding.

If I’d known how hard it would be to raise the funds for this project we might not have embarked on it. Without critical funding the project won’t survive.

Restauri: What's your best mistake that others can learn from?

Macmillan: I co-founded Bwari Soap Company in Nigeria, a women’s collective aimed at generating jobs using sustainable natural resources. I spent months taking our beautiful soaps to major international firms to try to secure an export deal. In the meantime one of the soap-making groups in the collective had adjusted the pricing I’d suggested, lowering their margins drastically for the domestic market. There are 175 million people in Nigeria; that’s quite a market! The business grew and grew and finally I learnt to listen to the market, to focus on creating products that have local value and local customers. I needed to learn from the women and respect their local knowledge, rather than imposing my own notions of the best possible outcome.

I think that it’s always a mistake to assume that you have a solution. Humanitarian and development work need to be flexible, and emergent, in my view. I think that we need to be able to make plans that can change direction when necessary, and that keep evolving. And we should publish mistakes! We all make them; they are part of how we get it right, eventually!

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website