EDUCATION PROGRAM

Our Education Program and Projects

Education is one of the three pillar priority areas of focus for Haben Tigray. The gap in this sector has kept on getting wider due to the fact that the education system was on shutdown during the COVID pandemic and the war on Tigray has brought a massive destruction making continuity a multifaceted challenge. To be able to take the children and the youth in Tigray back to school, large scale interventions are expected. 

Featured Projects

Tunaydbah Computer Literacy and Education Project

Overview

Haben Tigray entered into a collaboration with Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) and Health Professionals Network for Tigray (HPN4Tigray) on the Tunaydbah Computer Literacy Project. This project is part of the  Wellness Center in Sudan which was built for Tigrayan refugees displaced as a result of the war which started in November 2020. Haben Tigray  committed to design a system of computer network and develop the curriculum for the literacy project at the center in addition to providing complementary expert services and oversight of  the computer program. 

Background

Since the war that broke out in Tigray in November 2020, it has caused many people to be displaced and seek refuge in eastern Sudan. A year has now passed since this war started and an end to this crisis is not yet in sight. 

With as many as 70,000 refugees from all walks of life in various camps in Sudan, many lives have been disrupted and essential growth and development in livelihood is stunted. Education is an area that has been significantly affected with detrimental consequences for the future of the youth as successful members of the community.  Observations indicate that the youth in these refugee centers have been resorting to harmful activities to escape mental stress and boredom, leading to mental health problems. 

“Recent fighting in Tigray has forced nearly 60,000 refugees to flee their homes and seek safety and protection across the border in Sudan. More than 30 percent of them are children, with UNHCR planning a response in order to assist up to 100,000 refugees in eastern Sudan by mid-year.

With more refugees arriving every day, ECW joins the Government of Sudan, UN agencies and civil society in an inter-agency appeal to donors, the private sector and philanthropic foundations to immediately close the estimated US$6.6 million funding gap needed for the education in emergency response in eastern Sudan.”

https://www.educationcannotwait.org/education-cannot-wait-approves-us2-million-for-education-in-emergency-response-for-refugee-children-and-youth-in-eastern-sudan/ 

Project Objectives and Plan

In order to counter these multifaceted problems Tigrayan refugees are facing, a plan to equip the wellness center with a system to provide education and entertainment was put in place. 

The scope of this project is to establish and furnish an education and entertainment facility with emphasis on computer literacy. A building is available for this purpose. The center requires devices such as computers and gaming devices to be installed with appropriate furnishings. 

Haben Tigray provides the following services as Phase 1 of the Tunaydbah Computer Literacy Project.

Technical Support

This includes the determination of machines and accessories needed to initiate a computer and training room, design of the computer network system and testing, installation of software on the network and physical installation of computer system at the center

Curriculum

As part of the development of a curriculum for the center, introductory computer training training materials will be provided. Phase 2 of the project will be used to develop curriculum for short-term and long-term education needs at the center.

Expert Services

Complementary expert services will be identified as the center starts giving service and feedback is received from the project stakeholders including end users.

Oversight

Haben Tigray will use its experts to oversee the program remotely from the United States or Europe. A training of trainers will be provided in person at the center by the experts to help run the program smoothly. 

Educational Technology System

The Educational Technology System (Ed Tech System) is network of Clients (Raspberry Pi’s) connected to a Server (desktop computer) through a Network Switch. This system can function with or without internet connection. When it is connected to the internet, the router provides wireless access to the internet for devices nearby. If there is no internet access, the router provides access to the Server’s contents to nearby devices like laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Raspberry PI

A Raspberry Pi is small and power-efficient machine which can use Solar energy to run its functions: These devices minimize initial and running cost while providing powerful development boards which allow users to learn coding and create electronic devices.

Server

The Server in the system is a desktop computer larger and more powerful than the client computers. It contains all the information needed to run client computers including the operating system, applications and educational materials. 

Curriculum

Educational and creative contents mainly from Kolibri are uploaded to the server and will be used as major sources for curricula developed by various experts. Kolibri is an open platform developed to support learning without internet access. The vast content in Haben Tigray's Channel in Kolibri will be packaged into classes customized to various groups of learners, based on age group, educational level and/or experience.