IEFG: BIG Series: Philanthropy's role in Edtech

07/22/24 • 34 min

Welcome to the IEFG Brains in Gear Series. Today, we'll hear three perspectives on the question, "What should philanthropy do to support edtech in low- and middle-income countries?". We have three speakers who will share their thoughts and ideas on the role of philanthropy in the future of edtech.
Elyas Felfoul is the Director of WISE, Qatar Foundation, and leads the strategic development and operational management of the WISE Summit's Platform while also leading the growth of the PRIZE and EdTech Accelerator Programs. Leveraging his diverse background in both public and private sectors, Elyas brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to WISE. Prior to his current role, he served as a political advisor to a Vice-Prime Minister in Quebec, Canada. Subsequently, Elyas worked at a Toronto-based firm specializing in M&A.

Angela Haydel DeBarger, serves as Program Officer in Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Her portfolio addresses open education with the aim of democratizing knowledge, creating inclusive and engaging experiences for learners, and advancing racial equity in education systems. Previously, Angela served as senior program officer for Lucas Education Research at the George Lucas Educational Foundation, where she led elementary and middle school project-based learning initiatives.

Salvador Paiz, Chairperson at Funsepa, spearheads "Guatemala Moving Forward," a strategy to boost economic growth, and is deeply involved in improving education through organizations like Empresarios por la Educación and the Inter American Dialogue. For 20 years, Funsepa has worked tirelessly to leverage technology as a development tool.

Here are some resources from the conversation:

Learn more about Funcepa's work here.
Learn more about PHET here
Learn more about Learning Equality here
Learn more about Web Aflia here
Learn more about Learning Equality and Kolibri here

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You can follow the IEFG on LinkedIn here. https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-education-funders-group-iefg

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Here are some resources from the conversation:

Learn more about Funcepa's work here.
Learn more about PHET here
Learn more about Learning Equality here
Learn more about Web Aflia here
Learn more about Learning Equality and Kolibri here

Previous Episode

IEFG BIG Series: Measuring what Matters in EdTech

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Welcome to the IEFG Brains in Gear Series. In this conversation, our hosts and guests will demystify how we measure the impact of EdTech. They will discuss the need and methods used to ensure we're collecting the right kind of evidence to ascertain that a particular EdTech has its intended effect on students' learning.
The hosts for this episode are:

John Soleanicov, the Co-Lead of the Learning Schools Portfolio at the Jacobs Foundation. He is a Romanian-born, U.S.-raised professional with more than 15 years of global experience in financial services, management consulting, and education.
Suraj Shah is the Lead for Strategic Partnerships for the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning. He is responsible for collaborations between the Mastercard Foundation and the various Governments/Ministries of Education in Africa and Strategic Partnerships with education stakeholders. His primary focus is aligning with governments across Africa to bridge education challenges with innovative EdTech solutions.

Joining them will be

Ciku Mbugua, Innovation Manager at Brink, works on one of Brink’s programmes, Edtech Hub, across two teams: In the innovation team to support teams to iteratively test and grow promising EdTech interventions using the sandbox tool, and in the engagement team as the country lead in Kenya. As country lead, Ciku specifically supports government, development partners and EdTech entrepreneurs with evidence and technical assistance to accelerate technology integration in education.
Loïc Watine, Chief Research & Policy Officer at Innovation for Poverty Action, is responsible for leading our overall strategy to ensure that our research is relevant to and used by decision-makers and to equip them to use data and evidence to improve the lives of people living in poverty. He provides strategic guidance and leadership to a team of senior leaders overseeing IPA’s Sector programs, Policy team, and Right-Fit-Evidence unit, who together form the Research & Policy global team and work closely with our Country Office teams.

Here are some resources if you would like to learn more about evidence measurement in edtech:

Here's a link to the EdTech Hub website and evidence library.
Learn more about LEVANTE here.
Learn more about m-Lugha here.

Here is a resource bank of events, resources, and collaboratives to learn more about EdTech. You can add more resources and comment on the current list to enrich it further.
This podcast was brought to you by the International Education Funders Group, curated and edited by Anjali Nambiar, with post-production by Sarah Miles. You can learn more about the IEFG at www.iefg.org.

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IEFG BIG Series: It's a wrap!

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Welcome to the IEFG Brains in Gear Series. In this final conversation of this season, the IEFG's Education Technology Fellow, Anjali Nambiar discusses her takeaways from this year's BIG Series with the IEFG's Executive Director, Laura Savage and the IEFG's Senior Lead for Philanthropic Coalitions, Leonora Dowley.

Nb: This episode was taped before the USAID funding freeze was announced. As a result, we may see a different involvement of the aid sector than we expected at the time of recording.

This podcast was brought to you by the International Education Funders Group, curated and edited by Anjali Nambiar, with post-production by Sarah Miles. You can learn more about the IEFG at www.iefg.org.

97BN - IEFG: BIG Series: Philanthropy's role in Edtech

Transcript

Angela: I'm thinking about how philanthropy can show up when we're thinking about supporting the advancement of edtech. It's not about developing contracts with people, but really building relationships and starting from a place of listening, collaborating, building relationships.
Salvador: We don't want these interventions or these investments that are coming from the philanthropic or even private side to be alternatives to the existing systems. We want to alter the system, not be alterna