FHI 360's FIANTSO project piloted an AI chatbot trained on Ministry-validated Malagasy and maths modules to coach primary teachers in Madagascar's Atsimo Atsinanana region, where 80% of teachers are uncertified. A 3-week, 16-teacher pilot found 80% rated it easy to use.
80 %
Pilot participants rating tool easy/very easy to use (Jan 2026)
70 %
Participants rating tool very useful (Jan 2026)
Details
Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
FHI 360, funded by the Hempel Foundation, with Madagascar's Ministry of National Education
Period
2025–2027 project (chatbot piloted January 2026)
Keywords
AI chatbot, teacher professional development, foundational literacy and numeracy, rural low-resource education
Context
FIANTSO, led by FHI 360 and funded by the Hempel Foundation with Madagascar's Ministry of National Education, built an AI pedagogical chatbot trained on Ministry-validated Malagasy-language and mathematics content for 170 schools in southeastern Madagascar, where 80% of primary teachers lack initial certification.
Results
A three-week pilot in Farafangana (January 2026) with 16 teachers and instructional leaders found 80% rated the tool easy or very easy to use, 70% rated it very useful, and roughly two-thirds used it 2-3 times a week.
Conclusions
Whether the documented teacher engagement translates into measurable pupil literacy or numeracy gains has not yet been evaluated.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
FHI 360 technical team, participating teachers and instructional leaders
Conditions for success
Ministry-validated instructional content
guardrails restricting the chatbot to pedagogy-related questions
Commonly funded by
Philanthropic / foundation funding
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
A six-week, peer-reviewed study at Austria's University College of Teacher Education Burgenland deployed an AI chatbot recommending professional-development options to …
