Solar- and Satellite-Powered Blended Learning Reaches 1,650 Students in Rural Haiti
Haiti
A foundation-funded pilot equipped 33 rural Haitian schools with solar power, satellite internet and tablets, training 100 teachers and reaching …
Congo (the Democratic Republic of the) · Lusenda (Fizi Territory, South Kivu) · See the Congo (the Democratic Republic of the) profile
Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 10% 96/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
Solar-powered 'Instant Classroom' kits with tablets and localised e-learning content run in 28 Instant Network Schools centres across DR Congo, incl. the Lusenda refugee camp — part of a 164-centre, 6-country Vodafone Foundation/UNHCR programme serving 376,000+ students.
Instant Network Schools, a Vodafone Foundation-UNHCR programme running since 2013, deploys solar-powered 'Instant Classroom' kits - rugged tablets, a local server and connectivity - to refugee and host-community schools. Following its 2019 Global Refugee Forum expansion it operates 164 centres across six countries, including 28 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one serving the Lusenda refugee camp in Fizi Territory, South Kivu.
Across the programme, more than 376,000 students and 6,800 teachers and coaches have benefited; an early evaluation recorded a 61% increase in students' ICT literacy and 125% among teachers, alongside higher school attendance and, in some cases, refugees' first access to tertiary education from within a camp. Outcome figures are programme-wide across six countries rather than DRC-specific.
Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.
Philanthropic / foundation funding
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Haiti
A foundation-funded pilot equipped 33 rural Haitian schools with solar power, satellite internet and tablets, training 100 teachers and reaching …
Lesotho
A $7.1M World Bank/GPE-financed project gave Lesotho teachers tech-enabled training and ran youth clubs in junior secondary schools, reaching 40,569 …
Benin
Benin's government network of 43 subsidised community digital centres and free WiFi hotspots brings internet access, digital training and e-government …
Fiji
ITU, UNOPS and Fiji's government opened a solar-equipped 'Smart Classroom' on the remote island of Rotuma in April 2025, training …
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