Instant Network Schools — Scaling Offline Adaptive Learning for Refugee and Host-Community Students in Nampula, Mozambique

Mozambique's Maratane refugee settlement, in Nampula Province, hosts roughly a third of the country's refugee population alongside neighbouring host communities with limited grid electricity or internet infrastructure. The Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR launched Instant Network Schools (INS) here in June 2021, first at Maratane's primary and secondary schools and, in a programme first, at a public secondary school in Nampula city 35km away.
INS centres run on the open-source Kolibri platform (Learning Equality), which delivers offline digital libraries and structured, mastery-based lesson sequences from a local server without requiring an internet connection. Trained "digital coaches" support teachers in blending Kolibri content with regular classes. In late 2023 the programme piloted the Akelius adaptive language-learning app, which adjusts course content to each learner's demonstrated proficiency, across 11 of the centres.
Implemented with the Lutheran World Federation and Jesuit Refugee Service, the programme's official 2023 annual report recorded 15 centres in 12 schools (expanding to 19), 52,070 students, 1,266 teachers and 15 dedicated coaches, with near-even gender splits at the original Maratane sites (e.g. 401 girls / 401 boys enrolled in the secondary school). The Akelius pilot reached 695 students, and in a survey of 412 participants, 95.77% said they wanted to continue. By November 2025 the network had grown to 26 centres and over 91,000 cumulative students.
As with other Instant Network Schools sites, the strongest evidence here is on reach, retention and continuation intent rather than measured learning gains: the cited figures are drawn from the implementing partners' own annual reporting (UNHCR, Vodafone Foundation, Akelius Foundation) rather than an independent evaluation, and no randomised or controlled study of literacy or numeracy outcomes in Mozambique was located. A newer 2025 expansion site (Pemba, Cabo Delgado) reporting 55% girl enrolment could not be independently corroborated beyond wire-syndicated press coverage of the same UNHCR release.

Read the full analysis: https://clubofmozambique.com/news/vodafone-foundation-and-unhcr-expand-connected-education-programme-for-refugees-and-host-communities-into-mozambique-194714/