For Africa, home to the world’s youngest population, the occasion rang with both promise and urgency.

In sub-Saharan Africa alone, more than 98 million young people, according to UNESCO, are either missing out on schooling altogether or trapped in classrooms that offer little beyond rote learning.

The result is a silent but devastating deficit, not of potential but of opportunity. Every untaught lesson and every unopened book chips away at the continent’s capacity to innovate, compete, and grow.

Across the continent, a new generation of home-grown organisations is reimagining how Africa learns.

Their methods are as diverse as the landscapes they serve, from Lagos start-ups deploying gamified mobile learning to Kenyan innovators delivering lessons via basic SMS in areas where internet remains a luxury.

These initiatives do more than patch holes in broken systems.

They are laying the foundations for a different future, one where technology, creativity and local insight combine to give every child a fighting chance.

1. NewGlobe

Leading the pack is NewGlobe, which operates as an evidence-backed partner for public sector education reform.

With presence in Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda and Liberia, NewGlobe, in partnership with different governments, has equipped over 2.3 million children and nearly 35,000 teachers across more than 8,000 schools in Africa.

They also provide teachers with resources to improve teaching and organise training workshops.

This approach has shown tremendous results in Nigerian states like Lagos, Kwara, Jigawa, Edo, Bayelsa and many more.

2. Ubongo

Founded in 2013, the Tanzanian-based non-profit organisation aimed to bridge the gap in access to quality education through multi-platform solutions. Its education platform allows teachers to provide education regardless of the location, ensuring pupils aren’t left out of good education.

They also turn learning into an adventure through their educational comics.

3. Foondamate

By focusing on the direct needs of learners, Foondamate provides high-quality lessons and resources to high school students via popular chat applications like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Headquartered in South Africa, Foondamate leverages advanced natural language processing and machine learning to help previously excluded students in Africa access quality education and excel among their global peers.

4. Edves

Due to the high cost of establishing and running a standard school, many schools are unable to afford this.

Edves offers an all-in-one school management software that automates administrative tasks, helps to optimise the school’s resources, and provides valuable data insights.

Operating from Nigeria, its software is used by over 1,200 schools across Africa. Edve’s success demonstrates that to transform an education system, you don’t only focus on the individuals but the ecosystem that supports them.

5. Eneza Education:

Located in Kenya, Eneza Education aims to provide affordable and accessible education to underserved students in rural areas.

They offer millions of learners across Africa personalised learning experiences through their mobile phones at a low cost.

Through SMS based delivery, Eneza Education is delivering world-class education to African students regardless of their location, even where there is poor access to the internet.

The future, without a doubt, is digital, but also better collaboration. The work of these organisations shows that transforming Africa’s education system requires a mix of innovation, accessibility, and a deep understanding of local realities.

By leveraging technology to break down endemic barriers to education, they are giving millions of children a chance to learn and building a generation capable of competing on the global stage.

If sustained and scaled, their efforts would set the continent on a better trajectory, ensuring that Africa’s greatest resource, its people, are equipped with the knowledge and skills to build a prosperous and inclusive future.

The LEGO Foundation is awarding a total of DKK 900 million — approximately $117 Million — to support organisations that make substantial contributions to the lives of children from birth to six years old and spark a global movement to prioritise early childhood development. Ubongo’s project, Akili Family has received $27.8 million.

Ubongo creates and distributes localized learning resources through TV, radio, digital, and mobile to over 31 million families in 23 countries in Africa. Ubongo plans to scale its Akili Family program to bring play-based early learning resources directly to children and their caregivers at home. Akili Family packages pre-primary “edutainment” with caregiver support content in an effort to build an “Africa of Play.”

The Build a World of Play Challenge was launched on February 16, 2022, by the LEGO Foundation to address a global early childhood emergency, characterised by a lack of access globally to quality services and supports that are needed during the critical early years of a child’s development – an emergency which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The awards reaffirm the LEGO Foundation’s commitment in the LEGO brand’s 90th year to ensure children globally are given opportunities to realise their full potential by learning through play. 

“African kids have the potential to transform the world as we know it. With this opportunity, millions more children across the continent will grow up with African learning experiences that are designed for them and with them. Their parents and caregivers will also be motivated and inspired to support them as they discover the world and themselves, and become lifelong learners. I’m excited to see what the continent and the world will look like 20 years from now, given the catalytic impact of the support from the LEGO Foundation,” said Iman Lipumba, Ubongo’s Director of Communications and Development.

The Challenge received a total of 627 valid proposals from 86 countries, from which ten finalists were selected. Applicants were evaluated by multi-disciplinary experts from across the world based on four criteria: whether they were impactful, feasible, community-centred, and sustainable.

The awards announced today will help in furthering specific bold projects which promote the well-being of children, their caregivers, and their communities, using culturally relevant and sustainable approaches.

“We are uniquely prepared to ‘build an Africa of play’, not only because Ubongo’s characters are African kids’ best friends and teachers, but also because we are a key player at the center of early learning and development in Africa. Our biggest collaborators are kids themselves – we co-create content they can relate to and understand,” added Ms. Lipumba.

By 2028, Ubongo will build an ecosystem of partners to provide more than 65 million families in 49 countries with play-based early learning resources in more than 20 local languages. Akili Family will improve kids’ cognitive, social, and emotional skills; empower caregivers to support learning through play, and build an understanding of and demand for learning through play.

Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Chairman of the LEGO Foundation Board of Directors, said: “As part of the LEGO brand’s 90th anniversary, the LEGO Foundation made a commitment to help build a better world for young children to thrive. The Build a World of Play Challenge is designed to do just that, by funding innovative projects that make a real difference for global childhood development and give young children a better start in life. Congratulations to all the recipients, who have all demonstrated game-changing solutions. We look forward to working alongside them as long-term partners, to invest in children’s futures.”

The LEGO Foundation partnered with Lever for Change, a non-profit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to manage the Challenge process.  Lever for Change connects donors with bold solutions to tackle the world’s biggest problems – including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change.