NaTakallam is a social venture that connects forcibly displaced individuals (primarily Syrian and Iraqi) with Arabic learners worldwide for language practice over Skype. Recently, they partnered with The British Council and Qatar Foundation International (QFI) to promote the dissemination of Arabic culture and language in schools around the world.

Educators, policymakers, and funders want to know whether technology can really improve foundational numeracy skills. Rigorous evidence must continue to be collected, but our experience establishing the iiTablet Tshomiz program in South Africa’s Eastern Cape gives us confidence that online learning can make a profound positive impact.

The current growth in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) sector, has paved the way for many things, most importantly, distance education. With increased computer power, availability of internet and faster data transfers rates, e-learning has been made easier and more accessible.

My love of reading helped make me who I am, and it energizes my work today seeking to improve literacy for children around the world. From 2015 to 2016, I helped lead a team at Results for Development (R4D), working with donors, multilateral organizations and other stakeholders, to tackle a key barrier to children’s literacy: namely that books, particularly in mother tongue languages and at the right level, are not easily assessable to children in many countries.