Digital Education Tools In Crisis Environments: A Pilot Study in Afghanistan

This study, "Digital Education Tools in Crisis Environments: A Pilot Study in Afghanistan," aims to assess the feasibility as well as potential benefits and limitations of two innovative educational technologies—Ideas Cube and Kajou Cards—distributed by Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF) for children aged 6 to 12 in Afghanistan. The pilot intervention consists of studying a deployment of 5,000 Kajou Cards and 10 Ideas Cubes that provide offline access to digital educational content for students, parents, and teachers in Kabul and Bamyan provinces. These technologies aim to address the limited supply of educational resources for children aged 6 to 12 in Grades 1 to 6, their parents, and teachers. Educational needs in Afghanistan are particularly dire given the dramatic economic decline and increase in social restrictions on women and girls since the Taliban reassumed power in 2021. By considering digital learning resources offered to both rural and urban communities, this research directly aligns with HPI’s priority outcomes of improving educational access, learning quality, and social-emotional development for individuals living in poverty and complex humanitarian emergencies. 

The pilot will seek rapid insights into how to overcome barriers to distribution, initialaccess, and sustained use of the technologies so as to design a strategy for achieving high rates of sustained usage. These findings will guide the design of a full-scale impact evaluation. BSF and an Afghan NGO (our local research partner) operate in compliance with relevant Afghan authorities, allowing for larger-scale activities.