Worldwide interest for EduApp4Syria

The bidders who have sent in submissions are registered in 31 different countries. The geographic spread was wide, and included for example Jordan, India and Taiwan.

- This was above the number we expected and we are extremely happy that so many have spent considerable time on preparing their submissions. Hopefully, Syrian children will get access to new types of highly engaging learning tools for Arabic literacy as a result of these efforts, says Liv Marte Nordhaug, the EduApp4Syria project manager in Norad.

The goal of the EduApp4Syria innovation competition is to develop a smartphone application that can help Syrian children learn how to read and improve their psychosocial wellbeing. Millions of families have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the Syrian crisis. As a consequence, an estimated 2.8 million children in Syria or neighbouring countries are out of school. Many Syrian children are also experiencing learning difficulties as a result of the long-term stress they have suffered

Way forward

An independent jury with relevant expertise will now start its review process.

According to the tentative timeline, the jury will be done with the bid evaluation, selection and issuance of letters offering contracts by the end of April.

- As the number of bids received was so high, we may have to extend the timeline. We will inform all registered bidders directly about any changes to the timeline, Nordhaug assures.

Information about the progress will also be published on norad.no/eduapp4syria and Doffin/TED.

International partnership

The EduApp4Syria Project partners are the Norwegian government, in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), All Children Reading: Grand Challenge for Development, the mobile network operator Orange, and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).

In addition, UNICEF’s Innovation Unit has joined the partnership, and will contribute with funding and expert advice for field testing of applications. Further relevant partners may be added throughout the project.