1.

Many people cannot read.

There are 770 MM adults and 660 MM children worldwide with no literacy skills. Two-thirds of these people are women or girls and 75% of them are in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, 88% of Africa does not read at grade level.

2.

Literacy is linked to many societal issues.

Becoming literate means earning 40% more income, living 26 years longer, and avoiding exploitation. Literacy skills drive solutions to poverty, armed conflict, infectious disease, and climate change. Unlike other forms of aid, literacy can never be taken away.

3.

Apps can help people learn to read.

Over the last 6 years research has shown that children can effectively learn literacy skills from mobile apps. A Unicef study showed that just 22 hours of playing Feed the Monster is equivalent to 2-3 months of learning in a well-resourced school.

4. A collection of localized free apps can cover literacy skills.

The skills needed to become a proficient reader include knowledge of spoken language and written language. These skills can be learned through apps. Learning is most effective when children learn in their mother tongue. Every app Curious Learning designs is free to download and created to empower learners through self-guided exploration, containing content localized into more than 50 different languages.

Download Curious Reader App

5. Parents have or will have smartphones.

With mobile devices well suited for personalized self-driven literacy learning, access to mobile devices becomes a vital enabler. The proliferation of smartphones in key regions is growing. By 2050 98% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa and India will have their own smartphones.

6. There are multiple inexpensive ways to get apps into the hands of children.

Our primary task is creating awareness so that parents will install our literacy learning apps and give them to their children. Many organizations, including NGOs, schools, and governments, reach parents through SMS or email campaigns. We build awareness campaigns through social media to promote the download of our literacy learning apps, at about $0.50 per learner.

7. Data & technology can be used to measure impact, keep users engaged, & optimize learning.

Mobile apps offer an unprecedented opportunity to study how digital learning tools affect learning. Our collection of apps, the Learning Referral Network, reports how far a child has gotten and how they have performed, at the right moment it recommends the next best app to aid the child on their learning journey. This allows us to expand reach through cross-promotion between apps and create a personalized learning journey for each user.