Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy, which is based in South Africa, is awarded the Prize for its exemplary efforts in providing “an effective solution to major challenges surrounding linguistic factors in African Education, by providing mother-tongue literacy programs with a bridge to English for early childhood education. These are coupled with professional development courses for teachers in literacy skills, as well as training for journalists, writers, and artists, and the development of free learning materials as open education resources. The initiatives of the Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy help not only South Africa, but have also supported eight other African countries, namely: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Uganda, and Zambia.
Ubongo Learning, which is based in Tanzania, is awarded the Prize for its “innovative and transformative initiative for disadvantaged children. It has tremendous potential in reducing the gap created by education disparities, by utilizing a massive scale-up approach, while delivering attractive edutainment materials through radio, TV, and basic mobile phones to 17 million children across Africa. It also aims to reach 60 million learners by 2025; hence, demonstrating the potential size and breadth of its impact, sustainability, affordability, ease of adaptation and replicability. Furthermore, an evaluation of the project, thus far, has shown its strong influences on early childhood education (ages 3-6 years)”.