A partnership between Vodafone and UNHCR, Instant Network Schools provides education to refugees and marginalised communities

Instant Network Schools was established as a joint venture between Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR in 2013.  It currently operates eight refugee camps in Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.  The organisation is hoping to provide a quality education to 500,000 refugees and is planning to invest €26 million to make this possible.

Twenty new schools have been scheduled for this year alone.  Some of this work will take place in Egypt, which is Mr. Salah’s home country.  The programme follows an ‘out of the box’ model, so that the equipment can be used directly by teachers and students.  The resources include:

• 25 laptops for students
• A laptop for each teacher
• A projector
• A Speaker
• 3G/ Wifi connectivity
• Charging unit
• All the necessary peripherals and cables

Vodafone reported in December that the programme has led to a 61% improvement in digital literacy skills for students and a 125% improvement for teachers.  An increase in school attendance has also been recorded.

“ I’m partnering with Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR to close the gap between the education available to refugees and their peers living in settled communities.  Instant Network Schools is an important initiative that I am proud to represent which is transforming learning for a generation of young people across sub-Saharan Africa and soon also in my home country, Egypt,”  Mohamed Salah

As part of his ambassadorial role, Mohamed will visit some of the schools and explain the importance of education and how it can lift people out of difficult situations.

Vodafone operates an internal platform which allows participants to share stories and provides tools for programme facilitators to collect data, view and compare results and report incidents.

More information is available here: https://www.vodafone.com/news-and-media/vodafone-group-releases/news/mohamed-salah-joins-up-with-vodafone-foundation