Artificial intelligence (AI) is powering educational change in crisis-affected communities. For example, aprendIA – a new platform from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) – uses AI to create personalised learning experiences for students in need. Yuri Milner’s Tech For Refugees is helping fund this innovative solution to the humanitarian sector’s education emergency.
Transforming Education for Crisis-Affected Children
Global crises have impacted more than 220 million school-age children. As a result, these children are either out of school or in school but not learning.
The IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab developed aprendIA in response to this crisis. The platform is a pioneering solution capable of rapidly scaling, increasing access to learning resources, and improving the quality of education for many learners.
Aside from Tech For Refugees, AI research company OpenAI has donated $250,000 to the IRC and helped integrate aprendIA with its ChatGPT tool. This integration has allowed the IRC to swiftly create content and safely research the effectiveness of AI in education.
In aprendIA’s latest iteration, the platform:
- Adapts to different environments and learning styles, offering personalised education experiences that suit users’ individual needs. For instance, some learners may have limited electricity or internet access or prefer to learn through visual or auditory materials.
- Provides content in various formats, including texts, audio, videos, games, and PDFs. The platform also provides a dashboard and assessments for educators.
- Facilitates interactions using AI “flows,” or pathways, that can operate in multiple languages. The IRC has already launched successful pilot programmes in Bangladesh, Colombia, and Nigeria.
- Offers data-driven insights to guide decision-making and improve learning outcomes.
- Detects patterns and trends in student learning, teaching styles, and platform usage. These insights help aprendIA’s developers continually refine the platform, their teaching approaches, and content.
The IRC envisions that, by 2033, children affected by acute crises will receive personalised learning within 30 days of the crisis onset. This intervention will ensure continuity of learning and improve re-entry rates into formal schooling post-crisis.
Tech For Refugees Backs aprendIA’s Expansion
In June 2024, Tech For Refugees announced its support of the IRC’s aprendIA expansion. Yuri Milner, Tech For Refugees’ founder, hopes the platform can reach more children who lack access to effective education.
The IRC partnered with Tech For Refugees in February 2023, when Tech For Refugees pledged multi-year support for the IRC’s humanitarian efforts. This funding has enabled the IRC to expand its award-winning Signpost platform.
Like aprendIA, Signpost is an innovative platform designed to help forcibly displaced people. The tech-enabled “HelpDesk” offers users information and one-to-one support to help them make critical, often life-changing, decisions.
Read more news from Yuri Milner’s Tech For Refugees.
About Tech For Refugees
Tech For Refugees is a non-profit endeavour dedicated to enhancing refugee relief efforts through the power of technology. Since 2022, the initiative has partnered with top tech organisations and humanitarian agencies to launch various relief programmes. These partners include:
- org. Tech For Refugees has helped Flexport.org deliver hundreds of aid shipments to millions of refugees from Ukraine, Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa.
- UNICEF. Together, UNICEF and Tech For Refugees have brought educational assistance to young people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.
- US. Tech For Refugees helped the organisation develop its Welcome Connect platform, which pairs U.S. citizens with newcomers seeking sponsorship.
Yuri Milner launched Tech For Refugees to aid those whose lives have been disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His father’s family is from Ukraine, and the war there has strongly affected both Yuri Milner and his wife Julia.
Yuri Milner is a Giving Pledge signatory and the author of Eureka Manifesto: The Mission for Our Civilisation. His Breakthrough Foundation funds Tech For Refugees, along with initiatives like the Breakthrough Prize and Breakthrough Junior Challenge.
