Kid's Learning Hub in Africa
Donation protected
Want to know what change looks like? It’s anywhere from 6 months to 20 years old, curious, questioning, with a big smile. You see, at ImagiNation Afrika, we see change every day. We, as our mission says, “believe in a world of African children changemakers solving the problems of development, and imagine Africa of 2025 powerfully led by young people who can critically think and creatively problem solve.
Since 2007, our programs have been focused on expanding paradigms around learning, around play, and around what African child-centered spaces look and feel like. To date we have played, discovered and learned alongside 8,000 young people and their communities. We have grown from a small, self-funded organization run by four volunteers, to a vibrant organization enjoying the support of a network of local and international partners.
Our programs have become increasingly innovative; in 2013-14 we debuted our ImagiNation Labs, spaces where we introduced design theory to children, enabling them to respond to engineering and creative challenges. Our maths caravan traveled through fifteen schools, mainly in the poorer suburbs outside Dakar, inspiring teachers and children to envision mathematical thinking differently. This culminated in a two-day maths festival where participating teachers developed maths games and created a maths toolbox.
We formed an interim advisory board to help us with oversight, strategy and direction. We recruited a communications team and broadened our outreach on social media. 2013-14 also saw us globalize our intern program through an innovative partnership with the Center for International Education Exchange. Most importantly, we strengthened our internal financial systems in preparation for our first audit in 2014-15.
Since 2007, our programs have been focused on expanding paradigms around learning, around play, and around what African child-centered spaces look and feel like. To date we have played, discovered and learned alongside 8,000 young people and their communities. We have grown from a small, self-funded organization run by four volunteers, to a vibrant organization enjoying the support of a network of local and international partners.
Our programs have become increasingly innovative; in 2013-14 we debuted our ImagiNation Labs, spaces where we introduced design theory to children, enabling them to respond to engineering and creative challenges. Our maths caravan traveled through fifteen schools, mainly in the poorer suburbs outside Dakar, inspiring teachers and children to envision mathematical thinking differently. This culminated in a two-day maths festival where participating teachers developed maths games and created a maths toolbox.
We formed an interim advisory board to help us with oversight, strategy and direction. We recruited a communications team and broadened our outreach on social media. 2013-14 also saw us globalize our intern program through an innovative partnership with the Center for International Education Exchange. Most importantly, we strengthened our internal financial systems in preparation for our first audit in 2014-15.
However, this year is even more special, as we will start the year with a campaign to raise funds for our new kid’s hub, Kër ImagiNation! Kër ImagiNation, the physical building ImagiNation Afrika will open in November 2015, will house our exhibitions, labs, and leadership programming, providing children with a go-to space for developing 21st century skills and participating in hands-on learning experiences that support and promote critical and creative thinking. We’ll also have a special area for infants and toddlers to support cognitive and socio-emotional development for our youngest citizens.
To do this, we need your help.
Building a new space where children can experience themselves as active learners and producers of new, valuable knowledge through play is no easy feat. So we are reaching out to you, our supporters, for help with raising the first funds we will need on the road to making Kër ImagiNation a reality.
To do this, we need your help.
Building a new space where children can experience themselves as active learners and producers of new, valuable knowledge through play is no easy feat. So we are reaching out to you, our supporters, for help with raising the first funds we will need on the road to making Kër ImagiNation a reality.
Organizer
Micheline Lawson
Organizer
New York, NY
