Nearly 250 million children globally face educational disruptions each year due to natural disasters, conflict, illness, and systemic failures.
In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the majority of students sit in classrooms but aren’t actually learning—automatically advancing grades without acquiring basic literacy and numeracy skills that form the foundation for all future education.
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Education systems worldwide need greater resilience through low-cost, easily deployable solutions that can adapt across contexts. ConnectEd represents exactly this type of innovation—proven effective, technologically accessible, and ready for distribution.
$20,000 to Deploy Mobile Phone Education Technology
D-Prize is challenging social entrepreneurs to tackle this crisis through ConnectEd, a rigorously tested phone-based tutoring intervention that delivers targeted remedial education to underserved primary-aged learners. D-Prize offers $20,000 startup funding for entrepreneurs to pilot a program that can reach 25,000 learners within five years
Unlike high-tech solutions that require stable internet, ConnectEd, originally developed by Youth Impact in Botswana, capitalizes on the near-universal availability of basic mobile phones to bring trained tutors directly to students wherever they are.
The ConnectEd evidence is compelling. ConnectEd was studied through randomized controlled trials in five countries (Kenya, Nepal, India, Uganda, and the Philippines) between 2021-2022. Results showed that nearly 65% of enrolled students mastered all basic operations, with the program producing 3.4 Learning Adjusted Years of Schooling per $100—making it among the most cost-effective education interventions available.
The evidence proves phone-based tutoring can work. Can you build the organization to distribute this proven solution where it’s needed most?
Apply Now: Deadline is January 4, 2026
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