Play Africa: Design Thinking with children Workshops

THE CHALLENGE

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) means today's children must become lifelong learners with skills to identify and solve problems with creativity, collaboration, and empathy. However, many education systems across Africa have historically promoted rote learning, are hampered by limited resources, and/or lack opportunities to train educators with the latest research or teaching methodologies. This means that many children in Africa are not developing the critical skills needed to thrive in entrepreneurship and the future world of work: creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and a growth mindset.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project's objective is the implementation of design thinking workshops for children 7-12yo from underserved backgrounds. These workshops develop measurable creative skills in children by teaching them to understand social challenges and to generate, prototype, and test possible solutions that could be shared more widely. 
As part of the project, the NGO aims to work with schools, municipalities, community-based organizations, and urban practitioners.

Throughout the 3-year partnership, Play Africa will train 120 facilitators, empowering them to lead participative design thinking workshops. Furthermore, every year, one solution proposal developed in the workshops will be funded to be built in the children’s school or community.