Cegal works for free for Save the Children: Giving children all over the world better opportunities for education
Cegal allows employees to work pro bono on so-called goosebump projects. For the next three years, Cegal employees will assist Save the Children Norway with technology and expertise, allowing children in conflict areas worldwide to have access to education.
Cegal provides technological assistance to Save the Children Norway on their learning platform and advisory in AI and Cyber Security. The pro bono work allows to give more children around the globe better schooling and protection.
At Cegal, we want our employees to have meaningful work, and we have at least one goosebump project every year where our employees can volunteer for equality, peace, and justice. We recently partnered with Save the Children Norway (Redd Barna) as their first EdTech partner. The partnership is an important part of our sustainability strategy and is led by our internal organization, Humanity at Cegal.
Humanity at Cegal aims to engage employees in pro bono work by utilizing their talents and expertise to drive positive change in humanitarian causes. As an internal organization, Humanity at Cegal has full support from our leadership, both financially and work-wise. The goosebump project together with Save the Children Norway will run over the next three years and includes annual pro bono consultancy work as well as annual financial support of NOK 150,000.
Making children safer with technology
“How do Save the Children utilize technology?”
Liina Aagedal, Director of Technology and Transformation at Save the Children Norway, answers: “The core focus at Save the Children lies in safeguarding children's rights to protection, education, and security worldwide.”
Technology plays an instrumental role in optimizing Save the Children Norway’s operations and achieving a greater impact on children's lives and rights.
Liina Aagedal, Redd Barna
Liina Aagedal adds: ”Where we lack internal capacities, such as in IT operations or development, we closely collaborate with technology suppliers. We are confident that Cegal has the competence and expertise we can leverage. Without our partners, like Cegal, we would not be able to achieve the extent of results we do today.”
Lisa Hellweger, leader of Humanity at Cegal, says: “As a global tech powerhouse, Cegal has the expertise Redd Barna is looking for to support their EdTech work. Our tech competencies can make a true difference to help protect children's access to education in high-risk countries.”
Save the Children Norway is working on different EdTech initiatives, and by using technology, children in need get safer and equitable access to education when access to the physical classroom is impossible and dangerous.
A schoolboy reads in mathematics textbook during an online lesson in the digital learning center in Kyiv region, Ukraine.
Getting children safely to school
Several reports warn against the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change on education. Covid-19 caused the biggest educational disruption ever seen, leaving 10 million children permanently out of school.
Today the global climate crisis is the biggest threat to children's learning rights. As extreme weather events are destroying schools, an increasing number of children are forced to leave their homes and education behind.
Save the Children is increasingly utilizing technology in its education programs to support children safely attending school. One of their EdTech programs is ILET (Improving Learning Environments Together in Emergencies). This program aims to improve children’s learning environments through community participation. One innovative aspect of ILET is data collection through a data management platform. Cegal will focus the pro bono work on improving the ILET program and the data management platform.
Data analytics gives better decisions
Community and child participation lies at the heart of the ILET program. By collecting and analyzing data through a data management platform, Save the Children gets valuable insights into the best ways to improve children’s learning environment. The ILET program empowers the community, ensuring that a variety of stakeholders, including children, participate in the data collection and then bring the data back to the community for further discussions and analysis.
Camilla Øien, Advisor of Technology and Education at Save the Children, says: “With a good data foundation, it’s easier to have a meaningful discussion on how we can better support children in improving their learning environment, especially for children living in humanitarian settings. Cegal will assist us in improving the data management platform for ILET to increase performance and stability and potentially scale to more users.”
Øien sees hope in technology: “By using technology, hopefully, more children will be able to achieve well-being and learning outcomes. We also see a huge potential in how digitalizing education data can enable us to improve education programs and ensure children's participation. This has presented new opportunities, but also risks, including online abuse and inequity due to digital literacy and lack of universal access to digital technology.”
From humans to humans
In addition to its pro bono consultation on the ILET platform, Cegal will also advise on how to harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for humanitarian organizations, as well as support with cyber security awareness training. These areas provide a good starting point for a successful long-term partnership.
Liina Aagedal acknowledges that a long-term relationship contributes to improved partnership and adds, "Deeper mutual understanding over time will lead to better collaboration and solutions that can be beneficial for both parties."
Humanity at Cegal focuses on humanitarian projects related to Cegal's values, our core competence, and our hearts.
Lisa Hellweger, Cegal
Lisa Hellweger concludes: “This partnership is a unique opportunity for us employees to use our expertise and deliver meaningful work in EdTech. As a leading international humanitarian organization, Save the Children is a fantastic partner for Cegal to leverage our social responsibility as a global tech company.”
Save the Children has worked for children's rights for over 100 years. In 2022 alone, 48 million children worldwide received direct help from the politically and religiously neutral organization. Over 9 million children received support to go to school.
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