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Empowering deaf girls in Uganda: Mobile Phones and SMS Wednesday 30 March, 2011

Empowering deaf girls in Uganda: Mobile Phones and SMS Wednesday 30 March, 2011 Mobile Technologies for Education: The experience in the developing World University of Cambridge Faculty of Education Panel Discussion Dr Sacha DeVelle Founder: Cambridge to Africa. Background .

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Empowering deaf girls in Uganda: Mobile Phones and SMS Wednesday 30 March, 2011

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  1. Empowering deaf girls in Uganda: Mobile Phones and SMS Wednesday 30 March, 2011 Mobile Technologies for Education: The experience in the developing World University of Cambridge Faculty of Education Panel Discussion Dr Sacha DeVelle Founder: Cambridge to Africa

  2. Background • Deafness in Uganda • estimated at around 400 000 (UNAD, 2010) Kabale, South Western Uganda • Large proportion of deaf children in the region • Malaria cited as the main indicator (lack of research) • Most children born to hearing parents • Girls face triple stigma: gender, poverty and disability • No hearing aids/cochlear implants

  3. Empowering deaf girls with SMS Research • A woman is 23% less likely to own a mobile phone in Africa • 5 specific factors that influence ownership in low and middle-income countries: • Household income • Urban/rural location • Age • Occupation • Educational level GSMA Development Fund and Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (2010) However • Does not include a disability measure • Focuses on an age group >13 yo

  4. Background • Child Africa International School (CAIS) • Deaf children 12 • Hearing children 351 Pilot Study: Phase 1 • Sample size and selection (N=12) • 6 deaf and 6 hearing students • Provision of phones • Mobile phone training over 2 weeks • Implementation within school/community

  5. Pilot Study: Phase 1 (cont)

  6. Phase 1: Findings

  7. Testimonials from girls in the project • ‘All my village mates used to laugh at me because I could not hear what they could say and also I did not have any way to speak to them. Can you imagine an orphan like me using a mobile phone SMS facility at the age of 10 to communicate to educated people like you? God is great’. Docus Ayebazibwe • ‘I can now visualise a bright future because I am far better than what I was when I was still shabby in the village four years ago. Those who used to laugh at me in the village now see me as a star because most of the rural community members do not know how to use sign language or mobile phone SMS facility. I am now in Primary 4 and feel that education, especially science, is good for sign language people’. Caroline Kembabazi

  8. Empowering deaf girls with SMS Community outcomes • Integration via Kabale community • Raised status in home village • Given a voice via SMS • Equality balance: questioning gender stereotypes Educational Outcomes • Increased participation in the inclusive classroom • Increased self esteem • Increased autonomous learning • A focus on future educational goals

  9. Empowering deaf girls with SMS Future directions Working with UNAD in Kampala Launching mobile phone project in other regions Focus on SMS written language as a pedagogical tool Continuing our focus on empowering deaf girls via mobile phones Using SMS to further examine the perception that inclusive education promotes socialisation rather than learning objectives

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