May 26, 2023
All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) is hosting three global events, open to the public, to highlight key advancements and showcase EdTech solutions, research and tools to improve reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts developed through the Grand Challenge. ACR GCD will be concluding its 12-year initiative to improve child literacy through education technology in September 2023.
Two virtual expos will target Asia/Pacific and Africa/Europe time zones in late July and early August. In September, ACR GCD will host a final in-person expo in Washington, D.C.
A partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision and the Australian government, ACR GCD is one of 12 Grand Challenges for Development initiated by USAID to mobilize governments, companies and foundations to solve development problems and the only to focus on education.
Since its creation in 2011, ACR GCD has awarded over $25 million through 14 competitions to advance child reading outcomes and funded the creation of 92 solutions, including digital libraries, games and apps in more than 40 languages. The challenge focused on making advancements in six areas:
- driving the development and use of accessible books in underserved languages,
- enhancing literacy learning for children with disabilities,
- strengthening foundations for literacy to improve childhood learning,
- mobilizing families and communities to support children as they learn to read,
- leveraging data to support decision-making, analysis and accountability in global education, and
- sustaining education and literacy opportunities for children affected by conflict or crisis.
Over its lifetime, ACR GCD has become one of the largest innovation funds focused on reading for children with disabilities. Learn more about the impact ACR GCD has had on increasing literacy for children worldwide.
The two virtual events will occur in July and August:
- All Children Reading EdTech Expo: Asia/Pacific on UTC (GMT/Zulu)-time: Tuesday, July 25, 2023 at 02:00 a.m. (July 24, 10 p.m. – 2 a.m. ET) Click here to convert to your time zone.
- All Children Reading EdTech Expo: Africa/Europe on UTC (GMT/Zulu)-time: Thursday, August 3, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. (6-10 a.m. ET) Click here to convert to your time zone.
The final expo will be an in-person event in Washington, D.C during the week of September 11. In addition to plenary and break-out demo sessions and workshops showcasing ACR GCD-funded EdTech solutions and research, the expos will also highlight the accomplishments of ACR GCD-funded innovators in these regions. More information about all three events, including how to register and attend, is available on the ACR GCD events webpage.
During the expos, sessions will introduce attendees to evidence-based solutions to enhance reading outcomes for children. They will also provide resources and guidance to enhance inclusive education programming through books, digital libraries, adapted assessments and book creation. Speakers will discuss key lessons learned during this Grand Challenge including learnings on scaling EdTech solutions to improve children’s reading and language skills.
For over a decade, ACR GCD has catalyzed innovation by assuming the risks of research and development to support and strengthen innovators who have developed EdTech solutions and tools to increase reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts, including children with disabilities. Over the life of the Grand Challenge, ACR GCD distributed 1.7 million learning materials and reached 841,941 children with early grade materials ACR GCD’s commitment to open-source, Creative Common Attribution licensed (CC-BY) solutions and resources has also strengthened the education sector by providing these cost-effective resources for free to users worldwide.
