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Big Ideas: “A global competition to find edtech solutions to help all children learn to read” with Deborah Backus of World Vision
As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Deborah Backus. Deborah is World Vision’s project director for All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development, an initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision and the Australian Government that runs global competitions to source edtech solutions that help children in developing countries learn to read. All Children Reading then tests these solutions and seeks to scale what works.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’m not a traditional techie, but I like to work on hard problems and collaborate with others to find solutions. I’ve spent my career working around the world on complex development challenges — as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, later working with refugee communities in the U.S., Thailand and Cambodia, and on government reform in the Middle East. I’ve consistently seen the need for creativity, innovation and partnership to solve systemic challenges. Child literacy is one of those big challenges.
