Ubongo Urges Return Of Children’s Educational Programme On TV, Radio Stations

Ubongo Kids, Africa’s leading producer of kids’ edutainment, has called for the reintroduction of Children’s educational programmes on Television and Radio Stations across Africa to enhance children’s learning capacity.

Ubongo team made the call in Lagos yesterday during a special workshop organized for educationists and media professionals (especially broadcasters and content developers) with the theme “Storytelling For Change”

The workshop was organised to give participants opportunity to share human-centered insights, discuss the role of educational media in keeping children learning and best practices for designing media-based learning content for kids and youths across Africa.

The Ubongo team of Iman Lipumba, Director of Marketing and Communications; Cliodhna Ryan, Head of Education and Olatoyo Olaniyan, Nigeria’s Adaptation Consultant, who spoke on the mission and objectives of the body, emphasized the need for the introduction of children’s educational programme on our Tv and radio stations.

Ubongo Kid, according to them, was established in Tanzania in 2013 by link-minded professionals from various professions who were concerned about the future of Africa’s educational system and the need to make education and learning fun and exciting for African child.

“As a non-profit social enterprise we create fun, localised and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. We reach millions of families across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio and mobile phones.

According to Olatayo, for Nigerians, we are advocating for the reintroduction of Children’s Belt on Television and Radio Stations. There is dearth of educational content on Television and Radio Stations in Nigeria.  Children’s Belt on TV, on the radio, really over the last decade has almost disappeared.

“We are partnering those in educational sectors and the broadcasters and content developers to develop content that will enhance the learning ability of the Nigerian child.

“Our mission is to reach these children with edutainment. We have simplified it, and we encourage that the content should also be produced in various languages.”

For our partners, our interest will be building their capabilities. So, this is to enhance the capability of broadcasters or developers of edutainment content for Nigeria. It is in line with our vision, it’s in line with our mission to reach up to 60 million African children by 2025.

“Ubongo uses the power of fun catchy songs and storylines, the reach of mass and digital media technology, and rigorous research to create and deliver educational content in local languages to kids across Africa.

“At Ubongo we leverage the power of entertainment, the reach of mass media, and the connectivity of mobile devices, to deliver effective, localized learning to African families at low cost & massive scale.

At Ubongo, we believe that education should transcend the acquisition of knowledge and skills and equip kids to take ownership of their dreams, aspirations, and futures.

“By co-creating with partners and delivering edutainment (educational entertainment) at scale, we equip Africa’s next generation with the educational foundation, critical skills and positive mindsets to change their own lives and communities for the better. All of our content is developed through a research-based co-creation process, which utilizes focus groups and rigorous user testing throughout production, to ensure effective and meaningful messaging for target audiences.

Ubongo Kids as an educartoon that targets kids aged 7 – 14 and teaches Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) topics; 21st century life skills and character strengths while helping kids find the fun in learning.

Ubongo team said the episode they created with the European Union (EU) received over 19 million views on free-to-air TV in over 15 African countries and over 51,000 views on YouTube. “The episode was successful because we contextualized it to the day-to-day experiences of children in sub-Saharan Africa, like riding public buses that emit a lot of fumes, or cooking with firewood and charcoal.”