This initiative is part of the 2021-22 WISE Edtech Accelerator Cohort.
What they do
Baobabooks is an easy-to-use and intuitive edtech platform where children, teens and young adults can write, illustrate and publish their own books and then share them with the world. Baobabooks’ mission is to build a global community of writers and storytellers; the platform is already translated into six languages, with more planned.
For the Baobabooks team, helping students to foster their creativity and engage with other students from across the world through collaboration, reading and writing, is key.
Baobabooks is a mission-driven social enterprise focused on working across cultures and continents to harness the power of digital technology to create a better world. Through their partnerships with educators, parents, local communities and governments Baobabooks help people gain confidence and recognition for their creativity, one person at a time.
Why it matters
Learning about written language is not just about learning a new code for representing meanings. It is about entering new social dialogues in an expanding world. As such, written language learning is inevitably a part of learning about social and ideological worlds and about the place of a child’s own relationships and experiences in those spaces.
For many students, difficulty with language and communication can present as a daily challenge that can manifest itself into educational underachievement, disengagement, behaviour and mental health problems. Many of these difficulties are hidden and may never be identified but can have significant impact on a young person’s language and literacy skills, and on life chances.
In this sense, pathways to storytelling, like the one offered by the Baobabooks platform, can not only deepen the impact of language learning, but also improve critical-thinking skills and hone key social-emotional competencies.
Traction so far
Founded in 2020, Baobabooks currently works with over 15,000 students from around the world, including countries like Morocco and Pakistan. The Baobabooks team are hoping to continue this trajectory and further expand this global community of storytellers and artists.