MONROVIA – Bridge has won the ‘Best technology product or service in West Africa Award for its significant achievements in using technology to leapfrog education delivery and improve learning outcomes in West Africa. In West Africa the social enterprise operates in multiple Nigerian states and in ten of Liberia’s counties, supporting hundreds of government schools and serving tens of thousands of children.
The African Awards Programme seeks to recognise organisations that enable investors to combine investment with positive societal impact. The awards recognise both those who make investment decisions and the recipient organisations of those investments based on the positive impact they have on sustainability and on societal progress.
The programme has previously recognised organisations across the world for their social impact. In 2018, CreditEase received the Best Credit Social Impact award for their investments designed to support 20,000 farmers’ living conditions through the lending platform YiNongDai in China. The award recognised a platform that enabled social activists to support sustainable poverty alleviation.
Commenting on the award on Griffin Asigo, Bridge Country Director of Liberia believes that technology is a big part of what makes Bridge such a compelling approach to one of the most urgent demands in West Africa and the developing world: affordable, quality education.
Asigo says “Our technology platform enables system wide transformation by improving teaching and learning. We are using our model to support both governments and communities to improve educational opportunity for their populations and children. This would not be possible without the support of our donors, investors and partners who are as determined as we are to change the lives of millions of children through education.”
Bridge is proud to attract a wide range of social impact investors to their mission – including the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation and Bill Gates Investments – and aims to shift the inter-generational transfer of poverty through systemic education transformation. Multiple independent evaluations of the model in West Africa including a DFID study and an RCT by the Center for Global Development and Innovations Poverty Action have shown that Bridge is increasing learning expeditiously for children in marginalised communities.
Bridge is using technology to leapfrog education quality and access in West Africa and the award is recognition of the progress that the social enterprise is making in bringing new social impact investment to the transformation of education in marginalised communities.