EdTech startup Funzi and UNDP Syria have partnered to deliver mobile learning to vulnerable populations in conflict areas.

In a war zone, the sad truth is that education often becomes one of the first casualties, as it is – understandably – pushed back in favour of more urgent and immediate needs such as food and healthcare. The tragedy of it is, however, that this not only affects people’s ability to cope with their immediate situation, but also hampers their post-conflict chances of building a long-term future.

Education often becomes one of the casualties in a conflict situation
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Funzi and UNDP Syria are collaborating to deliver mobile learning to vulnerable populations
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Conflicts in Syria have resulted in shortage of jobs and infrastructure, as well as lack of security in certain parts of the country. This erodes livelihood prospects of Syrians and makes access to relevant information and quality learning evermore essential. Yet UNESCO policy guidelines for mobile learning affirm that mobile devices can help ensure the continuity of education during times of crisis.

Conflicts in Syria have resulted in shortage of jobs and infrastructure
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To help address this, and strengthen the resilience and socio-economic stability of individuals and communities in Syria, Funzi and UNDP Syria have started collaboration to deliver mobile learning, with training modules expected to be launched later this year.

“Mobile learning leverages technology people already own,” explains Tero Salonen, Funzi’s CEO and Founder. ”The cost of mobile teaching is only a fraction compared to traditional means of teaching, making mobile an efficient and effective channel for knowledge transfer, especially in areas of crisis.”

Since essential information and training content are available via mobile phones, he says, learning can happen in areas and at times that may not have been easy to reach

 

“With our service performing well in slower networks and on feature phones, training is easily accessible to vulnerable populations in areas with poor infrastructure. It is also a major step forward towards helping mitigate educational disruptions during times of crisis through mobile learning in order to support swift recoveries of these countries.”

This is a significant milestone for Funzi, a Finnish start-up we covered previously on Tech Trends which is an active member in the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan. When I met their founder Aape Pohjarvita in Helsinki, he was keen to emphasize how he believed mobile would be the most disruptive method of delivering effective learning globally, specially in conflict areas (at the time they had already deployed courses to over 40,000 people in Iraq).

“We at Funzi are committed to supporting the world in achieving peace, meaningful livelihoods, and happiness and health for all through quality education. Thus, this project is a significant milestone that takes us closer to achieving our vision,” agrees Salonen.

Funzi’s service – which is free to end users – delivers learning specifically designed for mobile and personalizes the user experience using similar mechanisms as those leveraged to make mobile games “sticky” such as behavioural and usage patterns.

Mobile learning leverages technology people already own
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Funzi founders Chief Evangelist Aape Pohjavirta, CEO Tero Salonen and co-founder CXO Miemo Penttinen

This is also an important as a test case for exporting Finnish education and for the viability of mobile learning as a delivery mechanism for learning opportunities to vulnerable populations in conflict areas around the world.

Funzi uses mobile gaming mechanisms to personalize learning for its users
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Tailored training modules for UNDP’s local partners and their beneficiaries will be launched as mobile learning on a dedicated site starting late 2017. The goal of the partnership is to promote long-term participation, sustainability, and self-sufficiency of UNDP local partners.

The first phase of learning will equip aid workers, while the second will help vulnerable populations
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Training will be delivered in two phases, with the first one developing essential program lifecycle management skills for UNDP and NGO field staff and the second offering training to vulnerable populations like the displaced, and women- and youth-headed households to support them in achieving social cohesion and sustainable livelihoods.

“Our participation and experience in developing and implementing mobile learning services for displaced populations allow us to create learning programs that are effective in knowledge transfer and skills development, while remaining cost-efficient and scalable,” Salonen concludes.

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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Bringing Mobile Learning to Syria appeared first on Tech Trends.

As a techie, I count Helsinki as one of my favourite cities – It’s a hotbed of innovation and has a vibrant start-up scene – but there’s a lot more to the city than geeking out. 

I regularly visit for events such as Slush – which has become one of the largest tech conferences in the global calendar – and a few months ago was invited to be the city’s resident blogger and cover the Millennium Technology Prize. But one can’t live on algorithms alone, and if the idea of sampling Finland’s cuisine doesn’t immediately excite you, it’s time you thought again. There are plenty of fantastic gastronomic options in town, and I thought I’d share some of them here:

Traditional Fare

“Typical” Finnish food is hard to define exactly. The country has been independent for less than 100 years, so what you get is a mix of influences from its legacy of being part of Sweden, then the Russian empire – think vodka, caviar and beetroot (you see beetroot burgers on a lot of menus). On the Swedish side, if you’re one of those people who go to Ikea to get your meatball fix, you should stop by Café Engel for tasty and very large portions of the stuff, complete with mash, gravy and cranberries (which work surprisingly well together).

Typical Finnish food is hard to define exactly, but Russian and Swedish influences are prominent
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Cafe Engel Meatballs

To see what a typical meal in Lapland looks like, head to Savotta. It’s the kind of place that could feel really gimmicky with the staff wearing traditional attire and a menu featuring things like reindeer stew and bear salami. However, the homely décor comes across as genuine and the staff is friendly, not seeming to resent the uniform in the slightest. We had a selection of entrées which included bear salami (I passed on that but my husband assured me that it was nice enough, although “it’s difficult to tell with salami”. His slow-cooked lamb stew, served in a traditional (gigantic) wooden bowl, was amazingly tender, and the reindeer had a surprisingly delicate flavour, much more subtle than venison. Do save room for pudding though. Not only does the dessert menu come etched on a silver birch log, but the light and sumptuous blueberry cake is a revelation. Blueberry seems to be the national fruit of choice, perhaps because the colour matches the Finnish flag, so you’ll see it featured in many desserts across town.

Traditional Finnish starters at Savotta

Waterside Dining

3 way herring

I enjoyed many great meals in Helsinki, but the beautiful Meripavilionki takes some beating. Located on a pier overhanging the water. It is understandably popular and not very big so making a reservation is definitely advised (we did not get in the first time we tried so booked to come back the next day). The waterside location is ideal for sampling local seafood, beautifully prepared and exquisitely presented. My prawn dish was delicately balanced and the lightly smoked salmon main perfectly cooked. Our favourite was my husband’s starter though, a 3-way mackerel plate showcasing the humble little fish in various cooked and pickled forms. Perfect spot for a relaxed lunch or romantic dinner.

Sushi Buffets

Recently, in San Francisco, my friend (who’s a self-confessed sushi snob) took me to a hidden-away restaurant where we had a meal so extraordinarily good I’m still having trouble believing it was real. That deserves a separate article of course, but my point is that there’s sushi, and then there’s sushi. In Finland the all-you-can-eat buffet options like Konnichiwa, Käpylän Majakka and Kin Sushi are quite popular with those who are not sushi snobs. I feel able to enjoy both kinds of experience, so think the buffets can be a good option for a tasty and good value lunch, although I tend to avoid the more mayonnaise-heavy creations which the Finns seem to be fond of.

All-you-can-eat sushi buffets are a good budget option for lunch in Helsinki
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Local Beers

Helsinki Local Beers – Il Birri

If you’re into that sort of thing (and if you aren’t, what’s wrong with you?) it’s nice to sample some local craft beers in the sunshine when hitting a new town. Most restaurants in Helsinki stock at least a couple of local brews such as Karjala or Lammin, and the city has several lovely bars that and microbreweries where you can get a good variety of different styles on tap. If you’re around in the summer when the days are ridiculously long, you have plenty of time to sample all the different kinds before it even starts to get dark.

Most pubs and breweries also serve food with a laid back and cosy atmosphere
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Most pubs and breweries also serve food, and the atmosphere is usually cosy and laid back. My favourite find was Bier Bier which – as you’d expect – had a fantastic selection of beers in bottles and on tap, plus some of the most comfortable pub furniture I’ve ever sat on. I like a place that makes it hard for you to leave. Other central options include Il Birri and Bryggeri Helsinki, but if you’ve got a couple of days to look around, it’s definitely worth taking a short boat trip from the market square to the fortress island of Suomelina. Once there, just follow the signs to the brewery for more local delights. After a bracing walk you’ll have earned a pint or two.

Street Food

Street Food is definitely a thing in the Nordic countries, and Finland is no exception. Helsinki hosts a huge extravaganza in March that lasts for several days, but there are celebrations of street food culture happening throughout the year. When I was there in May every square in town got taken over by one such event where anybody is allowed to sell their food wares without a specific licence. There’s something really nice about the organized and good-natured chaos it generates, not to mention the cloud of delicious smells as you walk through. Some of the setups are quite elaborate and professional-looking, while others constitute of little more than a Tupperware dish on a folding bench. What brings it all together is a philosophy that the act of cooking and eating food is a joyful thing to be shared with friends and strangers alike.

Helsinki hosts regular street food extravaganzas
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Coffee and Pastries

Finns REALLY love their coffee, and per capita they consume more than any other nation in the world (a whopping 12 kilos per person per year) which might have something to do with those long months of darkness they have to endure in winter. In Helsinki there’s no shortage of the sort of upmarket craft roastery setup you’d expect to find in places like London or San Francisco, as well as some pretty decent chains such as Espresso House and Robert’s Coffee providing a quick and classy alternative to your usual Starbucks (which inevitably also has a presence in town). Karl Fazer is a nice option in the centre mainly because it offers an array of typical pastries. My favourite of those was a sweet (which I can’t recall the name of, would welcome input in the comments!) looking a bit like a pig’s nose and made from potato flour. You also get a free chocolate with your coffee, which is always a plus.

On the quirkier side, I’d recommend trying Andante, a hybrid of coffee house and flower shop, which means the place not only smells wonderful, but looks beautiful. My barista was Japanese, and a perfectionist bordering on obsessive. My coffee took a long time because he made it again after not being happy with the first try. Worth the wait though.

Finns REALLY love their coffee and consume more per capita than any other nation
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Plootu Furniture shop and Cafe

That mind-set of s “why have one shop when you can have two?” also applies to my favourite Helsinki find, a little place in the design district, Plootu, is a furniture shot/ café. Choose your poison, and then sip it while perching on the wonderful designer and vintage wares. The only downside is that you might be tempted to buy some pretty expensive and large items. I for one was thankful that my own suitcase limitations saved my credit card from a taking a serious beating. It reminded me of a passage in Paulo Coelho’s book The Alchemist, where the owner of a shop selling crystal glasses is convinced by the book’s protagonist to serve cool mint tea to passers-by, thus vastly increasing his sales as customers swear the tea tasted better when supped from the beautiful crystal. That concept that beautiful objects can also be practical, and that are meant to be used, is at the very heart of Finnish design.

The idea that beautiful objects and furniture should be practical - and damn comfortable - is at the heart of Finnish design
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Liquorice

Liquorice, like Marmite, tends to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it things. Although I’m very much on the ‘hate’ camp, I felt that it was such a big part of local gastronomy that I ought to give it another chance. At Graniittilinna I had a liquorice-infused Crème brûlée and at Savotta I tried their liquorice ice cream. Both, to my surprise and delight, extremely tasty and not at all overpowering. I’m still not a convert to the actual candy, but I do urge doubters to come to Helsinki with an open mind towards the black stuff.

Liquorice, like Marmite, tends to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it things
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Liquorice Creme Brullet at Graniittilinna

Sauna Sausages

Yes, you read that right, and no, it’s not a euphemism. Yes Finns go to sauna naked, but it’s just not a thing, except for foreigners, since locals use them regularly pretty much from the time they are born. Because they’re also seen as places to socialize, it is common to eat and drink during a sauna session, and there are usually break areas outside the actual sauna (Sauna Hermanni is one of those) where you can have drinks – not unusual to have beer, and many places let you bring in your own, up to a reasonable limit – and snacks. And that’s where the sausage comes in (get your mind out of the gutter please!) because traditionally you’d roast them on top of the coals in the stove, either wrapped in foil or hanging from a string on top. Clearly that works out better in the traditional wood-fired setups rather than the more modern stoves, but you can still find those around if you look.

Yes Finns go to sauna naked, but it’s just not a thing, except for foreigners
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Finnish Your Food appeared first on Tech Trends.

It’s another improbably sunny day in Helsinki; I’m told by the locals it’s not usually like this, but so far in a country best known for its Winter Wonderland landscapes I’ve been getting a tan.

Mehackit teaches young people programming through robotics, music and visual arts
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Finns are hospitable people and they also feel the urge to soak up the sun while it shines, so we head out to have our chat at a charming local restaurant to make the most of it. My hosts are (Co-founder & Troublemaker) Pia Henrietta Kekäläinen and (Chief Communications Officer & Wizard) Reetta Heiskanen from Mehackit, a start-up that teaches young people programming through an engaging mix of robotics, music and visual arts.

We want to teach young people technological self-confidence and the attitude that they can learn anything
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I start off by asking Henrietta about the road that led her to becoming an entrepreneur. Anecdotally, my impression of the start-up sector in Finland is that it has a healthy dose of female representation at all levels, and I ask her if it might have something to do with the country’s progressive laws which, for example, allow either parent to take generous parental leave as they choose.

I don’t have any official figures around female entrepreneurship in Finland compared to other countries, but I feel it is getting better. The biggest issue is still around investment, because a lot of the investor networks were traditionally male-only clubs, which made it extremely difficult for female entrepreneurs to make the connections needed to fund their ideas.

That said, it seems like Finland is well-placed to lead the way in addressing that problem. Back in 1906, while they were still part of the Russian Empire, the Grand Duchy of Finland was the first country in Europe to grant universal suffrage, which meant that all women, without exception, were eligible to vote and run for office as equals. In 1907 they elected an unprecedented 19 female members to its parliament. Today, with 40% female representation in government, they stand only behind Sweden in that particular metric.

Finland was the first country in Europe to grant women universal suffrage
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Six years ago Henrietta also considered embarking upon a government career, as she has always been interested in diplomacy. She spent a very interesting few months working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, where she organised the media program for dignitary visits, such as that of Vladimir Putin.

I learned a lot and had a lot of fun, but in the end my boss advised me that he thought that I needed something more fast-paced. That’s when I got involved with the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society.

This was back in the early days of Startup Sauna, which began as an informal gathering and eventually gave rise to hugely successful initiatives like Slush and fostered the growth of a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Finland.

Henrietta also became involved in teaching digital skills through her involvement in Rail Girls, a non-profit organisation that equips women and girls with the tools and inspiration to engage with technology.

We're great at being consumers but we want students to get their hands dirty with wires, sensors, and syntax errors
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These experiences helped pave the way for co-founding Mehackit in 2014, which she describes as a one-stop shop for schools to jump into creative technology education. The format focuses on providing a human mentor to initiate youths into technology principles and spark their interest developing digital skills.

I think that we are great at being consumers, but there’s a huge paradox in making the products so easy to use you don’t need skills, and thus keeping many people away from the process of actually creating it. We want to take down that curtain of simplicity, so to say, and get people’s hands dirty with wires and sensors and live loops and syntax errors.

During the 7-week course, pupils advance at their own pace and build personal projects, which can be as diverse as they like. Local university students are recruited as instructors, but school teachers can also participate and learn without the pressure of being the “technology experts” that can often be daunting when teaching digital natives.

During the 7-week course, pupils advance at their own pace and build personal and diverse technology projects
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The education system in Finland is one of the most well-regarded in the world, but it is also one that’s not prone to rest on its laurels. This makes it a good environment to test out innovative technology-based solutions, and it often leads the way in educational policy. So much so that starting this year coding will become a mandatory part of the school curriculum.

Coding became part of the school curriculum in Finland in 2016
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Mehackit are now looking to expand from high school to upper secondary level, and is also gearing up for international roll-outs in other Nordic markets like Norway and Sweden before moving on to countries like the UK, where the government has acknowledged the seriousness of the digital skills gap problem.

We want to bring technological self-confidence to youth, and the “I can learn anything” attitude is what is going to be extremely important to progress us as a species as the world around us shifts to a more automated society.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Teaching Programming with Creative Hacking appeared first on Tech Trends.