The starting problem
Materials written in one country and sent to another often fail for ordinary reasons. The examples are unfamiliar, the language is too formal, the files are too large, or the content assumes a curriculum that the receiving school does not follow. International development work, meaning programs by governments, agencies and charities aimed at improving living conditions and services in lower-income settings, makes these problems more visible, because the author and the learner may be thousands of kilometers apart.
Open licensing helps because it lets others change the material. But permission to change is only the start. This article is general information and does not recommend particular agencies, platforms or programs.
Begin with the local need
Before producing anything, find out what is already there. Questions that help:
- What is the local curriculum or training standard, and is there already material that meets it?
- What language do learners use at home, at school and in official settings? These are often different.
- What devices, power and connectivity do learners and teachers actually have?
- Who teaches, and what training do they have?
- What would be useful to teachers on Monday morning?
Answers from local teachers, health workers or trainers are generally more reliable than assumptions, and asking costs little. A pilot with a small group usually reveals problems that a desk review misses.
Local adaptation
Adaptation is more than swapping a few names. It can involve:
- Examples and units. Money, measurements, foods, places and names should match what learners know. A math problem about snow ploughs teaches little in a tropical region.
- Context and values. Illustrations, family structures and social situations differ. Material can unintentionally offend or confuse.
- Curriculum fit. Teachers have limited time and often must follow a syllabus. Mapping content to the local syllabus makes uptake more likely.
- Reading level. Short sentences and plain vocabulary help learners studying in a second language.
Authors can make this easier by writing in a modular way, with each activity self-contained, so that a local editor can replace one section without redoing the rest.
Translation
Translation is a craft, and machine translation alone often produces errors, particularly in technical, medical or legal content. Practical points:
- Use translators who know both the subject and the target dialect, and have a second reader check the result.
- Keep a glossary of key terms so that they are rendered consistently.
- Leave room in layouts, since text length differs between languages.
- Record which version was translated, since the source may be updated later.
- Remember that many learners speak languages with few written materials. Audio can sometimes serve better than text, and learners’ literacy levels vary.
Translated material should carry the original author’s credit as the license requires, and a note that it is a translation.
Low-bandwidth and offline delivery
A video-heavy online course is out of reach where data is expensive or connections are intermittent. Options include:
- Light files. Plain text, compressed images and short audio clips load far faster than video. Avoid large downloads that must finish in one go.
- Offline-ready resources. Packaging a course so it can be copied onto a memory card or a local computer allows use without a connection. This ties in with offline resource packs, which many programs distribute through schools or community centers.
- Print. Printable sheets remain dependable where electricity is unreliable, if printing is affordable.
- Mobile first. In some places learners reach the internet mainly through phones, so pages should work on small screens.
- Radio and SMS. Some programs use simple channels for short messages. These are limited, but they reach people who have no data connection.
Each choice has trade-offs in cost, quality and interactivity. Programs usually do better when they offer more than one format. Considering the digital divide early helps avoid reaching only those who already have the best access.
Working with partners
Local organizations such as schools, community groups, ministries and training providers know context that outsiders do not. Habits that tend to help:
- Agree who owns what, who can edit, and how credit is given, before work begins.
- Share drafts early and accept corrections.
- Pay local contributors fairly, not only credit them.
- Agree who keeps the material online or in circulation afterwards.
- Avoid treating partners as recipients: teachers adapting a resource are often doing the most valuable part of the work.
A short written agreement, covering license, attribution and maintenance, avoids many disagreements. Questions of law or contracts belong with qualified advisers.
Pitfalls
- Producing for funders rather than learners, with the report in mind and little use afterwards.
- Counting downloads as impact. Downloads show interest, not learning.
- Neglecting teachers. Material without teacher support is frequently left unused.
- Fragile hosting. Websites that vanish when a grant ends break links and waste work. Deposit copies in more than one place.
- Overpromising. Evidence on what works in different settings is mixed, and results from one program rarely transfer neatly to another.
Judging success modestly
Useful signs include whether teachers keep using the material after the project ends, whether local groups adapt it without outside help, and whether learners can demonstrate a specific skill. These are not perfect measures, but they are closer to benefit than reach figures. A smaller set of resources that local people trust and maintain is generally a better result than a large library that outsiders built and left behind.