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<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">‘RECOMMENDATION 1: HARNESS THE INNOVATIVE CAPACITY OF AFRICAN COMMUNITIES 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Across the continent, African communities are innovating to solve their problems, often with very little resources. With limited access to physical banks, in Kenya a cellphone company started a global revolution in personal finance (and financial inclusion) in 2007 by inventing&nbsp;<a style="margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); font-weight: 600; color: var(--color-action)" href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mobile_money.pdf">mobile money</a>. This idea of “a bank in your pocket” accessed through personal cell phones has spread rapidly across the world. In 2021, Nollywood—Africa’s Hollywood—was the second most&nbsp;<a style="margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); font-weight: 600; color: var(--color-action)" href="https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/nigeria-media-and-entertainment">prolific</a>&nbsp;film industry in the world. Started less than two decades ago by Kenneth Nnebue with frugal, straight to VHS films, Africa’s film industry is now giving America’s century-old film industry a run for its money. In South Africa, farmers are optimizing their agriculture practices with the help of a platform that combines satellite, drone, and artificial intelligence technology. Today’s innovators are standing on the shoulders of a long line of cutting-edge creatives as Africa’s history demonstrates. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">This excerpt is from Rebecca Winthrop’s testimony before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. Her written testimony on improving access to quality public education in Africa follows. &nbsp;February 8, 2022. Rebecca is the Co-director – the at Brookings.edu and a Senior Fellow -&nbsp;<a style="margin: var(--artdeco-reset-base-margin-zero); padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); text-decoration: var(--artdeco-reset-link-text-decoration-none); font-weight: 600; color: var(--color-action)" href="https://www.brookings.edu/program/global-economy-and-development/">Global Economy and Development</a> 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Rebecca Winthop talks about African communities and their innovation and ingenuity. Africa is all about community. Bearing this in mind, community must be the way to address the challenges. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Steve Jobs famously said, ‘Don’t ask customers what they want. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do’. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Customers, however, should be part of the community, and innovators should not proceed without an intimate knowledge of the problem. Enter cross-functional and intersectional communities. More simply put, the stakeholder ecosystem. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">This is what we call communities. Online communities create the ideal environment for problem-solving, innovation, and for ideation. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">While not every community will have the purpose of solving the biggest challenges, every community can deliver insights into aspects of the challenge. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">This is exactly what we’ve discovered with a community we launched in 2021 The Complete Teacher. The community is designed for teachers across the subcontinent, initially in primary and secondary education. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Initially, we designed the community to deliver resources. Here’s what we anticipated. The most downloaded content would be lesson plans and numeracy and literacy material. &nbsp;Here’s what we’ve experienced. The most downloaded documents include administrative materials like parent permission templates and classroom rosters. Most read blogs include teacher wellness information and a fair assumption can be made, that teachers are having a tough time. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Every community starts somewhere, and every community of worth is a place where insights are gathered. 
<p class="reader-text-block__paragraph" style="margin-top: 3.2rem; margin-bottom: 3.2rem; padding: var(--artdeco-reset-base-padding-zero); font-size: var(--font-size-large); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif">Let’s embrace the innovative capacity of African communities.

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