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International Partnerships
Project

Audiopedia: open health education for all

tanzania
First pilot project with women’s groups in rural Tanzania in cooperation with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health © Marcel Heyne

Audiopedia is an open-source audio-compilation of more than 400 health education related questions and answers. The project makes basic health education free and accessible to non-readers and people without access to an internet connection through a variety of technological solutions in over 100 languages. Five pilot projects were conducted and are currently being expanded to Brazil, India, Nigeria, Uganda, and Pakistan.

The project was selected as one of the winning digital solutions of the #SmartDevelopmentHack, a hackathon organised by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Commission in April 2020.

This project is implemented by GIZ (the German Corporation for International Cooperation) partners DAWH Germany and the non-profit organisation URIDU.

Scope and objectives

Literacy rates in developing countries are slowly improving. However, globally, hundreds of millions of women are still denied the right to education. This impairs their ability to obtain critical information about their health, drastically shortening their life expectancy.

Literacy and education are human rights. However, nearly 500 million women can neither read nor write. The implications of this reality translate into great gender inequalities that impact generations. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation and underlined the importance of strengthening women’s capacities as well as providing free and accessible information to non-readers that can bridge the gender knowledge gap.

congo 2018
Providing audible health education to nomadic pygmy tribes in the Congo Basin in cooperation with the Order of Malta © Romain Duda

Based on a community’s infrastructure, educational level and purchasing power, Audiopedia offers a range of technological solutions to make content accessible including:

  • Solar-powered audio players
  • Mobile web applications
  • Free hotspots that stream Audiopedia content without the need for any internet connection.

Expected results

Audiopedia has already obtained impressive results:

  • Reaching 10 million people through audiopedia.io in 2021.
  • The Audiopedia COVID-19 campaign is available in 80 languages across communities in 17 countries.
  • Over 5000 audio files related to health education topics
  • More than 10.000 volunteers worldwide support Audiopedia as translators, voice talents, software developers and social media ambassadors.

Audiopedia has become an important source of life-saving information for the large number of women who cannot read or write.

Implementing organisations

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), DAHW Germany, URIDU