Read Our Selection of Blogs
Interesting perspectives, unique experiences and keen observations - from our CEO, staff, partners and friends
Lifeplayers Come to Life in South African Schools
“I am truly happy to have this Lifeplayer to help me teach. While one class is listening to their lessons, I can be with learners in another class,” a teacher at a multi-grade farm school in South...
Our Lifeplayer and Sustania: “100 Most Innovative Solutions”
We’re thrilled! Lifeline Energy and our solar and wind-up Lifeplayer MP3 - the world's first media player, radio and recorder for humanitarian use - appear in this year’s annual Sustainia 100....
Kerosene – A Burning Issue in Women’s Rights, Human Rights
Like many girls I’ve met in Africa, Rose’s dream is to become a teacher. The shy grade 6 student revises her homework at a rickety table in a tin shack in a Nairobi slum.
South Africa’s Newest Teacher is Called the “Blue Lady”
Beeld, one of South Africa's daily Afrikaans newspapers, recently ran a feature on the introduction of our MP3 Lifeplayers into South African classrooms. The country’s Department of Basic Education,...
Radio: Giving Voice to Democracy
Did its inventors ever imagine the profound role radio would play in spreading news, information and education around the world? Particularly in large parts of Africa, where people have no access to...
Lifeplayer Debuts in Bulenga, Uganda
by Sarah Baird. Seven miles from the center of Kampala, down a busy highway clogged with the hum of motorbike taxis and vans is the village of Bulenga. It's a 45- minute journey through a tapestry...
Watch Our Solar MP3 Player in Ethiopia
An estimated 50,000 school children in Ethiopia now have the opportunity to learn English thanks to the British Council and Lifeline Energy. Watch this short video shot in a Merawi primary school in...
A Teacher who Provides more than Just an Education
The second teacher we’re profiling in our #teachertuesday series is our old friend, Mwenya Mvula. In 2001, Mr Mvula served as a volunteer ‘mentor’ in Zambia’s Learning at Taonga Market primary radio...
Haile’s Story: What the Learn English Radio Project Means to Teachers?
By Tsion Issaya, Communications Manager, British Council Ethiopia | HaileMeet 60 year old Haile Berhe. For more than half his life, he has worked as an English teacher. Born and raised in a small town in Tigray regional state.
The Joy of Watching Radio Learners – For the First Time
Eighty-four Grade 1 students in blue and white uniforms, sat scrunched close together on hard wooden bench-desks at New Mandevu school in Lusaka. Given the large number of children attending the...
Lifeplayer launches in South Africa
Lifeline Energy's Lifeplayer MP3 has launched in South Africa. Read about it South African weekly newspaper the Mthatha Express.
Why Kenya’s School Laptops Programme is Not the Answer
This blog originally appeared in ONE. The Kenyan government is delivering on an election promise and has awarded a supply contract for 1.2 million laptops to be given to first year primary school...
Meeting Wives of a Sultan: a Story for International Women’s Day
For International Women’s Day, I am sharing a story I wrote in 2002 about six extraordinary women that I had the honour of meeting in the once great Saharan trading city of Agadez. I met them where...
The Difference a Little Bit of Energy Makes
For those without electricity, buying candles is a daily challenge. The typical family burns through two candles a day, with each candle lasting only two hours and lighting less than half of a small room.
Similar Issues for Urban and Rural Schools in Zambia
This past weekend I had a chance to visit Kawaza Primary School in Mwufe, a ten-hour multiple bus ride from Lusaka in the Eastern Province. This allowed me to contrast the energy problems...
Studying at Night When You’re Poor in Lusaka
Students in Misisi Compound, just a 10 minute drive from Lusaka’s city center, had a hard time answering the question, ” when do you study?” I asked grade 6 and 7 students…
The Hidden Cost of Cell Phones
The World Bank estimates that there are 62 cell phones for every 100 people in Zambia. This week as I interviewed students, their families and the community school teachers of Luba Community School for my research project.
In Kenya the Power of Information Depends on – Power
Over the weekend I glanced at Twitter on my iPhone. I then switched over to Facebook and saw the same story. I quickly flipped on the TV, where I sat transfixed at the horrific events unfolding at...
Great Expectations for Zambian Internship
Great Expectations | By Kathleen Buchholz, in Nairobi. I arrived in Nairobi late Sunday night during the horrific terrorist attacks at the Westgate Shopping Centre. This wasn’t how I expected my arrival in Nairobi to be.
Africa Unplugged: Energy Costs Price Many Africans Out of ICTs
Energy access – a costly barrier to growth in Africa. Read all about Africa unplugged in Phil Goodwin’s latest blog on The Energy Collective.
