Thais Costa
INOW eLearning
In rural communities, where access to affordable and reliable internet is limited, aspiring entrepreneurs face significant challenges in accessing the resources necessary to succeed. INOW, a social enterprise based in Uganda, is addressing this issue by operating nine ICT labs that provide dependable internet access, enabling local residents to connect with essential information, tools, and income-generating opportunities. Additionally, these centers offer ICT and job skill training to further support the development of the community. Butterfly Works was approached to design a curriculum aimed at empowering youth to create or secure employment opportunities.
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My Role
As the project lead, I managed the entire process, from research and ideation to prototyping and user testing. This comprehensive design thinking approach culminated in the creation of a robust eLearning platform that equips young people with the skills and resources to shape their own futures.
Company/ partners
Output
An eLearning platform on digital skills, agriculture and entrepreneurship.
Location
Uganda
Date
2017 - 2018
The design challenge
The INOW centres are not just hubs for reliable internet and ICT services—they play a vital role in the community. In regions with limited access to education and job opportunities, these centres offer local youth a gateway to information, skill-building opportunities, and the latest trends shaping the modern workforce.
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Our challenge was to gain a deeper understanding of the lives of young people in rural areas, exploring their interests, motivations, and career ambitions. During the design research phase, we guided our in-country partners remotely to facilitate an Exploration Lab with youth, using research tools designed to answer key questions such as:
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What do young people consider success and failure?
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What takes place at the INOW centres?
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What communication channels do youth use, and what do they learn from them?
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What does the daily life of youth look like now, and how do they envision it in 5 or 10 years?
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What brings youth joy and fulfillment?
The Exploration Lab took place across 8 INOW centres, with 80 youth participants actively engaging in the activities.​
The outcome
After our participatory research, we hosted a concept-making and prototyping workshop, bringing in key partners to collaboratively design the platform and curriculum. Mango Tree, our educational materials partner, developed engaging visuals and game formats, while local partner AruaBits led the design research and contributed significantly to the course content. Tunga, a local developer platform, created the technology tailored to support the content and functionality. As the project lead, I facilitated the co-creation process, coordinated platform development with our partners, and organized user testing sessions involving youth and teachers from the INOW centres.
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Together, we co-created a blended-learning eLearning platform focused on ICT skills, agriculture, and entrepreneurship. The platform offers valuable resources to the local community and can operate offline, ensuring accessibility while tracking user progress.​​
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A lego prototype helps to make ideas more tangible and practical, allowing them to be shared, tested and further developed with the participants of the workshop.
A persona helps to create an in-depth understanding of the target group and how to engage and motivate them.
User testing is necessary to assess the strengths and weaknesses of our idea before investing too much time and money and finalising the platform.