Wilde Ganzen

"Every school day, we walked sixteen kilometres to high school because there was no school in our village". Meet Kalappa Lakshmaiah, Founder-Secretary of the BMV Education Trust in India.

Nearly 30 years ago, he decided to start a school in their remote village, about 50 kilometres from Bangalore, together with a group of like-minded villagers. And it wasn't without its challenges. "When we started the school, we faced a lot of challenges. Organising finance was a big issue," says Kalappa.

According to Corine Aartman, Coordinator of the Change the Game Academy at Wilde Ganzen, many organisations working for social improvement in southern developing countries, like Kalappa, struggle to find sufficient financial resources.

"More and more Northern funders are withdrawing their funding. This really creates a huge problem, causing these organisations to topple down because they can't find other fundraising."

Corine realised that something had to change to make these 'social changemakers' less dependent on donors from the other side of the world. "I discovered that the knowledge, skills, and techniques for fundraising are sort of a best-kept secret and are not widely shared, especially not with social changemakers in the Global South."

When she heard that Wilde Ganzen wanted to tackle this issue with their Change the Game Academy, Corine didn't hesitate one moment: "I wanted to contribute to that, be part of the change, and make a difference."

Wilde Ganzen is a Dutch foundation established in 1957 with the aim of reducing poverty and inequality. The organisation strongly believes in the power of communities and supports local organisations in The Global South (developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania) in building their own future.

One of their key initiatives is the Change the Game Academy, which helps social changemakers in developing countries improve their skills in fundraising and promoting their cause. They advocate for local fundraising: by mobilising resources within their own community and country, social changemakers become less dependent on foreign aid.

The training programs developed by Corine and her team were initially delivered only in classroom settings and proved highly successful. However, they quickly encountered the limits of what could be achieved with in-person sessions alone. Offering the training fully in-person on a large scale turned out to be impractical, leading them to seek an innovative solution.

They decided to explore the possibilities of (partially) online training. This approach would not only allow them to reach many more social changemakers but also improve the effectiveness of the training by incorporating interactive elements and personalised learning methods.

Digital training without internet?

That turned out to be far from simple. How do you keep learners in a digital environment just as engaged and motivated as in a classroom setting? The digital training needed to be at least as effective, with sufficient interaction and practical application.

However, the didactic challenges were minor compared to the practical and technological ones. In countries like the Netherlands, a fast and stable internet connection is taken for granted, but in the regions where Wilde Ganzen operates, connections are often slow and unreliable. Sometimes, there’s no internet access at all.

On top of that, many people don’t have access to a desktop computer or laptop, and most only have a basic smartphone. How do you enable people to follow a digital training without internet and on the small screen of a simple mobile phone?

In 2023, Wilde Ganzen developed two high-quality hybrid training programmes in collaboration with aNewSpring: Local Fundraising and Mobilising Support. These programmes are specifically aimed at social changemakers in low- and middle-income countries, providing them with practical tools and knowledge to achieve their goals. The training is free and available in four languages, making it accessible to a wide audience.

To ensure that as many people as possible can participate, Wilde Ganzen focused on mobile learning. The courses are designed so that learners can follow them even with a basic phone.

And for those without internet access? Wilde Ganzen is experimenting with various solutions to make the knowledge available offline, such as an offline app and a smart device that contains the entire e-learning course and acts as a server with a local network.

User-friendly and engaging learning journeys

Wilde Ganzen chose aNewSpring for its user-friendly interface and the ability to create customised training that meets the specific needs of the learners.

The training includes plenty of interactive elements such as videos, quizzes, and discussion groups, allowing learners to apply their knowledge in practice and learn from each other. This increases learner engagement and ensures better retention of the material.

Additionally, a learner tracking system was built using aNewSpring’s notification engine. At various points before, during, and after the training, learners are encouraged to continue their learning journey.

Thanks to the integrated survey functionality, Wilde Ganzen can continuously measure the effectiveness of the training. All learners receive a survey after their training, providing ongoing feedback that helps improve the courses and allows for immediate adjustments when necessary.

Interactive and practical training approach

The goal of the Change the Game Academy is to provide an interactive and practical learning journey. The training encourages learners to actively engage and develop a concrete action plan that is directly applicable to their own organisation or community. This action plan is tailored to their specific situation, allowing them to immediately start implementing what they have learned.

The training offers various tools to support learners, such as:

• Templates: For creating advocacy plans and fundraising strategies.

• Step-by-step guides: For applying for grants and approaching potential donors.

• Case studies and best practices: The programme integrates success stories from learners who have raised funds using their new skills. These examples inspire and motivate new changemakers to apply their abilities, creating a positive learning cycle.

Additionally, Wilde Ganzen integrated H5P into the learning journey for extra interactive features (such as flashcard exercises and timelines) and developed customised interactive elements in JavaScript, such as a Game of Life exercise. In this exercise, learners follow four individuals through key life events, where they must consider their limitations and put themselves in their shoes.

Upon completing the training, learners receive a free certificate accredited by NCOI University of Applied Sciences. This certificate recognises their commitment and boosts their confidence in their own abilities, ensuring they feel better equipped to make an impact in their community.

Since the new training programmes went live in December 2023, over 8,459 social changemakers have participated, with an average completion rate of 78%.

The results speak for themselves:

• 94% of learners felt better equipped to raise funds for their organisation after the training.

• Two-thirds of learners reported that they had successfully raised additional funds thanks to the training.

• The course has an average rating of 3.7 out of 4.

These figures demonstrate that Wilde Ganzen's new approach is working. Learners have greater confidence in their fundraising skills and are achieving concrete results that contribute to positive change worldwide.

Kalappa puts it this way: "This training really gave us a boost and made us more proactive. We even managed to make contact with the German consulate, which supported us with resources to start a library and a science laboratory. The lessons from the Change the Game Academy training remain relevant to this day and will continue to be in the future."

In 2024, Wilde Ganzen won significant awards for their Change the Game programme, a fantastic recognition of the strength and impact of their training initiative.

aNewSpring Training Improvement Award
The Change the Game Academy programme won the Training Improvement Award for its strong social impact and user-friendly design. The jury was impressed by how the programme supports changemakers in low- and middle-income countries, with interactive elements and a visually engaging learning environment that make the learning process both effective and accessible.

Learning Technologies Award

Additionally, the collaboration between Wilde Ganzen and aNewSpring was recognised with a gold award at the Learning Technologies Awards in London.

The Change the Game Academy secured first place in the Best Learning Technologies Project - Public & Non-Profit category. This prestigious award was granted due to the strong impact of the programme.

The jury particularly praised the focus on the target audience and the practical examples in the training, which provide relevance and inspiration for the learners. The powerful stories about the impact of the training, incorporated into the programme, further improve its effectiveness. These stories left a lasting impression on the jury.

Winning these awards motivates Wilde Ganzen to continue improving their training and expanding their impact. They remain focused on reaching more social changemakers and providing the necessary tools and knowledge to truly make a difference in their communities. A perfect example of Help People Learn.