Learning Equality

The Swarovski Foundation has supported Learning Equality’s work to expand and deepen the impact of the ‘Flying Colors’ project in Uganda since 2024. ‘Flying Colors’ aims to address foundational education gaps for underserved and refugee learners aged 8-10 in Uganda by establishing playful, technology-enabled learning environments in refugee settlements, strengthening educator capacity, and fostering collaboration through structured teacher networks. 

The project includes the development of comprehensive Project-Based Learning Toolkit that can be readily used by partner organisations on the ground working directly with refugee learners such as Youth Initiative for Development in Africa (YIDA). It also makes use of Kolibri, Learning Equality’s offline-first learning platform by providing open digital products and tools designed to enable quality teaching and learning with tech, but without the Internet. The activities are intentionally engaging, relevant, and adaptable, often making use of locally available materials to ensure accessibility and sustainability.  

Additionally, the programme has integrated a new unit adapted from the Swarovski Foundation Waterschool programme to engage refugee learners in issues such as the importance of hydration through exercises such as mapping hand-washing and drinking stations in their schools. 

 This partnership aims to ensure that refugee learners in Uganda acquire the foundational and digital skills necessary to remain in school and transition successfully into future education and livelihood opportunities. This includes increases in foundational literacy, in numeracy performance, as well as gains in social-emotional skills such as perseverance and confidence for refugee and host community learners. 

Through the Swarovski Foundation support, six learning spaces were established in 2024-25 in Palabek Refugee Settlement and Kyaka-II Refugee Settlement. They were equipped with tablets, laptops, access points, as well as a solar power system, and supported 10 teachers and 765 P3 learners. 

YIDA's implementation of the project in Kyaka II showed measurable improvements in 2024-25: over 40% of learners advanced in literacy and one in four in numeracy, and children who spent three to four times more time on Kolibri than peers in other schools had the biggest academic gains. 

By mid-2025, the impact extended well beyond academic gains. More than 70% of learners reported meaningful improvements in confidence, perseverance, and resilience: the qualities that keep children in school and engaged when learning gets hard. Teachers rated their Flying Colors experience 4.8 out of 5, and classroom observations confirmed that training translated into real practice: more group work, learner leadership, and reflection built into every session. At YIDA in Kyaka II, Primary Three now has near-100% daily attendance – not by policy, but because children want to be there. These results were strongest where Flying Colors was embedded into the school timetable as a core part of the week, not treated as an add-on. That insight is now directly shaping the program for 2026 with 19 educators trained (nearly three times the annual target), and 95% achieving mastery from the first session.