Need:

A National nonprofit focused on Science, Environment and Education had the goal to reach 6 million students globally by scaling their education programs for teachers and students. Throughout the years, the organization had developed thorough educational curriculum for K12 students and teachers, as well as online and in person programs.  However, given their limited global reach, these programs had remained limited to the US audience and the delivery of in person programs depended on national partners only.

The organization recognized the need to identify key partners around the world that could help them scale, and more importantly, adapt the educational programs to the local languages and cultures through co-creation methodologies. There was a unique interest in understanding key opportunities to expand into Latin America, because the organization had already began developing content in Spanish and had some positive initial experiences in the region which helped lay down the groundwork and expectations of the future planned engagements.

The organization had particular interest in identifying partners in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Brazil and had already developed a partnership framework which highlighted the key criteria to be considered when deciding who to partner with.

Solution:

1. Identified local educational priorities in the region that aligned well with the Nonprofit’s Learning Framework and Goals.
   • At which stage of the educational curriculums across the regions are students learning about the key organizational priorities (Oceans, Wildlife, Land, Human History and Culture, and Creativity)?
   • What are existing resources for teachers to prepare, learn and better deliver content and education about these topics to the students throughout the different educational stages (ie primary vs secondary schooling)?
   • How much of this content is being delivered through formal vs informal schooling?
2. Identified key players in the region delivering the curriculum & programs.
   • Profiled the organizations based on thematic focused, co-creation capabilities, delivery capacity, and reach
3. Reviewed the nonprofit programs and mapped the opportunities with key partners based on local readiness, relevancy, and compatibility.

I used multiple sources to conduct the landscape analysis including desk research to learn about the national curriculums and educational landscape, national and local publications, expert interviews, and one on one interviews with partners in the region.

Results:

This engagement helped the Global Delivery Team identify content co-creators and delivery partners in the region. The nonprofit used the recommendations to invite identified partners to submit proposals, resulting in a successful pilot launch in 2 countries with one of the recommended actors.