In Santo Domingo Norte in the Dominican Republic, Benita Bautista helps her disabled daughter to bed and then her learning process starts. After working a 12-hour day, reviewing building plans for their new home, and cooking for her family, she’s filled with the familiar exhaustion that many parents who work full-time and have a child with a disability share.
But Benita’s exhaustion isn’t stronger than her drive. Benita’s dream to expand her business, create a better life for her daughter and set up her family for success motivates her to keep going. Unable to finish high school, it was this same desire for professional and personal growth that motivated her to sign up for Esperanza App.
Today, Benita has completed over 20 lessons. She took what she learned in a business course for small entrepreneurs and combined it with what she’s heard from listening to her customers to create a business plan. As a result, Benita acquired the capital to build a larger house. It’s part of her plan that’ll allow her to expand her drink business into a local resale store, improve her daughter’s quality of life, and increase her monthly income by renting out the home where she currently lives.
For Benita, none of this would have been possible without MoveUp and the Esperanza App.
Learning with MoveUp
MoveUp
is a Caribbean-based social enterprise. They provide individuals from under-resourced communities with access to the actionable knowledge they need to create significant change in their lives.
MoveUp is led by the belief that change only happens from the grassroots up. It focuses on empowering users with the content most relevant to them. They take a user-led approach when it comes to creating content. For MoveUp’s Chief Strategic Officer, Marlena May Cuesta, the most important thing that their organization can do is continually ask themselves:
“how can we meet these individuals where they are?”
For Cuesta, “it’s important not to prescribe content, but to work with communities and individuals to understand their biggest pain points and desires and create content that meets their needs.” Benita is one example of the many individuals that MoveUp has reached through digital microlearning.
MoveUp has developed over 300 lessons and 44 courses in order to respond to users’ desires to grow personally and professionally. Courses range from basic business tips to courses on preventative healthcare and relationship building. Benita says she’s benefitted from the course, How to run my business in times of crisis. MoveUp wrote this course shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide users with applicable tips to help their business survive while also following new governmental regulations and staying healthy.
Benita’s other favorite course was The hurricane season, which was written after seeing how many users suffer physical damages to their homes and businesses each year due to tropical storms. The course responds to users’ questions on how to best prepare for the season to stay safe. Benita asked for a new course on how to develop her own pastry business. Several other users expressed interest in starting bakeries and other food-service businesses that require basic knowledge of measurements. In response, MoveUp has built out two courses on basic mathematics so users can follow a recipe and do necessary conversions at home. New content for Benita is released monthly.
The importance of mobile learning for organizations like MoveUp
A lot of companies have started to incorporate mobile learning as part of a blended learning journey. However, for many people around the world, including MoveUp’s users, it’s the only accessible way for them to learn. Most of the individuals MoveUp reaches are like Benita and had to leave high school before graduating to work or start their own businesses. MoveUp is ready to meet these individuals with applicable microlearning courses, designed just for them and accessible from their phones. Powered by EdApp, MoveUp delivers transformational training to thousands of individuals in the Dominican Republic, so they can continue to learn instead of abandoning the education system too early.
With limited resources, a mobile phone is the best way for MoveUp’s users to access life-changing content. “They’ve waited so long, and have true desire to grow professionally and personally. Now they finally have access to the education they want and need in the palm of their hand” says Cuesta. Today, MoveUp has helped over 2,300 individuals like Benita through their communal efforts and mobile learning.
To hear more about MoveUp, stories from their community of learners and how you can apply their strategies to your business, join Marlena at ATD on Sunday, May 15th from 10:30-11:30 AM.
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