Text your education challenge: Mozambique’s Olavula platform
Olavula – meaning dialogue or to communicate in the Makhuwa language, the primary Bantu language in northern Mozambique – is an SMS-based platform that allows parents and communities to voice concerns and demand solutions from schools and school directors.
“It’s a technological platform for communication, participation, and direct dialogue between citizens and public service providers,” says Emma Cardoso, the Programme lead and chief of party, of the Civil Society Learning and Training Center in Mozambique.
“Its overall aim is to improve public services by establishing a way for citizens and service providers to work together in identifying gaps in services and responding to challenges,” she says.
Over the past decade, Olavula has expanded from two to 30 districts, now covering more than 2,660 primary and secondary schools. Community members use the platform to highlight priorities, challenges, and concerns by sending free SMS messages, which are then redirected to service providers for action and problem-solving.
To date, the platform has received some 23,295 messages, with some 2,198 successfully resolved. The platform is also featured on the global map of ICT tools for improving transparency and accountability in education on IIEP’s ETICO platform.
A tool for real-time monitoring
The platform monitors schools in real time, flagging issues such as teacher absenteeism, behavioral concerns, facility problems, or resource shortages. It also maintains a database on key issues at the district level, supporting school inspections and management.
Cardoso says this has contributed to better teacher allocation, improved teacher attendance and behaviour, and even the construction of new classrooms and water points and ensuring that schoolbooks reach their intended destinations.
Edison Benjamin, a district education officer in Murrupula, says Olavula helps monitor schools, especially with limited financial resources, preventing technicians from travelling to schools on a permanent basis.
“Olavula makes it easier because even when we’re sitting in the office, we receive information from the platform that shows us what the concerns or complaints are in schools. For example, teachers who don’t teach because they work in communities but live in the city – sometimes they stay at home, and we think they are working. But the community sends a message to ask why their teacher isn’t coming," he says.
Another district province official emphasized the impact of Olavula on school supervision: “With this tool, we’ve been monitoring and supervising schools through the messages that parents and guardians send. Teacher attendance has improved a lot since they know that in the event of a prolonged absence, parents can report it on the platform. This gives us timely information about what’s happening.”
Parents, guardians, and teachers can send messages that are redirected to head teachers and district education staff about any issues related to the quality of education. The platform facilitates direct feedback from service providers to citizens while maintaining anonymity.
Emma CardosoProgramme lead and chief of party of the Civil Society Learning and Training Center in Mozambique
Reporting anonymously
One important feature of Olavula is its anonymity, which allows citizens to report corruption, embezzlement, or misuse of funds without fear of reprisal.
“For example, Mozambique has a direct support fund for schools, but sometimes funds are misused,” says Cardoso. “Cases of kickbacks at local shops or funds being taken by school directors have been reported and followed up on through the platform.
To uphold accountability, Olavula’s focal points are individuals who have the authority to resolve issues. The platform facilitates both the submission of complaints and their follow-up.
Cardoso says they are currently working on an upgrade (Olavula Version 2), which will be more robust and include visual dashboards to track issues and resolutions more effectively.
“We also plan to introduce a voice feature because not everyone in Mozambique can write in Portuguese. This will allow people to send voice messages for better accessibility and engagement,” Cardoso says.
Olavula has recently received funding through Education Out Loud, the Global Partnership for Education’s fund for advocacy and social accountability. EOL provides support for civil society to become active and influential in shaping education policy to better meet the needs of communities.
Over the past two years, IIEP has provided capacity development to EOL grantees like the Centro de Aprendizagem e Capacitação da Sociedade Civil (CESC), which was a founding partner of Olavulu. CESC is an EOL grantee on OC3.3 as part of the Kuyenda Collective working on transnational advocacy with rural youth collectives in the Southern Africa region to improve education outcomes.
Together with other EOL grantees, it benefited from the various activities led by IIEP over the past two years, including a series of online courses on the basics of educational planning, open government and citizen engagement, as well as tools to promote transparency and accountability in education.
Learn more about Olavula in our latest podcast series on civil society and educational planning
