JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

East African countries face significant societal challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but have limited resources to address these problems, including a shortage of nutrition experts and healthcare workers, limited access to physical and digital infrastructure, and a shortage of advanced educational programs and continuing professional development.

Objective:

To develop an online program about sustainable development with a focus on digital learning, digital health literacy, and child nutrition, targeting government officials and decision makers at Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) in Ethiopia and Rwanda.

Methods:

An online program Online Education for Leaders in Nutrition and Sustainability (OneLearns) that uses a question-based learning methodology. This is a research-based pedagogic method developed within the Open Learning Initiative at the Carnegie Mellon University, US. Participants were recruited during the fall of 2020 from ministries of health, education, and agriculture, and NGOs that have public health, nutrition and/ or education in their missions, and the program was conducted during the spring of 2021.

Results:

Out of 70 applicants, 25 were selected and stayed active throughout the whole program and filled out a pre-and post assessment questionnaire. After the program, 80% reported that their capacity to drive change related to the SDGs as well as child nutrition in their organizations had increased “to large extent” or “to a very large extent”. Furthermore, 68 and 72% reported that their capacity to drive change related to Digital health literacy and Digital learning, respectivly, had increased “to a large extent” or “to a very large extent”.

Conclusions:

The OneLearns program shows that online education is an effective method to raise awareness and drive change regarding sustainable development of education and health among government officials and decision makers at NGOs in East Africa.