Wednesday 22 April 2020

 

The British Council is pleased to announce the winner of its 2020 digital innovation competition, Ideas Change Lives.  

Lulu Lab, the winning idea from Denmark, was selected out of 5,000 applications from 127 countries worldwide. 

Covering East and West Africa, Lulu Lab use educational games, co-designed with young people, to make it easier for students, friends, families and classrooms to open up conversations on taboo topics.  

With interactive storytelling, quizzes and videos, Lulu Lab games cover topics like menstrual hygiene, mental health, and sexual rights.  The game – which can be used offline or online - has been implemented in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Sierra Leone. 

Co-Founded by Matilde Juul and Sally Gregersen, the pair will receive £20,000 in funding to scale up their idea with the support of the British Council’s Digital, Partnerships and Innovation team. With their help, Matilde and Sally plan to introduce Lulu Lab in new countries like India in order to meet their goal of reaching out to over 57 million boys and girls worldwide. 

Lulu Lab said: "We are beyond excited to win #IdeasChangeLives and for this unique opportunity to work with the British Council.  This opportunity means that Lulu Lab can now scale our educational efforts to impact 25,000 girls and boys in India.  It means the world to us and we can't wait to get started." 

Lulu Lab works to keep girls in school through educational games, designed to help young people have frank and open conversations on taboo topics like sexual and reproductive health. 

All of the game’s characters, storylines and visual content were co-designed with local community members to help create a familiar learning and gaming environment.  This focus on ‘co-creation’ and the duo’s innovative approach to adapting childhood education for our digital era set Lulu Lab apart when it came down to the final judging stage.   Sir Ciarán Devane, Chief Executive, British Council said:  “Lulu Lab is a great example of using digital tools and gamification to support women’s health around the planet and we’re really proud to support it.” 

Ideas Change Lives challenged people across the world to come up with a digital solution in response to some of the world’s greatest problems. 

Notes to Editor

This year’s judging panel for Ideas Change Lives:   

Vikas Shah, Chief Executive, Swiscot Group;  

Fiona Dent, CEO, Makerversity; 

Regina Honu, CEO, Soronko Solutions; 

Dawn Ellis, Chair, British Council international Digital Advisory Group 

John Howie,  Chief Information Security Officer for Climate Corporation; 

James Miller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University; 

John Taysom, NED and Co-founder at Privitar. 

Andrew Horton, Director Digital Partnerships and Innovation, British Council 

For more information, please contact Nicola.norton@britishcouncil.org 

About Ideas Change Lives 

Ideas Change Lives ran from 14 October 2019 to 10 January 2020. Entrants were asked to submit ideas for digital solutions in response to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: 

SDG 4 – Quality education 

SDG 5 – Gender equality SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth 

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We work with over 100 countries in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year we reached over 75 million people directly and 758 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. We make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust. Founded in 1934 we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. We receive 15 per cent core funding grant from the UK government.
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