2 Feb 2018

Newsletter – January 2018

by | posted in: About us, Projects | 0

Projects

ANTURA AND THE LETTERS (http://antura.org)

  • The feedback from the field test done in Jordan during summer 2017 is quite positive on both the literacy and the psycho-social well being sides, but still we have margin for improvement…
  • … so we have been improving the game and we will release a new version in February 2018: the official announcement will happen during edtech event No Lost Generation together with the public distribution of the field test report. This will be the beginning of the communication and marketing campaign that we will run to reach the maximum number of Syrian refugees and other Arabic-speaking children!
  • Last December Antura received the Titanium Award at the “Best Serious Game of the Year” at the Fun&Serious Games Festival in Bilbao
  • Now the project priority shifts to scalability: we want to adapt the game to other languages/contexts in order to bring literacy to as many kids as possible, all over the world. The most promising opportunities for future versions are…
    • Darija (Morocco): with a Casablanca foundation we are studying the feasibility of a new version of Antura in which all storytelling and instructions are in Darija, while the curriculum and vocabulary won’t change: the game will teach Modern Standard Arabic
    • Spanish, English, Portuguese and French: we are setting up a partnership a spanish foundation specialized in Education to include Antura in their platform and distribute it in all the developing countries where they are active
    • Spanish (Perú): we are also part of an initiative to improve reading skills in Perú and in all South America
    • Spanish for foreigners: we are studying the feasibility of using Antura as a tool to help the integration of immigrants in Spain
  • … but the main challenge is always about the funding: we won’t start any version until we have secure the budget to produce it!
  • We will also keep promoting Antura as a tool for literacy at international events…

 

ONE WORLD A MILLION STORIES

  • The project did not really kick-off yet. After spending few months defining the business model in details we tried to find the right partners to make it happen but we could not find enough funding yet.
  • We started discussing with UNESCO to have them supporting the project and potentially endorse it with their logo/name (short video presentation)… but we have no confirmation yet.
  • Given the current difficulties in kicking off the project we decided to lower its priority until we’ll find the right opportunity to make it real!

 

OTHER PROJECTS

  • We are setting up a partnership with a leading NGO focused on protecting the oceans, in order to reproduce in 3D all the sites in which they do research expeditions. Funders and anyone else (especially kids) will be able to dive and learn about the ecosystems in deep sea.
  • Since September 21017 we are collaborating with the Digital Bros Game Academy in Milan (Italy): all their students will be grouped into teams and each group will develop their final project during few months… and 2 of the projects this year are in collaboration with VGWB: Home (about refugees and the reason why they are forced to leave their homes, more info in the Slack channel #game_home) and Wild Rescue (about the protection of wild species and the fight against poachers, more info in the Slack channel #game_wildrescue). The 2 projects will reach Beta stage in February and we will start looking for possible partners (mainly NGOs): the goal is to transform them from  “students project” to real games for impact and distribute them on the appropriate market!

 

About Us

B-VALUE (http://www.ship2b.org/b-value)

  • This incubation program specifically designed for Spanish NGOs finished last October.
  • We received 3000€ as part of the final “prizes” but the learning and networking opportunities were far more valuable!

 

BBVA MOMENTUM (https://www.momentum.bbva.com/en/)

  • Acceleration program specifically designed for companies offering innovative and sustainable solutions to social and environmental problems in Colombia, USA (Texas only), Spain, Mexico and Turkey.
  • The program ended in mid-December with a Pitch Day (in Spanish)… and you can watch VGWB pitch here.

 

COMMUNITY

  • We are almost 200 in our Slack community! And we are working hard to let every member participate more and more…
  • … and we started organizing our own “meetup” events every time we have the opportunity. The last one was in Paris in November (picture above)! Please feel free to organize your own meetups writing in #_vgwb_people Slack channel if you’re attending meetings, events or just travelling to other places in the world and would like to have a beer (or glass of water or just chat) with VGWB mates.

 

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