Afar: Empowering Nigeria's Youth for a Brighter Future

This project originated as a team project within the Bentley University HFID Master's degree program. Work pertaining to strategy and discovery represents the work done by our team. After our final submission, I reimagined the visual design into what is shown here.
overview
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afar is an app that brings free education to the youth of Muchin, Nigeria.The app provides seamless access to learning and a place to show off their progress and projects.Backed by a small team, the app uses a number of technologies to lower the burden of maintenance and upkeep.

goal
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The goal was to address the significant challenges faced by the youth in Nigeria’s Mushin community, where future prospects have been severely limited by economic constraints, exacerbated by political corruption. 



Charles Egwuh, a local community advocate and activist, sought a strategy to enlighten and empower these young individuals, one that highlighted alternative pathways in the design and technology industries.

solution
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An app that provides access to top learning platforms like Grow with Google and edX while also allowing users to showcase professional portfolios, boosting their visibility to employers worldwide.

Because in a world full of talent, visibility matters.

discovery phase

The discovery phase is crucial to any project. This process was particularly challenging as access to the residents of Mushin was not possible. This meant relying on secondary research to learn about their unique characteristics and needs.

user habits

Understanding where and how to reach the target audience is essential. In the absence of an existing platform, or users to interview, StatCounter provided valuable insights.

platform

Approximately 86% of all internet traffic was generated from mobile devices.

resolution

360x800 emerged as the most commonly used screen dimension, making up 18% of the total screen resolutions tracked.

dominance

Roughly 57% of all internet sessions took place on devices with a 360px-wide screen resolution.

secondary research

Secondary research revealed four main areas of concern for the youth of Muchin.

For each concern, a solution was created. These solutions would become the design's guiding principles.
A diagram showing the cause and effect of Nigeria's

Nigeria's growing digital landscape

mobile

In Nigeria, 80% of all internet traffic is through a mobile device. By comparison, that number is 32 percent for North America.

connectivity

As of January 2023, there were 122.5 million internet users in Nigeria. Nigeria’s internet penetration rate stood at 55% of the total population

demographics

Nigeria accounts for about 47% of West Africa’s population and has one of the largest populations of youth in the world. 

entrepreneurship

With its young, entrepreneurial population, digital entrepreneurship has the potential to drive economic change and propel Nigeria’s growth.

infrastructure

Despite recent growth in fiber, fixed-line infrastructure is still poor, making mobile systems the primary means of data traffic.

automation

As 46% of work activities in Nigeria are susceptible to automation, digital skills will qualify youth for jobs in traditional and emerging sectors.

2021 Nigeria Digital Economy Diagnostic Report | The World Bank

analogous audit

An audit of educational platforms and institutions within Nigeria was conducted to gain insight into experiences that might serve as sources of inspiration.

Sites analyzed in the analogous audit:
edx.org
grow.google
khanacademy.org
brilliant.org
aws.amazon.com/training
handy.com
taskrabbit.com
us.choose.love
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user personas

Based on secondary research and interviews with Charles Egwuh, concise user personas were developed.

discovery outcomes

afar would need to build trust with users by providing educational content from familiar, reputable, and reliable sources.
afar needs to connect users with international employment opportunities.
Given the available resources, priority should be given to automated methods such as APIs and AI.
The visual design should respect cultural differences and help establish credibility.

design phase

afar — what’s in a name

Understanding the importance of culture in branding, an A.I. engine was used to generate a name with impact, meaning, and cultural sensitivity.

The name afar was chosen for its alliterative connection to the app’s core goal: fostering connections "far and wide"—from job opportunities and educational resources to potential employers.

data flow

Central to this experience is the aggregation of available courses and job openings. The application will pull postings from industry-leading sources and display them within the app for user engagement.
Instead of manually maintaining a catalog of courses from different institutions, a streamlined API can retrieve and display content directly from the source.

workflow

A user workflow was created created to establish consistency across each path of the experience.
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Whether engaging with job postings, exploring educational resources, or managing a profile, the workflow ensures uniformity in design, functionality, and overall usability, enhancing both efficiency and user satisfaction.

step by step

Each user is welcomed with a four-step onboarding process upon account creation. By identifying their purpose, existing skill set, and desired areas of growth, we can curate courses and content tailored to their needs.
After users select their skills, the app aggregates courses and content most relevant to their goals.
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classes

API functionality pulls in classes that best match the user's preferences

Leveraging AI

Knowing that a very small team would be responsible for upkeep, AI was used to generate a library of screen graphics, ensuring consistent visual treatment with minimal effort.
All images by midjourney.com
Image by midjourney.com
Background image by playground ai
All images by midjourney.com
Image by midjourney.com

next steps

Currently, I am collaborating with Charles and his team of engineers to bring the Afar app to life. Together, our collective efforts are driven by a shared vision of empowering underserved youth and fostering their personal and professional growth.