Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the Mousso Bara Digital Literacy Intervention in Côte d’Ivoire
Photo credit: CARE Côte d’Ivoire
Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, literacy rates in Côte d’Ivoire are lower among women than men, because fewer girls enroll and complete primary and secondary education. Educational disparities are worse in rural areas, where girls and women face more restrictive norms that limit their ability to take advantage of adult learning opportunities. To address this need, CARE Côte d’Ivoire developed a novel digital tool for bridging the literacy and digital skills gaps in many rural Ivorian communities.
Mousso Bara is a smartphone application designed by CARE to support illiterate and low-literate women and men in rural, cacao-producing regions of Côte d’Ivoire. The app comprises interactive audiovisual learning modules on literacy, numeracy, life skills, and entrepreneurship. Since 2021, CARE has implemented Mousso Bara by incorporating training on the application into existing Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) support initiatives. The app operates in several local languages and can be used offline, enabling illiterate and low-literate women and men to grow their digital and literacy skills on a self-guided platform.
As CARE implements Mousso Bara in an additional 200 communities in 2025, AIR is conducting an experimental, mixed-methods impact evaluation to generate timely and rigorous evidence on the tool. The experimental design comprises a one-year randomized controlled trial of 1,500 VSLA members paired with participatory, qualitative data collection to measure the outcomes of the app on women’s literacy, numeracy, livelihoods, and agency. The evaluation also prioritizes strategic stakeholder engagement with Ivoirian communities, CARE, government, and international stakeholders to support the learning and scale-up of the application.
AIR expects the full impact results to become available in early 2027.
