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World Children’s Day 1 October: Tilli: For a happier you 

01 Oct 2021

  • A social-emotional learning tool for kids
Tilli is a ground-breaking social-emotional learning tool for kids set to launch today (1) as Sri Lanka celebrates World Children’s Day, on the Nenasa online learning platform, in partnership with the Dialog Foundation. Co-founded by Learning Experience Designer (MSc Stanford School of Education) Kavindya Thennakoon and Social Impact Entrepreneur Vidya Sri (MBA), the application hopes to provide access to high-quality, social-emotional learning tools for children between the ages of five to 10 years. Speaking to Tilli Co-Founder and Head of Product Kavindya Thennakoon, she shared that it was actually her Master’s thesis at the Stanford School of Education that eventually evolved into the fully-actualised learning tool that Tilli is today. The collaborative efforts between Kavindya and her Co-Founding Partner Vidya – a fellow of Harvard Kennedy School, and Tilli’s Chief Strategy Officer – have created an application that is an inclusive, play-based, social-emotional learning tool for children that builds metacognition, empathy, and critical thinking skills. Kavindya shared that globally, one out of two children between the ages of two to 17 years experience violence every year, and Tilli’s mission is to create a safer world for every child where no child grows up to be a survivor or perpetrator of violence or abuse. Following its launch, the programme will release a module every month, the first of which will be on Trust – and Kavindya provided that children will have access to 12-13 case studies, which are essentially learning puzzles that will start children on a quantifiable journey where they will eventually be able to problem solve using what they have learned along the way. The successive models will be under the following themes of Bodies and Boundaries, Feelings, and Staying Healthy. Tilli has been successfully used by nearly 300+ young learners and adults around the world, and it was also selected by Lego in the Global Top 3 Future Play Design Challenge 2021. Key findings from the test results for the tool has shown that 95% of users reported “high” engagement; where they completed the entire learning experience, including the bonus learning, 96% of learners reported that they felt confident to recognise a situation that was unsafe or uncomfortable and to say “NO”, and 85% of parents/teachers felt they had an honest and meaningful conversation with their child after using Tilli. Why Tilli in Sri Lanka? Kavindya provided that Sri Lanka has placed a high priority on the protection of children with a focus on prevention and early intervention, and according to UNICEF, close to one-third of cases in the high court related to a child victim, and over half of all crimes reported against children are committed by known persons including parents and other relatives. Sri Lanka has also committed to the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children. With regards to the adaptability of the platform – which is intended for children from around the world – Kavindya shared that Tilli has a customisable interface, where children will be able to select from a host of characters with names and appearances that are culturally familiar. It will also be available in all three languages; Tamil, Sinhala, and English.   Queries: info@tillikids.org Launch event: Friday, 1 October, 10-11 a.m. Register:  https://bit.ly/TilliLaunch  


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