Our partners
How we work with partners
Our partners help us to create exciting new educational projects.
We are lucky to work with a wide range of partners, all of whom are helping us to create exciting new educational projects involving an increasing number of schools around the world.
We are very grateful to all our partners for their support in helping us to grow.
We are always looking for new partners to collaborate with, so please do get in touch if you are interested in working with us.
Example Partnerships:
Government
Statutory partnerships mean we can expand and grow our projects while helping government departments deliver their strategies on development education, school linking and the international dimension.
We are currently working with the Department for Education and the Department for International Development.
We have been collaborating with the Department for Education (was DCSF) since the launch of Rafi.ki in 2007, and we are working together to deliver the key objectives defined in their International Strategy.
Their financial support is enabling us to grow both Rafi.ki and Kidogo, and to help embed the international dimension into the curriculum.
Trusts and foundations
We work with a range of trusts and foundations, who support Rafi.ki and Kidogo in a number of different ways, from funding for individual educational projects on Rafi.ki, to software upgrades, to core support.
The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation have very generously supported us in the launch of Rafi.ki and Kidogo. They are helping both communities to become more effective and sustainable, and have provided funding for us to market Rafi.ki and Kidogo to schools across the UK.
Partner charities
The Rafi.ki community is an ideal platform for partner charities to host their educational resources and in doing so reach a global network of schools. We are always keen to hear from charities who are looking to involve schools in their education programme.
Companies
Corporate partners help us to increase our reach and impact. In return we can provide a number of benefits, including volunteer opportunities, internal and external PR, staff motivation, brand association, as well as a clear opportunity to deliver corporate social responsibility programmes.
We have been working with the Cisco Foundation since 2008. Funding from Cisco has enabled us to launch Rafi.ki Kidogo. Cisco have also provided the Rafi.ki team with new telephony and conferencing equipment, helping us to provide a more effective and efficient service to our stakeholder schools.
Other Partnerships:
Abraham Moss City Learning Centre
AM have long been a testing ground for all our latest bits of tech. They funded the first iteration of the Reflections Software and have pioneered much of what we have done on Rafi.ki. Very forward thinking and lovely guys.
Accenture
Link: www.accenture.com Accenture are kindly helping us with our business growth and development. They support is covering everything from risk management to developing cloud based computing services. They are terrifyingly smart people.
ActionAid
Link: www.actionaid.org
We worked with ActionAid as consultants and software developers for their Global Action Schools project.
Africa Practice
Link: www.africapractice.com
Africa Practice is an ethically driven corporate citizenship and communications consultancy. We’ve been helping Africa Practice distribute their innovative ‘Newsroom’ DVD to schools across the world.
The African pulse
Link: www.theafricanpulse.net/ We’re delighted to be working with TAP on our Youth Action Exchange project in conjunction with the EC. They work on the ground in Southern African and deliver some very cool projects around HIV/AIDS.
BBC
Link: www.bbc.co.uk
For those that don’t know - and we can’t imagine there are many - the British Broadcasting Corporation is the national broadcaster for the UK. We were delighted to work with them on the Bigger Picture project.
BBC World Class
Link: www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass
This is the BBC’s excellent site for linking schools. They are helping to link 1000 UK schools with schools in Africa. We sit on their stakeholders’ group.
Bates Wells & Braithwaite
Link: www.bateswells.co.uk/ Stephen Lloyd is without doubt the UK’s leading charity lawyer. His advice and assistance (and that of his excellent team) have been invaluable.
The British Council
Link: www.britishcouncil.org
A very large organization, whose purpose is to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries and to increase appreciation of the UK’s creative ideas and achievements. We’ve had the pleasure of working with them on both the Bigger Picture project and their Global Gateway initiative, which we evaluated for them.
The British Museum
Link: www.thebritishmuseum.org
The BM is one of the best and most highly respected museums on the planet. A very forward thinking institution, we were very lucky to work with them on the Bigger Picture project, where we coordinated the scanning and meta-tagging of 23,000 images which then ended up as cloths wrapped around the museum.
Changemakers
Link: www.changemakers.org.uk
Changemakers are a charity that helps young people make a contribution to society. They do this by running a number of excellent projects right across the UK.
Channel 4
Link: www.channel4.com
Channel 4 needs no introduction. A great channel, a great education department and a great bunch of guys (and gals). They’ve been helping us with our Rafi.ki community and we’ve been helping them with a couple of their education projects.
Cisco
Link: www.cisco.com/ Cisco have been a great supporter of Rafi.ki over the years and have helped us both in terms of our organisational IT but have also co-funded the launch of the primary version of Rafi.ki, Kidogo. We’re incredibly grateful for their continued assistance.
Coutts
Link: www.coutts.com/ Coutts have generous sponsored the development of Rafi.ki and have kindly paid for some of our unique software development.
DfE: ICT in Schools Division
Link: www.teachernet.gov.uk
We’ve worked with the Department for Education (previously DCSF and DfES) for quite a few years now. One of the divisions we’ve worked closely with is ICT in Schools. They funded the initial pilot of the Gemin-i Plus software and have been great supporters of ours (and we of them) ever since.
DfE: Joint International Unit
Link: www.education.gov.uk/
We’ve had the pleasure of working with the International Unit of the DfE (was DCSF and DfES) for some years now. They’ve funded the creation of the Gemin-i Plus software and we have been involved in trying to help shape their Global Gateway via various steering groups and papers we have written.
DfID: Joint International Unit
Link: www.dfid.gov.uk
The Department for International Development were the first people to fund us for the Gemin-i Plus project. DfID is the UK governments department that manages the aid provided to poor countries and works to eradicate poverty. DfID is responsible for the Commission for Africa, which we support wholeheartedly. They are also supporting our Blood Diamonds project on Rafi.ki.
Digital Links
Link: www.digital-links.org
Digital Links are an excellent NGO that specialise in providing IT equipment and training for schools in Africa. We work with a number of schools that they have kitted out.
Digital Explorer
Link: digitalexplorer.co.uk/ Quite possibly the coolest project we’ve seen in many a year. If you haven’t seen it already do check it out. Jamie’s work makes geography lessons look positively antiquated. We’re working with him on a number of things and he’s now based in our office.
Edunova
Link: www.edunova.org
Edunova is an international educational consultancy. We were lucky enough to work with them on the COGS project.
Enterprise Insight
Link: www.makeyourmark.org.uk
These are the visionary guys charged with making the UK more entrepreneurial. We’ve worked with them on a number of things but most recently we ran the online component of the Make Your Mark With a Tenner.
www.e-skills.com
Link: www.e-skills.com
We worked with excellent team at e-skills to build the clubroom for their Computer Clubs for Girls project. The aim of the project was to encourage teenage girls to be more innovative and to be more comfortable with IT. Seems to be working pretty well as there are now thousands of girls happily using it.
The European Commission
Link: http://ec.europa.eu/about/index_en.htm
The European Commission (EC) is the EU’s executive body. The EC is funding our exciting new HIV and AIDS awareness project, due to be launched on Rafi.ki in January 2011.
Link: google.co.uk/ You may have heard of Google. A promising internet based start-up who have kindly paid for all our marketing costs for our events and for Rafi.ki. We predict big things for Google. AOL watch out.
Imagine Education
Link: www.imagine-ed.com
Imagine Education evolved out of one of the schools we worked with on the Gemin-i Plus projects. They’re a forward thinking consultancy who are passionate about the international agenda. We nominated Baldev Singh (one of their directors) for a National Teaching award recently which he deservedly won.
Innovation Unit
Link: www.innovation-unit.co.uk
We worked with these guys for a number of years. Most notably on the pre-cursor to Reflections - the Gemin-i Observation Tool. The innovation Unit are doing some great stuff in the education sector, well worth looking out for.
Inventic - ORM Designer
Link: www.orm-designer.com
Inventic, the guys behind ORM Designer, have kindly supported the development team at Gemin-i with their excellent ER modelling tools. A tool we can thoroughly recommend for anyone using Doctrine in their projects.
IT4C
Link: www.it4communities.org.uk/ IT4C helps charities with IT problems and they are brilliant. A wonderful service that gave us Carl (on secondment), who has been a breath of fresh air. He’s worked on our CRM, our Reflections product, our process management and much more.
Jobs Go Public
Link: www.jgp.co.uk
JGP is a rare beast - a very forward thinking, highly successful and ethical recruitment company. They specialize predominantly in the public sector, but we’ve worked with them on the Skills Abacus and helped them make sense of the often baffling education sector.
Link Community Development
Link: www.lcd.org.uk
Link are a great NGO that specialise in linking UK schools with schools in a few countries in Africa. We have worked with them on a number of Gemin-i Plus projects and the Bigger Picture.
MMU - Institute of Education
Link: www.ioe.mmu.ac.uk/
Manchester Metropolitan University-IOE is the UK’s leading institution for educational research and study. We’ve been working with MMU-IOE on our Reflections toolkit and drawing much from their extensive experience.
Medicins Sans Frontières
Link: www.msf.org.uk/ We’ve worked with the amazing MSF for a few years now. In particular recently we collaborated on the award winning Darfur: Impossible Choices project. MSF do some incredible work and save thousands of lives on a daily basis. Have a look at the Rafi.ki site to find out more.
Merlin John
Link: www.merlinjohnonline.net
Merlin is the UK’s leading journalist documenting IT in education. He’s worked extensively for the TES, Guardian and others. The secret behind his success is a genuine passion for the subject matter a thirst for change. Keep up the good work Merlin!
MyBnk
Link: www.mybnk.org
MyBnk is a truly extraordinary NGO that has come from no-where to be one of the leading lights in its field. MyBnk helps pupils learn about banking, social enterprise and innovation through its ‘MyBnk in a Box’ scheme. High street banks beware!
Optimist World
Link: www.optimistworld.com
dedicated to provide the public with a more positive news agenda to sit alongside mainstream media channels. As well as uplifting Optimist News, the site also investigates other aspects of everyday life which aim to inspire a positive outlook. The site is edited by seasoned world class journalists but is also creating a community of optimists that share stories and vote on their favourite charities and companies each week.
Plan International
Link: www.plan-international.org
Plan are a large NGO who have been around for over 60 years. They focus on supporting impoverished communities in the developing world. They are also passionate about child advocacy and development education, which is why they asked us to run the Young People’s Commission for Africa with them. They work in 45 different countries and, in our opinion, do a pretty fine job.
Policy Unplugged
Link: www.policyunplugged.org
Policy Unplugged, lead by the mercurial Steve Moore, have done the impossible. They’ve made conferences fun, engaging and genuinely useful. Some of the most interesting and exciting events we’ve been involved in have been run by these guys.
Redstone
Link: www.redstone.co.uk/ We worked with Redstone on the successful BSF bid for Birmingham. Over the next couple of years we’ll be rolling Rafi.ki out across all of these schools.
Salesforce.com
Link: www.salesforce.com All organisations of our type need a decent CRM. Thanks to Salesforce we now have the best in the business. Thank you!
SSAT
Link: www.ssatrust.org.uk
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust are a behemoth in UK education and a genuine force for good. We’ve been working with them on a number of things, but most recently on our schools community Rafi.ki.
Taylor Vinters
Link: www.taylorvinters.com We’ve worked with TV on a number of our more complex contracts, they’ve also helped us navigate the perilous world of IP, copyright and patent law. They really are an amazing bunch lead by the remarkable David Rainford.
Ultralab
Link: www.ultralab.net
We worked closely with the ‘Lab’ for many years (we were based there for a couple of years). Pioneers in distance learning and putting fun back into learning, Ultralab was loved and respected around the world. We owe much of our thinking to them and their decades of work. Ultralab shut a few years back but they were so instrumental in our development that we’ll always continue to thank them. Stephen and team – we salute you, you are amazing.
Venturesome
Link: www.cafonline.org/venturesome
Venturesome is breath of fresh air in the world of charity finance and we can wholeheartedly recommend them to any other charity. They’ve been helping us build capacity in our finance department.
World Food Program
Link: www.wfp.org
The WFP fights hunger in the developing world. Last year they helped 113 million people in 80 countries, which we think is pretty remarkable. We worked with them on the Bigger Picture Project.
World Lingo
Link: www.worldlingo.com
WorldLingo creates and delivers innovative language translation and localization solutions that make it easy for businesses and professionals to interact with internal and external multilingual audiences anywhere in the world. Their software is integrated in Gemin-iPlus.
Have we missed you off the list? if so, apologies, we didn’t mean it. Let us know and we’ll you put you on.