BrightLemon was commissioned by Plan UK to develop a website in order to support an international educational programme; the website links schools in the UK with schools in Malawi, Sierra Leone, Kenya and China in order to foster discussion and learning about global issues. The programme is supplemented by the website and designed to create a long- term, sustainable link between two schools and allow them to communicate with one other through social networking functionality. Schools teach a set of lesson plans about a whole range of topics/subjects and communicate online with their link school.

In order to belong to the Plan UK programme, British schools pay a per annum fee, part of which goes directly to the linked school in Africa to effect improvements. The remaining balance of the fee is used to support the direct costs of running the programme. Communications between teachers of the linked schools is facilitated, which allows them to exchange information on teaching methods and curricula. Pupils will communicate across continents by writing up to three longhand letters a year, by one-to-one messaging, or by blogs on the secure website.

Given the vulnerability of the users, a lot of time and thought was put into the registration and verification process, as well as how to ensure privacy of the children. To date, over 400 schools have join the Plan-ed programme. The large calls to action like “find out more” and “join now” make it very clear and easy for the user to navigate. Pictures and testimonials on the homepage generate interest. The site also has a video on the homepage, which quickly gives visitors a real sense of what the programme is all about.

Special thanks to Alex M., Alex B., Hamish, George, Caroline and the team at Plan UK/Plan International.