Social entrepreneur´s profile:

Empowering Parents to Embrace Changemaking – to Foster Early Development through Play

Her solution at a glance: With EasyPeasy, Ashoka Fellow Jen Lexmond is building a more socially mobile society by inspiring parents and children everywhere to learn through playEasyPeasy’s digital platform offers parents of children aged 0-5 engaging, interactive, and joyful activities to transform everyday struggles into playful moments. To support families in the struggles of the lockdown and the coronavirus crisis, they have made EasyPeasy free until May 31st! 

Social Entrepreneur: Jen Lexmond

Organization: EasyPeasy

Field: Education models and tools for children and youth 

Needs for social innovation to have more impact: Business Development and Fundraising, Digital, Marketing and Communications; Advocacy

Before and after Corona: From development through play to acute family support in times of crisis

The mission of the social enterprise before Corona:

Inspiring parents and children everywhere to learn through play and empowering parents to recognize their crucial role in fostering their children’s development with the aim of achieving a higher level of social mobility in society.  
Jen has created a community that brings together parents – and those in their support network – to discover, create, play, and share learning games, generating more quality interactions for young children that stimulate their development.

What changed with Corona?

With widespread school and nursery closures across most parts of the world, children are confined to the home with families placed under significant and ongoing pressure. But the global challenge posed by Coronavirus can also be seized as a once in a lifetime opportunity to put parents and the home firmly on the radar of the education and wider learning system as key to children’s learning and development. 

The (biggest) challenge:

COVID-19 is not just a health crisis, it will have a lasting impact on our economybehaviour, and society, dictating a ‘new normal’. Widespread school and nursery closures shift the focus for learning and development to the home environment. This has triggered a new societal need for home learning resources for parents to support their children’s development, and maintain happy and healthy families. The social mobility challenge is particularly stark: already existing developmental gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children will widen as a result of lockdown with inequalities in home learning environment no longer mitigated by quality care through kindergartens, nurseries, and childcare.  

There is a strong need to provide support, guidance, and encouragement to families to ensure they stay happy, healthy, and well, as well as supporting children’s ongoing learning and development. As educational and economic inequality widen through ongoing lockdowns and social distancing, it becomes even more imperative to reach out and offer support to the most disadvantaged families in society as the impact of school and childcare. 

The solution: Transform struggles into playful moments & development support

EasyPeasy’s digital platform offers parents of children aged 0-5 engaging, interactive, and joyful activities to transform everyday struggles into playful moments., as well as a clear strategy for reaching out and supporting disadvantaged families.  

Impact: EasyPeasy has already established a track record. It is the only digital platform of its kind with proven impact on both children’s development and parents’ wellbeing through Randomised Control Trial evaluation. This offers  observable benefits to families across culture and socio-economic background in 10-18 weeks of use. Even before the crisis, EasyPeasy had successfully supported  over 50.000 families with disadvantaged backgrounds through free access funded by the UK Department for Education. Since lockdown, EasyPeasy has experienced increasing demands with month-on-month parent registrations increasing by over 1,000%.  

The ambition is to have an impactful way beyond this current period of social distancing. Jen has advocated for the importance of the home learning environment for many years. She has been successful at driving significant positive behaviour change, at scale – both for educators and parents. This work has become more crucial than ever during times of lockdown and social distancing.  

The personal biggest worry and hope:

Ashoka: How are you dealing with the situation and what is your biggest personal worry?

Jen: “I am really concerned about the impact that COVID-19 closures will have – and are already having – on young children who are already at risk of falling behind. We know that the early years are crucial – when 85% of a child’s brain develops. We have to do everything we can to support parents who have been thrust into this new and challenging set of circumstances to give their children the best start in life”

Ashoka: “What is inspiring you and giving you hope that we can overcome this crisis?”

Jen: “All of us at EasyPeasy have never been more committed to achieving our social mission. Despite the huge losses that families and communities are facing, our hope  is that post-COVID, we may witness more kindness and compassion in society and consumer behaviours.
We want to leverage this collective energy towards supporting the families who most need support. We still truly believe that together we can work to give every child the best possible start in life.”