For the last few months, our work with UNICEF Colombia has been happening over video calls. Planning sessions across time zones, shared documents, and the occasional dodgy internet connection. Important work, but abstract in a way. Dots on a screen.
This week, that changed. I’m in Colombia, sitting across the table from Liliana and Natalia at the UNICEF Country Office, and the project finally feels real.
We’re bringing Bookbot to Colombia, and with it, to South America for the first time.
What We’re Building
Colombia already has a strong foundation for early literacy: Aprendamos Todos a Leer (Let’s All Learn to Read), a curriculum developed with UNICEF that’s used across the country. What it hasn’t had is an AI tutor that can sit with a child, listen to them read, and give them feedback in real time.
That’s what we’re integrating. Colombian children will soon be able to practise the ATAL (Aprendamos Todos a Leer) curriculum inside Bookbot, with the same speech recognition-powered reading support that kids in Australia, Indonesia, and South Africa already use, but in Colombian Spanish, with locally relevant content.
Why It Matters
An AI reading tutor doesn’t replace a teacher. But it does something a classroom of 30 kids can’t easily offer: one-on-one practice, at the child’s own pace, as many times as they need. For communities where trained literacy teachers are stretched thin, that’s a meaningful gap to fill.
More soon as the project develops. For now, it’s good to be here.