Samsung Pedometer App Powers Global Walkathon to Build Schools in Africa

We are holding a global walkathon to raise support for building Solar Powered Internet Schools (SPIS) for children across Africa. Unlike many walkathons, this won’t require finding friends or colleagues for donations nor will you have to show up on a given day to walk through a designated course.

All you need to do is download Samsung’s What If I Can smartphone pedometer app that will count the number of steps you take anywhere you go. Whether you’re walking or running to school, grabbing lunch at a nearby deli or shopping at a mall on a Saturday afternoon, all of your steps will count towards building new schools for children across Africa.

Every time the global step counter, which accumulates all steps recorded worldwide, registers 800 million new steps, we will build one SPIS in Africa. That equals to one school built for roughly every 640,000km, or 400,000 miles. Of course, you don’t have to walk the entire distance yourself, as the global step counter compiles steps taken by all participants worldwide.

So, please download the app from Google Play and start walking! The app can be used on all Android-powered devices. Please note when using the app that while the personal step counter is updated in real time, the global step counter is updated every five minutes.

This walkathon is part of a wider What If I Can campaign at Samsung, which began earlier this year.

What are Samsung Solar Powered Internet Schools? 

We have been building Solar Powered Internet Schools (SPIS) in Africa since 2011. Each SPIS has been designed to meet the needs of communities that have little or no access to electricity and the internet. On average, less than 25% of rural areas in Africa benefit from electricity, resulting in isolated communities with limited access to education and connectivity.

SPIS is a self-contained Smart School built in a converted 40-foot container, allowing for mobility and ease of transportation to any location. Each container comes equipped with its own power source via solar panels,  internet access through GSM and satellite connections, as well as furniture, lighting and air-conditioning to enable a comfortable learning environment.

Intended for students between grades 0 and 12, each SPIS can accommodate up to around 30 students, each of whom have access to notebook PC’s and tablets that connect students to the internet as well as educational content stored in a server in each SPIS.

Should any technical issues arise, we have a devoted support team in place to ensure smooth operation of all SPIS units.

So far, SPIS has been built across 15 African countries. Through the What If I Can walkathon, we hope that you will join us in contributing towards bringing greater educational opportunities for children across Africa.