East Asia is a region comprising Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. The region has a rich and diverse cultural heritage going back to some of the earliest civilizations in the world and is home to several of Asia’s economic powerhouses. Some of the key common cultural values across the region are a strong emphasis on education, family values and respect for authority.

NODEPA’s work in East Asia is currently focused on the Chinese speaking population. Even though most of the population in East Asia live in developed areas with access to quality education, even the low percentage of illiterate citizens amounts to millions of individuals. Illiteracy is higher in rural areas and among the older female population. Since modern technological advances has put cheap smartphones in the hands of even the poorest citizens, language learning can now be distributed digitally.

NODEPA launched and continues to support the development of an open-source literacy tool in collaboration with local partners. This literacy tool, Seedlingo, enables linguists and educators to prepare and provide tailored literacy exercises to targeted demographics. More information about Seedlingo is available at seedlingo.com