Gamified Learning to Restore the Forest Landscape in Afghanistan: The Role of Immersive Playful Environments in Re-Inventing the Future of Work and Re-Imagining Organizations

Abstract

Implementing digital learning approaches in fragile contexts offer opportunities and challenges at the same time. The following article describes an ongoing project by the German development cooperation organization GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) with the target to reforest areas of Afghanistan and conduct corresponding capacity building activities in the country. The international and Afghan stakeholders are facing a variety of challenges such as threats on personal safety and security, connectivity and electricity breakdowns as well as working with a partwise illiterate and digital illiterate target group. The three steps of the capacity building process of the project will be described and explained - the training of trainers, the training of the NGOs as well as the training of the final target group. Elements of the digital training are gamified and adapted to the Afghan culture, specifically focusing storytelling, roleplay as well as social learning.