The SHINE Solutions

Piloting the SHINE Box:
The SHINE solution is an acronym that stands for: Sustainability, Hands on mentorship, Innovation, Needs driven and Equal partners in creating solutions.
The SHINE Box is a flat-pack classroom kit, created to let children take charge of the classroom design. With the physical materials to build a classroom in minutes, and pieces that fit and lock together, the SHINE Box can be deployed anywhere. Each SHINE box contains six seat-desks and a stand with shelves. Two SHINE Boxes can create a flexible and personalized learning environment for 24 children that is easy to transport and assemble.
In October 2021, Paisley’s Pals began piloting the SHINE Box in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda. Armed with ten SHINE Boxes, six million digital resources, ten Raspberry Pi Computers, 400+ books and an amazing partnership with the Refugee Innovation Center, Paisley’s Pals deployed a multitude of durable and scalable solutions to help increase access to education for the children of Rwamwanja.
Co-created alongside refugees, the program in Rwamwanja includes a bike share, a menstrual health education program, solar lamp distribution and a digital skills training program encompassing many scalable solutions that are making a big impact.
We spent weeks on the ground listening to and learning alongside our refugee friends who continue to run the program after Paisley and crew returned home. As of September 2023, the SHINE Solution has impacted over 3,000 youth and is adding a vertical farming program and a Montessori-inspired preschool program.

Piloting the SHINE Box

In October 2021, Paisley’s Pals began piloting the SHINE Box in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda. Armed with 10 pop-up classrooms, 6 million digital resources downloaded on 10 Raspberri Pi Computers, 400+ books and an amazing partnership with the Refugee Innovation Center, Paisley’s Pals deployed a multitude of solutions to help increase access to education for the children of Rwamwanja. From a bike share program and a menstrual health education program, to handing out solar lamps and beginning a digital skills training program, the SHINE program encompasses many scalable solutions that are making a big impact. We spent weeks on the ground listening to and learning with the refugee-led program that continues to run the program once Paisley and crew returned back home. As of July 2022, the SHINE program has impacted over 2500 youth and hopes to add a vertical farming program and an ECD program in early 2023.

Harnessing the transformative power of education, the SHINE box is a portable, mixed-age STEAM learning platform designed to be a catalyst for social innovation and to inspire interest in science, technology, and engineering. With a goal to empower the next generation of global citizens through imaginative lesson plans, the SHINE box curriculum sparks opportunities to understand the Sustainable Development Goals, and to find creative solutions to our shared global challenges. We envision a world where ALL children have equal say in their future, and by using voice and choice while practicing empathy and compassion, the SHINE box hopes to shape our future world leaders and social activists, makers and doers, innovators and changemakers, all focused on creating a more peaceful world.