Our Story

In 2006, Amplio's founder Cliff Schmidt had an idea for a low-cost, low-tech device to help share knowledge with rural communities in low-income countries. Specifically, he wanted to bridge the gap for people with illiteracy.

 

With that goal, Cliff founded Literacy Bridge, a 503(c) nonprofit organization, and began leading the development of the Talking Book, a durable, battery-powered audio device designed for people with low literacy.

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When the first Talking Book prototypes were field-tested with school children in northern Ghana, the idea was for kids to listen and read along to improve their literacy skills.

 

But community health workers and agricultural extension agents had a different idea: They saw the Talking Book as an innovative, portable device for sharing health and agricultural education with underserved rural communities.

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Local experts explained that there were too many villages, too far apart. In Ghana, for example, the extension officer to farmer ratio is as high as 1:1500 farmers.

 

Poor road infrastructure was also a problem, making it hard to reach communities.

 

When community agents did visit a village to conduct outreach activities, many people couldn’t attend because they were working in their fields. Meanwhile, those who did attend couldn’t take notes or read printed materials due to illiteracy. Instead, they had to remember everything they heard about recommended health behaviors or agriculture practices.

 

Also, women were far less likely to participate. They were too busy with child care, household responsibilities, and farm work. Traditional social and gender norms created further barriers. 

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With this local input, the organization shifted its focus to bridging the knowledge gap for people with low literacy. 

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In 2017, we changed our name to Amplio Network. Amplio is a Latin verb that means “make wider, increase, extend, amplify.” Our name speaks volumes. 

 

Today, our Amplio Talking Book program has reached over 2 million people in 14 countries. Our technology is helping to improve program reach, message quality, and community engagement across many issues—leading to greater social impact.