Conference Presentation, Panel
Partnerships in Humanitarian Response: Bringing Hope and Opportunity to Refugee Children
- The MacArthur Foundation awarded a $100 million grant to a partnership between Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to address the lack of early childhood education for displaced populations.
- This initiative represents the largest early childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response and aims to transform standard aid protocols, which historically allocate less than 3% of humanitarian funding to education.
- The decision to select the Sesame-IRC partnership for the "100 & Change" grant competition was driven by its evidence-based approach to mitigating toxic stress in children aged zero to five, a critical window for brain development where intervention yields the highest long-term return.
- While the competition received 1,904 applications, the MacArthur Board selected this project for its feasibility, durability, and the complementary strengths of Sesame's early childhood expertise and the IRC's established network of community health workers.
- The grant triggered a "catalyst effect," inspiring the Lego Foundation to contribute an additional $100 million within one year to expand the program in Jordan, Lebanon, and Bangladesh.
- The program operates in four countries, including Jordan and Lebanon, reaching not only Syrian refugees but also host community children to foster inclusion and mutual understanding.
- The intervention utilizes a three-pronged strategy:
- Research: $15 million is allocated to NYU Global Ties to conduct five randomized control trials to identify the most effective educational methods in crisis settings.
- Mass Media: Production of a new localized Sesame Street Arabic series, Ahlam Simpson ("Welcome"), featuring indigenous characters like Jed and Basma, distributed via television, mobile devices, and YouTube.
- Direct Services: Home visits and learning centers where IRC staff use Sesame content to coach parents on nurturing care, emotional regulation, and early literacy skills.
- Addressing the volatility of conflict zones, the IRC leverages a workforce of 26,000 employees, 99% of whom are local nationals, to ensure program continuity despite security risks.
- The curriculum focuses on the "emotional ABCs," teaching children to identify and manage emotions to counteract the effects of trauma and toxic stress on their ability to learn.
- Pilot phases prior to the full grant included a $250,000 investment that successfully tested the adaptation of Sesame content within IRC learning centers and home visitations in the Syrian response region.
- The "100 & Change" grant process has been estimated to leverage an additional $245 million in funding from other donors, prompting the launch of a new initiative called "Lever for Change" to assist smaller foundations in replicating this high-impact grant model.
- Panelists emphasized that while the $100 million grant is exceptional, the goal is to normalize early childhood education as a standard, funded component of all future humanitarian aid.
- Elmo appeared virtually to demonstrate the program's focus on emotional regulation, teaching viewers a "big belly breath" technique to manage sadness and highlighting that displaced children share universal desires to learn and play.