Conference Presentation, Panel
Partnerships in Humanitarian Response: Bringing Hope and Opportunity to Refugee Children
- Approximately 69 million people are currently displaced worldwide, including 30 million children, with a typical camp stay lasting 17 years and a growing trend of long-term displacement where many children will grow up in camps.
- More than half of the world's refugees are children, yet over half have no access to education, with the 0–5 age group having almost no access to pre-primary learning and post-primary students facing similarly low school attendance rates.
- A new intervention aims to be the largest early childhood effort in humanitarian history, targeting children from birth to eight years old across Jordan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, and potentially Venezuela or sub-Saharan Africa through home visiting for ages 0–3 and preschools for ages 3–6.
- The initiative utilizes a partnership between Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Commission (IRC), which operates in 40 conflict-affected countries, to deliver content via mobile, YouTube, television, and mass media with high penetration in camps and host communities.
- Funding includes a $245 million lever for the 100 and Change competition, a new Lever for Change initiative seeking commitments of $10 million or higher over five years, and a separate $100 million contribution from the Lego Foundation to expand work in Jordan, Lebanon, and Bangladesh.
- Five randomized control trials with a staggered approach will generate data to double existing research, while an all-new Arabic production and bilingual content will address emotional, cognitive, and inclusion needs for displaced and local children.
- The program specifically targets caregivers to teach nurturing care and emotional regulation, leveraging the theory that adult-child co-viewing deepens learning and allows education to extend off-screen, with a focus on mitigating the debilitated brain development caused by toxic stress.
- While less than 3% of humanitarian aid currently supports education, with only 15 million of 100 million dollars going to research, the initiative seeks to transform this model into a standard, replicable infrastructure to close the "aspiration gap" and prevent lost generations.
- The initiative aims to reach children in diverse settings, including migrant children in shelters where security concerns limit public attention, and intends to serve as a catalyst for further donor investment in early childhood education within humanitarian settings.