As a new school year begins for millions of children worldwide, across crisis-affected contexts there are 72 million children out of school and another 127 million in school but unable to learn key skills. The IRC reiterates its call for proven and scalable solutions focused on education and early childhood development as a core part of humanitarian response plans worldwide.
Education has long been chronically underfunded throughout the humanitarian sector, with as little as 2.5% of humanitarian funding going to education programs. These barriers persist even with IRC and others’ research showing that funding for education in emergencies is both a necessary and wise investment, with each $1 invested in education yielding as much as $13 in economic growth.
The IRC and partners continue to deliver much-needed education and early childhood development programs around the world to reach the last mile in crisis settings, including by incorporating artificial intelligence and other technologies. Examples of these programs include:
- Education Technology with OpenAI: the IRC is developing aprendIA, an AI-driven educational chatbot platform that delivers personalized learning experiences that crisis-affected communities can access—in particular, teachers and parents. By integrating with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the IRC will be able to rapidly create content, support overstretched teachers and personalize digital education experiences for improved learning outcomes and teacher empowerment, while researching the effectiveness of AI in education in safe and ethical ways.
- Climate Resilient Education Systems Trial (CREST): with UK government support CREST harnesses AI-enabled predictive technology and innovative climate finance to ensure children and communities in northern Kenya are protected from the effects of climate-related school closures and can continue to learn and return to school safely after climate disasters strike.
- Ahlan Simsim: With support from the MacArthur Foundation and LEGO Foundation, the Ahlan Simsim initiative is the single largest early childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response. In 6 years, it has reached over 3.5M children and caregivers across Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, and is expanding support in Libya, Yemen, and Palestine. Ahlan Simsim combines the power of Sesame Workshop's proven educational media with IRC's expertise working with conflict- and crisis-affected communities to deliver innovative programs backed by research. These programs are implemented by the IRC and local partners including civil society and government actors.
- Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crises (ERICC) Research Programme Consortium: with the need for more sustainable and coherent education systems in conflict and protracted crisis settings, this UK-funded multi-year research program identifies the most effective approaches for improving access, quality, and continuity of education, and ultimately to improve holistic outcomes for children. Countries of focus include Bangladesh, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria.
- TeachWell: supported by the LEGO Foundation and the Grundfos Foundation, this innovative teacher professional development program works with refugee and host community teachers in Kenya. TeachWell uses 'learning through play' pedagogy to support the implementation of Kenya's new Competence Based Curriculum by fostering essential skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, which are vital in promoting holistic learning among children.
- Kulea Watoto - meaning ‘nurturing children’ in Swahili – is a Conrad N. Hilton Foundation supported program in Uganda which uses a two-generation approach to reach children under five years of age with early childhood development and their caregivers with economic development to deliver improved outcomes for families.
- PlayMatters: this program, made possible with support from the LEGO Foundation, strengthens existing education systems to train and support teachers operating across the humanitarian-development nexus to use an active teaching and learning approach through play to reach 800,000 refugee and host community children across Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, to develop holistic skills, well-being, and a love of learning to enable them to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.
Emma Gremley, IRC’s Senior Director for Education, said:
“All too often children bear the brunt of conflict and crises, their education derailed and their chances of a safe and productive future jeopardized. If these children are to heal, recover and get back on track to lead healthy, fulfilling and meaningful lives, their academic, social-emotional and supportive care needs must be addressed.
“This work will not look the same in every context. The particular needs of children and their caregivers and the best ways to reach them will vary depending on where they are and what they have experienced. But every single child has the right to learn and grow in safety. At the IRC, we are doing our part to safeguard and advance that right in ways that will strengthen the wider humanitarian sector’s approach. We call on the humanitarian and education communities to commit the time and resources needed to support the most vulnerable in crises settings: children and families.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Rescue Committee (IRC) .
