Sesame Workshop and the IRC’s Refugee Initiative

• In Event: Sesame Street in the Syrian response region

Proposal

In December of 2017, Sesame Workshop and the IRC were awarded the first MacArthur Foundation 100&Change grant, a $100 million grant to create a joint, five-year project that will constitute the largest ECD intervention in the history of humanitarian response. The program, delivered through television, mobile phones, and direct services in homes and preschools, aims to provide young children the literacy, math, and socio-emotional skills they need to succeed in school and later life.
The program has three core aspects. First, through the IRC’s extensive network, we will provide home visitation and caregiving support sessions with trained outreach and community health workers. Face-to-face support will be combined with daily text messages and reminders to caregivers with links to video and audio content. These messages will be designed to empower caregivers to play an active role in their child’s development, and will support their own coping with practical techniques for managing stress.
Second, our program will transform community sites, formal and informal schools, and other focal points of aid into nurturing care and learning centers for children. Sesame Workshop and the IRC will train frontline staff, providing materials, supervision, and coaching to enhance their capacity and improve their instructional quality. These centers will be equipped with storybooks, video clips, activity sheets, and training guides designed specifically for both formal and informal settings.
And third, working hand-in-hand with local educators, Ministries of Education, writers, artists, and researchers, we will create a locally-produced television show that will introduce children to characters and role models who understand their lives and experiences. The show, broadcast and made available on digital platforms, will focus on essential early childhood concepts and will introduce children to the Sesame Muppets—furry, loveable friends who will model behaviors supporting respect and inclusion, as well as provide engaging educational messages.
This presentation will explore our learnings to date from Sesame Workshop and the IRC’s Refugee Initiative, including learnings from the production of Season 1 of the television program and observations and learnings from the initial year of direct services programming.

Author

• Estee Bardanashvili, Sesame Workshop