Lebanon Remote Early Learning Program Design and Implementation

• In Event: Implementation and Impacts of a Remote Preschool Program: A Case Study from Lebanon

Proposal

According to UNHCR, the number of registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon is currently at 879,598. The crisis unfolding in Syria has had a profound humanitarian and socio-economic impact on refugees and the Lebanese host community alike. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis in Lebanon have compounded the effects of the Syria crisis and displacement for Syrian refugees in Jordan. These conditions deny many children the core developmental necessity of early education. Syrian children in refugee settings and vulnerable Lebanese children face long-term cognitive, social-emotional and physical challenges as a result.

They also necessitated a major re-working in how services were provided. At the start of the pandemic, service providers across the globe worked to move all possible services to remote delivery as quickly as possible. In Lebanon, our team had been implementing a free, in-person preschool program for Syrian and Lebanese children ages 3 to 6 years old. As COVID-19 spread, we redesigned the program to be delivered by teachers to caregivers of children ages 3 to 6 via Whatsapp calls with small groups of 5-6 caregivers. In the calls, caregivers learn about the importance of early childhood development, receive instruction from teachers on how to do simple activities at home with their children to support development, and have the opportunity to discuss challenges and questions with the teacher and other caregivers. The program is intended to prepare students to re-enter in-person preschool or first grade - depending on the child’s age - and to support their continuing cognitive, socioemotional, and motor skills development even when they do not have access to in-person schools. After COVID-19 lockdowns began to lift, we decided to continue implementing an 11-week version of the remote preschool program, called the Remote Early Learning program, for children living in remote communities with little or no access to in-person services. This remote program enables us to serve children and caregivers who we cannot reach with in-person programs.

Remote preschool programs are an important way to offer access to early childhood development services to caregivers and children who cannot access in-person programs due to conflict, crisis, or living in remote geographies. While remote programs flourished during the pandemic, organizations are finding that they are useful even after the pandemic for increasing access to many critical services, including early learning for Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese children. The learning from this program is valuable for implementers or policymakers looking to expand access to early learner services to populations that are difficult to access in-person.

This presentation will share the process of adapting the in-person curriculum for remote delivery, as well as monitoring data on caregiver attendance in the program, quality of implementation through Whatsapp calls, and child development outcomes. The presentation draws on monitoring data from 1200 caregivers and children who completed the program in spring 2022.

Author

• Siwar Hashwe, International Rescue Committee