Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World: Interactive Voice Response for Early Childhood Development in Crisis-Affected Tigray Region of Ethiopia

• In Event: Scaling and Sustaining Arts and Multimedia Distance Education in Fragile Contexts

Proposal

Conflict and humanitarian crises continue to fracture education systems, disproportionately affecting the youngest learners and their caregivers. In such divided contexts, education plays a dual role: it is both a stabilizing force and a vehicle for peacebuilding. This pilot implementation examines the use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Short Message Service (SMS) technologies to support early childhood development (ECD) among conflict-affected communities in Tigray, Ethiopia, implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in partnership with the Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five initiative. The pilot—designed as a low-cost, scalable supplement to existing radio programming—sought to reach 200 households with fifteen audio episodes and related SMS content, repurposed from the ongoing REACH project.

Across nine weeks, the program delivered twenty SMS messages and nine IVR audio episodes, engaging 200 caregivers and reaching an estimated 400 children. Engagement data revealed critical gender differences: female caregivers demonstrated consistently higher full-listenership in the initial episodes, peaking at 69% in Week 3, while male engagement increased toward the later episodes, rising to 55% in Week 9. Overall, the proportion of fully engaged listeners grew steadily, with later episodes attracting over 300 fully engaged participants—evidence of improved retention and content resonance over time.

A central feature of the pilot was its adaptive, agile approach. Initial challenges, such as low uptake in Week 1 (69 full listeners against 106 rejections), prompted rapid iteration. The team introduced a structured four-day calling cycle with retries, which significantly improved listenership and ensured higher weekly engagement. This cycle, along with timely SMS reminders, provided the flexibility to continuously adjust delivery methods, demonstrating the value of iterative design in crisis education programming.

Cost analysis indicated an average of US$7.81 per child reached, excluding production and staffing costs. By repurposing pre-recorded radio content for IVR and leveraging localized vendor support, the program ensured affordability while maintaining relevance for targeted communities. Importantly, the use of low-tech, widely accessible channels proved resilient in fragile contexts where internet access is unreliable, reinforcing the role of mobile-based solutions in bridging educational divides.

The pilot also highlights opportunities for continuous improvement. Engagement analytics were systematically reviewed each week, guiding content scheduling, retry strategies, and gender-sensitive adaptations. Wrong feedback entries—initially dominated by female participants (60% in Week 1)—were addressed by refining IVR prompts, simplifying instructions, and clarifying response options. By the final weeks, incorrect entries declined significantly, showing the impact of iterative refinement. Such responsive feedback loops are critical in maintaining both educational quality and user trust in volatile environments.

The implications for peacebuilding are significant: IVR and SMS support education continuity, resilience, and psychosocial well-being in conflict, while participatory feedback fosters ownership, trust, and equity. This study argues that agile, low-cost, community-centered technologies can expand equitable access, strengthen social cohesion, and, through adaptive strategies, sustain impact so education remains a pathway to peace in fragile contexts.

Author

• Khurasan Ali Shah, International Rescue Committee