THE URGENT NEEDS OF YOUNG CHILDREN · 2019-05-01 · 3 3 • Vision: Restore hope & opportunity to...

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THE URGENT NEEDS OF YOUNG CHILDREN

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• Vision: Restore hope & opportunity to a

generation of children affected by conflict

and crisis

• Goals:

– Develop & implement cost-effective,

scalable, and adaptable models that

improve cognitive & social-emotional

skills of young children in conflict settings

– Spark significant & sustained investment

in ECD in humanitarian crises by

national & international stakeholders and

policy-makers

• Grant: $100M award from MacArthur

Foundation ($51M to IRC) over 5 years in

partnership with Sesame Workshop and

NYU Global TIES

• Direct Implementation by IRC in 4

countries: Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq

Project Overview

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From Harm to Home | Rescue.org

Sesame Seeds is comprised of 3 core elements: Direct Services, Multimedia, and Influencing

Policy & Practice

Influencing

Policy &

Practice

Direct

Services

Multimedia

Who will lead?

▪ Build evidence base through

conducting and disseminating research

▪ Engage with and regularly update

ministries, donors, humanitarian agencies, and local NGOs

What will we deliver?

Video content for young children

(and co-viewing caregivers)

Delivered through TV series, YouTube, Public Service

Announcements

▪ Programs targeting young children

and their caregivers embedded within cross-sectoral humanitarian aid interventions

▪ Newly created content designed for this context and integration across

sectors

▪ Policy-makers and practitioners

make greater investments in ECD in conflict and crisis settings

▪ Young children affected by conflict

and displacement have greater access to ECD services

What will success look like?

Children have improved

socio-emotional skills

Children have improved

language, literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills

Program Models

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6


High-contact

early learning programs

for children 3-6 years based on

the Preschool Healing

Classroom curriculum infused

with Sesame content.

OutputsECCE Provider

Outcomes

Strategies

ECCE providers

• establish supportive, secure,

predictable and inclusive early

learning environments;

• demonstrate effective pedagogical

practices and play-based learning

activities Ahlan Simsim content;

• have attitudes that promote

gender equity and inclusion.

Low-contact, modular and

layered interventions

targeting young children

(0-8 years) including:

• Modular early learning

sessions in safe spaces and

service delivery centers;

• Sesame print and digital

content.

• Curricula, content,

implementation guides, and

monitoring tools developed and

adapted for target countries;

• Teachers, facilitators, supervisors

and support staff trained;

• Children attend early learning

programs for at least 100 contact

hours (for high-contact) or at least

6 hours of low-contact services.

Direct Services for Young Children

Child

Outcomes

Young children have

improved cognitive and

socio-emotional skills.

Indicates outputs/outcomes that will be monitored quarterly through KPIs

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Child Interventions

Mass Media through

Sesame Partnership

Modular Early

Learning Programs

Preschool

Classrooms

Giving parents, teachers,

and facilitators special training, materials, and capabilities to create an

outstanding play-based early learning environment in their

communities.

Making the best children’s

educational content in the world tailored to the unique needs of children who are

displaced.

Bringing IRC’s Healing

Classroom approach to preschools in crisis settings.

HIGH-CONTACTUNIVERSAL LOW-CONTACT

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Sesame Integration in Direct Services

Video Content

• Short-form videos for kids

Print Materials

• Facilitator Guides• Storybooks

• Activity Books

• Posters• DIY Games

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Sesame Integration

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PROGRAM # LOCATIONS # CLASSESCHILDREN

/CLASS#

CHILDREN# WEEKS # HOURS

3 days 12 28 25 700 27 280

5 days 8 months 21 50 22 1100 32 560

5 days 4 months 18 44 25 1100 16 280

TOTAL 51 122 2900

HOW CAN DATA GUIDE IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY?

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High-contact home visiting

for parents/caregivers of

children ages 0 to 3, based

on the Reach Up and Learn

model and infused with

Sesame and additional

parenting content.

Outputs Parent/

Caregiver

Outcomes

Strategies

Parents/Caregivers

• engage in responsive and

nurturing interactions;

• engage in play and

learning activities in the

home;

• have knowledge and

confidence in their role as

a parents/caregivers;

• have increased well-being

and reduced stress;

• have gender-equitable

attitudes.

Low-contact, modular and

layered interventions

targeting parents/caregivers

of young children ages 0 to 8

including:

• Parenting and

wellness programs

• Low-dosage home visiting

• Sesame print and

digital content

• Parenting videos and tips

• Curricula, content,

implementation guides,

and monitoring tools for

high-contact programs

are developed and

adapted for target

countries;

• Home visitors, facilitators

supervisors, and support

staff are trained;

• Caregivers and children

receive at least 12 hours

of home visiting services

(for high-contact) or 6

hours of services (for

low-contact)

Direct Services for Parents/Caregivers of Young Children

Child

Outcomes

Young children

have improved

cognitive and

socio-emotional

skills.

Facilitator

Outcomes

Home visitors/facilitators

• gain knowledge and skills

to provide supportive and

stimulating interactions

with parents/caregivers;

• appropriately use the

Ahlan Simsim curricula

and content.

Indicates outputs/outcomes that will be monitored quarterly through KPIs

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Caregiver Interventions

Parenting Tips and

Mobile SupportModular Parenting

Support Reach Up & Learn

Home Visiting

Adapting group-based

parenting modules, based on the evidence-based

Families Make the

Difference program.

Developing and adapting

mobile parenting support, training, and reminders for parents in displacement.

A play-based home visiting

model typically conducted weekly for up to two years,

targeting children

from 6 months to three and a half years of age.

UNIVERSAL HIGH-CONTACTLOW-CONTACT

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Trip 1

Content & Media

Trip 2

Channels & Messaging

Content

Adaptation

& testing

Media-type

testing

SMS trial

Channel

Prototyping

What We Did

Areas of Inquiry

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User Personas

Kawthar Myriam Leila Du’aa Mohamed

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Image here!

Testing

Mass SMS Messaging

Over 83,000 SMS

messages sent out to

parents in Lebanon and

Jordan, using IRC

databases from ECE

centers and Community

Health Volunteers

networks

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Our Findings

SMS: & and Embedded RCT

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COSTING AND BEST USE OF RESOURCES ANALYSES–REACH UP AND LEARN HOME VISITING

1. How do costs vary by program model type and by scale?

$13$16

$11

$10$13

$8

$0

$3$6

$9$12

$15$18

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000

Co

st p

er v

isit

Number of Visits

Total Cost(includes SPC)

Program Costs(ECD)

Education

Lebanon

(1,840 HHs)

$100/ HH

Health

Jordan

(1,600 HHs)

$118/ HH

Child

Protection

Jordan

(400 HHs)

$301/ HH

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COSTING AND BEST USE OF RESOURCES ANALYSES–

REACH UP AND LEARN HOME VISITING

23%

10%

26%

9%

1%

5%

26%

Cost Drivers Across All ECD Variations

Office Support Costs (OADM)

International Staff

National Staff

Travel

Capital Assets

Supplies & Materials

Facilitator Stipends

SAP Pilot Learnings

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0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

EDU WPE CP HEAL ERD VPRO

Thousands

Total Reach by Sector

Ahlan Simsim will be integrated across multiple sectors, with the largest reach coming

through Health

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Implementation will begin through IRC programs and NGO partners and will scale in later years through government

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Thousands

Direct

Partner

Government

We currently project reaching ~1.5 million children with direct services over the 5 years of the

grant, achieving scale primarily through partnerships with government

Ahlan Simsim Research Agenda

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What We Aim to Accomplish • Develop M&E systems that monitor critical elements (e.g., quality and child development)

specific to ECD in humanitarian settings

• Produce rigorous impact evaluation evidence (5 impact evaluations planned) of ECD programs integrating direct-service with mass media content in – Stable, long-term refugee contexts – Unstable, short-term, more recently displaced contexts

• Understand mechanisms and heterogeneity of effects of child-directed, caregiver-directed and mass media interventions in early childhood on child and family outcomes– identify factors to guide quality implementation of these interventions that may be

applicable to ECD in humanitarian settings

• Produce “Global Goods” measures that may aid in monitoring of ECD in humanitarian settings in MENA and worldwide, e.g.– child development– family functioning and caregiving – quality of services

Measurement

Impact Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation

Implementation research

Formative and Prototyping

Types of Research in Sesame Seeds

• Are services reaching the population (contact; Sesame exposure)?

• Are services provided with fidelity/quality?

• What are the factors that promote high quality provision of services?

• What are the barriers to fidelity / quality?

• What are the enabling factors needed to scale up?

• How do beneficiaries experience the programs?

• What is the causal impact of a program (home, center, mass media)?

• Intended to feed back into program management and improvement

• Ongoing throughout program lifecycle

• Intended to inform program quality improvements

• Better understanding of why and when program ‘’works”

• Intended to isolate the effect of the program from all other potential influences that could be contributing to outcomes

• Selected program models will undergo impact evaluations (two high-dose; two low-dose; and mass media)

Measurement

• Different measurement tools and methods depending on the intended use

• All measures need to validly measure the intended phenomenon – e.g.

• Attendance / Sesame viewing

• Quality of centers / caregiver-directed services

• Cog, S-E development

• Different demands• Feasibility (how long does

it take to collect data? What is level of skill/training required?)

• Measurement for monitoring, impact evaluation, vs formative

Imp

act

Eval

uat

ion

Imp

lem

enta

tio

n

Res

earc

hM

&E

What this helps us answer How these findings will be used

Five Impact Evaluations

• 5 longitudinal impact evaluations (generally cluster randomized trials)

1. Caregiver-directed, High-Contact

2. Caregiver-directed, Low-Contact

3. Child-directed (center), High-Contact

4. Child-directed (center), Low-Contact

5. Mass media evaluation

• Primary outcomes:• Child learning and development

• Hypothesized mechanisms (& moderators): • Parenting / nurturing care

• Parent/caregiver well-being

• Service quality (e.g., classroom or home visit quality)

• Neurobiology

Qualitative research agenda

• Qualitative research led in Jordan and Lebanon by Ifrah Magan, NYU • Areas of focus:

• Goals for child development • Views of socialization • Contexts – daily routines; social cohesion and intergroup relations • Perceptions of services – relative to routines and socialization goals; cultural “match”

or “mismatch” as well as broader experiences of implementation

• Longitudinal design – follow families; understand programming in context; factors driving mobility; sources of stress / resilience

• Document services and contexts – multiple qualitative methods • Informants – caregivers, family members, providers, higher-level

administrative and systems informants including about scaling processes

Examples of “Global [or Regional] Goods” Measures – Quality

• Adaptation of HOVRS (observational Home Visit Rating Scale) to understand general quality of visitor-parent interaction [Jordan]• Relationship Building with Family • Responsiveness to Family Strengths and Cultures • Facilitation of Parent-Child Interaction • Collaboration with Parent • Fidelity Subscale [for specific home visiting curriculum – e.g. Reach Up]

• Teacher Child Observation (TCO) adapted from MELQO MELE quality tool [Lebanon PHC]• Potential adaptation for low-contact child models

• TBD: Observational caregiver-group quality assessment

• Parent-child interactions: PICCOLO adaptation

Examples of “Global [or Regional] Goods” Measures – Early Childhood Development • Adaptation of the MDAT [Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool] for

the Levant region of the Middle East [for 0-3 year olds] • Collaboration with Melissa Gladstone (Univ of Liverpool); Pia Zeinoun and

Lama Charafeddine (Am Univ of Beirut)

• Validate with other 0-3 measures [Jordan]

• Development / adaptation of measures of emotion identification and regulation [to capture impacts of Season 1 of Ahlan Simsim broadcast show] [preprimary age]

Examples of “Global Goods” - methods

• Integrating qualitative methods into impact evaluation in humanitarian contexts

• Approaches to assessing biomarkers of physiological stress processes in humanitarian contexts

• Capacity building in enriching pipeline of local researchers and enhancing culturally anchored research methods

• Integrating measurement approaches with government and NGO-based M&E in ECD in humanitarian contexts

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