What is Hello Future's mission for refugee teens?

Hello Future is a non-profit founded in 2016 that aims to bridge the education gap for adolescent refugees. Its mission is to transform the refugee youth experience from feeling forgotten and stuck to feeling connected and empowered, enabling them to thrive anywhere.

How does Muhammad Thamer relate to the refugee experience?

Muhammad Thamer, the lead trainer for Hello Future in Iraqi Kurdistan, had to flee his hometown of Baghdad in 2007 due to dangerous situations. This personal experience provides him with a strong emotional connection and motivation to work with refugees.

What is the objective of today's Hello Future workshop?

The workshop's objective is to dive deep into understanding the experiences of refugee teens, particularly focusing on their user journey. This aims to help practitioners design better programs, interventions, and support systems to aid them in their educational and life trajectories.

What is the living situation like in Arbat Refugee Camp?

Arbat Refugee Camp, located outside Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, consists of houses with concrete walls and metal roofs. While some main roads are paved by UNHCR, others are muddy in winter and dusty in summer. The camp contains shops, a pizza restaurant, a women's salon, a mosque, a PlayStation store, barbershops, a small green park, and three schools.

What are Arwa's educational aspirations and challenges?

Arwa, a 17-year-old Syrian refugee, enjoys natural sciences, especially physics, and dreams of working for NASA. However, she faces financial pressure for early marriage, limited school resources, overworked teachers, and internet issues while using YouTube for self-study due to her limited English.

Why is it difficult to get deep insights from refugee interviewees?

Interviewees may be reluctant to share private details with strangers due to general suspicion, or they might feel overwhelming due to their age and lack of authority to assert privacy. Additionally, they may feel shame about their displacement and trauma, and cultural norms often discourage expressing personal feelings. The rote memorization-based education system also limits their ability to articulate complex thoughts and feelings.

What is the 'How Might We' statement developed for Arwa?

The 'How Might We' statement is: "How might we co-design an informal education pathway for young married refugees in order to be complementary to her existing reality, so that she can increase economic power, social currency, and internalized self-worth?"

What challenges are associated with informal education for married refugee women?

Challenges include obtaining internet access, hardware costs, lack of a clear learning roadmap, absence of mentorship, social pressure from friends and neighbors, difficulty staying motivated and consistent without formal structure, and the lack of official certification and workplace recognition.

What are some initial ideas for an informal education pathway for Arwa?

Initial ideas include creating small motivational groups, providing access to online resources like Duolingo and Khan Academy, ensuring Wi-Fi and technology access, securing community support and childcare, and defining archetypal pathway outcomes such as becoming a translator, starting a small craft business, or working as an assistant for a partner organization.

What questions do participants want to ask Arwa next to refine solutions?

Participants want to ask Arwa about achievable job adjacencies, her receptivity to co-creation, anticipated challenges as a co-creator, who in her community would be helpful or a barrier, her preferred learning methods (online, in-group), gathering space challenges, available time commitment, and what motivates her and helps her stay accountable within her new married reality.

Key Moments

The Learning Journey for Refugee Teens: Understanding opportunities for this forgotten cohort - I

MIT OpenCourseWare

Education3 min read138 min video

May 27, 2022|37 views|1

Migration Summit MIT ReACT Higher Education Workforce Development Displacement Refugees

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Key Moments

TL;DR

Exploring refugee teens' educational journey via design thinking workshops to create better support systems.

Key Insights

Refugee teens face significant obstacles in education and livelihood due to their displacement.

Design thinking and journey mapping are crucial for understanding and addressing the needs of this often-overlooked demographic.

Empathy-building exercises, like role-playing refugee archetypes, highlight the gap between practitioners' assumptions and lived realities.

Cultural norms, family pressures, and limited resources (internet, materials) significantly impact educational opportunities for refugee teens.

The process of co-creation with refugee learners is essential for developing effective and relevant educational programs.

Finding a balance between self-worth, economic potential, and community contribution is vital for designing impactful solutions.

UNDERSTANDING THE MIGRATION SUMMIT AND HELLO FUTURE'S MISSION

The session, part of the Migration Summit 2022, focuses on education and workforce development for displaced learners. Hello Future, a non-profit founded in 2016, aims to bridge the education gap for adolescent refugees by transforming their experience from feeling forgotten to becoming empowered. Their approach emphasizes transforming the refugee youth experience from one of isolation and stagnation to one of connection and empowerment, enabling them to thrive regardless of their circumstances.

THE WORKSHOP OBJECTIVE: EMPATHY THROUGH JOURNEY MAPPING

The core objective of this two-day workshop is to utilize design thinking, specifically user journey mapping, to deeply understand the perspectives of refugee teens. By embodying the experiences of a 14-year-old refugee student, participants aim to identify obstacles and chart educational and livelihood opportunities. This process seeks to uncover the critical hard and soft skills required for successful learning and development by uncovering a broad spectrum of essential needs and aspirations.

EMBODIMENT EXERCISE: ROLE-PLAYING REFUGEE ARCHETYPES

Participants engaged in an empathy-building exercise by embodying composite character sketches of refugee teens, Arwa and Idris. This involved role-playing as the refugee student and as interviewers to explore their challenges, aspirations, and daily lives. The exercise highlighted the difficulties practitioners face in authentically understanding lived refugee experiences, emphasizing the need to move beyond assumptions and engage in deeper, more sensitive inquiry.

CHALLENGES IN INTERVIEWING AND UNDERSTANDING REFUGEE TEENS

The role-playing exercise revealed numerous challenges in interviewing refugee teens. These included the difficulty of embodying an unfamiliar reality, the superficiality that can arise from standard interview questions, cultural barriers to expressing emotions, the impact of trauma, and the inherent power dynamics between interviewers and interviewees. Concerns about privacy, shame, and the lack of authority to question sensitive information further complicated the process.

NAVIGATING EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS: FORMAL VS. INFORMAL LEARNING

The discussion shifted to mapping potential educational pathways, particularly focusing on the complexities faced by married refugee females like the archetype Arwa. Challenges in both formal and informal education were explored, including time demands, internet access, costs, lack of mentorship, social pressure, and the need for recognition. The dilemma of balancing personal aspirations with familial and cultural expectations emerged as a central theme, especially for those marrying early.

CO-CREATION AND DESIGNING SOLUTIONS FOR INFORMAL EDUCATION

The latter part of the session focused on ideation for informal education pathways, emphasizing co-creation with refugee learners. This involved identifying stakeholders, understanding their needs, and collaboratively designing solutions. Potential avenues included motivational groups, access to online resources, and tailored learning pathways leading to specific outcomes like translation or small business entrepreneurship. The importance of building trust, providing support networks, and empowering refugees as co-creators, rather than recipients, was strongly underscored.

Mentioned in This Episode

●Software & Apps

●Companies

●Organizations

●Concepts

●People Referenced

Common Questions

The Migration Summit 2022 is a month-long global event organized by MIT Refugee Action Hub, NaTakallam Foundation, Paper Airplanes, and MIT J-WEL. It aims to connect diverse communities, universities, companies, and governments to address challenges and opportunities for refugee and migrant communities, focusing this year on education and workforce development.

Topics

Mental Health & Psychology Society & Philosophy Community Engagement Psychosocial Support Refugee Education Cultural Sensitivity User Journey Mapping Adolescent Development Informal Learning

Mentioned in this video

organizationNaTakallam Foundation

An organization that co-organizes the Migration Summit 2022, mentioned as a partner.

cityIstanbul

A city in Turkey where Ketum Foundation has one of its houses for supporting refugees.

organizationNASA

Arwa's aspiration is to work for NASA, indicating an interest in natural sciences and space.

companyIDEO

A design firm known for its human-centered approach, mentioned in the context of how big practitioners roll out design thinking methodologies.

personMuhammad Thamer

Lead Trainer for Hello Future, based in Iraqi Kurdistan, who fled Baghdad and relates to the refugee experience, co-hosting the workshop.

organizationInternational Rescue Committee

Andrew Krantz is on the advisory board of this organization, which supports communities affected by conflict and disaster.

locationReyhanlı

A town in southern Turkey on the Syrian border, where Ketum Foundation has one of its houses for supporting refugees.

organizationUNHCR

The UN Refugee Agency, mentioned as paving some roads in the Arbat refugee camp.

toolYouTube

Arwa uses YouTube to supplement her educational studies, learning about it from her teacher, but faces challenges with English captions and internet access.

locationIraqi Kurdistan

The region where Hello Future has been working with Syrian refugees since 2016.

locationGeneva

Isabella, a participant, is based in Geneva, Switzerland, working for Jesuit Worldwide Learning.

locationAbu Dhabi

Sonia, a participant, is currently based in Abu Dhabi.

locationLatvia

Elsa, a participant, has worked with migrants and refugees in Latvia.

toolUkraine

Janice Kaye's fashion company launched an initiative to work with Ukrainian artists and those in the profile field.

toolKhan Academy

An online resource suggested for informal education pathways.

organizationPaper Airplanes

An organization that co-organizes the Migration Summit 2022, mentioned as a partner.

locationUruguay

Camila, a participant, works with MIT REact as the coordinator for their program in Uruguay.

organizationKenya

Location of the Kakuma refugee camp, where Jesuit Worldwide Learning offers higher education.

locationMalawi

Location of the Dzaleka refugee camp, where Jesuit Worldwide Learning offers higher education.

organizationUNESCO

Jennifer, a participant, has worked with UNESCO on post-conflict and post-disaster education programming.

locationEritrea

Rizani is from an Eritrean family residing as a refugee.

organizationHello Future

A non-profit organization founded in 2016 that bridges the education gap for adolescent refugees, working in Iraqi Kurdistan with Syrian refugees.

locationBaghdad

Muhammad Thamer fled his hometown of Baghdad in 2007 due to the dangerous situation there.

conceptDesign Thinking

The methodology emphasized in the workshop, focusing on user journey mapping and empathy to design better programs for refugee teens.

locationKakuma

A refugee camp in Kenya where Jesuit Worldwide Learning offers higher education.

locationDzaleka

A refugee camp in Malawi where Jesuit Worldwide Learning offers higher education.

toolSyria

Elsa has worked in Syria, and Arwa is a composite character from Kobani in Syria.

organizationMIT Refugee Action Hub

An organization that co-organizes the Migration Summit 2022, focusing on building bridges for displaced learners and communities.

organizationMIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab

An organization that co-organizes the Migration Summit 2022, playing a key role in global education initiatives.

toolIraq

Muhammad Thamer is based in the Iraqi region of Kurdistan, and internally displaced people from Iraq are served by Jesuit Worldwide Learning.

groupSyrian refugees

The primary group Hello Future serves, working with them in Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey.

organizationJesuit Worldwide Learning

An organization that offers higher education for refugees in camps like Kakuma (Kenya) and Dzaleka (Malawi), and for internally displaced people in Iraq.

toolNew York City

Amy Patterson is based in New York City, working as a director for foundation programs at Urban Arts.

locationTurkey

Where Ketum Foundation primarily carries out its work, with houses on the Syrian border (Reyhanlı) and in Istanbul.

personCharlie Grosso

Founder and Executive Director for Hello Future, based in Boston, who works with Syrian refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan and is co-hosting the workshop.

locationArbat Refugee Camp

A refugee camp in northern Iraq, outside Sulaymaniyah, where Hello Future works with Syrian refugees. The camp environment with concrete walls, metal roofs, shops, recreational areas, and schools was described.

locationBoston

Charlie Grosso, founder of Hello Future, is in Boston, where she was initially confused about the workshop location.

countrySwitzerland

Isabella, a participant, is based in Geneva, Switzerland, working for Jesuit Worldwide Learning.

organizationUrban Arts

An organization based in New York City that teaches computer science through video game design to middle and high school students.

organizationKetum Foundation

An organization focused on supporting Syrian refugees with innovative education programs for teens, primarily in Turkey.

organizationNew York University Abu Dhabi

Sonia and Elsa, participants, are students studying at NYU Abu Dhabi.

locationEthiopia

Rizani, a student, is an Eritrean family residing in Ethiopia as a refugee.