How can innovation be fostered in education for refugee children?

Innovation can be fostered by developing community-led, sustainable solutions, combining existing tools in new ways, leveraging technology where appropriate, and supporting non-profits through grants, mentorship, and masterclasses. Collaboration and sharing best practices are also essential.

What are the 'their world' Education Innovation Scale-up Awards?

These awards provide grants, masterclasses, and mentoring to promising non-profit education initiatives, focusing on scaling up community-led solutions to address educational crises and barriers like funding, skills, and evidence.

What issues are Ukrainian refugee children facing in the Netherlands?

While having access to education, satisfaction levels are often low due to insufficient Dutch language instruction and limited integration with Dutch peers. Many also lack access to extracurricular activities and face challenges related to privacy in shelters.

How can we create space for young people to innovate in emergency education?

This involves empowering young people to identify and address the gaps in their education. Initiatives like Oksana's architectural school and teen parties at Ukrainian House in Rotterdam provide creative outlets, foster social connection, and help build resilience.

What makes a successful network for education innovators?

Successful networks often have clear purposes and goals, timelines, and foster communities of practice around shared skills or challenges. Building partnerships with diverse organizations and sharing success stories are also key elements.

Key Moments

Three ways to foster education innovation: by, with and for child refugees - Migration Summit 2023

Q: What is the 'Fast Track' program?

Fast Track is a foundational skills development program by Area I in Nigeria that combines 'Teaching at the Right Level' methodology, bilingual instruction, and technology using an audio pen to provide literacy and numeracy to displaced children.

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May 4, 2023|84 views|1

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Key Moments

TL;DR

Innovating education delivery for child refugees through collaboration, sharing, and empowering young people.

Key Insights

Equitable education for child refugees is a critical challenge requiring urgent collaboration.

Innovation in refugee education involves reinventing existing tools and adapting them to new contexts.

Sharing information, resources, and best practices is vital for scaling successful educational innovations.

Empowering young refugees to lead and innovate within their own education is crucial.

Addressing systemic barriers like funding, skills gaps, and evidence generation is necessary for education innovation.

Community-led initiatives and local partnerships are key to effective and sustainable educational solutions.

THE URgency OF EQUITABLE EDUCATION FOR CHILD REFUGEES

Delivering high-quality, equitable education to child refugees is presented as a paramount challenge. The session emphasizes that every moment a child is excluded from education represents accumulated lost potential. This highlights the critical need for immediate, collaborative action from various stakeholders, including universities, social enterprises, policymakers, and governments, to address this urgent global issue and create pathways for learning, livelihoods, and dignity for displaced communities.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL: ADAPTIVE EDUCATIONAL APPROACHES

The approach of 'reinventing the wheel, but better' focuses on combining and adapting existing evidence-based teaching methodologies to specific contexts for displaced learners. An example is the 'Fast Track' program, which integrates 'Teaching at the Right Level' for ability-based learning clusters, a bilingual model utilizing native languages, and assistive technology like audio pens for translation. This innovative fusion aims to overcome foundational learning crises, especially affecting marginalized refugee children in conflict-affected areas.

THE POWER OF SHARING AND COLLABORATION IN INNOVATION

Angela highlights the critical role of 'sharing' in fostering education innovation. This involves campaigning for policy and financing frameworks, amplifying youth voices through programs like the Global Youth Ambassador program, and supporting community-led, innovative solutions. 'The World's' Education Innovation Scale-up Awards, a grant, masterclass, and mentoring program, specifically supports non-profits in scaling their initiatives by addressing barriers like funding, skills, and evidence generation. The program itself embodies a sharing-oriented approach, offering resources and networking opportunities.

CREATING SPACE: EMPOWERING YOUTH-LED INNOVATION

The 'step aside and create space' theme focuses on empowering young people to identify and fill the gaps in their emergency education. Research on Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands revealed that while access exists, satisfaction levels are often low due to integration issues and lack of extracurricular activities. Initiatives like the Ukrainian House in Rotterdam offer platforms for youth to lead projects, such as an architecture school addressing themes of 'home' or organizing parties for social connection. Such activities help youth process trauma, build resilience, and develop agency.

COMMUNITY-LED SOLUTIONS AND LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Strong emphasis is placed on community-led initiatives and grassroots solutions. Gideon's work with Area promotes community engagement in Northern Nigeria, while the Ukrainian House in Rotterdam operates largely on the power of volunteers who have themselves fled Ukraine, demonstrating the effectiveness of peer support. Partnership is key, whether it's between NGOs, local governments, or community members, to ensure that educational interventions are relevant, sustainable, and deeply rooted in the needs of the displaced communities they serve.

LEVERAGING EVIDENCE, LOW-COST TECHNOLOGY, AND NETWORKS

Effective innovation requires leveraging evidence generation and adoption, documenting what works to ensure impactful interventions, and utilizing low-cost, zero-tech programming. Successful networks are built around clear purposes, shared goals, and active participation, fostering communities of practice. Building these connections, whether through digital platforms, alumni networks, or cross-organizational collaborations, is vital for sharing best practices, holding institutions accountable, and advocating for the educational rights of displaced children.

Mentioned in This Episode

●Organizations

●Studies Cited

●Concepts

●People Referenced

Common Questions

Key challenges include a lack of foundational literacy and numeracy skills, difficulties in adapting to new educational systems, limited access to extracurricular and social activities, and issues with well-being and privacy, particularly for those living in shelters. Innovation and tailored approaches are crucial.

Topics

Child Refugees Emergency Education Foundational Skills Community-led Initiatives Scale-up Support Ukrainian Refugees

Mentioned in this video

Organizations

Naboo

An international children's literacy organization that was part of the first cohort of the Education Innovation Scale-up Awards, focused on creating native language storybooks.

Children on the Edge

An organization supported in Uganda for its innovative cluster learning approach to support caregivers and community members in early years education.

Ukrainian House in Rotterdam

A platform in Rotterdam, Netherlands, for Ukrainian arts and culture, initiated by the municipality, which provides space and support for community projects, including an architectural school for teenagers.

Ubongo

An organization that creates educational cartoons and was a winner of the first cohort of the Education Innovation Scale-up Awards, focusing on bringing content to learners without access to TV or phones.

Opora Foundation

A research organization that provided insights and research for the 'Step Aside' panel, focusing on displaced Ukrainian children in the Netherlands.

Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (Area I)

An organization working to provide access to quality programmatic interventions for children in rural communities and displaced areas in Northern Nigeria. Their program 'Fast Track' aims to improve foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

Hundred Nestor

A private sector accelerator and network organization consulted with by 'their world'.

Normal Quran Foundation

Co-organizer of the Migration Summit 2023.

Lebanese Alternative Learning

A tech-driven non-profit supported by 'their world' to provide support tools to teachers in remote areas via WhatsApp and other tools.

INE

A network organization consulted with by 'their world'.

Humanitarian Education Accelerator

An organization consulted with by 'their world' concerning supporting education innovation.

Kharkiv School of Architecture

Provided tutors for the architectural school at Ukrainian House in Rotterdam.

their world

A global children's charity that works on campaigning, advocacy, raising youth voices, and supporting innovative, community-led education solutions through grants and projects. They organize the Education Innovation Scale-up Awards.

Locations

Rotterdam

City in the Netherlands where Ukrainian House operates, providing a platform for arts, culture, and community projects, including an architectural school for teenagers.

People

Oksana Sapchuk

Coordinator at Ukrainian House in Rotterdam, leading a platform for Ukrainian arts and culture, and a speaker on the panel.

Gideon Oliver Ranju

Founder and CEO of Area I, an organization supporting displaced learners in Northern Nigeria, and a speaker on the panel.

Juliette Bonaparte

Researcher and Advocacy Specialist for Opora, a Netherlands-based research organization, and a speaker on the panel focusing on Ukrainian refugee education.

Ukrainian children

Displaced children from Ukraine whose access to education and well-being in the Netherlands has been researched by Opora.

Veronica Skoro Bogatko

Researcher at Opora, specializing in migration and identity, who focused on projects concerning Ukrainians abroad.

Concepts

SDG4

Sustainable Development Goal 4, related to quality education, mentioned in the context of holding a municipality accountable for commitments.

Teaching at the Right Level

A methodology used within the Fast Track program to group refugee children into learning clusters based on their capabilities.

Fast Track

A foundational skills development program combining functional literacy and numeracy skills, developed by Area I, using Teaching at the Right Level methodology, bilingual instruction, and technology-enabled instruction via an audio pen.

Studies & Research

Education Data Survey

Evidence from a 2017 survey revealing that 50% of children in primary 1-3 in Nigerian public schools cannot perform basic arithmetic at age 10.