Rene Celaya, Managing Director of Ahlan Simsim, reflects on Sesame Workshop and IRC’s progress in 2018 on their 100&Change project to support early childhood education in the Syrian response region.
It has been just over a year and a half since Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) participated in MacArthur’s inaugural 100&Change competition and were awarded a $100 million grant for Ahlan Simsim, our five-year joint program bringing early learning and nurturing care to children affected by the Syrian conflict and displacement across the Middle East.
We are excited to share the Executive Summary of our 2018 Ahlan Simsim Annual Report, which highlights our key program updates. Year one of Ahlan Simsim began with a nine-month Discovery Phase: a time to revisit our assumptions, understand the opportunities and challenges to implementing in a dynamic context, and align our partnership, educational objectives, content, and staffing around the program’s ambitions.