Promoting Children's Learning Outcomes in Conflict-Affected Countries: Evidence for Action in Niger
Lead Research Organisation:
New York University
Department Name: NYU Steinhardt (Culture Edu & Human Dev)
Abstract
Children in conflict-affected countries (CACs) experience profound constraints on their academic learning and socioemotional well-being. Children exposed to violence and poverty come to "school" (formal or non-formal education settings) with poor executive function skills (e.g. working memory, inhibition, attention), emotional/behavioral regulation skills and social-information-processing skills. And the formal and non-formal "schools" they attend rarely use effective strategies to advance their academic and socioemotional skills.
What can be done? This project aims to develop both scientific and practical knowledge about how to lift these constraints on children in CACs like Niger. First, we propose to adapt and test novel, low-cost, targeted interventions (LCTs) like Mindfulness (MI) and Brain Games (BG) designed to improve children's executive function, emotional/behavioral regulation and social information-processing skills and, subsequently, their literacy and numeracy skills and socioemotional well-being.
Second, even when interventions like MI and BG work, they often work better for some children, in some classrooms and schools, and under some conditions than for others. So this study will examine whether variability in the quality of implementation (e.g. dosage, fidelity) of MI and BG results in the variability in their impacts on children's learning and development in Niger.
Third and finally, these types of complex interactions among students, teachers, "schools" and program interventions (like remedial support programs) are embedded in larger systems and broader contexts that may constrain or enable quality implementation of program strategies (such as MI and BG). But there is very little high-quality, rigorous research, grounded in social and systems theories, available in CACs to understand how these higher-level systems influence the dynamic interactions of schools, programs, classrooms, teachers and students. So we will conduct a theory-building qualitative study embedded in the school cluster-randomized field test of MI and BG and their implementation. Through this project, we hope to (a) achieve a dynamic, multi-level understanding of efforts to improve learning processes and outcomes for refugee, IDP, and local children in Niger and other CACs; (b) contribute to the synthesis of the developmental, educational, prevention and social sciences in theory and method; and (c) have a catalytic effect on the education in emergencies sector by identifying effective, scalable strategies that improve children's learning and development.
What can be done? This project aims to develop both scientific and practical knowledge about how to lift these constraints on children in CACs like Niger. First, we propose to adapt and test novel, low-cost, targeted interventions (LCTs) like Mindfulness (MI) and Brain Games (BG) designed to improve children's executive function, emotional/behavioral regulation and social information-processing skills and, subsequently, their literacy and numeracy skills and socioemotional well-being.
Second, even when interventions like MI and BG work, they often work better for some children, in some classrooms and schools, and under some conditions than for others. So this study will examine whether variability in the quality of implementation (e.g. dosage, fidelity) of MI and BG results in the variability in their impacts on children's learning and development in Niger.
Third and finally, these types of complex interactions among students, teachers, "schools" and program interventions (like remedial support programs) are embedded in larger systems and broader contexts that may constrain or enable quality implementation of program strategies (such as MI and BG). But there is very little high-quality, rigorous research, grounded in social and systems theories, available in CACs to understand how these higher-level systems influence the dynamic interactions of schools, programs, classrooms, teachers and students. So we will conduct a theory-building qualitative study embedded in the school cluster-randomized field test of MI and BG and their implementation. Through this project, we hope to (a) achieve a dynamic, multi-level understanding of efforts to improve learning processes and outcomes for refugee, IDP, and local children in Niger and other CACs; (b) contribute to the synthesis of the developmental, educational, prevention and social sciences in theory and method; and (c) have a catalytic effect on the education in emergencies sector by identifying effective, scalable strategies that improve children's learning and development.
Planned Impact
Through the activities described in the "Pathways to Impact" attachment, we will proactively build links and relationships throughout all stages in the development and implementation of this proposal. We will continue to engage a broad range of direct and potentially indirect beneficiaries.
PRINCIPAL DIRECT BENEFICIARIES:
1. The International Rescue Committee in Niger, as well as the other 12+ conflict-affected countries in which they are providing education in emergencies. IRC benefits from this research by: (1) advancing their commitment to becoming an evidence-using and evidence-generating humanitarian and development aid organization, from country-level staff deeply involved in local program delivery and national policy advocacy to regional and global technical advisory units in Education (programming) and Research, Evaluation and Learning (knowledge generation, management use); (2) facilitating their development of and rigorous evaluations of theories of change; and (3) developing a knowledge base that enables IRC to invest in education strategies that work and discard strategies that do not.
2. Other international, national and local NGOs working in CACs committed to developing and using evidence-based strategies to educate children both in Niger and in other CACs. These other beneficiaries will potentially benefit from: (1) witnessing the existence proof that NGOs can generate and use research-based strategies to improve children's learning and development; and (2) drawing on the evidence generated outside their organizations to adopt strategies that work inside their organizations.
3. National and local governments in Niger and other CACs, who are struggling to develop an information infrastructure in their countries and to attract and intelligently spend national and foreign resources to effectively educate their children in the midst of emergencies.
4. Other policymakers and opinion leaders (e.g. the UN, World Bank) and global initiatives (e.g. Global Partnership for Education).
PRINCIPAL INDIRECT BENEFICIARIES:
1. If the LCT interventions (Mindfulness, Brain Games) improve the learning and development of children in Niger, then those children, their teachers, parents, and communities will also benefit. (We do not describe children, teachers, parents, and communities as direct beneficiaries because we cannot know a priori that they will benefit from LCTs, which is precisely why we will conduct this study.)
2. Similarly, if we succeed at the methodological advances and transdisciplinary theory-building to which we aspire, the larger research community, not only in CACs but in other low- and middle-income countries as well, will benefit from these methods and theories. They will also benefit from the existence proof that very high-quality research in the social, behavioral, developmental, and educational sciences can be achieved even under the most difficult socio-political circumstances.
PRINCIPAL DIRECT BENEFICIARIES:
1. The International Rescue Committee in Niger, as well as the other 12+ conflict-affected countries in which they are providing education in emergencies. IRC benefits from this research by: (1) advancing their commitment to becoming an evidence-using and evidence-generating humanitarian and development aid organization, from country-level staff deeply involved in local program delivery and national policy advocacy to regional and global technical advisory units in Education (programming) and Research, Evaluation and Learning (knowledge generation, management use); (2) facilitating their development of and rigorous evaluations of theories of change; and (3) developing a knowledge base that enables IRC to invest in education strategies that work and discard strategies that do not.
2. Other international, national and local NGOs working in CACs committed to developing and using evidence-based strategies to educate children both in Niger and in other CACs. These other beneficiaries will potentially benefit from: (1) witnessing the existence proof that NGOs can generate and use research-based strategies to improve children's learning and development; and (2) drawing on the evidence generated outside their organizations to adopt strategies that work inside their organizations.
3. National and local governments in Niger and other CACs, who are struggling to develop an information infrastructure in their countries and to attract and intelligently spend national and foreign resources to effectively educate their children in the midst of emergencies.
4. Other policymakers and opinion leaders (e.g. the UN, World Bank) and global initiatives (e.g. Global Partnership for Education).
PRINCIPAL INDIRECT BENEFICIARIES:
1. If the LCT interventions (Mindfulness, Brain Games) improve the learning and development of children in Niger, then those children, their teachers, parents, and communities will also benefit. (We do not describe children, teachers, parents, and communities as direct beneficiaries because we cannot know a priori that they will benefit from LCTs, which is precisely why we will conduct this study.)
2. Similarly, if we succeed at the methodological advances and transdisciplinary theory-building to which we aspire, the larger research community, not only in CACs but in other low- and middle-income countries as well, will benefit from these methods and theories. They will also benefit from the existence proof that very high-quality research in the social, behavioral, developmental, and educational sciences can be achieved even under the most difficult socio-political circumstances.
Publications
Aber, J.L.
(2021)
Children's learning and development in conflict- and crisis-affected countries: Building a science for action
in Development and Psychopathology
Brown L
(2022)
Remedial Programming and Skill-Targeted SEL in Low-Income and Crisis-Affected Contexts: Experimental Evidence From Niger
in Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness
Brown, L.
(2019)
Examining the Enumerator Effect: Improving data quality through enumerator observation
in NORRAG Special Issue 03: Data Collection and Evidence Building to Support Education in Emergencies
Ford C
(2019)
A cognitive assessment tool designed for data collection in the field in low- and middle-income countries
in Research in Comparative and International Education
| Description | For years one and two, we have generated evidence that the literacy and numeracy skills of children who had access to the Healing Classrooms Tutoring program (HCT) improved when compared to children who did not have access to the program. This indicates that learning opportunities outside of the formal system provide students with extra assistance to increase their academic achievement and hopefully prolong their academic career. Additionally, children's school grades increased in comparison to their peers when targeted socio-emotional activities were added to the tutoring program. As school grades often include non-cognitive skills such as persistence and effort, this could indicate a precursor to a performance increase in SEL and/or academic skills. For Social-emotional skills, we have a found across Lebanon and Niger that the addition of mindfulness activities to the Healing Classrooms tutoring program has had a stronger, more positive impact than Brain Games, which target executive functioning. This was somewhat surprising as anecdotally, the Brain games were better received by participants. In Niger, we found that students in the "HCT + SEL" group (for mindfulness) were better able to regulate their feelings of sadness than those in the tutoring alone. We found no impacts of Brain Games on measured SEL skills that were able to withstand adjustment of p-values for multiple comparison testing. We found that the program had positive impacts for vulnerable populations within the Nigerien context. There is preliminary evidence that female students benefited disproportionally from the Learning in a Healing Classroom program when compared to boys; this is important in a country of historical gender inequity like Niger. Additionally, there is evidence that refugee students benefit more academically than non-refugee students. In terms of measurement, we have produced evidence of how several social-emotional tools function (or do not function) in a Sub-Saharan, crisis context. In order to understand how children's SEL skills develop and how various programming affects that development, we must first have valid tools to measure these skills. In addition to piloting and adapting vignette-based tools, we also validated a performance-based tool to measure aspects of executive functioning (RACER). Through our qualitative work, we have investigated the various ways that shareholders at different levels (National, regional, local) think about both the purpose of schooling and SEL activities embedded within academics as well as the activities' fit for the context and coordination among stakeholders. Broadly, there were different definitions and conceptions about social-emotional learning and who is the intended target for such activities depending on the stakeholder. For example, those in Niamey (the capital) were more likely to see the activities as targeted psycho-social support for a geographically vulnerable location within the country. For those in Diffa (the "field"), they saw the activities as a universal tool to target academic outcomes. Teachers were likely to see the activities as ways to manage their classrooms. |
| Exploitation Route | Two randomized trials in Africa have now provided evidence that the IRC's Learning in a Healing Classroom model of social-emotional learning-infused teacher training and curriculum works across delivery modes and contexts to improve children's academic skills in crisis contexts. Those who train teachers may consider incorporating social-emotional learning principles into the academic curriculum. Governments and NGOs are recommended to support a remedial tutoring program aligned with the country's national curriculum for literacy and numeracy as an effective retention and learning support program. International donors are encouraged to consider investing in non-formal education in addition to formal learning opportunities. For research-practice partnerships, we recommend fortifying and capacitating monitoring & evaluation systems prior to and in conjunction with formal research as well as framing "evaluation research" as "learning how to make programs as effective as possible". |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare |
| URL | https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/mhm327/3EA-Niger_Impact_Brief_2.1.pdf |
| Description | This research-practice partnership has immediate impact embedded in its theory of change. Study findings were fed back to the in-country program team as well as educational leadership at the International Rescue Committee, where they are used to inform educational programming in 3EA countries and beyond. For example, evidence that social-emotional learning activities may have academic impacts beyond participation in academic tutoring bolsters programs to provide services. Study results and accompanying curricula have been shared with West African UNESCO team, who are following the research. In addition to its relevance for practice, there has been sharing of best research practices regionally. Research tools, measures, and practices developed in Niger are being shared to inform internal IRC research that is in development in neighboring Nigeria. Recently, as IRC and NYU-TIES are working together on the ERICC consortium, we are using findings from 3EA broadly and Niger specifically to ensure high-quality research and data collection among the challenging contexts we will encounter in that project. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | ESRC-DFID research for policy and practice: gender and education |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| URL | https://www.theimpactinitiative.net/resources/esrc-dfid-research-policy-and-practice-gender-and-educ... |
| Description | Enumerator Training |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Team members authored an article aimed at those who collect data in emergency contexts, urging them to consider how they select, train, and monitor data collectors using methods developed as part of this project. |
| Description | Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Description | Policy Brief |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Description | Systematic Review on SEL and soft skills in development and humanitarian settings |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in systematic reviews |
| URL | https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00XSK2.pdf |
| Description | UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents Hub |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | World Bank Human Development Week 2019 (Invited Presentation on implementing SEL in Conflict) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | E-Cubed |
| Amount | $487,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | Dubai Cares |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Arab Emirates |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 08/2021 |
| Description | Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) |
| Amount | £15,800,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | PO 10084 |
| Organisation | Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2021 |
| End | 11/2024 |
| Description | Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action (3EA) |
| Amount | $8,000,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | Dubai Cares |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Arab Emirates |
| Start | 03/2016 |
| End | 01/2018 |
| Title | Data cleaning and organizing programs written and shared on open-access programming sites. |
| Description | Niger data was *very* challenging to work with, and we spent a significant amount of time and manpower to clean it. As a result, we hired a data team to help us generate automated programs that could do some of the work that we were doing manually. The data team wrote programming code to clean and organize data quickly and efficiently and shared it on open-access sites in order to support other organizations who are working with messy data as a result of challenging contexts. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Inside our organization, we have been able to clean data in a fraction of the time. Outside of our organization, we are unsure of the impact. |
| Title | Enumerator Observation Measure |
| Description | It is widely understood that those hired and trained to collect research data have a large and lasting effect on resulting data quality; this is particularly true in developing contexts, where conditions are unpredictable. Yet we are not aware of standardized, evidence-based core competencies of data collector quality. As part of our work in Niger, Dr. Brown and Research Manager Erick Ngoga developed an observation protocol designed around inductively- and deductively-generated core competencies of data collector quality. Additional information on what traits, skills, and behaviors predict high-quality data collector performance can focus successful recruitment and selection of staff. Post-selection, even highly-screened staff will require further development through training in specific data instruments-and in many developing settings, on data collection procedures more widely. While it has been demonstrated that training results in improved performance of data collectors, few resources exist to operationalize what core skills and competencies should be targeted in their training. Following training, close monitoring of data collection can quickly identify and remedy issues; the observation tool can standardize the process of data monitoring as well as serving as a scaffold for supervisors to provide targeted feedback and ongoing development of data collectors. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Dr. Brown and Erick Ngoga presented on the development of the tool at the DFID PRL Africa conference in Johannesburg. They also co-authored an article in the NORRAG Special Issue (#02) on data collection and evidence building to support education in emergencies. |
| Title | Data Cleaning Toolkit |
| Description | Developed new software to assist in the data management of complex longitudinal studies, focusing on how to properly link multiple waves of data and safely apply transformations to said data in an automated and thoroughly documented manner. Such transformations can only be trusted if they operate on verified data, and the software that checks and applies fixes to raw data was overhauled to include more safeguards that check data integrity. We plan to post this toolkit so that it is publicly available. |
| Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | We do not yet know of any external impacts. However, internally, our data cleaning and processing abilities are growing by leaps and bounds. We have a dedicated data team that is efficiently processing and linking data for this project over the multiple data waves (2 or 3 per year), years (2 years total), subjects (teachers, students, pedagogical advisers, etc.), and data collection platforms (ASER, Tangerine, Open Data Kit, and RACER). |
| Title | Learning in a Healing Classroom Video Database |
| Description | As part of 3EA and the work funded by ESRC-DFID, we are collecting classroom video data in Niger. Along with funding from other sources, we are also collecting video of classroom data in Sierra Leone and Lebanon. Together, we will begin to build a library of practice to understand how instructional practices look in different contexts. We will also have data to illustrate a quality continuum of practices for coaches and teachers. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This is still under collection, so not notable impacts as of yet. |
| Title | Longitudinal database of student SEL development |
| Description | Little is known about how students' SEL developmental trajectory in LMIC, particularly those that are conflict-affected. With the help of ESRC-DFID, we are in the final stages of validating our database that contains student SEL outcomes at 5 different time points over the course of two years. We anticipate making this publicly available (de-identified) by the end of 2020. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Understanding students' developmental trajectories will allow us to further investigate what intervenes with or accelerates the existing trajectory. It also can assist with setting developmentally-appropriate targets for SEL skill development, among other things. |
| Title | Low-Cost Targeted SEL practices Video Database |
| Description | As part of 3EA and the work funded by ESRC-DFID, we are collecting classroom video data in Niger of teachers implementing Brain Games activities. Along with funding from other sources, we are also collecting video of classroom data in Sierra Leone and Lebanon. Together, we will begin to build a library of practice to understand how Low-Cost targete SEL practices look in different contexts. We will also have data to illustrate a quality continuum of practices for coaches and teachers. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This data is still under collection so no impacts as of yet. |
| Description | Education Research in Conflict and protracted Crisis (ERICC) |
| Organisation | International Rescue Committee |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | NYU-TIES' Larry Aber is the founding Research Director of this new, multi-country consortium with several members of TIES serving as co-PIs and/or on the research directorate. NYU-TIES leads the research directorate and co-leads one of 6 cross-cutting themes within the consortium: Quality and Learning. TIES is responsible for upholding the scientific rigor of the project's studies and has drafted an organizing conceptual framework of research in conflict and protracted crisis to synthesize studies and evidence within and beyond the consortium. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The International Rescue Committee is the lead organizer of the ERICC consortium, accountable for overall program management, in-country research leadership in two regional hubs (Syria region; Nigeria & South Sudan), thematic leadership for the Protection and Inclusion theme and the Cost Effective Delivery theme, as well as leading on the component 2 mechanisms for 1) Demand driven call down mechanism for technical advice and small scale studies and 2) Program piloting, scale-up & strengthening grants. |
| Impact | There is a draft research framework for the consortium and several active working groups. The project is in its inception phase. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action (3EA) |
| Organisation | International Rescue Committee |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The research findings in the DR Congo generated with the support of ESRC/DfID grant ES/M004732/1 directly shaped both the programmatic and research design of a new New York University Global TIES for Children (TIES) and International Rescue Committee (IRC) initiative, Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action (3EA). We present specific research findings in the Key Findings section. More broadly, however, we learned that the IRC's model teacher professional development/integrated curricular intervention (hereafter, Learning in a Healing Classroom (LHC)) does show promise: after one year of implementation in two different cohorts, LIHC increased the supportiveness of teachers and schools (Effect Size (ES) = .15-.22), while also improving literacy (ES = .14-.21) and numeracy skills (ES = .14-.32). The evaluation also indicated areas that need improvement, in terms of (a) maintaining program effects as the program is scaled up; and (b) increasing impact on social-emotional outcomes. With these results in hand, we conducted a workshop with the IRC to decide what adjustments needed to be made in order to improve the effectiveness of the IRC's education in emergencies programming, currently being implemented in 12+ countries around the world. We concluded that: 1. Brief, affordable, and targeted social-emotional and literacy strategies should be added to the LIHC curriculum in order to better address children's mental health and well-being, as well as to bolster children's reading and math skills. 2. Future research should include a focus on program implementation in order to understand why impacts faded out over time. The 3EA initiative is testing the impact of adding such targeted strategies to the LHC curriculum in three different emergency contexts (see below): in one region deeply affected by the Syrian refugee crisis (Lebanon), one region deeply affected by the Ebola crisis (Sierra Leone) and one region deeply affected by Boko Haram and migration from West Africa to Europe (Niger). ESRC-DFID is generously contributing to supporting and expanding the research in Niger, by providing funds to help test the impact of LCT SEL strategies with the addition of studying digital data collection, qualitative work on contexts and systems affecting implementation, and classroom video capture. This will no doubt provide invaluable information regarding not just what works but how and why. In addition, our research team is focusing on executing an ambitious research agenda to continue to improve the nascent evidence base on education in emergencies programming. This includes:1. Measurement research, including adapting and testing a diverse set of state-of-the-art and contextually appropriate measurement tools such as (a) tablet-based performance-based assessments of executive functioning and other social-emotional skills; (b) videotaped direct behavioral observations of classroom environments; and (c) psychometrically refined and contextually appropriate measures of emergent literacy and numeracy;2. Implementation research, including identifying and testing measures of intervention fidelity that can be used to monitor how complex programs are actually being implemented in rapidly shifting contexts in the field; and 3. Evaluation research, including rapidly generating evidence as to whether, how, and in what contexts the brief, affordable, targeted strategies work, and then rapidly prototyping the strategies for additional implementation and testing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As described above, in response to the research findings generated through ESRC/DfID grant ES/M004732/1, the IRC and NYU collaboratively conducted the workshop on how to improve the IRC's education in emergencies programming. Once we decided on strategies for improvement, the IRC and NYU worked on developing proposals to funding organizations, including USAID, the World Bank, and Dubai Cares; IRC took the lead in submitting these proposals. Once the initiative was approved (by Dubai Cares), the IRC has mobilized their relevant country offices - Lebanon, Niger, and Sierra Leone - as well as their Education Technical Unit to begin to: (1) adapt and mount the "Learning in Healing Classrooms" school-based intervention by September 2016; (2) design brief, affordable, and targeted mindfulness, executive functioning, and mobile literacy strategies; (3) plan how these strategies can be incorporated into existing programming; and (4) outline concrete steps and expectations for program implementation. |
| Impact | This partnership was established in late 2015 and project activities began in March 2016. We have generated two impact briefs on preliminary results for Cycle One in Lebanon and Year One in Niger. Pearson, UNHCR, and Save the Children named the 3EA research-practice partnership as one of 20 "promising practices" in refugee education. TIES/NYU, the IRC, and Porticus co-convened a side event to the U.N. General Assembly meeting, "From Intention to Reality: Generating and Using Evidence to Transform Education in Emergencies." We also have presented our findings at multiple conferences and convenings, including Comparative and International Education Society, Society for Research on Child Development, Society for Prevention Research, International Education Funder's Group, and Global Conference on Children on the Move. In addition, IRC and TIES/NYU presented a case study of findings from 3EA at the International Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) roundtable on PSS/SEL in Florence, Italy. 3EA was selected to co-lead the framing session for the roundtable. Global TIES and IRC have also partnered with the Sesame Workshop and the Lego Foundation to bring rigorous research and innovative programming to refugee populations in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Bangladesh through the Macarthur Foundation's 100 and Change grant. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Biweekly calls with the International Rescue Committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | As detailed in the project's Pathways to Impact document, throughout the course of the ESRC/DfID award the NYU project team held biweekly (Skype/in-person where feasible) briefings with senior members of the IRC's Research, Evaluation, and Learning (REL) and In-country Program and Research teams. These meetings were used to: (1) update team members on the status of program activities and research; (2) invite feedback to ensure relevance to and continuity between broader programmatic activities; (3) workshop communications strategies for and key messages about the research findings.In turn, these briefings ensured that all resulting publications, presentations, and other communications activities were co-produced, contextualized, and aligned across organizations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
| Description | Blog on Research in Conflict-Affected Niger for Institute for Human Development and Social Change |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | IHDSC met with NYU Global TIES for Children (TIES) researchers Lindsay Brown and Ha Yeon Kim to discuss their research with students in Niger and the insights and challenges that come with doing research in conflict-affected areas. Resulting blog was published 01/27/2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/ihdsc/on-the-ground/research-near-far-global-ties-children |
| Description | Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The team presented on a panel organized by DFID about "Evidence for Educational Intervention Effectiveness and Quality in Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, and Niger." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The team presented on a panel about "Mind the Gap: A cross-national look at the contextualization and functioning of a teacher observation tool." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Comparative and International Education Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Panel presentation: "Social & emotional learning in low-resource and fragile contexts: Tool development and measurement" Panel Presentation: Mind the gap: A cross-national look at the contextualization and functioning of a teacher observation tool Panel Presentation (RLO/DFID Panel): Promoting Children's Learning Outcomes in Conflict-Affected Countries: Evidence for Action in Lebanon and Niger |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://tinyurl.com/y945cevs |
| Description | Conference Presentation at Berkeley School of Graduate Education |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A presentation was given on the Skills, Attitudes, and Behaviors that Shape Adolescent Girls' Academic and Life Outcomes in Developing Countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Dissemination workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Two dissemination workshops were held in Niger, one in Niamey and the other in Diffa. The purpose of these workshops was to provide local stakeholders with the research findings and discuss the impact these findings could have on the communities in the future. Both workshops were attended by practitioners as well as Ministry officials. Regional Ministry members (DREP) in Diffa wanted to have the key findings, in order to inform the reviewed strategy for emergency schools. The ECHO and the Swiss Cooperation in Niamey, and the World Food Program Office in Diffa wished to have electronic reports in order to feed their programming, strategies and/or humanitarian plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | ESRC DFID Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented a paper entitled "Piloting and Preliminary Validity of Enumerator Observation Protocol in Niger." This paper is intended to help with the recruitment and training of high quality local enumerators in conflict-affected contexts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Global Conference on Children on the Move |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Panel Presentation: "Promising Practices on Education for Children on the Move". This session explored promising practices and evidence from research on education for children on the move, from early years to tertiary level. It was attended by approximately 30 people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.childrenonthemove.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/COTM-1.pdf |
| Description | Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Replenishment Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The IRC and NYU-TIES developed an impact report in February 2018 highlighting the results from the project implementation. The brief was presented and distributed at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Replenishment Conference in Dakar. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | In-country reflection and design workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The reflection workshop was held in August of 2017 and involved the NYU research team, members of the Niger in-country research and program teams, and representatives from IRC's Research, Evaluation, and Learning (REL) unit. Major goals of the workshop were to aimed to: 1) unite US researchers with professionals in Niger, thereby facilitating the exchange of international perspectives on providing quality education; 2) highlight contextual issues faced during the course of the first year of implementation and the ramifications of those issues for future research; 3) Ensure a collaborative, field-feasible, and contextually-appropriate research and program design for Year Two of the study and 4) enhance understanding of preliminary year one findings for our non-academic partners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies presentation (2020) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ha Yeon Kim delivered a presentation titled 'Strengthening the Evidence Base for Education in Emergencies: Emerging Outputs from the E-Cubed Research Fund.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | International Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) convening |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The IRC and TIES/NYU presented a case study of findings from 3EA at the International Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) roundtable on Psycho-Social Support / Social-emotional Learning in Florence, Italy. 3EA was selected to co-lead the framing session for the roundtable. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.ineesite.org/en/round-table-psychosocial-support-and-socio-emotional-learning |
| Description | Invited presentation at the 2019 World Bank Human Development Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Lindsay Brown and Ha Yeon Kim were invited to talk about Promoting Social-Emotional Learning through Education in Emergencies to World Bank employees working in or interested in working in projects that promote holistic learning. The talk sparked questions and discussions as well as potential future collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Karanga Global SEL conference (Webinar) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The webinar focused on work in social-emotional learning impact and measurement and drew over 100 participants working to support children's social and emotional learning globally. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | NGO coordination in Niger |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Program managers in Niamey met with Chief of Education at UNICEF Niger, Emergency Focal Point for UNICEF Education and presented on IRC's work in Diffa with 3EA and shared preliminary findings (preliminary findings prepared by NYU Research team). UNICEF is currently working in 85 schools in Diffa - in collaboration with the MoE, their focus is on teacher training and school equipment. UNICEF was very interested in the Brain Games and the Mindfulness Approach. Both were also very interested in the research and the results of the other indicators. IRC's Mindfulness training and links to videos on Healing Classrooms and SEL approaches were distributed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2017 |
| Description | NYUAD Institute: Improving Education for Refugee Children: Insights from Rigorous Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Larry Aber, Lindsay Brown, and Ha Yeon Kim presented to 120 people about how and why to improve refugee education, using data from the Niger study. The talk was hosted by the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute. The 60 minute talk was followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc42pUmLjE0 |
| Description | Remedial Education to Support Learning Loss Threatened by Cuts to Development Aid |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | to inform evidence-based decisions based on the findings in the recently published journal article on effectiveness of remedial education and SEL programming |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.ukfiet.org/2023/remedial-education-to-support-learning-loss-threatened-by-cuts-to-develo... |
| Description | RewirEd Presentation: Reimagining Education in Emergencies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an invited presentation at RewirEd 2021 summit in Dubai, UAE. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.rewired2021.com/talks/ |
| Description | RewirEd Presentation: Reimagining Education in Emergencies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was an invited presentation at RewirEd 2021 summit in Dubai, UAE. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.rewired2021.com/talks/ |
| Description | SREE 2021 Presentation; Staying mindful of fit: Teacher and coach perceptions of an SEL intervention in West Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Paper presented to the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, Arlington, VA. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | SREE 2021 Presentation; Supporting academic and social emotional learning (SEL) in conflict-affected Niger: Impacts and impact variation of SEL-infused remedial education programs |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Paper presentation at the Society for Research in Educational Effectiveness, Arlington, VA |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Society for Research in Child Development annual meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The team will present a paper entitled, "Promoting Children's Social Emotional Learning in Conflict-Affected Settings: Evidence for Action in Niger." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Symposium at Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This symposium is jointly presented by the IRC and NYU and is titled: Educational Effectiveness in Global Contexts & Early Childhood Education How NGO's in Conflict-Affected Countries Develop and Use Evidence on the Efficacy of Social-Emotional Learning Interventions. We first unpack how the IRC's program (Learning in a Healing Classroom) evolved over time and as new research results became available. Then we look at the quality of implementation tools and practices in IRC programming. We then look at the emerging evidence base across Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, and Niger. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.sree.org/conferences/2018s/program/ |
| Description | Two-year impact results presentation to IRC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | NYU Research team members presented Niger impact findings across both years of implementation -- with fully-cleaned and imputed data -- to IRC team members. IRC team members from headquarters and the Niger country office (past and present) were in attendance. There was time reserved for Q&A afterward, and then a follow-up discussion was held for further interpretation of the results. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | UKFIET conference focused on Inclusive Education Systems: futures, fallacies and finance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Kabay presented on behalf of the Global TIES team. Her presentation was titled: Social-Emotional Learning for Conflict-Affected Populations in Education-System and Cultural Contexts: Evidence from Niger. The presentation was situated within a panel organized by Matthew Jukes titled: Promoting Inclusion through Social Emotional Learning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | UNGA Side Event: "From Intention to Reality: Generating and Using Evidence to Transform Education in Emergencies." |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | TIES/NYU, the IRC, and Porticus co-convened a side event to the U.N. General Assembly meeting, "From Intention to Reality: Generating and Using Evidence to Transform Education in Emergencies." The event provided an opportunity for 95 high-level participants -- including civil society, governments, donors, and researchers -- to reflect with the distinguished panelists on progress to date towards becoming an evidence-based field. The discussion also identified a number of economic, political, scientific, and communications barriers that constrain the generation and use of evidence, including most overwhelmingly the lack of long-term, sustained program and research funding for research-practice-policy partnerships dedicated to using rigorous evidence to improve practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | UNGA side event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The team spoke on a panel at the UNGA side event about the summary report and potential promising practices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The team will present a paper with the title "Evidence for Educational Intervention Effectiveness: Impacts of a cRCT of SEL-infused tutoring programming in Niger." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The team will present a paper entitled, "Capturing Data Collector Quality through Field-Based Structured Observation: Toward standardized, evidence-based core competencies." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | side event to the U.N. General Assembly meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | NYU and IRC co-convened a side event to the U.N. General Assembly meeting. During the event 95 diverse participants reflected on the necessity of using evidence to transform education in emergencies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |