Education & Literacy

AIP Foundation's Walk Wise program, launched in 2011 in Chongqing Municipality, China in partnership with Chevron, has reached 70,000+ students across 57 schools. The comprehensive program combines road safety curriculum piloted with teachers, infrastructure improvements including school zone signage, "Walking School Bus" initiatives teaching safe pedestrian skills on challenging roads, and public awareness campaigns. The Photovoice component empowers students to document road hazards and unsafe behaviors, then propose solutions to government representatives. Evaluation showed positive changes in pedestrian safety knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among students. The program expanded from 2 initial schools to reach nearly 55,000 students by 2014, demonstrating scalable model for Asian contexts.

A comprehensive online resource and community of practice for social and behavior change practitioners. Provides evidence-based tools, how-to guides, and resources for designing effective SBC programs across health, environment, and development sectors. Managed by USAID's Breakthrough ACTION project.

FHI 360 implements youth development programs in Jordan focusing on employability, life skills, and civic engagement for Jordanian and Syrian refugee youth. Uses peer education, mentorship, and digital platforms to build skills and change attitudes toward entrepreneurship and self-reliance.

Ana Usharek ("I Participate") is the National Democratic Institute's flagship civic education program in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Jordan. The interactive, learner-centered curriculum engages thousands of students in learning about democracy and active citizenship. Students organize initiatives to solve community issues through an "action civics" model that connects classroom learning to real-world civic engagement. The program focuses on four core democratic competencies: civic knowledge, civic skills, civic disposition, and civic attitudes. Success led Jordan to update its primary education curricula to include democratic practices and citizenship concepts nationwide.

UNRWA's mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) program addresses trauma among Palestine refugee children in Gaza through counseling, recreational activities, and the innovative After School Activities (ASA) project. Counselors provide psychological first aid, guidance to parents, and individual counseling focusing on creating a sense of safety. Children engage in expressive activities like drawing, storytelling, relaxation exercises, music, arts, and sports. The "Back to Learning" program provides refuge from conflict through psychosocial activities and gradual reintroduction to formal education. The Community Mental Health Programme has reached 91,000+ parents and 100,000+ children. About 25% of Gaza children require psychological support.

UNRWA integrates health education and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention into its education program serving 500,000+ refugee children. The program strengthens primary prevention through health education targeting school children from 2023 onwards, improves nutritional quality of school canteen food, and conducts screening programs and outreach campaigns. The approach recognizes that early intervention during childhood can prevent NCDs like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension that increasingly affect the refugee population. The program also developed COVID-19 health protocols that trained 30,000+ students in Lebanon on hygiene practices.

The Global Road Safety Partnership's "Safe to School - Safe to Home" is a comprehensive child safety initiative launched in 2013 in Vietnam, South Africa, and China. The program assesses road safety conditions around schools, implements low-cost traffic engineering improvements (speed bumps, crosswalks, signage), provides road safety education for children, parents, and communities, and enhances enforcement of helmet use, parking restrictions, and speed limits in school zones. The initiative trained teachers to integrate road safety into curriculum and engaged parents as safety advocates.

UNICEF provides mine risk education to children in Syria through child-friendly spaces, specialized centers, and self-learning programs. In Mabrouka camp (north-eastern Syria), over 600 children participated in MRE sessions before families returned to heavily contaminated areas like Deir-ez-Zor and Ar-Raqqa. In Aleppo, UNICEF supports MRE for children with disabilities using sign language, demonstrating inclusive approaches. The Educate A Child Self-Learning Program in Qaramel village offers MRE to 230 children from nine villages alongside catch-up education. With 2.4 million Syrian school-aged children out of school and thousands of schools damaged, MRE integration into education programs reaches vulnerable populations.

The largest early childhood development initiative in humanitarian history, combining localized Arabic 'Sesame Street' content with direct services including preschool, parenting sessions, and home visits. Features Muppet characters designed to help refugee children process trauma and develop social-emotional skills.

An EU-funded non-formal education program in Kenya's Dadaab refugee complex providing catch-up education for out-of-school girls. Accelerated Education Centres help over-age girls build literacy and numeracy while addressing cultural barriers like early marriage through community engagement.

A comprehensive global initiative building critical thinking skills to navigate misinformation, disinformation, and AI-generated content. Includes the Global Alliance for Partnerships on MIL (GAPMIL) with 100+ countries, annual Global MIL Week, MIL CLICKS social media initiative, and curricula for educators worldwide.

A strategic education program developing knowledge, skills, values, and behaviors for learners to become responsible global citizens. Uses three learning domains—cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral—to foster peace, tolerance, inclusion, and sustainability through project-based learning.

India's largest literacy campaign reaching 34 million children since 2007. Pratham's 'Teaching at the Right Level' (TaRL) methodology groups students by actual learning level rather than age/grade, delivering tailored instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Born from alarming ASER survey findings that 50% of Grade 5 students couldn't read Grade 2 texts, Read India mobilizes school teachers, anganwadi workers, and community volunteers. The model has been adopted by 14 countries and recognized as a 'Good Buy' by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel.

A data-driven approach to enrolling and retaining out-of-school girls using predictive analytics and community volunteers. Educate Girls identifies 'hotspot' villages (5% of villages containing 40% of out-of-school girls) and deploys local women volunteers called 'Team Balika' to counsel families door-to-door. The program has enrolled 2+ million girls and improved learning for 2.4 million children across 30,000 villages. Combines parental counseling, School Management Committee strengthening, girls' leadership councils (Bal Sabhas), and remedial learning curriculum.

The world's largest private secular education system, reaching over 1 million children through 'one-room schools' since 1985. BRAC schools serve children who cannot access or dropped out of formal education, with 70% of students being girls. Schools condense 5-year curriculum into 4 years with trained local teachers (mostly women). The Kishori (adolescent girls) school variant targets 11-14 year olds who never attended school, with health education integrated into curriculum. This model inspired non-formal education programs across Asia and Africa.