Change the World 2023
Few investments offer a return as enduring and broadly shared as early childhood education—a Nobel-winning economist puts the ROI to societies at 13% annually—but every year tens of millions of children miss out, displaced by conflict or other crises.
Now, Sesame Workshop, the 55-year-old nonprofit creator of Sesame Street, offers “Ahlan Simsim,” or “Welcome Sesame” in Arabic, a program developed in partnership with the International Rescue Committee—that has reached 25 million kids across the Middle East and North Africa. Ahlan Simsim has also become the basis for a remote preschool experience, combining in-person services, teacher-led phone calls, multimedia materials distributed via WhatsApp, and engaged caregivers, that has reached 2 million children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. It may be a scrappy approximation of the real thing—caregivers have been known to borrow phones or seek cell service on rooftops—but studies by New York University’s Global TIES for Children have found the impacts on participants’ development to be broad and profound.
Now, Sesame Workshop, the 55-year-old nonprofit creator of Sesame Street, offers “Ahlan Simsim,” or “Welcome Sesame” in Arabic, a program developed in partnership with the International Rescue Committee—that has reached 25 million kids across the Middle East and North Africa. Ahlan Simsim has also become the basis for a remote preschool experience, combining in-person services, teacher-led phone calls, multimedia materials distributed via WhatsApp, and engaged caregivers, that has reached 2 million children in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. It may be a scrappy approximation of the real thing—caregivers have been known to borrow phones or seek cell service on rooftops—but studies by New York University’s Global TIES for Children have found the impacts on participants’ development to be broad and profound.
Ryan Donnell/Sesame Workshop