Image from UNICEF
From: Journal on Education in Emergencies, Vol. 7 No. 1 (June 2021), pp. 150-163
Author Samier Mansur

More than half a billion children globe-wide currently live in conflict or crisis
contexts (UNICEF 2016), including more than 30 million displaced and refugee
children (UNICEF 2020). The extreme and often prolonged adversity suffered in
these environments can have lifelong physical, psychological, and socioeconomic
consequences for children, and thus for society, and can affect an entire generation.
Despite these dire consequences, less than 0.14 percent of global humanitarian financial
aid is allocated to child mental health (Save the Children 2019). Frontline aid workers
and parents and guardians often lack access to early childhood development training
and to the resources needed to meaningfully address the unique challenges faced by
children living in crisis and conflict environments, including their mental health and
wellbeing. To meet this critical knowledge and resource gaps, No Limit Generation, a
nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, developed a video training platform
to equip frontline aid workers, parents, and guardians across the globe to support the
well-being of vulnerable children. No Limit Generation then conducted a monthlong
pilot study in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to test this technology-driven
training approach. In this field note, we describe our program design and
pilot findings, which we consider a possible strategy for delivering sustainable and
scalable early childhood development training and resources to workers on the front
lines. Our hope is that this innovative work will help young children around the world
heal, grow, thrive, and ultimately achieve their full potential.