Announcing our HEA Phase II grantees
Following our intensive stage-gated selection process we are excited to reveal our inspiring final 3 grantees
Since the HEA launched its Phase II call for applications in December 2020, we have had the pleasure of learning about and working a wide range of inspiring innovators working in humanitarian education contexts across Chad, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda. In fact, the applications we received in response to our call were so strong that we increased the number of applicants that were taken through to our Bootcamp — the first stage of our selection process — from 10 to 13.
From these exciting teams we selected 5 to go through to 6 weeks of intensive capacity building with our team of specialist mentors — Ian Gray from Gray Dot Catalyst, NYU Global TIES for Children and Saving Brains — in scaling, M&E and stakeholders and partnerships. The five Stage 2 teams included:
- iACT, Little Ripples — Chad — a self sustaining, refugee community-led model providing quality child-centred pre-primary (3–5 yrs) care that supports children’s social emotional, cognitive & physical development.
- Whiz Kids Workshop, Tsehai Loves Learning — Ethiopia — a television & radio-based children’s learning platform focusing on literacy and social and emotional learning (SEL).
- Madrasati Initiative — Jordan — an after-school remedial support programme for Syrian students attending national schools, focusing on social cohesion and SEL.
- PEAS, Inspect & Improve — Uganda — a school improvement programme supporting refugee receiving schools to provide quality secondary education .
- Xavier Project — Uganda — a refugee community-led model supporting children with disabilities to access quality education.
The curriculum that we co-created with the mentors for this stage sought to strike the balance between being intensive yet accessible. We were extremely impressed with all of the teams’ progress during the 6 weeks, as well as their openness to learning, adapting and sharing with their peers.
Following Stage 2 and the submission of final proposals, we had the extremely difficult job of selecting the final three teams from our incredibly strong cohort. We are delighted to announce that the 3 successful teams are iACT, Madrasati and Xavier Project.
“The challenges in providing quality education to refugee learners are significant, but we see real creativity happening around the world to find new and meaningful solutions. These three teams are piloting innovations with much potential and I’m excited to see already how taking part in the HEA has enabled them to plan for reaching more and more displaced children,” said Dr Rebecca Telford, UNHCR’s Chief of Education.
“We congratulate the Madrasati Initiative, Xavier Project and iAct on reaching this final stage and look forward to seeing how their innovative education interventions accelerate towards scale with the funding and tailored capacity building offered by the HEA,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) — the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises who is funding the programme.
These 3 successful grantees will receive up to 200,000 USD in funding, on going capacity building in M&E and scaling, as well as an external evaluation of their programme.
