Formative research and impact evaluation of Ahlan Simsim

The IRC and Sesame Workshop have partnered to create Ahlan Simsim, an Early Childhood Development program that aims to restore hope and opportunity for a generation of children affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. Delivered through television, mobile phones, and direct services in homes and schools, Sesame Seeds is designed to give children the language, reading, math, and socio-emotional skills they need to succeed in school and later in life. As part of this project we will conduct different types of research, including: 

1. Formative Research: In order to refine the program design and implementation modalities in ways that are aligned with existing delivery platforms and sociocultural contexts, researchers will gather implementation data and contextual information and conduct rapid-cycle, small-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs). 
2. Impact Evaluations: The IRC and NYU Global TIES will conduct three separate and staged RCTs in three countries: Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. The impact evaluations will aim to identify the causal impact of the offer of program elements on outcomes for beneficiaries (chiefly caregivers/parents and children); hypothesized mechanisms of impact; and variation of impacts by family/child characteristics as well as contextual characteristics. 

At least one impact evaluation will test mass media or community-level programming.