Organisational Background

Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people affected by war or disaster to survive and rebuild their lives. We commit to stay as long as we are needed, helping survivors to heal, recover and rebuild their communities to be stronger, more stable and more democratic. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. Building local capacity and self-sufficiency—and promoting human rights, participation and accountability—are at the core of all of our innovative programs. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

Project Background

Ahlan Simsim

Children and their families living in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria have been exposed to levels of adversity that threaten their development and jeopardize the future prosperity and stability of the societies in which they live. Research shows that the development of basic skills can help promote resiliency and, for the most vulnerable children, help mitigate the negative effects of conflict and crisis.But such care and education are unavailable to many children. Ahlan Simsim’s theory of change is based on the idea that Sesame Workshop’s signature culturally relevant, localized production approach, with its engaging Muppets and other elements, coupled with the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC’s) expertise in delivering services to people affected by conflict and crisis, will enable the creation of a scalable, replicable intervention for early childhood programming to help a generation of conflict-affected children achieve their developmental potential.

Ahlan Simsim Vision and Goals

Vision: Restore hope and opportunity to a generation of children affected by conflict and crisis.

Goals:

•Develop and implement cost-effective, scalable, and adaptable models that improve cognitive & social-emotional skills of young children in conflict settings

•Spark significant and sustained investment in ECD in humanitarian crises by national and international stakeholders and policy-makers

Ahlan Simsim Families

Ahlan Simsim Families is a parenting program that consists of 11 sessions designed to be delivered in person. The program aims to build and enhance caregiver’s knowledge and skills to provide their children under 8 years with responsive care, opportunities for early learning, and safety and security. Because of COVID 19 restrictions, face to face implementation may be prohibited in some contexts, therefore, a remote modality is to be created for this program. The modality maybe delivered on the phone or online depending on the country context.

Consultancy Purpose

The Ahlan Simsim team is looking for a parenting specialist consultant to adapt Ahlan Simsim Families sessions to remote delivery via the phone individually or online in groups. The consultant shall:

1-Read Ahlan Simsim Families program content package including 11 session guides and supporting materials, and an operations guide.

2-Design the Ahlan Simsim Families online modality taking into consideration the input from the five countries in which the program is delivered.

a.Adapt the session guides into online delivery session guides, using interactive tools that maintain a high level of participants’ engagement.

b.Create a training guide on the interactive tools used in the delivery of the online sessions, and facilitating an online session.

3-Design the Ahlan Simsim Families phone modality taking into consideration the input from the five countries in which the program is delivered and based on the previous implementation feedback.

a.Adapt the session guides into phone delivery session guides.

b.Create training guidelines for facilitating a phone session.