David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, and Sherrie Westin, President of Sesame Workshop, look back at the learning and growth since Ahlan Simsim became the first 100&Change Awardee for its work helping displaced children thrive. Five years ago on a snowy Chicago day, the two of…

We share lessons on scaling early childhood interventions in crisis situations from Ahlan Simsim’s fourth year. In 2021, Ahlan Simsim entered its fourth year and hit its stride. Having spent the previous year adapting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we set out to push our boundaries in year four…

Year three of Ahlan Simsim put our program’s flexibility to the test. In February 2020, we debuted the first season of Ahlan Simsim, a new Sesame show for a rising generation of children across the Middle East and North Africa. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we adapted our…

How Sesame Workshop Uses Research to Shape Ahlan Simsim Content By Kim Foulds, Vice President of Content Research & Evaluation, Sesame Workshop Since Sesame Workshop’s inception, formative research has always been at the heart of our approach. Sesame Street was the first children’s show to use research to inform production…

Year Two of Ahlan Simsim was a year of firsts. In 2019, Ahlan Simsim reached beyond Jordan and Lebanon into Syria and Iraq and across the Middle East to offer children affected by conflict and displacement hope for a better future through our unique integration of in-person early learning opportunities…

How we’re using the power of media to support children across the Middle East during the COVID-19 pandemic — By Sherrie Westin, President of Social Impact & Philanthropy, Sesame Workshop As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we know it’s those who are already the most vulnerable who are most at risk. That’s especially true for young children, whose needs are too often overlooked in times of crisis.

For young children who have experienced war and been uprooted from their homes, education can be a lifeline. — By Marianne Stone, Regional Program Director for Ahlan Simsim Originally published on www.rescue.org. Early childhood education is critical for all children, particularly during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. …

We’ve designed brand-new characters that children in the Middle East can relate to. — By Scott Cameron, Executive Producer of Ahlan Simsim For the past year and a half, we’ve been hard at work developing Ahlan Simsim (“Welcome Sesame”), a brand-new, locally produced version of Sesame Street for children across the Middle East, premiering in February 2020. …

To see the true impact of our program, we look to the children and families we’re reaching. — It’s been a year of major milestones for Ahlan Simsim. Last November, Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) began the direct services component of our joint program. …