Can’t Wait to Learn

Can't Wait to Learn

Child participants: 11,534
War Child Teachers and Facilitators: 479
Local partner organisations: 12

Some 32 million children affected by armed conflict worldwide currently miss out on education. Can’t Wait to Learn - our award-winning e-learning innovation - is designed to help bridge this learning gap.

Can’t Wait to Learn enables children to learn through playing educational games on tablet devices. Thanks to a delivery system which can operate in resource constrained settings, a quality education becomes available to all. And the real magic? Input from children informs the design of the games - so that the game world is tailored to their reality. This boosts motivation and accelerates learning.

All content is based on government-approved national curricula and includes both literacy and numeracy modules. The programme is currently active in six countries: Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda - and 2019 saw the programme launch in Chad and Bangladesh.

Scaling Up to Reach More Children

The programme is developed and implemented by a broad coalition of national and international partners - led by War Child. 2019 saw supporters USAID, IKEA Foundation and Google.org reinvest significant funds in the programme. Major donor the Dutch National Postcode Lottery also contributed significantly - increasing our funding flexibility.

Can’t Wait to Learn is evidence-based - indeed research has driven it since its inception. Results from three major research studies conducted in 2018 informed our work throughout 2019. The findings - which showed significant improvements in children’s mastery of the school curriculum over a 12-week period as well as a measurable positive effect on self-esteem and wellbeing - helped secure our spot at the CIES Conference in San Francisco in April. The conference was a unique opportunity to share ideas and contribute to the expansion of knowledge within the field of comparative and international education.

The programme draws on the power of partnerships across many sectors at different stages - including implementation. In Lebanon we work with a broad range of implementing partners - including major NGOs and local community-based organisations. The Norwegian Refugee Council, Finn Church Aid, Save the Children and new partner Windle International all implement the programme in Uganda. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) began trialling Can’t Wait to Learn in Bangladesh - as part of their Rohingya refugee response programme. A move that will lead to the development of the math’s game in French. And October 2019 saw us commence start-up activities in Chad thanks to a new partnership with Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS).

The year also saw UNICEF Sudan take over implementation in Sudan and - despite delays due to the challenging security context - facilitated a number of important expansion opportunities for 2020.

Global Recognition

In March 2019 Can’t Wait to Learn was awarded a prestigious prize from UNESCO. The ‘King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize on Innovation in Education’ is awarded annually to ICT projects that overcome major institutional barriers - such as lack of infrastructure and funds - to deliver a tailor-made solution based on children’s realities. The prize has succeeded in putting Can’t Wait to Learn firmly in the spotlight within the development and humanitarian education sectors and generated a number of new contacts for the programme.

And we didn’t stop there. The year also saw Can’t Wait to Learn enjoy a significant presence at a number of high-profile ‘transformative technology’ events around the world including the annual Games for Change (G4C) festival in New York - where we were proud to be shortlisted for two awards. These nominations represent further welcome recognition for the programme.

Our ambition is to see Can’t Wait to Learn widely adopted to provide quality education to conflict-affected children in all corners of the world. Efforts to fuel expansion of the programme will continue with renewed vigour and speed. The coming years will see the programme launch in new territories - and in new languages. Because millions of children can’t wait to learn any longer.

Want to learn more? Here you can find a full list of implementing partners, technical partners and donors.