Over 3.7 million Syrian children have been born into violence, poverty and displacement since the brutal war in Syria began over six years ago. Under these conditions, too many children lack stable, nurturing and enriching environments – including frequent interactions with caregivers that promote learning, and development. This case study provides a look at the process of adapting and piloting Vroom for Syrian refugee parents and families. Vroom empowers parents and caregivers of young children to turn everyday moments into brain building moments.

Roughly 1 billion children worldwide are out of school due to school closures related to COVID-19. Children in humanitarian settings face a double crisis as the health emergency disrupts their opportunities to learn, develop and thrive. Ensuring children can continue to learn during the pandemic, no matter their access to technology, must be central to the COVID-19 response in fragile contexts.

The IRC hosted the Client Responsive Humanitarian Action Learning Exchange on March 17 and 18, 2016, bringing together a diverse range of participants to share experiences and ideas on how to best deliver humanitarian programming that is more responsive to the needs and perspectives of clients.