Can’t Wait to Learn
Child participants: 8,641
Local partner organisations: 16
Some 32 million children in countries affected by armed conflict are denied their fundamental right to a quality education. Can’t Wait to Learn addresses this - and provides a fast, effective and value-for-money solution to meet global education in emergency needs.
Can’t Wait to Learn enables children to learn through playing educational games on tablet computers. Input from children informs the design of the games - so that the game world is immediately familiar to them. This boosts motivation and increases access to learning.
All content is based on government-approved national curricula and includes both literacy and numeracy modules. The programme is currently active in Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon and Uganda.
The programme is developed and implemented by a broad coalition of national and international partners - led by War Child. 2018 saw funders USAID, IKEA Foundation and Google.org all reinvest significant sums in the programme. A new grant to finalise game development in Uganda was also awarded by UNHCR.
Can’t Wait to Learn has been grounded in research since its inception. Three major research studies - involving more than 2,500 children - were conducted during 2018. Initial findings from the research study in Lebanon indicated that children made significant improvement in mastering elements of the school curriculum over a 12-week period. An additional 6,000 children were reached through direct programme implementation.
The programme draws on the power of partnerships across many sectors at different stages - including implementation. The total number of implementing partners in Lebanon has now reached 16 - including major NGOs and local community-based organisations. The Norwegian Refugee Council, Finn Church Aid and Save the Children all implement the programme in Uganda. The year also saw an agreement reached for UNICEF Sudan to take over implementation and scale up in Sudan.
Our ambition is to see Can't Wait to Learn widely adopted to provide quality education to conflict-affected children anywhere in the world. Efforts to increase both the reach and adoption of the programme will continue. 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 know more? A full list of implementing partners, technical partners and donors is available on our website.