Piloting The Adaptation Of A Remote Preschool Program For Use In Active Confict Contexts

Haiti has faced a series of crises, from earthquakes to social unrest, that left 700,000 people internally displaced and 5.4 million facing severe food insecurity (UNICEF, 2024). Education rates are the lowest in the Western hemisphere, with those not in school at heightened risk of being forced into armed conflict. This situation has worsened since February 2024, as 90% of the schools in Port-au-Prince remain closed due to a surge in armed gang activity. As a proposed solution, the IDB (in collaboration with its partner on the ground - GHESKIO, a Haitian-led NGO with more than 40 years of experience providing care and education to fragile communities and liaising with governmental stakeholders) will adapt and pilot an 11-week remote early learning program designed for Syrian refugees families displaced due to conflict (Schwartz et al., 2024) to be used with Haitian families living in active conflict. Such a program extends access to early stimulation and education for those hardest to reach (e.g., the highly mobile, and those living in unsafe environments). The specific aims of this pilot are to understand: 1) interest in the program; 2) the validity and reliability of a remotely adapted child development measure; and, 3) barriers to and facilitators of successful implementation. We will collect families' demographic and qualitative data at enrollment; child development data before and after the program; and qualitative data from families and teachers. Results will inform a further adaptation of the program and research plan prior to a larger-scale implementation and randomized study.