X
  • Afghanistan Support
  • COVID-19
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Technical Areas
      • Overview of Technical Areas
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education and Youth
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Overview of Integrated Solutions
      • Climate Change
      • Digital Development
      • Global Health Supply Chains
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Private Sector Engagement
      • Research and University Partnerships
    • Projects
      • Overview of Projects
      • Creating Stability through Education in Syria
      • Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi
      • Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Where We Work
    • Implementation Regions
      • Overview of Implementation Regions
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
    • Corporate Offices
      • Overview of Corporate Offices
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Chemonics
      • Overview of About Chemonics
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Overview of Our Approach
      • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Our Commitment to Our Industry
      • Our Commitment to Local Leadership
      • Our Commitment to Quality
      • Our Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Work With Us
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Overview of Life at Chemonics
      • Our Benefits
      • Career Paths
      • Professional Development
    • Our Partners
      • Overview of Our Partners
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)
    • Employment
      • Overview of Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
      • U.S. Military Veterans
  • News and Blog
    • News and Blog
    • Recent Impact Stories
      • Overview of Recent Impact Stories
      • Growing the Next Crop of Agri-Tech Entrepreneurs Through Innovation and Scale
      • Innovating Techniques and Technology to Improve Education in Tajikistan
      • Restoring Optimism by Increasing Access to HIV Treatment in Nigeria
      • View all Impact Stories
    • Recent News Stories
      • Overview of Recent News Stories
      • Chemonics Joins Extreme Tech Challenge as a Visionary Sponsor
      • Lebanon Community Support Program Earns Award at SID-US Innovation Competition
      • Chemonics and Partners Host Third Annual Global Digital Development Forum
      • View all News Stories
    • Recent Blog Posts
      • Overview of Recent Blog Posts
      • Enhancing Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management for Improved Health Outcomes
      • Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development
      • A New Approach Towards Strengthening Local Capacity and Organizational Leadership
      • View all Blog Posts
Chemonics - Development works here.
  • Afghanistan Support
  • COVID-19
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • What We Do
    • Technical Areas
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education and Youth
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Climate Change
      • Digital Development
      • Global Health Supply Chains
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Private Sector Engagement
      • Research and University Partnerships
    • Projects
      • Creating Stability through Education in Syria
      • Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi
      • Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Implementation Regions
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
    • Corporate Offices
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
  • About Us
    • About Chemonics
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Our Commitment to Our Industry
      • Our Commitment to Local Leadership
      • Our Commitment to Quality
      • Our Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Our Benefits
      • Career Paths
      • Professional Development
    • Our Partners
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)
    • Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
      • U.S. Military Veterans
  • News and Blog
    • Recent Impact Stories
      • Growing the Next Crop of Agri-Tech Entrepreneurs Through Innovation and Scale
      • Innovating Techniques and Technology to Improve Education in Tajikistan
      • Restoring Optimism by Increasing Access to HIV Treatment in Nigeria
      • View all Impact Stories
    • Recent News Stories
      • Chemonics Joins Extreme Tech Challenge as a Visionary Sponsor
      • Lebanon Community Support Program Earns Award at SID-US Innovation Competition
      • Chemonics and Partners Host Third Annual Global Digital Development Forum
      • View all News Stories
    • Recent Blog Posts
      • Enhancing Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management for Improved Health Outcomes
      • Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development
      • A New Approach Towards Strengthening Local Capacity and Organizational Leadership
      • View all Blog Posts
In Northwestern Syria, Rama and her father, Fadi, use his smartphone to watch a virtual Arabic class on WhatsApp, supplemented by textbooks.

COVID-19 and Conflict: Keeping Syrian Children Learning Between Crises .

June 16, 2020
  • Impact Stories
  • COVID-19 and Conflict: Keeping Syrian Children Learning Between Crises
First, the Syrian Crisis forced children out of school. Then COVID-19 hit. Find out how Chemonics’ Manahel project is harnessing online platforms to keep children learning and minimize disruptions to their education.
SHARE

TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

Like students worldwide under COVID-19 lockdown, nine-year-old Rama receives her lessons online. In Northwestern Syria, she and her father, Fadi, use his smartphone to watch a virtual Arabic class on WhatsApp, supplemented by textbooks.

Despite her young age, she adjusts to the home-based education. Rama has experienced long-distance learning before. A 2019 airstrike threw Rama’s life into chaos: She was covered in rubble, wounded by shrapnel, and lost friends. In both the Syrian crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Manahel project, part of the broader UK aid-funded Syria Education Programme, strives to provide education to students like Rama.

Education for the Marginalized

With funding from UK aid, Chemonics’ Manahel project provides access to safe, inclusive, and quality education for primary school-aged children (Grades 1 to 4). Since 2018, the project has benefited 380,517 students through school-, home-, and after-school-based education. Syrian girls, children with disabilities, the marginalized, and the displaced are among those most likely not to attend school. Manahel works to ensure that its programmatic and pedagogical approach responds to the academic, psychological, and safeguarding needs of the most vulnerable.

The project blends classroom lessons with remedial education, structured psychosocial support (PSS), and play-based activities. This approach nurtures children’s academic growth while building their resilience and helping them process their emotions. This aspect of the approach is important when educating children who have dealt with displacement forced by the conflict within Syria. The arrival of 2020 tested this approach’s durability and adaptability.

Children Within Two Crises

By 2020, Syrian families had already experienced nine years of war, forced displacement, poor essential services, and insufficient shelter. Increased conflict in Northwestern Syria between January and March forced many children out of school, compounding their traumas. One in three children stopped attending school, losing between eight and 12 weeks of lessons. As Rama’s family did, some 4 million people experienced protracted internal displacement.

The children of displaced communities are vulnerable to multiple long-term issues. These issues can manifest in the form of anxiety, depression, difficulty focusing, and psychosomatic symptoms. Violence and displacement also devastate local economic and public services, diminishing opportunities for families to earn money.

The emergence of COVID-19 created a “crisis within a crisis,” leaving communities to grapple with new dangers. Manahel responded rapidly. Within a week, the project adapted lesson plans designed for in-person learning to facilitate digital and remote learning. Fortunately, the framework necessary to accomplish this adaptation already existed.

Before the pandemic, during the conflict, Manahel facilitated remote lessons for children who could not safely attend school. As a result, Manahel-supported teachers already possessed the remote-learning methodology and had applied it.

To expedite distance learning, Manahel replicated school timetables in the new e-curriculum. The project encourages children to complete their lessons at home around the same time that they would if they were still in school. The new e-curriculum’s timetables provide normalcy and routine, both essential to wellbeing.

According to Fadi, Rama’s father, she is always excited to receive new lesson videos on the WhatsApp learning group. “It’s not the ideal case, like having a teacher stand in front of the class,” Fadi said. “But it’s still schooling and keeps children engaged and learning.”

“I love learning from home,” Rama said. “The teacher sends us videos, and then my friends and I think and answer the questions.”

From Saturday to Wednesday, school staff contact parents via WhatsApp, delivering live and recorded video tutorials, audio guides, and written content. These materials, complemented by teachers’ remote support, allow families to home-school their children. Parents submit their children’s work via the e-messaging platform, which enables teachers to remotely check on their students’ progress and provide feedback.

“The WhatsApp groups are busy,” said Patrick Mroz-Dawes, an education advisor with the Syria Education Programme. “Parents are individually contacting teachers. We’re learning from parents, not just them from us. It’s very positive. Parents are chasing teachers. They want more!”

  • Rama’s teacher delivers a live video tutorial to his students.
  • Rama and Fadi tune into an online class.

Mental Health Allies

Beyond classwork, e-learning tools and communication channels open a window into children’s mental health. Manahel harnesses resources to remotely identify at-risk children and help them access the PSS services they need.

Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) officers, like social workers, partner with teachers to aid students who exhibit stress or trauma. For example, students submit art exercises, which MHPSS officers can then analyze for visual indications of troubled mental health. In these cases, MHPSS officers contact parents to provide tailored support and connect children to child protection services.

MHPSS workers and teachers design exercises to keep students physically and mentally healthy. PSS facilitators (also known as “librarians”) have produced a variety of sports and storytelling videos.

Manahel also uses e-learning groups to unify teachers. The groups provide guidance on distance learning, share best practices, and provide a platform to address common challenges. In one session, 155 teachers collaboratively determined how best to use WhatsApp, Skype Calls, YouTube, and Live Broadcasts to promote learning.

Parents’ and Students’ Feedback

Manahel values the feedback of families and teachers. With face-to-face communication halted by social distancing measures, the Manahel team has strived to incorporate individual and community experiences. These reflections guide Manahel’s thinking, ensuring that those most vulnerable to exclusion are heard.

Manahel surveyed parent satisfaction within the first two weeks of distance learning and found 89 percent of parents reported high satisfaction and shared that activities were easy to implement and generated a positive reaction from their children.

By having children read passages aloud on video or electronically return completed math exercises, Manahel remotely conducted quarterly literacy and numeracy learning assessments. The test results revealed that children were making steady academic progress. At the beginning of the term, over half of Manahel-supported students could recognize letter names. Of the 2,872 children sampled, 42 percent of students are now able to read letters, words, and sentences with short vowels.

Ten-year-old Nada, also displaced by the crisis, offered her thoughts about distance learning via tablet: “I enjoy the stories shared by the librarian on the group. I like being at home more because I love to use the tablet, and I feel very safe being with mom.”

Ten-year-old Shams, a student born with paralysis on the left side of her body, said of the lessons, “I also like my teacher and our librarian. They help me to learn and succeed. … I’m very happy because I’m a top student in my class. … And I will be a librarian when I grow up.”

Health Essentials for the Displaced

Schools can provide a pathway to connect families with vital services. In the wake of COVID-19, Manahel recognized that without in-person schooling, many families’ access to these services would be limited. The project quickly pivoted to support public health priorities. With newly unlocked UK aid funds, the project is working to reduce the risk of infection in Northwestern Syria. Manahel distributes emergency soap, water, and hygiene supplies to meet students’ household needs.

Resilient Hopes

Public health permitting, Manahel plans to create summer schools to help students catch up in their lessons. In January, displacement and violence delayed educational opportunities for children. When conflict forced schools to close, the project established “home-based schools,” where Manahel formed localized classrooms in neighborhood homes. Nonetheless, many children lost weeks of lessons during this period. COVID-19 exacerbated this dilemma.

Despite the uncertainties the Syrian crisis and the pandemic pose, students retain the capacity for hope and to envision a better future.

“I want to be an English teacher when I grow up,” Rama said. “I love the English language and teaching other children. I also want to return to my school and home, just like other children. And I hope not to see another military aircraft ever again.”

Related Projects


Enabling Safe, Inclusive, and Quality Education in Syria
View All Projects
You already voted!
  • Projects
  • Impact Stories
  • News and Blog

Creating Stability through Education in Syria

Sustaining the Legacy of Holistic Education in Malawi

Syrian schoolgirls drawing pictures on their desks at school.

Enabling Safe, Inclusive, and Quality Education in Syria

Promoting Quality Education in Tajikistan

Generating Jobs and Growth in Tunisia

Strengthening Education for Youth in Syria

Stronger Book Supply Chains for Honduran Schools

Improving the Guatemalan Justice System

Improving the Dominican Republic’s Justice System

Investing in Tunisia’s Tourism Industry

Transforming the Nigerian Agriculture Sector

Piloting and Promoting Best Practices for Economic Growth

Helping All of Vietnam’s Citizens

Stronger and Healthier Households in Sri Lanka

A wide road with people and cars on it, surrounded by mountains

Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses

Fostering an Investment-Friendly Climate in Pakistan

Bolstering Jordan’s Water Sector Governance

View All Projects

Empowering Nigeria’s Farmers

Healthier Futures in Nigeria

Rice Farming in Nigeria — Come Rain or Shine

Empowering Mothers

Recent reforms have helped Kosovo make it easier for entrepreneurs to register and grow businesses.

A Roadmap to Reform

Historic Policy Changes in Vietnam Extend Rights

A New Spin on an Old Crop

Protecting Farmers Through Safe Pesticide Use in Sri Lanka

Introducing Innovative Agricultural Methods in Sri Lanka

View All Impact Stories
Group of young people standing on the street looking up at camera

Cross-Sectoral Analysis Reveals Hidden Links to Youth Development

Children and their teacher sit around a table

News: Chemonics and One World Network of Schools Create Institutional Partnership

Image of animated young girls smiling

3 Questions with Kouteba Al-Khalil on Creating Safe Education Systems for Syrian Girls

A Conversation with Jennifer Swift-Morgan

Child holding a white piece of paper with drawings on

Rapid Research and Behavior Change in Conflict-Affected Syrian Schools: An Oxymoron?

Participants in USAID's Youth Leadership for Agriculture Activity in Uganda.

All Hands on Deck: Furthering Youth Engagement in Climate Mitigation

3 Questions with Norma Evans on Chemonics’ Numeracy Toolkit

Image of Andres McAlister

Development Works Here with Andres McAlister

News: Chemonics Joins CIES 2021 to Discuss Pressing Global Education Issues

women riding on motorbike

Combatting Human Trafficking During COVID-19

Trauma-Informed Approaches to Development

News: Chemonics Releases SHEA Prevention and Response Toolkit

Our Shared Responsibility: Combatting Sexual Violence through Prevention and Response

Making the Future Accessible: Safeguarding Women with Disabilities in the Workplace

3 Questions with Captain Amos Lee On Recruiting Veteran Talent in Development

Creativity and Innovation Can Save the Day

News: Chemonics Names Catherine Kannam as the Company’s First Chief Operating Officer

Going Beyond Barriers to Break the Bias: A Celebration for International Women’s Day

What Is People-Centered Justice Programming and Why Does it Matter To You?

Leveraging Data for Meaningful Progress Towards Disability Inclusion

A Conversation with Anna Slother on Staff Care and Wellness in Conflict and Crisis

An Iraqi woman wearing a headscarf speaks into a microphone at a meeting.

Should Evaluators Take a Step Back? Enabling Frontline Staff to Lead the Learning Process

Rethinking Technical Assistance in Rapidly Changing Socioeconomic Environments

Satellite image of city

How Can Researchers Better Navigate the Profits and Perils of Satellite and Open-Source Investigations?

View All News and Blog

Sign up for our eNewsletter to learn more about our work.

Sign Up
  • What We Do
  • Where We Work
  • Who We Are
  • Work With Us
  • News and Blog
  • Technical Areas
    • Agriculture and Food Security
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Democracy and Governance
    • Economic Growth and Trade
    • Education and Youth
    • Environment and Natural Resources
    • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
    • Health
    • Peace, Stability, and Transition
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
  • Regions
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe and Eurasia
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Middle East and North Africa
  • Staff Resources
  • Employment
    • Life at Chemonics
    • Internships
  • Partner
    • Search for a Job
    • Our Procurements
    • How to Become a Partner
    • Small Business Partners Form
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram
  • Standards of Conduct
  • Data Privacy Policies