Journal on Education in Emergencies: Volume 7, Number 1

This special issue of JEiE contributes to a small but growing body of research evidence and lessons from programming implementation about early childhood development (ECD) in emergencies and humanitarian contexts.

In this Editorial Note, lead editors Sweta Shah and Joan Lombardi introduce the key themes, trends, and novel contributions to evidence on ECD in emergencies offered in JEiE Volume 7, Number 1.

In this Research Article, authors Jonathan Seiden, Valeria Kunz, Sara Dang, Matrika Sharma, and Sagar Gyawali provide quasi-experimental evidence of Save the Children’s ECD centers improving preacademic skills in children living in emergency contexts.

Authors Julie L. Drolet, Caroline McDonald-Harker, Nasreen Lalani, Sarah McGreer, Matthew R. G. Brown, and Peter H. Silverstone argue that ECD service delivery and infrastructure, critically inadequate in the months after wildfires devastated Fort McMurray, Alberta, are a vital part of disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness.

In this Field Note, authors Katelin Swing Wilton, Aimée Vachon, Katie Maeve Murphy, Ayat Al Aqra, Abdullah Ensour, Iman Ibrahim, Anas Tahhan, Kayla Hoyer, and Christine Powell outline the International Rescue Committee’s experience adapting a home-visiting ECD intervention for refugees and internally displaced persons in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

In this Field Note, Fabiola A. Lara examines how the rollout of Save the Children’s Toxic Stress Mitigation Model in El Salvador addressed the needs and wellbeing of caregivers, as well as those of children, and engaged fathers and grandfathers in children’s early development in innovative ways.

In this Field Note, authors Kim Foulds, Naureen Khan, Sneha Subramanian, and Ashraful Haque illustrate how Sesame Workshop brought affected populations to the table to plan the design and scope of an ECD intervention and offer a framework for involving recipients in planning humanitarian programming.

In this Field Note, authors Erum Mariam, Jahanara Ahmad, and Sarwat Sarah Sarwar argue that community participation in the design of ECD centers has led to the creation of learning spaces that foster a sense of belonging and cultural pride for displaced children in Cox’s Bazar, thus supporting their psychosocial wellbeing.

In this Field Note, author Samier Mansur discusses No Limit Generation’s innovative video training platform for aid workers, ECD professionals, educators, and caregivers, and suggests that the scale and accessibility technology-supported capacity-building is a sustainable way to support ECD in humanitarian settings.

In this Commentary, authors Saverio Bellizzi, Lori McDougall, Sheila Manji, and Ornella Lincetto discuss how growing recognition of the need for coordinated support for newborns in humanitarian settings led Save the Children, UNICEF, UNHCR, and WHO to develop a seminal mapping of actions to ensure that babies and mothers survive and thrive in emergency contexts.

In this Commentary, authors Bernadette Daelmans, Mahalakshmi Nair, Fahmy Hanna, Ornella Lincetto, Tarun Dua, and Xanthe Hunt bring attention to the cascading effects of caregivers’ mental health for children’s development and outline an agenda for interagency priority-setting and research to support mothers’ and newborns’ mental wellbeing.

In this Commentary, authors Xanthe Hunt, Theresa Betancourt, Laura Pacione, Mayada Elsabbagh, and Chiara Servili present the principles that should guide action to support children with developmental disorders and other disabilities and make recommendations for programming, policy, and future research.

In this review of Collaborative Cross-Cultural Research Methodologies in Early Care and Education Contexts, edited by Samara Madrid Akpovo, Mary Jane Moran, and Robyn Brookshire, Amy Jo Dowd highlights the practical lessons that this edited volume offers for conducting ECD research that is mindful of context, positionality, relationship, and reciprocity across cultures.

In this review of Early Childhood Development in Humanitarian Crises: South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda by Sweta Shah, Kate Schwartz highlights how Shah draws from a rich variety of disciplines, contexts, and frames to provide a comprehensive picture of ECD in humanitarian settings: its potential, its limitations, and its critical role for children living in crisis and conflict.