Ripples of Hope — Supporting Early Learning in Refugee Camps

Within FP, one notable effort is the Global Education Fund (GEF), which was founded by a member of the Bainum family. This fund provides grants aimed at enhancing access to high-quality early care and education for young children around the world. These projects are carefully designed to foster sustainable solutions that respond directly to community needs, evolving over time to maximize impact.

Among these partnerships is the collaboration with iACT and its Little Ripples program — a source of support for families in the refugee camps along Chad’s eastern border, where children and communities displaced from Darfur in western Sudan have settled.

In 2013, iACT, an international humanitarian nonprofit, co-designed the Little Ripples program with the refugee community to address the urgent need for early childhood education. This home-based preschool model was built from the ground up with refugees, creating preschools known as “ponds” in the yards of refugee families’ living compounds. The locations of these preschools are carefully selected so that children and their families living in a camp can have equal access.

Thanks to multiyear funding from GEF, Little Ripples has expanded into three additional refugee camps along Chad’s eastern border, bringing hope and stability to children who have endured displacement and uncertainty. The expanded program now includes a total of 12 new ponds across these camps, with each pond accommodating around 45 children from the surrounding homes and being led by two teachers. These teachers are trained in Little Ripples’ curriculum, which incorporates play-based and social-emotional learning as well as mindfulness activities. By training refugee women as educators, Little Ripples supports community members in being caretakers, educators, and advocates for the youngest and most vulnerable in their communities. This model allows the program to flourish from within the community, creating a sustainable and scalable approach to early childhood care that extends beyond individual classrooms.

One of the greatest strengths of Little Ripples lies in its ability to truly cultivate a ripple effect. Refugee teachers who have completed the training have begun to bring Little Ripples’ transformative curriculum to other regions of Chad, offering stability and support to children beyond the original camps. Through funding provided by the foundation, iACT has continued to provide a pathway for people to stand in their power. That, at its core, is about acknowledging the agency and dignity of the refugees who lead this important work.