Collateral Repair Project : Supergirls

Refugee girls face challenges to complete their education. Refugee girls are 50 % less enrolled in school than their male counterparts which translates to them missing years of school, or struggling to concentrate due to trauma as a result of violence or insecure living arrangements that impacts their mental health and ability to learn. They are often overlooked in busy classrooms, which also negatively affects their confidence, grades, attendance and desire to stay at school. The aim of our project is to help refugee girls develop positive social skills and succeed in school. Our program supports girls with their academic and emotional development, helping them to stay engaged in school and to broaden their horizons. If scaled globally girls from all over the world could find a secure path to education and ultimately socio economic empowerment. 

Refugee girls are 50 % less enrolled in school than their male counterparts missing years of school, or struggling to concentrate due to trauma or insecure living arrangements that impacts their mental health and ability to learn. (https://www.unhcr.org/herturn/) They are often overlooked in busy classrooms, which also negatively affects their confidence, grades, attendance and desire to stay at school. Evidence shows that girls without a secondary education are at greater risk of child marriage and early pregnancy. They are more likely to be victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and at greater risk of suffering from poor mental and physical health.

The aim of our project is to help refugee girls develop positive social skills and succeed in school by supporting girls with their academic and emotional development, helping them to stay engaged in school and to broaden their horizons. 

Our Supergirls program supports girls to gain knowledge, confidence and motivation to complete primary education and move on to secondary school by providing them with academic support, skills training, and promoting emotional development and resilience. If scaled globally girls from all over the world could find a secure path to education and ultimately socio economic empowerment. 

SuperGirls (SG) focuses on the emotional well-being of girls aged 6-12 in the communities we serve. Revolving around trauma-sensitivity, the program’s curriculum provides support to build the girls’ self-confidence, process complex emotions, and cope with the stress of protracted displacement and poverty. Activities include breathing and mindfulness exercises and games encouraging communication, emotional awareness, and self-expression. The program runs in 6-month cycles. CRP aims to address any educational gaps by incorporating literacy and numeracy classes. The program encourages the girls to maintain school attendance rates, fosters social cohesion amongst our communities, and ultimately builds the girls’ resilience.

The curriculum is made up of 64 sessions: 52 sessions are classroom activities focusing on exercises which support the development of positive coping strategies and emotional awareness and also incorporate Arabic, English, and math learning. The older groups study an age-appropriate syllabus to learn basic computer skills and to use popular software packages, and the younger group further improves their  literacy in classes that incorporate the “I Read Arabic” online curriculum. The girls attend the core Super Girls program three days a week, every week, over a six-month period. There is another follow up program called Extra Supergirls (ESG)  for graduates of SG.

The Supergirls program will be delivered in CRP’s community centres. We will deliver the core program to 60 girls aged 6-12, and additional computer skills courses to 60 alumni aged 8-13. We target families from Iraq and Syria, but  also open to vulnerable Jordanian girls. The aim is to help refugee girls develop positive social skills and succeed in school. Many girls in our community are either not enrolled in school, or at risk of falling behind or dropping out. Some have missed years of education due to conflict, and many others struggle to concentrate or communicate in school due to traumatic experiences in the past. Although there are many tools and programs which support academic development, the challenges facing refugee girls go beyond learning to read and write. In order to cope with past trauma, the girls often develop negative coping strategies and struggle to concentrate or communicate well with others. Our innovation is to work with the girls in a holistic way, supporting their emotional development as well as addressing gaps in their formal education. Over the course of 6 months, the girls gain the confidence, knowledge and positive coping strategies they need to succeed in educational activities.

Access to education for refugee girls is a barrier both physically and emotionally due to a lack of resources on the one hand and traumatic experiences on the other, which leaves them with negative coping strategies. Our Supergirls program works by filling in the educational gaps through formal and informal training and learning, whilst also providing the required skills and competencies for education and employment in the future.  It is difficult for refugee girls to source education and skills when they have been displaced and Supergirls strives to bring this to them in a safe and professional environment. 

Although there are many tools and programs which support academic development, the challenges facing refugee girls go beyond learning to read and write. In order to cope with past trauma, the girls often develop negative coping strategies and struggle to concentrate or communicate well with others. Our innovation is to work with the girls in a holistic way, supporting their emotional development as well as addressing gaps in their formal education. The girls gain the confidence, knowledge and positive coping strategies they need to succeed in educational activities.

The program provides classes supporting girls to develop core academic skills, resulting in improved literacy and numeracy scores over the course of 6 months. 

Using age-appropriate and trauma-sensitive approaches, SuperGirls receive instruction in mindfulness and emotional awareness, resulting in improved wellbeing and positive coping strategies. We will also provide SuperGirls alumni with training in computer skills and coding, resulting in improved technical knowledge through the ESG program. This will provide  girls with basic computer skills and knowledge of popular software.

The current goal is to make the program available in remote locations. We have the curriculum in English and in Arabic and 3 years of experience running the program with 2 years of good M&E data.  If we had the resources, CRP could develop an online version of the course to complement a parallel initiative to train youth workers in the curriculum and methodology of SuperGirls.  

Initially the SuperGirls curriculum is delivered to 30 girls split into two groups of 15, group one (ages 6-8) and group two (ages 9-12). Over 6 months they receive regular classes, one field trip and  a graduation ceremony. This is repeated for a second cohort of 30 girls.

The recruitment date is currently unknown due to COVID 19 for 30 girls who have already completed the core SuperGirls program to be enrolled in extra Supergirls to receive training in basic computer skills, and to receive a training course in coding. 

The SuperGirls curriculum is made up of 64 sessions: 52 are classroom activities which support the development of positive coping strategies and emotional awareness along with Arabic, English, and math. A further 12 sessions take place in the computer lab. The older groups study an age-appropriate syllabus to learn basic computer skills and the younger group  improves their  literacy in classes that incorporate the “I Read Arabic” online curriculum. The girls attend the core Super Girls program three days a week, every week, over a six-month period. 

The Extra Super Girls (ESG) program will be open to any girls who have completed Supergirls since 2017. There will be 2 classes (15 girls) in basic computer literacy for girls who did not complete it previously. For girls who have good computer skills, we will run a course in computer coding for 2 classes of 15 girls.  The ESG coding course is adapted from a coding program CRP offers to  adults.  

There is already a great deal of interest in SuperGirls within the community at CRP. The parents of past participants tell friends and other community members how the program benefited their daughters, and we now have a waiting list of girls hoping to participate. The level of interest is one of the reasons we are so keen to continue and expand this program. 

CRP has a dedicated Monitoring and Evaluation team which helps us to follow the progress of the girls from start to finish, and ensures all learning is incorporated into improvements to the program. Academic and computer skills will be measured through observations of the girls, and debriefings conducted each day between volunteers and program staff. We also measure success using a tool developed by child psychiatrist Robert N. Goodman called the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The SDQ is an emotional and behavioural screening questionnaire for children and young people.The survey will be administered at the beginning of the course to establish a baseline measurement, which we compare to an end survey after the program finishes. Further success is captured by recording the enrolment status of the girls at the beginning and end of the course. We will follow up with the girls 6 months after completion of the program to measure medium term impacts. 

CRP’s holistic approach involves deep community engagement, where we help individuals build resilience and heal from trauma. At our two vibrant community centers, we provide a variety of educational, recreational, and wellness activities, aiding our participants to gain skills and build community. We provide community service and leadership opportunities for individuals, and this has proven to be a key driver of resilience and empowerment. CRP’s greatest strengths lie in the deep knowledge and trust we have established with the community we serve, our commitment to community-based engagement, and our ability to develop nuanced, cost-effective, impactful programming. 

We first ensure that our most vulnerable community members have access to basic necessities through Emergency Assistance Programs like monthly food vouchers. Having gained the trust of these communities, we are better able to ensure refugee girls enrol in Supergirls as a first step to education and psychological healing.  

We currently serve 60 girls per year directly.  This is to be multiplied by 5 for family members which the program serves indirectly. 

For the future we plan to serve 120 girls per year directly and also multiplied by 5 indirectly. 

In five years' time we hope to serve over 500 girls per year directly. 

Currently we have had 180 girls graduate from the program through six cycles. The program was delivered over the course of 12 months. 

We want to develop partnerships with other community organizations in Jordan and share the Supergirls program and see it implemented in more communities.  We hope to reach a goal of 500 girls enrolled annually in Jordan in five years. We also hope that this program may have an app or greater online presence and reachability so that refugee girls can access it from an earlier age and be able to stay enrolled in school whilst also getting the right and tailored counselling needed to succeed. 

The challenges go beyond literacy and our innovation is to work with the girls in a holistic way, supporting their emotional development as well as addressing gaps in their formal education.   The supergirls program has been run with great success, but current lack of funding means CRP will not be able to continue the full program.  Coronavirus has upset our practices and we are shifting to an online format We note that the communities we serve are so poor that they can not always afford internet access 

The  pandemic is pushing us to move  programs online and we are challenged to develop quality online learning materials specifically to support the supergirls program in the Arabic language, thus  finding local partners to embrace this curriculum and work with us to expand the program within jordan is also difficult.  

Operating the program during lockdown was difficult and it is so important to continue regardless of covid restrictions, whether online or at one of our centers but we have to constantly secure financial resources for CRP community center operations 

We are also challenged to move our existing Arabic language curriculums into an online format to support remote learning if and when necessary and internet access for the communities we serve is also a challenge. 

There are also legal barriers on the refugee communities in Amman that restrict their access to public goods and services such as education and health 

Frequently changing regulatory environment makes compliance difficult, especially for organizations focused on refugee populations

Firstly, CRP is pursuing  registration as a local Jordanian NGO because currently we are registered in Jordan as an international NGO and this hampers our ability to obtain local funding and make local alliances. 

Secondly, CRP is building the capacity of our staff and also our community leaders in it and computer skills because this is critical to our success as a data driven organization and because its skills are highly demanded and open up new opportunities.  

We hope to raise funds to develop a complete online and remote learning platform for the program which can also train the teachers to deliver the program from any place in the world.  

CRP staff in 2020 is about 35 and staff especially in the youth programs team is about 8. Staff specifically for the super girls program is 2 full timers (a program coordinator and a data officer who provides IT training) and they are supported by up to 8 trained adult community volunteers. 

CRP is a grassroots effort in Amman, Jordan bringing much-needed assistance to vulnerable communities. We seek to assist those in need, foster social cohesion, and build peace and reconciliation. CRP was founded in 2006 to aid Iraqi refugees in the aftermath of the second Gulf War, and later expanded to incorporate refugees from Syria and other vulnerable groups. CRP’s two community centers offer many activities and learning opportunities focussed around the themes of education, livelihoods, protection, empowerment and resilience. Many program leaders within CRP have themselves experienced displacement and after completing a course at CRP or class, continue to get training and help in running programs such as Supergirls.  They come to understand how to run programs appropriate to the specific needs of refugees, and how to train and support volunteers working with vulnerable children.

At this point CRP does not have any formal partnerships however across our programs we work with many organizations, for example the German Civil Peace Service has helped our programs for adults in Gender Based Violence Awareness  Programs  a great deal

For our youth programs we cooperate with a number of local organizations to arrange activities and events for the children we serve. 

CRP is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit and we are registered in Jordan as an INGO with the Ministry of Social Development.  

CRP follows a non-profit business model based on community engagement, encouraging volunteering and service, and building the skills and capacities of our community members at all ages.  

As CRP is not a local NGO, we fundraise outside of Jordan.  60% of funding comes from individual donations and the remaining 40% is generated from project specific grants. 

Our path is to eventually also obtain local NGO status which will open new channels of funding and partnership and to continue our communications efforts which fuel our success in both individual fundraising and grant applications,  in order to run our operations in Amman. 

We will continue to fundraise from individuals and to pursue grant opportunities.  

Our program aims to help refugee girls fill in the gaps in their education and move on to secondary education.  Refugee girls find it harder to enrol in class due to trauma from violent backgrounds or the after effects of war.  We lack the funds and technological expertise to be able to build this program into an online platform during the coronavirus pandemic that can be accessed by all refugee girls.  By applying to solve, we hope to win a prize that will enable us to continue these essential programs.  Furthermore, we are hopeful that we may receive interest from more tech savvy partners who can provide advice and mentorship on other ways to deliver these programs or even adjust them as deemed fit. 

We seek to partner with organizations that have the knowledge and financial capabilities to support our programs in Jordan.  We seek to develop these programs so that they can reach a larger group.  We are also interested in developing an online platform to reach these communities other than social media channels.  This would perhaps involve developing an online learning platform specifically for our organisation.  We would also welcome the idea of having professional counsellors available to evaluate our program's impact on the health and well being of the members of the communities we serve which can then be used to adjust the programs accordingly. 

We would like to partner with academic institutions that can advise us on program and curriculum development efforts in the future. 

We would like to greatly enhance our monitoring evaluation and learning efforts and seek partnership with organizations interested in data management for social science and social work applications.

Our program aims to provide a safe environment for refugee girls to develop their social skills and education to advance to secondary schooling. Revolving around trauma-sensitivity, the program’s curriculum provides support to build the girls’ self-confidence, process complex emotions, and cope with the stress of protracted displacement and poverty.  It is a holistic program for refugee girls which supports academic and emotional development providing them with the emotional tools they need to process traumatic experiences and encouraging them to stay in school.   Girls become self reliant through education and are better equipped to enrol in secondary education leading them to become active members of the workforce. If awarded this prize, we would be able to continue this program and find a source to help us move it online during the pandemic.

Our program aims to provide a safe environment for refugee girls to develop their social skills and education to advance to secondary schooling. Revolving around trauma-sensitivity, the program’s curriculum provides support to build the girls’ self-confidence, process complex emotions, and cope with the stress of protracted displacement and poverty.  It is a holistic program for refugee girls which supports academic and emotional development providing them with the emotional tools they need to process traumatic experiences and encouraging them to stay in school.   If awarded this prize, we would be able to continue this program and find a source to help us move it online during the pandemic.

Our program aims to provide a safe environment for refugee girls to develop their social skills and education to advance to secondary schooling. Revolving around trauma-sensitivity, the program’s curriculum provides support to build the girls’ self-confidence, process complex emotions, and cope with the stress of protracted displacement and poverty.  It is a holistic program for refugee girls which supports academic and emotional development providing them with the emotional tools they need to process traumatic experiences and encouraging them to stay in school.   If awarded this prize, we would be able to continue this program and find a source to help us move it online during the pandemic.