Social-Emotional Support Through Edutainment

Globally, one in four of the world's school-age children live in conflict-affected countries (ECW, 2022) with approximately 75 million children experiencing disruptions in their education because of conflict. It is widely known that exposure in childhood to risks such as violence can affect a child's education outcomes, ability to learn and can lead to trouble with peers. Conversely, a child's strong social-emotional skills can lead to positive impacts on academic achievement, civic engagement and social behaviour. Strong social emotional skills cultivate important “protective factors” to buffer against mental health risks, helping to improve attitudes about self and others while decreasing emotional distress and risky behaviours (CASEL).

Teachers and parents in conflict-affected countries lack sufficient materials for addressing children's mental health in child-friendly and engaging ways. Additionally, education systems in refugee-hosting countries such as Lebanon are so stressed and stretched that they simply do not have time or resources to invest in new approaches or materials. 

Simple, localized, technology-enabled innovations are urgently needed to address children's social-emotional well-being, ensuring strong learning outcomes and avoiding a lost generation. These innovations must be 1) easy for teachers to learn, understand and implement 2) engaging and fun for learners, and 3) able to meet learners where they are at with technology (available on multiple platforms).

BBB's 1001 Nights Life Skills Civic Education Program (LSCE) is a multi-platform educational entertainment program that uses cartoons to provide social-emotional support to 6 to 12-year old children (including life skills and civic values) focusing on principles of non-violence, human rights, democracy, gender equality and the rule of law. The program is implemented in formal and non-formal learning environments and, due to COVID-19, was implemented as part of at-home learning programs in multiple countries. 

The program uses animated cartoons combined with lesson plans that feature in-class and at-home activities. As access to technology varies across and within countries, a combination of approaches are used including online implementations through Facebook as well as television and radio. Children watch or listen to the lesson and then complete in-class and/or at-home activities, guided by a teacher or facilitator. 

In every implementation of the program to date, learners have shown significant reductions in anxiety, and sadness with significant improvements in coping strategies, hope and enthusiasm for their futures. During a 2021 implementation in Lebanon, for example, learners (Lebanese, Syrian, Palestenian) showed a 33% reduction in feelings of anxiety, a 55% reduction in perpetual feelings of sadness, and a 59% reduction in physical manifestations of anxiety. To date the program has been implemented in over a dozen countries with similar impact across all programs. 

Teachers and parents: Teachers and parents in conflict-affected countries lack sufficient materials for addressing children's mental health in child-friendly and engaging ways. Education systems in these countries are so stretched and/or under-resourced that they simply do not have the capacity to develop or implement technology-based approaches. They need simple, easy to understand approaches that are easily adaptable to their changing environments. 

Learners affected by conflict: Globally one in four of the world's school age children live in conflict-affected areas. To ensure they build a solid foundation of social and emotional skills and achieve strong education outcomes, these children need mental health support programs that are fun, engaging and easily accessible. 

Big Bad Boo was founded by Aly Jetha and Shabnam Rezaei specifically to address the lack of diversity and inclusion in children's entertainment and edutainment. All of BBB's programs mainstream concepts of inclusion, gender equality and diversity including featuring characters with physical disabilities and those with learning differences. Programs also mainstream diversity of families with BBB having produced some of the only LGBTQ+ cartoons for preschool age children. 

Each implementation of the 1001 Nights program is led by a local partner, in the related country. BBB intentionally does not have country offices around the world but rather works with existing local organizations who have extensive knowledge of the needs on the ground, including the education needs of vulnerable children in that country. This is one of the many ways in which the program is able to be representative of the communities it serves - it is implemented by members from those communities themselves. 

Any implementation of the program in a new country starts with a local needs assessment of learners, the education system and current gaps/needs. This process serves as the basis for the localization of the materials which includes a review of all animated episodes and the curriculum itself. This process is done in partnership with the related Ministry of Education, the local UNICEF office (as applicable), and other country or regional experts as needed. Revised materials are piloted with teachers and learners prior to full-scale implementation. In this way, learners are directly engaged in the review/development of content for them. 

The program has a rigorous monitoring and evaluation process that includes pre/post testing with learners, monthly feedback loops with teachers/facilitators, pre/post testing with parents, focus groups with learners and key informant interviews with education stakeholders in the country. This process ensures that BBB receives: 1) ongoing feedback on the implementation of the program; 2) data on the impact of the program amongst learners directly from learners themselves, corroborated by the perspective of teachers and parents; 3) input on what can be changed or adapted for future implementations either in that country or in other countries. 

BBB is currently looking for ways to expand the 1001 Nights program approach in several ways:

1. Develop a fully digital and interactive curriculum. The episodes are available online and through TV and radio while the lessons themselves are largely paper-based. BBB is looking to digitize the curriculum, making it interactive and expanding its reach to learners who have access to tablets or smartphones. 

2. Add gaming to the curriculum. BBB is looking for support to develop an education game, aligned with the 1001 Nights approach, that would compliment the curriculum, allowing children to engage with the characters and content in a new and exciting way. 

Big Bad Boo's approach uses animation coupled with structured curriculum to reach leaners in a fun, engaging and impactful way. Where learners don't have access to technology that lets them watch the episodes, the content is provided as a radio drama or is read aloud by teachers/facilitators. The program can also be provided online through social media (Facebook), WhatsApp or other platforms. In this way, the program and approach is fully adaptable to the context in which it is being offered and the technology that is available. 

Critically, the program can be offered as a fully remote approach. This is vital in conflict situations (BBB did a remote implementation in Syria at the height of the conflict), for rural/inaccessible locations and, most recently, for COVID-19 where learners around the world switched to at-home learning. This flexible approach means that it can be implemented in practically any context as a stand along project or incorporated into other ongoing education initiatives. 

BBB's goal for the next year is to further impact the reach of the 1001 Nights program through expanding the program into gaming where learners can play both by themselves at home or as a group, guided by a teacher or facilitator. Additionally, while the program is available in multiple formats (TV, radio, etc), BBB also hopes to digitize the curriculum, making it accessible to more learners. 

In the next five years, BBB aims to have the program widely accessible to both Ministries of Education and NGO/INGO partners in at least 30 countries. We envision that the program will be the 'go to' program for teaching children social cohesion and other positive civic values with a focus on children from vulnerable and conflict-affected contexts. BBB has an existing relationship with UNICEF at the global level and with multiple INGOs including Save the Children and is working towards both expanding those relationships and building new ones. 

BBB has a robust M/E system to measure the impact of the 1001 Nights program. One of the innovations of the program is the vignette-style pre/post test administered with learners. Instead of asking 'is it ok to steal?' children are asked 'if you went into a store and were guaranteed you would not get caught, would you take a piece of candy?' (or other item relevant to the context). In this way, the program measures changes in children's notions of rule of law, gender equality, conflict resolution, acceptance of out groups, and other key issues. In the previously mentioned implementation in Syria, BBB measured: 45% reduction in acceptance of violence; 43% reduction in willingness to break the law; 39% reduction in notions of gender inequality; 27% reduction in intolerance to outside groups; and, 36% reduction in impunity from the rule of law. This impact has been repeated time and again across multiple countries. The success of the 1001 Nights LSCE program has since led to the piloting of new curricula based on animated content that focuses more specifically on rule of law and gender-based violence. 

The theory of change is that if children and family members in vulnerable and conflict-affected communities have access to engaging personally relevant and entertaining content that supports social-emotional wellbeing, then, then learning outcomes will be strengthened and cycles of violence will be broken.

Technology used during implementations of the 1001 Nights program vary based on the context/country in which it is used. Technology used can include any combination of: television, radio, computers/tablets/online, and/or messaging/WhatsApp platforms. 

BBB as a company was founded by Aly Jetha and Shabnam Rezaei to address the lack of diversity, inclusion and gender equality in children's entertainment. All programming, including 1001 Nights, mainstreams diversity and inclusion across all characters and storylines. 

BBB produces The Bravest Knight, a story about a knight who marries a prince and they raise their adopted daughter, which is one of the first LGBTQ+ cartoon programs for the preschool age range. The company also produces 16 Hudson, a cartoon about a big apartment building in a big city where families from around the world - including a refugee family and a family with 2 dads - live, work and play together. Programs also feature children with learning differences and physical disabilities and work to challenge gender norms. The program Judge Jodhi, for example, features a young girl with dyslexia who helps neighbourhood children solve disputes. Her mother is the breadwinner while her father is often seen cooking family meals. 

This commitment to diversity and inclusion is mirrored in the company itself, where a significant portion of staff, contractors and consultants are BIOPC and/or identify as part of the LGBTQ2S+ community. 

BBB has both a commercial division that produces animated programs for mainstream television and streaming services, as well as the international development division that works with donors like UNICEF and donor governments to implement the 1001 Nights program. The combination of partnering with donors and using partial proceeds from the commercial division, BBB is able to provide the 1001 Nights program to learners and their families are no cost. As target beneficiaries for the program are in vulnerable and conflict-affected contexts, being able to provide high quality, engaging and impactful programming for children, at no cost to their families, is critical. 

BBB has both a commercial division that produces animated programs for mainstream television and streaming services, as well as the international development division that works with donors like UNICEF and donor governments to implement the 1001 Nights program. Through the combination of partnering with donors and using partial proceeds from the commercial division, BBB is able to, and will continue to be able to, provide the 1001 Nights program to learners and their families at no cost. 

BBB has a long-term services agreement (LTA) with UNICEF as well as current grants/services agreements with Global Affairs Canada, Grand Challenges Canada, the Australian government through Palladium, Oak Foundation, the Danish government, and other donors. While these agreements do not include revenue generation, BBB also has a commercial division that has provided animated programs to outlets around the world including Discovery Kids, Hulu, CCTV, CBV, Cartoon Network, and others.