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ABSTRACT
Innovations are needed to address the global issue of access to high-quality education, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This paper shows quasi-experimental evidence that a digital game-based learning programme (‘Can’t Wait to Learn’) led to significantly greater improvements in mathematics competency, Arabic literacy competency, and psychological wellbeing of children aged 7–9 in Sudan, compared to state-provided education for out-of-school children, 6 months after the start of the programme implementation (n = 221). These findings were corroborated and extended by qualitative data from 33 focus group discussions and key informant interviews with children, learning directors, caregivers, community leaders, and supervisory staff. We found no difference between groups on child-reported hope, and we found evidence for a significant negative intervention effect on child-reported self-esteem, though the psychometric properties of these instruments were not adequate. We report several considerations related to the experience of local facilitators, programme implementation challenges, and the importance of community acceptance and engagement for fidelity of implementation.
Acknowledgments
Can’t Wait to Learn was developed by a consortium of stakeholders including the Sudanese National Council for Literacy and Adult Education, Ahfad University for Women, War Child Holland, TNO and local NGO Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women Studies. Our thanks go first and foremost to the children, parents, community leaders, and LDs in Sudan who delivered, took part in, or supported the programme and shared their feedback and experiences with us. The data collection would not have been possible without our dedicated and professional team of research assistants and programme support staff, and qualitative data analysis would not have been possible without the support of the translators and the coordination of Eyad Hallak. We also gratefully acknowledge the National Council of Literacy and Adult Education in Sudan and representatives that supported the study at the national and state level; supporting staff at Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women’s Studies and Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman; and the Department for International Development, UNICEF, and UNHCR for the opportunity to carry out this study and for the financial and technical support provided under the Humanitarian Education Accelerator.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
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Notes on contributors
Felicity L Brown
Felicity Brown is a Senior Researcher at War Child Holland, holding a PhD and Masters degree in Clinical Psychology. She has a background in developing and evaluating psychosocial and education interventions for children and families affected by armed conflict, poverty, and other adversities.
Alawia I Farag
Alawia Ibrahim Farag Elbla is an associate professor of education, director of Students’ Affairs and former dean of the School of Psychology and Pre-School Education at Ahfad University for Women (AUW) in Sudan. She teaches among other courses: Perspectives on International and Multicultural Education, Human Rights and Peace Education, and Education in Emergencies at master level. Dr. Farag has contributed in the establishment of a master programme (a localized version from the NOMA joint master program) in International and Multicultural Education and Development, started seven years ago at School of Psychology and Pre-School Education, Ahfad University for Women.
Faiza Hussein Abd Alla
Faiza Hussein Abd Alla holds a PhD in Zoology from the Faculty of Science at the University of Khartoum and has a higher diploma in human rights from the Faculty of Law at the University of Khartoum. She is an assistant professor in the Centre for Science and Technology, and the head of Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, at Ahfad University for Women. She is a researcher in different areas including zoology, nutrition, environment, education and human rights and has authored many educational manuals. She is the manager for the CWTL programme in Sudan, representing Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women Studies.
Kate Radford
Kate Radford is the Programme Director for Can’t Wait to Learn globally, at War Child Holland. She holds degrees in Business, European Politics, and Germanic Studies, and has over 15 years experience in humanitarian and development programmes.
Laura Miller
Laura Miller is the Deputy Programme Director for Can’t Wait to Learn globally, at War Child Holland. She holds a degree in Anthropology, and has over 15 years experience in humanitarian and development programmes
Koen Neijenhuijs
Koen Neijenhuijs is a PhD researcher connected to the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where his research focusses on the use of patient-reported measures in eHealth. He has assisted in the planning of the data analyses and the performing of data analyses for the Can’t Wait to Learn programme since 2016.
Hester Stubbé
Hester Stubbé is a Senior Educational Specialist with TNO with a focus on innovations in education, including Applied Gaming and Virtual Reality. She worked with War Child Holland for Can’t Wait to Learn from 2011-2018 on the educational design and the development of the games.
Thomas de Hoop
Thomas de Hoop directs a research and evaluation portfolio with a focus on the impact, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of self-help groups, savings groups, and education innovations in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. He is the program area lead for AIR’s international projects that focus on food security, agriculture, and nutrition. He is the team leader for an evidence synthesis on the partnership pillar of the sustainable development goals and was the principal investigator for the Evidence Consortium on Women’s Groups.
Ahmed Abdullatif Abbadi
Ahmed Abdullatif Abbadi was the technical support officer for the project in Sudan. He graduated from the American University of Cairo in 2003, and worked in e-learning in Sudan from 2011 until 2019.
Jasmine S. Turner
Jasmine Turner is a researcher at War Child Holland, working on the Can’t Wait to Learn programme research since 2017. Her background is in education and global mental health, with a focus on low-resource and conflict-affected settings. Jasmine recently began a PhD that aims to design and evaluate an approach to increase caregiver engagement in children’s education, with the goal of increasing equitable access, attendance and retention.
Andrea Jetten
Andrea Jetten is the Senior Quality Assurance Advisor for Can't Wait to Learn at War Child Holland, where she coordinates the development and iterative improvements of the games in close collaboration with educational specialists, designers, game developers and researchers. She previously worked at TNO as an applied researcher in human factors and cognitive science.She holds a master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience.
Mark J.D. Jordans
Mark Jordans is child psychologist and works as Director of Research & Development for War Child Holland. He is professor in Child and Adolescent Global Mental Health at the University of Amsterdam. His work focuses on developing and evaluating systems of care to support the mental health of people in adversities.