Global TIES for Children Expands Research on Refugee Child Development Through $100 Million Grant

Hirokazu Yoshikawa, co-director of NYU Global TIES for Children and professor of globalization and education at NYU Steinhardt, discusses the center's research on child development in humanitarian contexts with Sesame Workshop and the LEGO Foundation. Global TIES for children is an international research center embedded within New York University’s Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC) and NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute, will broaden its research on young children’s development in humanitarian settings with the help of a $100 million grant from the LEGO Foundation. This funding will expand a partnership originally developed last year between Global TIES for Children, Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Sesame Workshop and IRC were previously awarded a $100 million grant from the John. D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation to bring early education to young children affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. Global TIES for Children agreed to manage and implement the evidenced-based research and evaluation portions of the program. This new funding from the LEGO Foundation will be awarded directly to Sesame Workshop to focus on young children affected by the Rohingya and Syrian crises. Global TIES for Children has again been selected as the independent evaluation partner and will implement an evidence-based research and evaluation program, which will deepen the understanding around play-based early childhood interventions in humanitarian contexts. The research and evaluation done by Global TIES for Children will be led by its Co-Director Hirokazu Yoshikawa, professor of globalization and education at NYU Steinhardt, and Co-Principal Investigator Alice Wuermli.