TIGER Girls-Educating Syrian Refugee Girls

Overview
The purpose of the TIGER Project (These Inspiring Girls Enjoy Reading) is to demonstrate and document the effectiveness of an innovative and scalable community ­based approach to learning that is being carried out with adolescent girls in the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan. The program aims to increases the sense of agency, meaning, and connection of the participants while also supporting their personal learning goals. The objective of this demonstration project is to show that the methodology will enable the girls to take greater control over their lives as they develop basic knowledge, critical skills, and meaningful relationships.

The TIGER Girls are grouped into TIGER Teams of approximately 10 learners with the goal of fostering a support network as they improve their literacy and numeracy skills. The girls have access to a learning library of open educational resources and the OLE Personal Learning System that enables them to plan, track, and share their progress. TIGER Coaches facilitate the TIGER Girls’ learning process through project ­based learning exercises that are team driven. Currently, there are 12 TIGER Coaches and 126 TIGER Girls involved in the project.

General Update
Over the past 3 months OLE, IRD, and UNHCR have cooperated to order and deliver the technical hardware needed for the program. This includes 105 tablets, 7 Raspberry Pi servers configured with the OLE Open Learning System, routers, and digital cameras. The OLE team carried in the servers and routers together with 15 tablets needed for the training program (see below). However, although the purchasing and shipping process was relatively straightforward, we did face delays getting the tablets through Jordanian customs under the UNHCR duty free license. It took careful coordination and diligent efforts by the partner organizations to resolve the issues presented by the customs process. We are very appreciative of the efforts made by UNHCR in clearing this matter and we are pleased to report that all goods are now in service at Za’atari.

TIGER Leadership Development Program (January 11 - 24)
The TIGER Leadership Development Program was conducted over two weeks at Za’atari Refugee Camp. Twelve Syrian women who are serving as TIGER Coaches participated in the program where they learned the fundamentals of project ­based learning, managing a project based classroom, youth empowerment, the OLE Personal Learning System, and the Android operating system. The program was carried out by OLE International, the International Education Association/Lebanon (IEA), and OLE Ghana in partnership with UNHCR and International Relief and Development (IRD). The first week of the program was dedicated to the mechanics of managing and delivering project ­based learning programs, while the second week was focused on technical skills needed to utilize the OLE Personal Learning System. Each participant received a certificate at the end of the two ­week program that documented skills learned.