War Child Alliance wins $3.8 million prize for digital learning program

War Child Alliance, an international aid agency focused on children in conflict, has received one of two Yidan Prizes — a $3.8 million annual award that recognizes educational research and development. The $3.8 million development prize was awarded to War Child because of its Can’t Wait to Learn project, an initiative currently active in eight conflict-affected countries. Through solar-powered tablets, the initiative brings self-paced literacy and numeracy skills to children who are blocked from school due to conflict, and with the Yidan Prize, the team intends to grow the program, optimize its implementation, and test its effectiveness. Those being recognized for War Child’s prize include Mark Jordans, War Child Alliance’s director for research and development; Marwa Zahr, the implementation and practitioner lead of the Can’t Wait to Learn project; and Luke Stannard, the program director of the Can’t Wait to Learn project. “As the world evolves, so must education,” said Charles Chen Yidan, the founder of the Yidan Prize, in a press release. “The exceptional achievements of our 2024 laureates are critical in preparing the next generations for an uncertain future.” This year’s other Yidan Prize winner — who earned the second $3.8 million award for educational research — is Austrian demographer Wolfgang Lutz, who studies the impacts of investing in education. Through the Yidan Prize, Lutz will establish two research centers in South Africa and Thailand. At the University of Cape Town, the center will train more statisticians to influence policy-making decisions on education, a press release said. At Chulalongkorn University, the center will focus on building resilience to climate change in coastal areas. Both the development and research prizes are split into two parts: A cash award and a project fund to support their work. “Education needs to be recognized more as a space for innovation, along with the capacity and potential that it has to reach people,” said Lucy Lake, the director of global engagement at the Yidan Prize Foundation. “Both of these prizes show just how important education really is for development more widely.” It’s something Lake understands intimately. Until January 2023, Lake was the chief executive officer of CAMFED, an organization that focuses on girls’ education in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Malawi. Lake was with CAMFED for three decades, and in 2020, she and Angeline Murimirwa, now the organization’s chief executive officer, won the Yidan Prize themselves. “It came at such an important moment for us,” said Lake. “In addition to the actual value of the prize itself, and what that could fund, it also was a catalyst in enabling other opportunities to be explored, and how change could be achieved more widely.” It’s part of the reason Lake joined the Yidan Prize Foundation this year. Once CAMFED earned the Yidan Prize, they were able to both expand their work and connect to others in the sector — including people in the educational research community. “The fact that the Yidan Prize Foundation looks at both research and practice, so looking at both the evidence-base as well as what’s working in practice, and bringing those two things together, is really powerful,” said Lake. “In recognizing that and bridging that gap, it brings a unique offering.” To date, the foundation has awarded $61.6 million across 50 countries since 2017.