iLearn was started in 2012 by Saddam Sayyaleh as a non-profit initiative that mobilizes youth volunteers to work with children and provide them with access to safe spaces where they can express themselves freely and acquire the skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary in life. The organisation runs a non-formal educational programme which targets refugee children and children at risk of interruption of education due to child labour and impoverishment. The children are invited to the safe learning space in the premises of a local partner community-based organisation extra-curricular, pre-designed activities on four topics: life skills, languages, arts & theatre and programming.
In the future, iLearn wants to use the mobile school to reach more children who are not a part yet of the iLearn non-formal learning cycles. One of the locations where they aim to set up the mobile school is Souf Camp, just outside of the city of Jerash. Souf camp was one of the six emergency camps set up for Palestine refugees and displaced people who left the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Today, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the near East (UNRWA) provides education, health, relief and social services and infrastructure and camp improvement to over 20,000 registered Palestine refugees in the camp.
During the prospection, the team also visited another community-based organisation located in Shouneh, located close to the Dead Sea and the border with the West Bank. Besides the iLearn safe learning space, the organisation also aims to interact with nomadic populations who are living here in the region, mostly during winter season. The mobile school could also be a tool to reach out directly to the communities and build up a relationship of trust with the children and their communities.
After four days of workshops and street visits, the team of iLearn received their certificates in the main office in Amman! The prospection was perceived as really interesting. In the coming months, both parties will stay in close contact to explore the possibility to set up the very first StreetSmart Wheels partnership in the Middle East. To be continued!
Further information:
iLearn website: https://ilearnjo.com/
Meet Saddam Sayyaleh:
