iACT

Little Ripples is an innovative, early childhood education program that trains and employs refugee women to support the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children ages 3 to 5 through play-based learning.
Guided by international experts in education, early childhood development, leadership, mindfulness, trauma recovery, and mental health, the Little Ripples curriculum provides a state-of-the-art foundation for daily activities and is adapted and culturally-inspired by the refugee women teachers.
Little Ripples maximizes the resources at hand in refugee communities by partnering with families to host in-home centers called Little Ripples Ponds. Ponds have two teachers and serve up to 45 children each. Education Directors–refugee women nominated by their teacher peers–provide support to up to four Ponds, and lead the teachers in weekly meetings. The daily meal, essential to the development and learning of children, is locally sourced, prepared, and served by the host mother and one other neighboring woman.
In refugee camps, women and girls make up more than 50% of the population, yet men hold the majority of formal employment positions. Further, women do not have equal participation in decision-making. Through Little Ripples, women are employed, attend three-to-four iACT Teacher Trainings a year, and receive weekly leadership and human rights training, facilitated by the Little Ripples Education Directors, to increase their confidence and capacity.

The Refugees United Soccer Academy is a place for refugee girls and boys ages 6 to 13 to learn about teamwork, leadership, and peacebuilding, all while improving soccer skills.
It offers children, whose families have been displaced by extreme violence, a safe space to play, heal, and be empowered. iACT trains and employs two male and two female refugees to serve as the leaders and coaches of each Academy. The Academy also serves as a way to connect refugee children and youth with soccer players and clubs across the U.S. and globally.

Global Citizens (GC) is a U.S.-based preschool
curriculum that connects children ages 3-5 with their
peers living in refugee camps, through empathy-
based and developmentally appropriate tools,
activities, and resources that meet nationally-
recognized preschool learning foundations. The
program fosters connection and empathy, and
creates the foundation for global ambassadorship at
the earliest stages of development in the next
generation.

The Darfur United Men’s Team is an all-refugee soccer team, originally formed from twelve refugee camps in eastern Chad. These camps currently host over 360,000 displaced people from Darfur. Darfur United is an essential element of normalcy and connection to the world for Darfuri refugees. These disciplined and motivated players provide something for everyone to root for.
Darfur United began in 2012 as a joint effort between the refugee community, iACT, the UN Refugee Agency, and soccer fans. That year, the team scored the Darfuri community’s first international goal at the Viva World Cup in Iraqi-Kurdistan. Since then, the team has been a vehicle for global refugee awareness. The team continues to develop and inspire as it is given more opportunities to share its journey. At the 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup in Sweden, Darfur United players shared their stories with the world. In doing so, their message of refugee rights, inequality, lack of resources, and hope for a better future reached 300 million people across 61 countries through coverage by international media outlets including the BBC, The New York Times, VICE News, CNN, The Huffington Post, and NBC.