Skill-Targeted Universal Social and Emotional Learning Interventions for Education in Conflict and Crisis: Experimental Impacts in Niger

Universal, school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions hold the promise to promote children’s academic learning and social and emotional skills necessary to cope with adversity in the context of education in conflict and crisis. This study evaluated the sequential implementation of two sets of skill-targeted SEL activities—first, testing the impact of 11-week implementation of Mindfulness activities alone, then the combined effect of Mindfulness and Brain Games implemented sequentially over the course of 22 weeks—with Nigerian refugee and Nigerien local second to fourth graders (N = 1,795) attending a remedial education programming in Diffa, Niger, via a cluster randomized controlled trial. Positive impacts of Mindfulness activities were observed on a select number of children’s SEL outcomes, with some additional benefits for refugees and girls, demonstrating the potential for low-cost SEL approaches to support vulnerable children at scale in crisis-affected contexts. These findings provide actionable insights for policymakers, program developers and implementers in conflict-affected, low-income countries, such as the potential for targeted interventions to improve SEL outcomes for marginalized children and the need to invest in contextually-responsive and sustained program models to maximize long-term impact.