Sesame Workshop (SW)

Creation and distribution of educational media Sesame Workshop creates educational content for preschool children and distributes that content in the u.s. and around the world, across various media platforms including television, digital streaming, online, radio, print, mobile, and home entertainment. The content follows a whole child curriculum and is designed to address the current educational, social, and health needs young children, especially those vulnerable to equal and early access to preschool learning. Sesame Workshop is most well-known for its flagship educational program "Sesame street." The recent curriculum focus is on the playful problem solving: positive approaches to learning. A recent impact evaluation showed preschoolers' exposure to Sesame (continued in schedule o) street episodes significantly increased their problem solving skills which involve curiosity, creative thinking skills, and task persistence (not giving up in a face of a challenge or failure). The show currently broadcasts multiple times a day in the u.s. on the public broadcasting service (pbs), which is available for free in 97% of households with televisions. In addition to its presence on pbs and other television and digital platforms, "Sesame street" videos, interactive games and other educational content are available free of charge for users on www.sesamestreet.org, www.pbskids.org and www.youtube.com. Including its distribution on broadcast, streaming vod and cable tv and its presence on various digital platforms, "Sesame street" reaches 11.7 million kids' ages 0-8 in the u.s. on a monthly basis. Its continued popularity places it as the #2 pre-school show on pbs. Sesame street's free youtube channel received over 1 billion views domestically in fiscal year 2023 (and 1.5 billion views worldwide). Research has shown that children who watch "Sesame street" consistently perform better academically at every grade level through high school and have more developed social skills. "Sesame street" is also seen in over 150 countries through distribution agreements with local public and commercial broadcasters. In addition, local adaptations of "Sesame street" are produced and distributed in germany, middle east north africa, the netherlands, latin america, south africa, india, bangladesh, somalia, ethiopia and afghanistan. The program reaches 150 million kids on a worldwide basis.the education business, research, and initiatives for fy23 continued to deepen its current partnerships as it expanded to include and identify new ones. Our goal continues to be to leverage as much of the Sesame street and other of our mass media content to create curriculum and supporting resources. By working in partnerships, we reach children and families through educators in formal learning settings, including public schools and early childhood programs. In fy 2023, Sesame Workshop worked with educational publisher mcgraw hill (mh), to update the Workshop's first grades k-2 curriculum that incorporates critical social emotional learning (sel) skills into their wonders english language arts curriculum for elementary (grades k-5) students. These same resources are available in spanish through mh's maravillas curriculum program for the same grade range. The new copyright is for 2023 and replaces the previous copyright for its national program, which sells into all 50 states as opposed to state-specific versions. Our other school partner, teachstone llc, which is the leading provider of the teacher evaluation system, classroom assessment scoring system (class), continued to offer continuing education credits for our professional development videos that leverage Sesame street content.additionally, we finalized the development of the digital teacher platform, titled social emotional literacy foundations (self), which is a preschool and pre-k curricula that embeds sel in the context emergent language and literacy development for children 2-5 years of age, leveraging the funds of the second grant from the chan zuckerberg initiative; the formative research during school years 2021-2023 was supported by dr. rebecca silverman, associate professor of early literacy at the stanford graduate school of education, and her team through a research practice partnership (rpp) funded by dr. silverman. We launched and began to expand the content and curriculum offering to a new partnership with discovery education to include curriculum for our coming together initiative and are securing ways to expand this partnership globally. We completed the development of the learning app, learning with Sesame street, which is a part of a multimodal offering to families in partnership with begin. Finally, we've identified potential new partnerships for fy24.

Global social impactsesame Workshop's (sw) international social impact group provides early learning opportunities for young children and families around the world. We partner with local experts, including educators, donors, media organizations, government ministries, and ngos to leverage the power of Sesame street's characters and educational approach to help children around the world grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We design, deliver, and evaluate global multi-media initiatives that are tailored to meet the specific needs of children and families in a particular country or region. The scope of our work ranges from country-specific initiatives -- such as in bangladesh, south africa, and india -- to multi-country programs and (continued in schedule o) regional projects with an emphasis on work in south asia, sub-saharan africa, the middle east, and latin america covering thematic areas including emotional well-being, self and belonging, creativity and playful problem solving, language, literacy and stem. In a year marked by challenging operating contexts, Sesame Workshop strengthened programming to meet the evolving needs of children and families. We developed and distributed materials with new and existing partners, unified our programmatic work and storytelling, worked with colleagues to secure new funding opportunities, and expanded our work to new geographies reaching millions of children and families through mass media, digital outreach, and direct services. In bangladesh, season 15 of sisimpur (bangladesh co-production) launched in january 2023, which introduced the global character "julia" the Sesame street character who has autism. In efforts to ensure more inclusive content, swb signed an mou with the society of the deaf and sign language users (sdsl) may 2023, the first initiative ever in bangladesh that includes sign language in kids' content. Sdsl's interpreters will help develop 13 sisimpur episodes for broadcast and distribution. Under community engagement, the promoting education for early learners (peel, supported by usaid) project, sisimpur libraries were installed in 250 project schools. 60 storybooks were repurposed and distributed to the schools, and 15 new storybook titles focused on dei. 56,250 copies of the books were distributed in total. In india, we made significant progress on digital reach through Sesame Workshop india's (swi) youtube platform. Swi, expanded short form video content, with 290 dubbed international and 130 locally produced videos. With this expansion, swi reached 170 million people. Under direct services, the daddy cool program supported by the hcl foundation reached 500 fathers, who learned about supporting the socio-emotional needs of their children by exhibiting more positive parenting practices and nurturing interactions. Daddy cool also reached 200,000 unique users with push-based whatsapp messaging. Under india's climate portfolio, the environment project, mera planet, mera ghar (supported by clean air fund, lego), was implemented through government schools in three target areas of delhi, engaging 4,000 children. It delivered a stem based curriculum, developed an engaging kit for experiential learning, produced hyper local campaigns and amplified work on social media. Under the learn play grow (supported by ltimindtree, sbi foundation, vedanta foundation) was delivered in seven states across 27 districts reaching over 200,000 children in 6000 anganwadi centers. The program builds the capacity of anganwadi workers to deliver early childhood education in classrooms.in afghanistan, our usaid grant officially concluded and sw shared findings on the current state of ecd, media, and risk environment in afghanistan. Final deliverables included six welcome Sesame bundles of print materials and video content dubbed into dari/pashto.in south africa, sw continued mass media engagement with takalani Sesame and deepened impact through implementation of educational outreach programs. Takalani Sesame, season 13 aired on sabc in 6 official languages, including sasl (south african sign language). In june 2023, season 14 premiered on sabc. Under community engagement, the five-year play to learn program funded by the lego foundation has reached over 2,000 parents and over 82,000 children. An impact evaluation on the play to learn program found that caregivers reported an increase in playful learning after watching takalani episodes. In fy23, swsa also led the establishment of the first ever national community of practice on fatherhood in south africa.through our multi-country wash up! Program, launched in 2015 in partnership with world vision, Sesame Workshop brings life-saving water, sanitation, hygiene (wash) education to children in the hardest to reach places. As of fy23, wash up! Has reached children, families, and communities in 18 countries across sub-saharan africa, latin america, and the middle east. Building on the wash up! Programming, in fy23 sw and world vision finalized the contract for the 5-country wash up/girl talk expansion in kenya, zimbabwe, el salvador, guatemala, and honduras. This program will enable the creation of more gender-inclusive wash content, specifically new girl talk content for young boys. In latin american (latam), the sw team delivered social impact programming in five countries: brazil, colombia, el salvador, guatemala, honduras, and mexico, and in three languages (maya k'iche, spanish, portuguese). Under play evey day in mexico, funded by the lego foundation, we secured partnerships with ministries of education in jalisco, nayarit, and nuevo leon. The mexico team also provided training and support to over 3,000 teachers, directors, and pedagogical supervisors. 490 early childhood development (ecd) centers and preschools implemented monthly family play workshops. More than 26,000 caregivers attended these workshops with 35,000 children who also participated. Throughout the 2023 fiscal year, the sw international social impact team proactively met the needs of young children and their families across geographies. Remaining nimble and responsive to the changing circumstances of children and families, combined with our ability to create content that is culturally relevant and responsive, we successfully developed and distributed new material to support early learning and child development around the world

Humanitarian response in the face of the growing global refugee crises, millions of young children do not have access to early childhood development opportunities that they need to learn, recover from adverse experiences, and prepare them to thrive. In addition, sudden onset crisis disrupts learning environments especially for low resource areas. Throughout fiscal year 2023, Sesame Workshop (sw) continued programs reaching young children and families affected by crisis, conflict, and displacement in the middle east, east africa, eastern europe, latin america, and south asia. Through welcome Sesame, sw continued its (continued in schedule o) commitment to working in crisis and conflict settings. Welcome Sesame programming leverages educational media that is distributed via broadcast and digital platforms. It is integrated into programs directly serving children and families affected by crisis and conflict in partnership with governments, humanitarian organizations, and local actors. As of now, welcome Sesame encompasses work in bangladesh (play to learn), the middle east ( ahlan simsim), ukraine, latin america, and east africa. Under welcome Sesame, we also responded to the crisis in sudan and turkiye/syria earthquake. Sw implemented educational media content in ukraine, in partnership with irex/department of state and delivered caregiver video content, and dubbed 140 watch, play, learn segments. Our watch, play, learn content aired in march 2023 on plus children's broadcast and on kvivstar tv, where wpl is the highest viewed cartoon in ukraine. The series was integrated as part of the first lady of ukraine's mental health program.in colombia and uganda, sw implemented the inclusion and belonging for displaced learners project in partnership with the hilton foundation. The aim of this project is to increase knowledge and improve skills and attitudes that promote prosocial behaviors and contribute to inclusion and belonging, supporting greater social cohesion in communities transformed by migration and displacement. In bogota, colombia, the project has reached 641 learners, 709 parents/guardians, 30 educators, and carried out four community events. In uganda, sw focused on the west nile region of the country. Through our implementing partner, save the children, the project is in 15 early childhood care and education centers, reaching 1,270 learners, 1,232 parents/guardians, and 57 educators.sesame Workshop continued implementation of ahlan simsim in mena, a groundbreaking program that delivers early learning and nurturing care through ecd services to children and caregivers affected by conflict and displacement in iraq, jordan, lebanon, and syria. It reaches children with educational media through broadcast and on youtube across the middle east and north africa. Ahlan simsim is a partnership between Sesame Workshop and the international rescue committee (irc) and with support from the macarthur foundation and lego foundation.in fy23, the sixth and seventh seasons of our educational children's television series, ahlan simsim, aired on the regional broadcast channel, mbc3, and reached via broadcast and youtube over 25 million children across the mena region, including 7 million children in iraq, jordan, lebanon, and syria and over 1.7 million children and caregivers via direct services. A randomized control trial impact evaluation conducted by nyu global ties for children found that in lebanon, ahlan simsim's 11-week remote early learning program with educational media integrated into the curriculum produced statistically and developmentally significant impacts comparable to a year of in-person preschool programs.through our ahlan simsim iraq program funded by usaid and in partnership with our implementing partner mercy corps and save the children we have reached 14,728 children, 1,218 youth, 115 educations, and 492 parents. The iraq team and production partners produced and distributed new video content and al sumeria tv aired episodes of ahlan simsim-hala bil iraq, beginning in ramadan. The print materials were adapted into additional languages, sorani kurdish and turkmen, and reached over 9,000 children in five governorates.through the play to learn (ptl) project, a partnership between lego foundation, brac, irc, and nyu global ties, sw continued its efforts reaching children and families in bangladesh, jordan, and lebanon. Sw is elevating awareness, engaging policymakers, and increasing investment for early childhood development (ecd) in crisis settings, ensuring access to play-based early childhood learning opportunities that are vital to every child's development.in fy23, ptl reached seven countries through direct services, and 24 countries through broadcast. In line with playful programming, the ptl team launched watch play learn (wpl) pilots in displaced communities in bangladesh, colombia, and kenya. As part of the pilot, the 140 five-minute wpl episodes were finalized and dubbed into 19 languages and are included in the current seasons of Sesame street international shows in south africa, mena and bangladesh: takalani Sesame, ahlan simsim, and sisimpur. The videos are also being used in colombia, lebanon, jordan, pakistan, kenya, and bangladesh through direct service programs. Distributed dubbed content continues to be a success, as data indicated an increase in children's attendance when comparing the two months before with the five months of wpl integration. According to teachers' feedback, the wpl videos promoted children's curiosity about the content of the sessions by offering an alternative medium for domain knowledge.in addition to continued programming, sw advocated for the inclusion of young children in crisis response. The ptl team secured opportunities to elevate the importance of ecd and disseminate program learnings and evidence through strategic advocacy events and publications. These included securing increased funding for the u.s. office of children in adversity through leadership in the thrive coalition, presentations at high stakeholder conferences, co-leading panels at the un general assembly and a panel at the world conference on early childhood care and education.sw continues to explore opportunities to expand programming and deepen impact to ensure that children and families affected by crisis and conflict have access to early learning experiences that help young children grow and thrive.

U.s. social impactin addition to distributing its educational content on mass media platforms, Sesame Workshop creates and distributes with philanthropic support bilingual multi-media educational initiatives and resources that are targeted to at-risk audiences or that address specific educational needs. In fy 2023, us social impact tackled additional topics to meet the needs of marginalized children and families. Emotional well-beingin response to the growing mental health crisis, Sesame Workshop is supporting the emotional well-being of young children and families through research-based resources and engaging content designed for the whole family. Our approach offers strategies to support all families from celebrating joyful everyday moments, to teaching children the essential skills they need to understand and manage their feelings, and to helping parents and community providers recognize the signs of more serious mental health challenges. On may 1, 2023, during mental health awareness month, dedicated resources highlighting the importance of nurturing relationships between children and the important adults in their lives. With new bilingual resources on sesameworkshop.org/mentalhealth and a national campaign in partnership with the ad council featuring the original song "me & my grown-up." Resources on the topic page included a new digital storybook, three new muppet videos, and articles and printables for parents, caregivers, and providers. Key performance metrics include reaching over 9 million on social media, with 2.2 million social media video views, 932m+ press impressions, with highlights including featuring on the today show, the view, and nbc nightly news, with over 16,000 website users making almost 22,000 pageviews in the first month after launch. Based on formative research, on january 26, 2023, we launched new bilingual digital resources in english and spanish, highlighting simple strategies for self-care and emotional well-being for military families, with support from amazon web services. The new digital resources include five new videos featuring Sesame street's elmo and his parents, louie and mae, and rosita and her dad, ricardo, who demonstrate the importance of self-care in ways that support emotional well-being for the entire family from focusing on the positives of the day to being flexible with routines and ways to keep healthy in mind and body.self identity and belonging as part of Sesame Workshop's yearly commitment to our see amazing in all children initiative, we launched new bilingual resources on sesameworkshop.org/autism in april 2023, as part of autism acceptance month, aimed at furthering our mission to help foster autistic children's sense of belonging, as well as resources to support parents and providers. These new resources included two new digital video moments featuring julia as she uses her artistic flair to help her friends. We continued our series of storybooks featuring julia with julia & the super-sunny celebration, a digital and printed storybook showing how having an open heart and open ears helps us let everyone know they belong. We printed 30,000 copies of this storybook, which continues to be distributed nationwide to ssic partners as well as various autism programs, child health specialty clinics, local childcare centers, schools, head start organizations, hospitals, community centers and more. Additional bilingual resources launched on our autism topic page included new articles and printables. The autism topic page garnered nearly 50k page views from april through end of june. Tough topicsus social impact launched a new bilingual covid-related grief subtopic on december 12, 2022, with support from the new york life foundation (nylf). The subtopic included a new suite of resources for families, including a new muppet video, "remembering", where elijah and jesse talk about a "celebration of life" for elijah's friend who died from covid-19. We also released two new articles, "grief and change caused by covid-19 and "helping children through grief related to covid-19", and also updated the art in our existing "something small" digital storybook. On february 8, 2023, over 56,000 subscribers received the Sesame street in communities provider newsletter that featured grief resources supported by nylf. The office of head start and head start national center for health, behavioral health and safety also sent out a Sesame street in communities newsletter in february 2023 that featured the resources. It had 23,346 subscribers in english and 5,067 subscribers in spanish. The grief topic page got over 14,000 page views from december through end of fy23 and had the highest direct traffic on any topic on sesameworkshop.org during this launch period. During this period, our teams also completed our formative research between december 2022 and january 2023 for additional grief content development launching later that fall. During this time, Sesame street for military families also released a new grief-related video and articles to support military families after death by suicide. We collaborated with key strategic and distribution partners in the military space such as department of defense education activity, blue star families, and the military child education coalition, who incorporate these resources into their services for kids and families in digital and in-person programming.with the support of david r. clare and margaret c. clare foundation, we expanded our traumatic experiences resources by printing 20,000 bilingual hardcopies of our storybook, abby's broken wand: a story about taking care of ourselves and each other. The storybook was originally published digitally in may 2022 and printed in january 2023. We began distribution at the end of january 2023 and throughout fy23, we've distributed to over 40 organizations across the united states. In addition to printing the storybook, we also created and hosted two professional development webinars related to the themes of the book: "a conversation about art therapy" released on june 19, 2023, and "helping children make meaning after trauma" released on june 26, 2023. These webinars featuring two experts offered suggestions and strategies on how to help young children during and after possible traumatic events. The new resources garnered over 3,000 pageviews from launch through end of the fiscal year.health and resilience beginning in october 2022, us social impact added new resources focused on health equity with support from quest diagnostics program, quest for health equity. The resources aim to help families build healthy routines and establish trusted connections with their health care providers. The bilingual resources included 4 new muppet videos, 2 documentaries featuring real families from the otoe-missouria and osage tribes, 3 storybooks emphasizing healthy habits, a family guide, an interactive game explaining what to expect when visiting the doctor, 4 printables, and 4 articles. Through this initiative we partnered with four national organizations to implement the materials including the national alliance for hispanic health, national alliance of community health centers, the center for indigenous health, and the council on black health. These organizations participated in trainings provided by Sesame staff, supported research efforts, and embedded the materials into their existing programs. These partners also distributed nearly 17,000 printed copies of the storybooks and family guides. For the march 2023 launch, we participated in a sattelite media tour and digital out of home campaign to raise awareness for the resources. The two campaigns had a combined potential reach of 182 million. In addition, Sesame Workshop channels posted the resources on social media resulting in 9 million impressions (paid and organic). The topic page and resources had over 50,000 pageviews.