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How America quietly funded Iraqi Sesame Street for years
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작성자 Susana 작성일25-02-24 18:29 조회7회 댓글0건본문
Democrats have run to the defense of USAID spending $20 million to produce a slick Iraqi version of Sesame Street after Elon Musk's DOGE exposed the use of US taxpayer money to fund foreign influence campaigns.
USAID handed the grant to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop, which delivers a humanitarian the 'early childhood development initiative' known as Ahlan Simsim, or 'Welcome Sesame'.
The project is made up of direct healthcare outreach programs, alongside a version of the popular kids program screened to around 29 million children in the Middle East and north Africa, often in areas where schooling has been disrupted by war.
The Ahlan Simsim YouTube channel has 1.38 million subscribers and videos dating back nine years. Early videos posted before the USAID funding featured low-quality video production and puppetry.
Later videos show classic characters such as Elmo and the Cookie Monster along with 'new characters such as "Jad," who was forced to flee his home, "Basma," who welcomed Jad when he arrived in his new community, and "Ameera", who lives with a disability', according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which helps deliver the show.
They, 'act out stories that help marginalized children understand their emotions and experiences and Sneaker Proxies teach them early learning fundamentals like counting and the alphabet'.
USAID began funding the project in 2021 and was scheduled to keep supporting it until 2027.
However Elon Musk's shutdown of the agency as part of the DOGE's cost-cutting measures means the future of the program is at stake.
USAID has been slammed for spending $20 million funding a Middle Eastern version of Sesame Street
USAID handed the grant to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop, which delivers a humanitarian 'early childhood development initiative' known as Ahlan Simsim or 'Welcome Sesame'
The Ahlan Simsim YouTube channel has 1.38 million subscribers, with videos dating back nine years. USAID began funding the project in 2021. Pictured: Ahlan Simsim's YouTube before USAID funding
Delaware rep Chris Coons defended the scheme in an interview with CNN where he argued the project could benefit the US' interests overseas as a form of soft power.
'This isn't just funding a kids' show for children — millions of children — in countries like Iraq,' Coons said.
'It's a show that helps teach values, helps teach public health, helps prevent kids from dying from dysentery and disease and helps push values like collaboration, peacefulness, and cooperation in a society where the alternative is ISIS, extremism, and terrorism.'
Coons quoted President Donald Trump's previous Secretary of Defense General James Mattis who also is a proponent of soft power.
'If you slash development and aid spending then I'm going to need more bullets for our troops,' he said.
Coons also claimed that the project is 'pennies on the dollar' when compared to the $850 billion defense budget.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst cited the project as another example of 'wasteful' spending by the embattled federal agency.
'USAID asked, "Can you tell me how to get how to get to Sesame Street?" and ended up in Iraq,' Ernst said.
'USAID authorized a whopping $20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq. USAID has long been a reckless, out-of-control, unaccountable rogue agency.'
Delaware rep Chris Coons defended the scheme in an interview with CNN where he argued the project could benefit the US' interests overseas as a form of soft power
According to the defunct USAID website, Ahlan Simsim is 'designed to promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding'.
Over the last six years, Ahlan Simsim has reached over 3.5 million children and caregivers with direct services, as well as millions more through its TV show.
René Celaya, Managing Director for Ahlan Simsim, wrote in a 2022 Medium post that USAID funding went towards early childhood development (ECD) services in the Middle East countries including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
'As we entered a more mature phase of the program, we shifted our focus to scaling and partnerships to ensure the long-term sustainability of Ahlan Simsim's impact on the systems that deliver ECD across the region and around the world,' she wrote.
The IRC claims that the project functions in areas where millions of children have been displaced by war, serving as an educational tool when schooling is disrupted.
Its Wash Up! program has educated more than 200,000 children on proper hygiene to help prevent deadly waterborne diseases across 15 countries, according to the IRC.
USAID spending has come under scrutiny since Elon Musk took a sledge hammer to the agency in hopes of reducing public spending.
The White House has touted schemes such as a 'transgender opera' in Colombia, a DEI musical in Ireland and $2.5 million on electric vehicles in Vietnam as evidence of wasteful spending by the department.
However, the Washington Post and the New York Times have conducted analysis of the budget which they claim shows that the Trump administration is mischaracterizing the spend and omitting key context.
IraqElon Musk
USAID handed the grant to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop, which delivers a humanitarian the 'early childhood development initiative' known as Ahlan Simsim, or 'Welcome Sesame'.
The project is made up of direct healthcare outreach programs, alongside a version of the popular kids program screened to around 29 million children in the Middle East and north Africa, often in areas where schooling has been disrupted by war.
The Ahlan Simsim YouTube channel has 1.38 million subscribers and videos dating back nine years. Early videos posted before the USAID funding featured low-quality video production and puppetry.
Later videos show classic characters such as Elmo and the Cookie Monster along with 'new characters such as "Jad," who was forced to flee his home, "Basma," who welcomed Jad when he arrived in his new community, and "Ameera", who lives with a disability', according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which helps deliver the show.
They, 'act out stories that help marginalized children understand their emotions and experiences and Sneaker Proxies teach them early learning fundamentals like counting and the alphabet'.
USAID began funding the project in 2021 and was scheduled to keep supporting it until 2027.
However Elon Musk's shutdown of the agency as part of the DOGE's cost-cutting measures means the future of the program is at stake.
USAID has been slammed for spending $20 million funding a Middle Eastern version of Sesame Street
USAID handed the grant to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop, which delivers a humanitarian 'early childhood development initiative' known as Ahlan Simsim or 'Welcome Sesame'
The Ahlan Simsim YouTube channel has 1.38 million subscribers, with videos dating back nine years. USAID began funding the project in 2021. Pictured: Ahlan Simsim's YouTube before USAID funding
Delaware rep Chris Coons defended the scheme in an interview with CNN where he argued the project could benefit the US' interests overseas as a form of soft power.
'This isn't just funding a kids' show for children — millions of children — in countries like Iraq,' Coons said.
'It's a show that helps teach values, helps teach public health, helps prevent kids from dying from dysentery and disease and helps push values like collaboration, peacefulness, and cooperation in a society where the alternative is ISIS, extremism, and terrorism.'
Coons quoted President Donald Trump's previous Secretary of Defense General James Mattis who also is a proponent of soft power.
'If you slash development and aid spending then I'm going to need more bullets for our troops,' he said.
Coons also claimed that the project is 'pennies on the dollar' when compared to the $850 billion defense budget.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst cited the project as another example of 'wasteful' spending by the embattled federal agency.
'USAID asked, "Can you tell me how to get how to get to Sesame Street?" and ended up in Iraq,' Ernst said.
'USAID authorized a whopping $20 million to create a Sesame Street in Iraq. USAID has long been a reckless, out-of-control, unaccountable rogue agency.'
Delaware rep Chris Coons defended the scheme in an interview with CNN where he argued the project could benefit the US' interests overseas as a form of soft power
According to the defunct USAID website, Ahlan Simsim is 'designed to promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding'.
Over the last six years, Ahlan Simsim has reached over 3.5 million children and caregivers with direct services, as well as millions more through its TV show.
René Celaya, Managing Director for Ahlan Simsim, wrote in a 2022 Medium post that USAID funding went towards early childhood development (ECD) services in the Middle East countries including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
'As we entered a more mature phase of the program, we shifted our focus to scaling and partnerships to ensure the long-term sustainability of Ahlan Simsim's impact on the systems that deliver ECD across the region and around the world,' she wrote.
The IRC claims that the project functions in areas where millions of children have been displaced by war, serving as an educational tool when schooling is disrupted.
Its Wash Up! program has educated more than 200,000 children on proper hygiene to help prevent deadly waterborne diseases across 15 countries, according to the IRC.
USAID spending has come under scrutiny since Elon Musk took a sledge hammer to the agency in hopes of reducing public spending.
The White House has touted schemes such as a 'transgender opera' in Colombia, a DEI musical in Ireland and $2.5 million on electric vehicles in Vietnam as evidence of wasteful spending by the department.
However, the Washington Post and the New York Times have conducted analysis of the budget which they claim shows that the Trump administration is mischaracterizing the spend and omitting key context.
IraqElon Musk
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