Almost 2.5 million Syrian children are out of school because of conflict. Many have to cope with traumas and high levels of stress, which also affects their learning ability. High availability of smartphones among war-affected Syrian families can be a means for reaching children with engaging and fun learning supplements.

This can help facilitate their continued learning and future reintegration into school. Norway and several partners have therefore since January 2016 been conducting an international innovation competition to develop an open source smartphone application that can help Syrian children learn how to read in Arabic and improve their psychosocial wellbeing. The winning games will be released on Google Play and App Store in March 2017.(www.norad.no/eduapp4syria).