Social Emotional Learning in USAID Basic Education Programs: How-to Note

Social and emotional skills are a set of cognitive, social, and emotional competencies that children, youth, and adults develop through everyday life experience as well as focused instruction. Evidence demonstrates that social and emotional skills support the success of learners of all ages at school, at work, and in life. The inclusion of social emotional learning (SEL) in education systems can enable more equitable and inclusive learning environments that support all learners in reaching their full potential.

The 2018 USAID Education Policy named social and emotional skills as a measurable learning outcome and contributor to the overall wellbeing of children and youth, intentionally providing USAID Missions and implementing partners the opportunity to design and implement skills-based SEL programs at all levels of the education system.

This How-To-Note continues USAID’s commitment to improving the technical quality of skills-based SEL programs. It aims to provide guidance on how to include and integrate skills-based SEL across the USAID program cycle into basic education programs, which serve children and youth (including adolescents) with a variety of formal and informal education programs, including youth workforce programs.