The American Ireland Fund is to give $1 million to Sesame Street to produce 26 shows that teach tolerance to Northern Ireland children.
The fund, a US-based charity, announced the funding this week, citing 2002 research from the University of Ulster which found that many Northern Ireland children as young as three years old have sectarian beliefs.
The programme is part of Sesame Street's global outreach to politically troubled countries that has seen specially designed shows for children's television in Kosovo, Palestine and Israel.
The show's makers are to negotiate with the BBC and other broadcasters for the Northern Ireland rights to the show.
Sesame Street's New York-based producers had hoped to make a Northern Ireland show for several years but the new funding will allow it to go ahead.
American Ireland Fund spokesman Kieran McLoughlin said that Sesame Street had already secured about 40 per cent of funding and that the fund's finance had secured the project. Mr McLoughlin said that some of the segments in the show will be made in Northern Ireland and will be shown on DVD in Northern Ireland schools after the shows begin broadcasting there in 2007.
The Sesame Street organisers will be co- operating with the Northern Ireland Pre-School Playgroup Association to help bring the programme to the youngest audience.
Mr McLoughlin said he was impressed by Sesame Street's work in South Africa, where it is educating children about Aids and the shows include a character that is HIV positive.
The funding was announced just after a new documentary about Sesame Street's global programme had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah last weekend. It shows a version of Sesame Street in Egypt in which the puppets encourage education for girls.
The Israeli-Palestinian edition encourages children to set their political affiliations aside and work together on fun projects.
The documentary, entitled The World According to Sesame Street, describes how the show avoids anti- American feeling around the world and is seen as a positive influence by both sides in political conflicts. Editions of the show have been created in nearly two dozen countries, including China, Japan, Mexico, Poland and Portugal.