LEGO Foundation strengthens crises children with $100m

The LEGO Foundation has come up with an initiative to make lives better for pre-primary and primary school children who’ve been negatively impacted by humanitarian crises in East Africa.

It’ll particularly focus on such children living in Ethiopia and Uganda.

With the initiative known as PlayMatters, LF will deliver play-based early learning to these extremely vulnerable children to strengthen their resilience and build their social, emotional, cognitive, physical and creative skills.

PlayMatters is being funded by a $100m grant from LF and will be implemented by a consortium led by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in partnership with War Child, Plan International, Ubongo, Behavioural Insights Team and Innovations for Poverty Action.

“We’re contributing to fulfill the international promise to children, supported by the United Nations, that every child has the right to an education and every refugee should be included in sustainable long-term solutions that help them in their future. We have to do our best to ensure it is realised,” Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Chairman, LEGO Foundation, said. “Play provides comfort. It helps children overcome traumatic experiences and return to the routine and normalcy of being a child. With this new grant, the LEGO Foundation continues to address a pressing challenge of our time and change the way the world thinks about learning through play and its importance for children in crises settings.”

PlayMatters will improve education outcomes for approximately 800,000 children and reach approximately 10,000 pre-primary and primary school teachers and education personnel and 170,000 primary caregivers who will receive training to engage in learning through play with children who’ve faced adversities.

“Children in these humanitarian crises did not choose to be refugees and it’s unacceptable that an entire generation is deprived of quality childhood education. We know that investing in play-based learning interventions is key to addressing toxic stress and trauma for young children in refugee settings as learning through play helps to develop social and emotional skills, build resilience and strengthen brain connections essential for future development. Through this new initiative, we will work with teachers in the host communities, focus on innovation to ensure systemic and lasting impact and share these approaches across aid agencies for replication. The children in these largely forgotten crises in Ethiopia and Uganda deserve the power of learning through play and the hope that it can bring for a bright future,” John Goodwin, CEO, LEGO Foundation, added.

Also speaking, David Miliband, President-CEO, International Rescue Committee, said, “We know that nearly half of all refugees are children, but humanitarian funding still thinks of education as just an add-on. We need big solutions with bold ideas that put education at the forefront of humanitarian response,” “With the LEGO Foundation’s investment in play-based learning and the IRC’s expertise in reaching the most vulnerable, this partnership has the potential to reshape education for a generation of refugee children.”