LEGO Foundation commits $97 million to provide play-based education to more than 5 million children in conflict zones

(SeaPRwire) –   Worldwide conflicts, from the political turmoil in South Sudan to the recent United States’ engagement with Iran, are increasing the vulnerability of children to suffering.

A humanitarian partnership aims to secure funding for education, a frequently neglected necessity for children affected by conflict. Under an agreement announced Wednesday, the LEGO Foundation pledged $97 million to broaden International Rescue Committee (IRC) initiatives that utilize play to aid millions of children in their learning and recovery processes.

“Children born into conflict are robbed of their childhood,” IRC President David Miliband informed The Associated Press. He added, “However, what’s extraordinary about children is their ability to thrive if you restore even a small part of their childhood. This initiative focuses on giving them back the best of their childhood.”

This five-year collaboration intends to assist 5 million children throughout East Africa and the Middle East. The specific populations served will adapt with the progression of conflicts. LEGO Foundation CEO Sidsel Marie Kristensen committed to prioritizing children “in the most severe circumstances.” Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Uganda are presently being considered.

Kristensen stated that the “highly adaptable” framework is designed to deliver play-based learning to areas with the greatest need, instead of relying on specific, location-dependent grants that could quickly become irrelevant as conflicts develop.

“In our current world, no one truly knows what tomorrow or even two months from now will bring,” Kristensen remarked. She emphasized, “That flexibility is precisely what we require at this moment.”

This investment will expand the IRC-managed PlayMatters program to more classrooms. PlayMatters trains teachers of children aged 3 to 12 to incorporate “playful learning” into their teaching. The objective is not to dictate curriculum but to assist educators in adapting their methods to address the specific needs of children in schools affected by crises. Program leaders also advocate for educational funding at a national level, collaborating with government bodies to integrate their resources into official curricula.

Educator reports ‘playful learning’ decreases student absences

In a primary school for refugees within western Uganda’s Nakivale settlement, a teacher attributes a decrease in absenteeism to PlayMatters. Sister Kasingye Secunda noted that attendance was previously a challenge. She explained that while teachers strive to make students “feel at home,” many students struggle with both the local language and English, which is the language of instruction.

Through a game involving selecting and sharing fruits like mangoes and bananas with peers, children learn colors. Secunda mentioned that students gain confidence from class presentations and cultivate leadership skills by taking turns leading small group activities.

“Students enjoy the lessons,” Secunda stated. “They are keen to attend school.”

Across regions from Ethiopia to Tanzania, a radio program assists children in identifying their emotions through episodes available in various languages and featuring culturally relevant characters. Martin Omukuba, PlayMatters Project Director, indicated that they are broadening these types of digitally delivered multimedia lessons. For instance, the radio show enables them to reach schools in South Sudan remotely, which are otherwise cut off by flooding for half of the year.

The LEGO Foundation offers adaptable funding, allowing the IRC to react to the unpredictable nature of conflicts. Omukuba pointed out that a refugee class can rapidly increase from 25 to 150 students, generating new requirements for sanitation, nutrition, or other classroom necessities not typically categorized as educational. Omukuba praised the LEGO Foundation for entrusting them with the flexibility to reallocate grant funds during emergencies.

“Our primary concern is ensuring children’s survival,” he stated. “Education can be introduced once they are stable.”

The collaboration between the partners began in 2019 when the LEGO Foundation allocated $100 million to “Ahlan Simsim,” a program by the IRC and the nonprofit Sesame Workshop designed to support children impacted by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises.

Kristensen, who heads the Denmark-based corporate foundation dedicated to funding early childhood development, mentioned that they have been increasing their contributions in these environments. The LEGO Foundation recently unveiled another $30 million partnership with Co-Impact, a global funding collaborative, to back local initiatives addressing learning and wellbeing challenges for children affected by conflict and crisis.

She hopes Wednesday’s announcement will encourage more cooperation among governments, civil society, and the private sector. “This is critically needed in a world where development aid is currently declining,” she remarked, referencing reductions in international assistance by the United States and numerous European countries.

These reductions have strained the humanitarian system’s capabilities over the last year. Miliband noted that the current Ebola outbreak in Congo already serves as “a stark illustration of the shortsightedness of cutting aid for activities deemed peripheral.” He highlighted sanitation and handwashing initiatives in Congo’s Ituri province, the epicenter of the global health emergency, which lost U.S. funding last year due to the Trump administration’s restructuring of international development efforts.

“We issued warnings about the risks at that time,” he stated. “And inevitably, we now face an under-detected Ebola outbreak.”

Officials from the International Rescue Committee likewise view early childhood development not as an indulgence, but as an essential intervention against toxic stress, which can impair brain development and hinder learning.

Patty McIlreavy, President and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, stated that education was an underfunded component of humanitarian efforts even before affluent nations reduced their aid budgets. She explained that “life-saving” assistance was too narrowly defined as “what is strictly necessary to sustain physical life,” a definition that omitted “life-sustaining” initiatives like children’s education.

She cited Wednesday’s announcement as a model for donors, who frequently inquire about effective ways to assist in intricate, open-ended conflicts.

“It is not philanthropy’s role to mend a country’s broken systems,” she asserted. “That falls under politics, which is beyond our scope. However, there is much we can achieve—even by providing six months or a year of education.”

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Associated Press reporting on philanthropy and nonprofit organizations is supported by the AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with financial backing from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP bears sole responsibility for this material. For comprehensive AP coverage of philanthropy, please visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.