[More people around the world — about 68.5 million — have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced than ever before, and more than half of them are children, according to the United Nations. That statistic — along with the growing length of time that many of those people spend in limbo, unable to return home or settle legally in another country — is prompting donors and aid groups to think about longer-term assistance.]
By
Karen Zraick
 |
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A
Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. The Lego Foundation, Sesame Workshop
and
refugee aid organizations are teaming to create play-based learning programs
for
children up to age 6 in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Bangladesh.
Credit
Ryan Donnell/Sesame Workshop
|
Can play help refugee children heal from
trauma?
That’s the belief behind a new partnership
formed by the Lego Foundation, Sesame Workshop and organizations working with
Syrian and Rohingya refugees. In its first major humanitarian project,
announced on Wednesday, the foundation will provide $100 million over five
years to the makers of “Sesame Street” to deepen their work with the
International Rescue Committee in the countries around Syria, and also to
partner with the Bangladeshi relief organization BRAC.
The aim is to create play-based learning
programs for children up to age 6 in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Bangladesh. The
programs will teach basics like the alphabet and numbers, but will also
emphasize social and emotional development to counter the effects of stress and
suffering. They will be offered both to displaced children and to some of their
potential friends in host communities.
Officials at the organizations involved said
that helping children’s brains develop during their first years — when they are
absorbing information like sponges — is crucial to helping them become healthy
and successful later in life, and that play is an excellent way to do it.
“We know from child development research that
the best way for children to learn is through exploring their world and play,”
said Sarah Smith, the senior director for education at the International Rescue
Committee.
More people around the world — about 68.5
million — have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced than ever
before, and more than half of them are children, according to the United
Nations. That statistic — along with the growing length of time that many of
those people spend in limbo, unable to return home or settle legally in another
country — is prompting donors and aid groups to think about longer-term
assistance.
“We do risk losing a whole generation if we
don’t help the children who find themselves in these emergency settings,” said
John Goodwin, the chief executive of the Lego Foundation.
The Syrian war and the campaign of violence
against Rohingya communities in Myanmar are among the most gruesome conflicts
that have driven children from their homes.
While some Syrian refugee families have
started to return, millions more remain outside the country, sometimes in
destitute conditions. Many fear conscription, arrest or torture by the
government if they return, as well as violence by other armed factions.
And in Bangladesh, the United Nations has
warned against a plan to repatriate some Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. At least
10,000 people were killed last year in brutal pogroms led by the Myanmar
military. Survivors who fled to Bangladesh gave sickening accounts of what they
had endured, and they now live in refugee camps near the border.
The families’ needs are great. In addition to
basics like adequate food and shelter, children need to foster ties with
nurturing caregivers to heal from what they have witnessed and endured, said
Hirokazu Yoshikawa, a director of Global TIES for Children, a research center
at New York University that will conduct testing and evaluation for the
program.
“Part of the magic of human development is
that very few experiences doom a child to ruin,” Dr. Yoshikawa said. “But we
have to address the risks early. This is particularly critical in these first
years.”
The Lego funding will allow Sesame Workshop
and the International Rescue Committee to expand projects they began last year
— including a new adaptation of “Sesame Street” — using a grant from the
MacArthur Foundation, and to measure and evaluate them more extensively.
The organizations are also developing new
methods and materials for use in play centers and homes, emphasizing qualities
like resilience, empathy, inclusion and respect for difference. And they
provide training for play facilitators who come from the refugee or host
community.
Erum Mariam, a program director for BRAC,
said that many of the 240 play labs the organization has created for refugees
were built by the children’s fathers and painted and decorated by mothers and
children.
“We place a lot of emphasis on culture and on
strengthening community engagement,” she said. Within those centers, trained
facilitators focus on providing enough structure to make children feel safe,
while allowing for spontaneous joy.
“When a child enters the humanitarian play lab,
we want the child to feel very happy and very connected to their culture and
heritage,” she said.
BRAC has received previous funding from Lego
and plans to open 500 additional play labs for refugee children by May with the
new grant. The organization will also be working with Sesame for the first
time. (They will not rely on actual Lego toys, which would be expensive to
import, Mr. Goodwin said.)
Sherrie Westin, the president for global
impact and philanthropy at Sesame Workshop, said the organization hoped to
inspire other donors and aid groups to consider early childhood interventions
in crisis settings. Less than 3 percent of humanitarian aid goes to education,
she said.
“If we’re not investing in education, we are
not giving these children a path forward, much less a chance to thrive and
rebuild their society,” Ms. Westin said.
