Adapting Learning through Play in Acute Emergencies: Resources, Strategies, and Evidence for Rapid Implementation

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Education is a life-saving intervention during times of crisis, yet education is often under-prioritized and under-funded. Education can be a critical avenue for providing safe, protective, child-friendly spaces, for distributing and disseminating items and knowledge across health, nutrition, WASH, and disaster risk reduction sectors, and for providing essential psycho-social support or referrals to clinical mental health services. Additionally, children desire education during emergencies. Education can restore a sense of hope and normalcy, and mitigate the negative effects of crises. As children are increasingly displaced and/or affected by conflict-, climate-, and/or economic-induced crises, access to quality learning opportunities is critical for children’s holistic development and well-being. Ensuring children’s foundational development and well-being is critical amidst crises so children can gain foundational skills to navigate an increasingly complex, digital society, and to be impacted by technology-supported programming when access becomes relevant and appropriate.

There is growing evidence that children learn through play - alone, with peers, and with trusted adults - particularly in the education in emergencies (EiE) sector. In these contexts, play can serve as a distraction from otherwise traumatic events or be a medium to process such circumstances. Play can also bring a sense of belonging and connection, both with peers and trusted adults like teachers, learning facilitators, parents, child protection case workers, and health workers. Play can also develop literacy and numeracy skills, as well as problem-solving and other cognitive skills in both formal classroom settings and non-formal settings when formal education access is disrupted. Thus, Learning through Play (LtP) and play-based learning approaches are critical in acute EiE interventions.

While play is a universal right for children, LtP, however, is highly contextual. Practitioners, policymakers, and donors must be cognizant of the sociocultural implications of play in the context of education, both in formal school settings and other community, non-formal, and home spaces. The importance of contextualizing play is further reinforced in EiE contexts in which social, political, and economic factors affect available resources, inclusion (or exclusion) norms, and appropriate spaces for education. EiE responses that integrate play must balance the tension between rapid intervention to ensure a timely response while ensuring the response is relevant and tailored to an affected population to, at worst, do no harm and, at best, to ensure crisis-affected children receive quality education at the onset of an emergency.

This panel brings together four international non-governmental organizations implementing LtP approaches across various geographic contexts and crisis responses. The first presentation draws from Save the Children’s implementation of an EiE rapid response fund, including learnings from a pilot package of resources for rapid emergency response called We Thrive in Palestine, Burundi, Lebanon, and Somalia. The second presentation highlights the PlayMatters LtP in Emergencies Package, a new set of open-source materials and contextualization guidance for delivering LtP in humanitarian response developed from evidence generated in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. The third presentation shares the Norwegian Refugee Council’s implementation of an EiE rapid response fund and collective experience implementing Education First Line Responses focused on safety, connectedness, and learning in Somalia, the DRC, Lebanon, South Sudan, Chad, Sudan, Colombia, and Myanmar. The fourth presentation describes Right to Play’s process of developing a global EiE strategy utilizing learnings developed from programmatic adaptations to respond to different crises in Pakistan, Lebanon, Mozambique, and Palestine. Collectively, these presentations shed light on resources, strategies, and evidence to integrate LtP into EiE responses.

Sub Unit

• Education in Conflict and Emergencies SIG

Organizer

• Jonathan Kwok, International Rescue Committee

Chair

• Amy Parker, Right To Play International

Individual Presentations

• Save the Children: Learning from an integrated EiE Rapid Response Fund - Rachel Smith, Save the Children International

• PlayMatters LtP in Emergencies Package: A Synthesis of Learnings of LtP Adaptations for Acute Emergency Response - selfago fuse, IRC; Mackenzie Matthews, International Rescue Committee; Jonathan Kwok, International Rescue Committee; Anne C Smiley, IRC

• Right to Play: Leveraging play-based programs in crisis for learning continuity and well-being - Myuri Komaragiri, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto; Henry Gathercole, Right To Play

• Norwegian Refugee Council: Protection, social connectedness, and learning in First Line Education Response - Marta Schena, Norwegian Refugee Council; Constantijn Wouters, Norwegian Refugee Council

Discussant

• Mary Winters, The LEGO Foundation