LEGO Foundation commits $97M to expand play-based learning for children in war zones
NEW YORK (AP) — From civil war in Sudan to the smoldering aftermath of U.S. military operations in the Middle East, millions of children are growing up in the crossfire of conflicts that show no signs of abating. One humanitarian partnership is betting that play can help them reclaim their childhood — and their futures.
The LEGO Foundation announced Wednesday it is funneling $97 million into a five-year partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to scale up play-based learning programs for children in some of the world’s most volatile regions. The initiative aims to reach 5 million kids across East Africa and the Middle East, with a built-in flexibility to shift resources as conflicts evolve.
“Children who are born in conflict have their childhood stolen from them,” IRC President David Miliband told The Associated Press. “But what’s remarkable about children is that if you give them a bit of their childhood back, they make the most of it. And this is about giving the best of childhood back.”
The funding will expand an IRC-led program known as PlayMatters, which trains teachers of children aged 3 to 12 to integrate “playful learning” into daily lessons. The approach doesn’t dictate curriculum but helps educators tailor instruction to the specific traumas and needs of students in crisis settings. It also includes nationally focused advocacy to embed play-based methods into government education systems.
LEGO Foundation CEO Sidsel Marie Kristensen said the partnership is designed to be “truly agile,” able to pivot as new crises erupt and old ones shift. Currently, target countries include Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Uganda. “In the world we are living in right now, nobody knows honestly what is happening tomorrow or in two months,” Kristensen said. “That flexibility is what we need right now.”
The investment builds on a 2019 collaboration in which the LEGO Foundation committed $100 million to “Ahlan Simsim,” an IRC and Sesame Workshop program that supports children affected by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises. The new grant takes a more fluid approach: instead of locking funds into specific geographic grants, it allows IRC to redirect money as refugee populations surge — a classroom can balloon from 25 to 150 students overnight, creating urgent needs for sanitation, nutrition and other non-educational supports.
At a primary school in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee settlement, teacher Sister Kasingye Secunda credits PlayMatters with slashing absenteeism. Many students struggle with both the local language and English, the language of instruction. But through games that involve sorting mangoes and bananas, or taking turns leading group activities, children are building confidence and finding reasons to come to school. “Learners enjoy the lessons,” Secunda said. “They are eager to come to school.”
Across East Africa, a radio show produced by PlayMatters helps children name their emotions, using culturally familiar characters and multiple languages. In South Sudan, where seasonal flooding cuts off schools for half the year, these digitally delivered multimedia lessons offer a lifeline. “We need first to make sure that children are alive,” said Martin Omukuba, PlayMatters Project Director. “We can introduce education when they are stabilized.”
The announcement comes at a time when international aid budgets are shrinking. The United States and many European nations have slashed development assistance, stretching the humanitarian system to its limits. Miliband pointed to the current Ebola outbreak in Congo’s Ituri province as a cautionary tale: sanitation and handwashing programs that lost U.S. funding last year, part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of foreign aid, have left the region vulnerable. “We warned at the time what the risk was,” he said. “And sure as night follows day, we end up with an under-detected Ebola outbreak.”
IRC officials frame early childhood development not as a luxury but as a necessary intervention against toxic stress that alters brain development and delays learning. Patty McIlreavy, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, noted that education was underfunded even before wealthy countries cut their aid. “Life-saving” assistance has been too narrowly defined as keeping the body alive, she said, excluding “life-sustaining” efforts like children’s education. She called the LEGO Foundation’s approach “an example for donors” who ask how they can help in complex conflicts with no clear end. “It’s not our role as philanthropy to fix what’s broken in a country,” McIlreavy said. “That’s politics. That’s bigger than us. But there’s so much we can do — even by offering six months or a year of education.”
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