If you give them a bit of their childhood back, they make the most of it.
In an era when international aid is contracting and childhood is being consumed by conflict, the LEGO Foundation has committed $97 million to the International Rescue Committee to bring play-based learning to 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East over the next five years. The investment centers on PlayMatters, a program that trains teachers to meet traumatized children where they are — not with fixed curricula, but with the adaptive language of play. It is a recognition, long overdue in humanitarian circles, that keeping a child alive and allowing a child to develop are not separate obligations but one continuous act of care.
- Millions of children in active conflict zones face not only physical danger but the quieter devastation of interrupted development, as warfare and displacement sever their access to education and emotional stability.
- Global aid budgets are shrinking sharply — the U.S. and European nations have cut funding significantly — leaving humanitarian organizations scrambling to fill gaps that governments once covered, with consequences already visible in crises like the under-detected Ebola outbreak in Congo.
- The $97 million pledge is structured for agility, allowing funds to move fluidly as crises shift — because a refugee classroom can expand from 25 to 150 students overnight, and survival must sometimes come before lesson plans.
- In Uganda's Nakivale refugee settlement, PlayMatters is already turning reluctant, multilingual students into eager learners through games that teach colors, build confidence, and restore a sense of belonging.
- Radio broadcasts reaching children in flood-isolated South Sudan and across Ethiopia signal that the program's reach extends beyond physical classrooms, meeting children wherever conflict has scattered them.
- Philanthropic partnerships like this one are increasingly being named as the primary mechanism for sustaining children's education in conflicts with no clear endpoint — a structural shift in how humanitarian response is funded and imagined.
On Wednesday, the LEGO Foundation announced a $97 million commitment to the International Rescue Committee, funding a five-year effort to bring play-based learning to 5 million children in conflict-affected regions of East Africa and the Middle East. The countries involved — among them Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Uganda — will be determined as crises evolve, a flexibility built deliberately into the partnership's design.
At the heart of the investment is PlayMatters, a program that trains teachers working with children ages three to twelve to integrate playful learning into their classrooms, responding to the specific trauma and displacement their students carry. Rather than imposing a fixed curriculum, the approach equips teachers to read what their classrooms need. In Uganda's Nakivale refugee settlement, teacher Sister Kasingye Secunda has watched attendance climb since the program arrived. Her students speak neither the local language nor English, yet through simple games — sorting fruit, taking turns leading small groups — they are learning colors, building confidence, and, crucially, wanting to come to school.
What distinguishes this funding model is its fluidity. Refugee classrooms can swell overnight, and emergencies don't respect budget categories. PlayMatters Project Director Martin Omukuba explained that the foundation trusts the IRC to redirect funds when survival demands it. The program also reaches children through radio broadcasts across Ethiopia, Tanzania, and South Sudan — where seasonal flooding cuts off physical schools for half the year — using culturally familiar characters to help children name their emotions in multiple languages.
The announcement lands against a backdrop of significant aid contraction. The U.S. and many European nations have slashed development budgets, and IRC president David Miliband pointed to a current Ebola outbreak in Congo as a direct consequence — sanitation programs lost their U.S. funding last year, and the outbreak followed. Patty McIlreavy of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy noted that education has historically been underfunded even in better times, dismissed as less urgent than keeping bodies alive. She sees this partnership as a model for donors navigating conflicts with no foreseeable end.
LEGO Foundation CEO Sidsel Marie Kristensen framed the flexibility of the investment as a moral necessity in an unpredictable world. As public aid shrinks, collaborations between foundations, nonprofits, and governments may become the primary way displaced children access education at all — a quiet but consequential shift in who bears responsibility for the world's most vulnerable learners.
On Wednesday, the LEGO Foundation announced a commitment of $97 million to the International Rescue Committee, money intended to expand a teaching approach that uses play as a vehicle for learning and emotional recovery in places where children have grown up surrounded by conflict. The five-year partnership targets 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East, with the specific countries to be determined as crises shift—currently under consideration are Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Uganda.
The program at the center of this investment is called PlayMatters. It trains teachers working with children ages three to twelve to weave what educators call "playful learning" into their lessons, tailoring instruction to the particular trauma and displacement their students have experienced. The approach does not dictate curriculum; instead, it equips teachers to respond to what their classrooms actually need. PlayMatters staff also work at the policy level, advocating with government officials to embed these methods into national education frameworks.
At a primary school in Uganda's Nakivale refugee settlement, the results are visible. Sister Kasingye Secunda, a teacher there, has watched attendance improve since PlayMatters arrived. Many of her students speak neither the local language nor English, the language of instruction. Through games—selecting mangoes and bananas to share with classmates, for instance—children learn colors and build confidence. They develop leadership by taking turns guiding small groups. "Learners enjoy the lessons," Secunda said. "They are eager to come to school." What once was a struggle to get students through the door has become something closer to engagement.
The LEGO Foundation's approach differs from traditional grant-making in a crucial way. Rather than funding fixed programs in fixed places, the money is designed to move fluidly as conflicts evolve. A refugee classroom can swell from 25 students to 150 overnight, creating sudden demands for sanitation, nutrition, and other needs that don't fit neatly into education budgets. Martin Omukuba, the PlayMatters Project Director, explained that the foundation trusts the IRC to redirect funds in emergencies. "We need first to make sure that children are alive," he said. "We can introduce the education when they are stabilized." The partnership also funds digitally delivered lessons—a radio show broadcast across Ethiopia, Tanzania, and beyond, featuring culturally familiar characters who help children name their emotions in multiple languages. In South Sudan, where flooding makes schools inaccessible for half the year, the radio program reaches students no physical classroom could.
David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, framed the investment as a response to a fundamental theft. "Children who are born in conflict have their childhood stolen from them," he 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." The LEGO Foundation CEO Sidsel Marie Kristensen emphasized the need for agility in a world where tomorrow's crisis is unknowable. "In the world we are living in right now, nobody knows honestly what is happening tomorrow or in two months," she said. "That flexibility is what we need right now."
This announcement arrives amid a broader contraction in international development funding. The United States and many European nations have cut aid budgets significantly, straining the humanitarian system's capacity. Miliband pointed to the current Ebola outbreak in Congo as evidence of the cost of such cuts—sanitation and handwashing programs in the Ituri province, where the outbreak is centered, lost U.S. funding last year. "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."
Patty McIlreavy, president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, noted that education has long been underfunded in humanitarian response, even before wealthy countries slashed their aid. The focus has been narrowly on "life saving"—keeping bodies alive—rather than "life sustaining" efforts like children's education. She sees Wednesday's announcement as a model for other donors asking how to help in conflicts without clear endpoints. "It's not our role as philanthropy to fix what's broken in a country," she 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."
The LEGO Foundation and IRC have worked together before. In 2019, the foundation committed $100 million to "Ahlan Simsim," a television and radio show created with Sesame Workshop to help children affected by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises. This new partnership signals a deepening commitment to the idea that play and learning are not luxuries in conflict zones but necessary interventions against the toxic stress that alters brain development and delays learning. As international aid contracts, such collaborations between foundations, nonprofits, and governments may become the primary mechanism through which millions of displaced children gain access to education at all.
Notable Quotes
Children who are born in conflict have their childhood stolen from them. But what's remarkable about children is that if you give them a bit of their childhood back, they make the most of it.— David Miliband, IRC President
We need first to make sure that children are alive. We can introduce the education when they are stabilized.— Martin Omukuba, PlayMatters Project Director
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does play matter so much in these settings? Couldn't the money just go to basic survival—food, shelter, medicine?
Play is survival, in a way. Children in conflict zones experience toxic stress that literally changes their brain development. Without some form of learning and emotional processing, they fall further behind, and the trauma compounds. PlayMatters isn't frivolous—it's intervention.
But the teacher in Uganda mentioned language barriers. How does a game with mangoes solve that?
It doesn't solve it entirely. But it creates a space where children can learn without needing to understand English or the local language perfectly. They're building confidence and connection through activity, not just sitting in a classroom where they're lost. Attendance goes up because school becomes a place they want to be.
The LEGO Foundation CEO talked about flexibility. Why is that so important here?
Because conflicts don't follow grant cycles. A refugee camp can double in size overnight. A school can become inaccessible for months due to flooding. Traditional funding says, "Here's money for this program in this place for this year." By the time the money arrives, the crisis has shifted. Flexible funding lets them move resources to wherever children actually are.
Miliband said something about giving childhood back. That's a powerful phrase, but what does it actually mean in practice?
It means that in conflict zones, children are often forced into adult roles—caring for siblings, working, surviving. PlayMatters creates space for them to be children again, even temporarily. To play, to learn, to develop at a normal pace. It's not about forgetting what happened. It's about not letting the conflict define their entire development.
The article mentions aid cuts. How does that change what organizations like the IRC can do?
It means they're doing more with less, and they're having to be creative about partnerships. The LEGO Foundation's money is significant, but it's also a signal to other donors and governments that education in conflict zones deserves investment. When aid contracts, philanthropy has to fill gaps that governments used to fill.