Thriving Through Play

Global Fund for Children is supporting community-based organizations in Kenya and Uganda that promote mental health and psychosocial support for children in refugee and host communities, helping them build resilience, wellbeing, and opportunities to thrive.

What we're doing
Voices & Stories

Global Fund for Children supports a cohort of grassroots organizations in East Africa that promote mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions among children in refugee and host communities.

East Africa hosts the largest refugee population in Africa, and more than 55% of the refugees are under 18 years old. Children in both refugee and host communities face serious mental health challenges as a result of poor living conditions and limited access to healthcare, and refugee children must also deal with family loss and traumatic migration experiences. Resettlement introduces further difficulties, such as economic hardship, discrimination, cultural adjustment, and disruptions to their social and educational development. Find out more about our work in Africa here.

Throughout Kenya and Uganda, there is a distinct lack of support directly addressing children’s wellbeing and resilience, mental health, and social-emotional development. Many children grow up without the consistent care and stability that are considered essential for children’s physical and socio-emotional health, such as economic opportunity for families, stable community surroundings that foster joy and enable play, and access to uninterrupted educational services. This situation is particularly pronounced for children living in and around refugee and host communities in the two countries. Within this challenging context, community-based organizations play a vital role in supporting children to thrive.

The Thriving Through Play (TTP) initiative, supported by the Lego Foundation, addresses the significant lack of financial and nonfinancial resources available to community-based organizations working with children in refugee and host communities in Kenya and Uganda. Recognizing the power of play as a tool for healing, the initiative focuses on play-based and adaptive methods to support the mental health and social-emotional development of children aged 6–12. GFC’s partners in the TTP initiative use various forms of play-based activities, including art, dance, sports, and games, to build resilience and emotional skills, create safe spaces for self-expression, and provide peer support and mentorship to children and their caregivers. Learn more about our work with the Lego Foundation here.

GFC is providing the partner organizations below with flexible funding and a wide range of capacity-building services, including critical networking opportunities and systems strengthening.

Project partners

Akilimali Associates

Kenya

Akilimali Associates works to address trauma and restore hope and resilience in society through a youth-driven and holistic approach that includes healing circles, community engagement, and creative psychosocial support.

Amuno Rural Hub

Uganda | Bukedea

Amuno Rural Hub offers library services, supplementary reading, and games to students in rural Uganda.

Applied Sciences and Technology Laboratories

Uganda | Gulu

Applied Sciences and Technology Laboratories exposes students from remote schools to improved and equitable access to high-quality, hands-on STEM education and programming through science clubs.

Art of a Child

Uganda

Art of a Child provides inclusive and equitable educational programs for underserved children, including expressive art therapy and innovative initiatives that break cycles of deprivation and promote transformative learning.

BaNgaAfayo

Uganda | Kayunga

BaNgaAfayo offers remedial after-school programs to help students catch up in math and literacy using interactive play-based methodologies to improve attendance, retention, and outcomes.

Centre for Adolescent Reproductive Health Foundation

Uganda | Lira

Centre for Adolescent Reproductive Health Foundation increases access to inclusive primary education, as well as its quality and sustainability, through traditional dances.

ChezaCheza

Kenya

ChezaCheza offers therapeutic dance sessions and dance movement therapy in marginalized communities to provide safe spaces that foster children’s mental health, social-emotional learning, self-esteem, and life skills.

Community Focus International

Uganda | Lira

Community Focus International empowers communities in vulnerable circumstances and people with disabilities and their caretakers through assistive mobility devices and alternative basic education.

Community Voices Network

Kenya | Nairobi

Community Voices Network empowers young people from underserved communities with knowledge, practical skills, and mental wellness programs, using intersectional community-informed approaches to promote health, education, and livelihood opportunities.

Faces Up Uganda

Uganda

Faces Up Uganda uses art-based education and mentorship to rehabilitate and empower young people from vulnerable backgrounds, focusing on psychosocial healing, creative skills, and social-emotional development.

Haki Centre

Kenya | Mombasa

Haki Centre promotes social justice by enhancing community participation in sustainable development processes.

Implicit Effect Community Initiative

Uganda | Kampala

Implicit Effect Community Initiative promotes comprehensive, positive social development through education and auxiliary services.

Jitegemee Children’s Program

Kenya | Machakos

Jitegemee Children’s Program holistically empowers children to grow and live sustainable lives by providing nutritional requirements, psychosocial support, health care, and a clear pathway to appropriate schooling or training.

Maji Mazuri

Kenya | Nairobi

Maji Mazuri helps children, youth, and families escape poverty and thrive by providing the foundation through education and other types of support.

Mental Heroes Foundation

Kenya

Mental Heroes Foundation promotes mental health awareness and resilience through training, counseling, peer groups, and school programs, challenging stigma and supporting youth and vulnerable communities to talk openly and seek help.

Read to Learn Foundation

Uganda | Kampala

Read to Learn Foundation establishes playful community libraries to encourage a love of reading and uses locally sourced materials to make toys.

Safe Engage Foundation

Kenya

Safe Engage Foundation prevents violence against girls and women and challenges harmful traditions such as gender-based violence and female genital mutilation by providing education, empowerment programs, scholarships, and safe spaces for those at risk.

Similar Ground

Uganda

Similar Ground uses a holistic, arts-based approach, combined with educational support, advocacy, and community protection, to strengthen the psychosocial resilience of children and youth in refugee settings.

Story Makers Society

Kenya

Story Makers Society harnesses the transformative power of storytelling and creative arts to enhance children’s mental health, confidence, and advocacy, using story-based approaches to promote cultural identity and peer support among marginalized youth.

The Andtex Training and Care Organization

Uganda | Mukono

The Andtex Training and Care Organization (TATCO) adopts community schools and creates a conducive learning environment for children by providing them with human and interactive educational resources.