Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 2017 – Ongoing
Led by BRAC, the Play Lab project offers children in poor and displaced communities access to play activities, essential for their development. The Play Labs in Bangladesh are established in the world’s largest refugee camp, home to over 900,000 Rohingya refugees. Each Play Lab has two leaders, one is Rohingya, and one comes from the Bangladeshi host community. The facilitators receive intensive training where they learn how to communicate and play with children, along with relevant child development and brain science. They are also trained as counsellors to better support the children and identify signs of psychosocial issues.
The Play Labs are culturally sensitive. Their curriculum has been adapted to the context, for example, songs are converted to call-and- response rhymes that are more in line with the Rohingya culture.
The adolescent girls club has also been reformatted for the Muslim culture of the Rohingya. Since the girls of the camp must stay home when they get their period, the facilitators moved the club to their homes where they discuss issues including mental health and menstrual hygiene.