Poverty and Environment Fund (PEF), Smokey Mountain Remediation and Development Project.

Supporting play for children in crisis

Published on 28-06-2017 at 16:53

Poverty and Environment Fund (PEF), Smokey Mountain Remediation and Development Project - A local child plays with his kite atop Smokey Mountain’s highest peak. No longer an open dumpsite, its story is sadly repeated at nearby slums in Manila. Poverty remains one of the biggest problems facing the Philippines today. With no clear solutions in sight, cooperatives like the SMPK are essential in improving the lives of the urban poor.

The International Play Association (IPA) has published a report of its work to support access to play opportunities for children living in crisis. Adrian Voce reports.

The IPA World Conference in Istanbul 2014 agreed to undertake specific activity to develop resources and projects to support and enable the right to play of children growing up in the most difficult circumstances around the world. The organisation, a longstanding international advocacy body for children’s right to play, has now published a report of its progress.

The report outlines progress on two specific projects around the theme of Access to Play in Crisis (APC): a research project and a toolkit for staff, managers and policy-makers.

In publishing the report the IPA stated that it has made ‘major progress’ on its objective to find ways to support children to play in constrained circumstances, and also that its Access to Play in Crisis projects ‘have demonstrated the objective of IPA in action’, and the value of collaboration across different nations.

Sharing experiences

An IPA statement said ‘we are immeasurably enriched by the coming together of members from different countries and branches to share their experience and deepen their understanding. With this in mind, APC has enabled us to hold research and drafting meetings in Istanbul, Delhi, London, and shortly in Bangkok. Researchers have worked in Thailand, India, Japan, Nepal, Turkey and Lebanon and our expert drafting group and advisory groups are from even further afield. This grassroots reach is a great strength of both the APC project and IPA in general”.

There is a strong commitment to continuing efforts on this theme to ensure children in the most difficult circumstances have access to the play opportunities to which they have a right

-Theresa Casey, IPA President

Theresa Casey, IPA President, added, “There is a strong commitment to continuing efforts on this theme to ensure children in the most difficult circumstances have access to the play opportunities to which they have a right. We are absolutely delighted that the APC toolkit and research reports will be launched at the IPA world conference in Calgary, Canada ins September 2017 and that many of those who have participated will be there in person”.

Adrian Voce

Photo: Asian Development Bank

IPA is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961. It provides a forum for exchange and action across disciplines and across sectors. IPA’s purpose is to protect, preserve and promote the child’s right to play as a fundamental human right. Its objective is “to provide an international forum to promote and improve opportunities for play …for all children and youth in all countries”.