How businesses and NGOs can work to help children

Children are great equalizers, with their abundant imagination and endless curiosity. Unfortunately, in situations of conflict, children are being robbed, not only of basic needs, like food and shelter, but also of their childhood.

Shockingly, today, 1-in-4 children in the world is living in a country affected by conflict or disaster. They are an unintended casualty of humanitarian crises and are being denied the simple right to be kids.

This is a critical need that many non-profit organizations are attempting to address. Psychosocial support, child education and protection efforts are often underfunded in emergencies. It’s not just acute trauma that must be treated, but also the multi-generational impact of living and maturing in an environment of hostility and violence.

These children are missing out on the essence of childhood: play, imagination, and creativity. Living amidst conflict can make them susceptible to sustained psychological trauma with systemic behavioural consequences, impacting not only the children involved, but generations following.

We’ve experienced these situations firsthand on our missions to many countries dealing with conflict. Through the Toy Movement, founded by Spin Master, and brought to life in partnership with Save the Children, we’ve been granting children the opportunity to play and learn through a simple gift: a toy.

Toys can provide an avenue for children to express their emotions, facilitate conversations with support workers and can help them formulate life skills, such as problem-solving, sharing and co-operation.

More importantly, this gift can provide comfort and a coping mechanism to combat the longterm effects of displacement. We need to help children process and deal with the emotional trauma experienced during and after these emergencies to help protect future generations.

To that end, the Toy Movement is embarking on its 15th mission, this time to refugee camps in Kenya, home to nearly a quarter of a million refugees. We’re bringing more than 50,000 toys, play materials and funds that can be used by case workers and teachers in Save the Children’s ‘Child Friendly Spaces’ and Special Education Centres.

While our missions have touched the lives of 450,000 children, we’re only scratching the surface. As leaders, we have an opportunity to create a healthy world for all children, where we appreciate the potential for kids to apply their unique talents and gifts.

For this to happen, wars and conflict need to end and collectively, we need to engage more as a global community and take action. It’s time to create a healthier world for everyone, with children at the forefront of our thinking.

Together, we need to build solutions to put an end to the cycle of violence and ensure that each child, and future generations to come, have the chance to experience the joy of being a kid.