1. ADDRESSING CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
THROUGH PLAY AND SPORT
From Resilience to Recovery in a
Protracted Refugee Situation
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Master of Arts in Human Rights and Conflict Management 2014/2015
Jennifer Wells

2. Relevant Documents
 UDHR, CRC, ICESCR, Banjul Charter, OP to CRC
on involvement of children in armed conflicts,
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,
Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of
Refugee Problems in Africa, African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child
 Sport and leisure, right to life, adequate standards of
living, highest attainable standards of physical and
mental health, right to education, environment
favourable to development

3. Terms
 Child: any person under the age of 18
 Early Childhood Trauma: any and all traumatic
experiences occurring between birth and age 6
 Protracted Refugee Situation (PRS): refugee
populations greater than 25.000 living in exile for 5
or more years
 Psychosocial Support: interactions between one’s
psychological aspects and social experiences
 Resilience: ability to adapt and adjust
appropriately during significant and prolonged
adversity

4. School & Sports
 Schools become versatile protection systems
 Allows children to feel more secure, stay out of
dangerous activities, fight malnutrition, provides
consistency in an inconsistent world
 Play and sports teach life skills, build positive
relationships
 Empowers and improves psychosocial well-being
 Increases resilience and self-esteem
 Improves communication skills
 Creates social relationships and betters intrapersonal
connections, creates peer support networks
 Reduces anxiety and deviant behaviours

5. Aims & Methodology
 Outline and understand the importance of culturally
relevant psychosocial support models for Darfuri
refugee children and address mental health issues
within refugee camps
 RQ: What effects do play and sport have on children
regarding trauma recovery, resilience, and their
abilities to handle childhood trauma(s)?
 Case study, literature review, data and analysis
received from i-ACT and UWSC
 Baseline and follow-up year one assessment

6. Assessment of Psychosocial Needs
 Psychosocial support and interventions directed at
personal and collective needs of children
 Physical and psychological stressors of parents
affect children
 Specific war events affecting children need to be
researched
 Many variables to consider: nature, exposure, duration,
family, age, development, community, individual
characteristics, support networks, etc.

7. Play & Sport
 Culturally intrinsic and activates resilience
 Helps protect, strengthen, and heal
 Shown to reduce anxiety and deviant behaviours
 Teaches life skills, builds positive peer
relationships, creates peer support networks
 Social inclusion leads to equal opportunities in
sport and education programmes
 Academic development, socio-emotional skills,
physical skills, sport specific skills

8. Resilience
 Universal human ability to cope with traumatic
experiences
 Affected by external social support, context, social,
family, demographic, and individual variables and
characteristics
 Attributed to:
 Good outcomes despite high-risk status
 Recovery from trauma
 Continued threat but remains a capable individual

9. Culturally Relevant Interventions
 Children’s physical and psychological development
are typically based on cultural characteristics
 Developed with refugees’ home culture and religious
practices in mind
 External providers and developers need to:
 Be familiar with the culture in question
 Understand views of community on traumatic events
 Be aware of possible biases in implementation
 Biases can lead to misdiagnoses and wrong course of treatment
and intervention

10. Play: Little Ripples
 Early education
programme
tailored to serve
populations
exposed to severe
trauma
 Build on pillars of
peace, sharing,
and helping

11. Objectives
 Day care and pre-school education for all children
3-5 yo in Camps Goz Amer and Djabal
 Create safe environment to learn, grow, and heal
from trauma
 Promote ECD, teach compassion and peace
 Build new model of refugee support
 Create model of ECE that is replicable, sustainable,
and scalable.

12. Year One Assessment
 6 key indicators measured:
 Students’ physical health
 Students’ mental health
 Students’ emotional health
 Cognitive development
 Family environment
 Social environment
 Almost all findings were positive and showed
improvement

13. Year One Assessment
Food Insecurity within refugee
camps
Percentage of mothers who say their
children tell them what they do during the
day.

14. Year One Assessment
Knew 4+ colours,
counted to 5, knew 4+
animals, knew first 10
letters of Arabic alphabet
Parent reported
health symptoms
within last two
weeks

15. Sport: DU & DUSA
 Universality of football transcends
barriers
 Access to sports (leisure) is a right
 Physical activity and team sports shown
positive effects on youth participants
 Creates buffer against anxiety and stress
 DU began in 2012, with Viva World Cup
& 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup
 DUSA began in October 2013, expanded
in January 2015
 Won 2014 Beyond Sport Award for Social
Inclusion

16. Programme Aims
 Address trauma, increase physical skills and abilities,
positively impact moral and social development
 Promote education, health, peace-building, and
social integration
 Honesty, teamwork, sportsmanship, respect, adherence to
rules
 Bring hope, inspiration, and joy to displaced
population
 Give refugees a chance to represent Darfur, play the
world’s game, connect with players around the world

17. Unofficial Data
 Caregivers report that their children show
improvement in personal and social domains
• Social benefits
- Positive
relationship with
coaches
- Create new
friendships
- Develop
teamwork
- Etc.
• Personal benefits
• Emotional control
• Self-confidence
• Discipline
• Safe exploration
• Higher academic
standing
• Stay out of trouble

18. Conclusions
 Psychosocial intervention and support
programmes that promote social reintegration,
physical and psychological recovery in a safe
environment are essential
 Good mental health is necessary for full and
healthy socio-emotional development and learning
 The Little Ripples programme and Darfur United /
Darfur United Soccer Academy have proven to be
essential to refugees
 Increased attendance in primary and secondary school
 Focus on protective factors and prosocial behaviour

19. Recommendations
 Continue with program expansions throughout
Darfuri refugee camps
 DUSA expansion to the ten additional camps, LR Ponds
funded and established throughout all twelve camps
 Continue culturally relevant and refugee led
programmes to bring community together
 Increase independence, decrease reliance on external aid
 Expand programmes to other protracted situations
 Refugee or IDP camps
 Create women’s DU team
 Empower women, raise awareness, bridge cultural gaps