The LEGO Foundation will channel $97 million into the International Rescue Committee’s play-based education programs for children caught in conflict, the two organizations announced Wednesday. The five-year partnership aims to reach 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East, concentrating on those in the most severe humanitarian emergencies.
The announcement comes as global crises — from South Sudan’s political instability to the recent war between the United States and Iran — have swelled the number of children at risk of losing access to schooling, health care, and basic safety. Education remains one of the most chronically underfunded sectors in humanitarian response, often receiving a fraction of the aid directed to food, shelter, and medicine.
“Children who are born in conflict have their childhood stolen from them,” IRC President David Miliband told The Associated Press. “But what’s remarkable about children is that if you give them a bit of their childhood back, they make the most of it. And this is about giving the best of childhood back.”
The partnership will adapt its geographic focus as conflicts evolve. Countries currently under consideration include Ethiopia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Uganda. LEGO Foundation CEO Sidsel Marie Kristensen said the program would concentrate on those “in the most dire contexts.”
The IRC has long argued that play-based learning helps children recover from trauma, build social skills, and continue cognitive development even amid displacement and violence. The LEGO Foundation has funded similar initiatives through its “PlayMatters” program, which uses games and creative activities to teach literacy, numeracy, and emotional resilience.
Miliband, a former British foreign secretary, has made children’s welfare a central theme of his tenure at the IRC. He has repeatedly urged donors to treat education as a core component of emergency relief, not a secondary concern.
The $97 million commitment is among the largest private-sector donations specifically earmarked for education in conflict settings. The IRC expects the funding to train thousands of teachers, distribute play-based learning materials, and build safe spaces for children in refugee camps and conflict-affected communities.