Creative, in partnership with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is providing life sustaining humanitarian assistance plus programming to children most in need in Gaza. The program provides mental health and psychosocial (MHPSS) support to over 300 children through carefully designed and delivered recreational sessions, nutritional support, and distribution of take-home materials designed to offer outlets for creativity and expression. The program prioritizes and fully engages highly vulnerable children, including orphans, injured children, and children with disabilities.
The initiative boosts children’s emotional well-being and increases peer social interaction through sessions designed around high-energy, joyful small and large group activities. In addition to interactive performances for all attendees, Creative and IOCC use a variety of child-friendly stations featuring drawing, arts, singing, traditional dance performances, clown and theater shows, and friendly competitions. These smaller stations allow children to explore their feelings and creativity and engage socially with each other around a structured and supervised task. During each session, the staff distributes light snacks alongside take-home supplies, including notebooks, pens, and coloring materials.
Program achievements
During this sensitive period of learning and development, children in fragile settings need access to high-quality social activities to develop their social-emotional skills and build resilience. We Play, We Learn, We Heal delivers quality recreational activities for children, all supervised and supported by facilitators trained in effective, flexible and needs-based childcare.
We Play, We Learn, We Heal, and similar MHPSS activities have been found to raise parent satisfaction and increase their sense of wellbeing. A similar program, implemented by Creative in Gaza, found that 99% of parents surveyed expressed interest in their children participating in similar activities in the future and 94% found the activity fostered relaxation and confidence in their children—increasing their own sense of wellbeing.
Activities such as We Play, We Learn, We Heal foster a sense of community and trust between and among humanitarian response workers and community members. By training and engaging community members in our activities, the Creative team recognizes communities as active contributors to care and change. By involving local people in all stages of MHPSS responses, trust is being strengthened both in the camp-communities and between camps and the humanitarian assistance workers.