Sports Humanitarian Group, Inc. dba Right To Play

Right To Play is a global organization that protects, educates, and empowers children to rise. We work with children in some of the most dangerous and difficult places on earth, helping them to stay in school and graduate, to resist exploitation and overcome prejudice, to prevent disease and to heal from war and abuse.

For more than 20 years, we have delivered programs with impact in both development and humanitarian contexts. As pioneers in a unique approach to learning, both inside and outside of the classroom, we harness play, one of the most fundamental forces in a childs life, to help children dismantle barriers and embrace opportunities. We are the only global development organization focused exclusively on using the power of play to transform childrens lives.

We reach millions of children each year in 14 countries around the world. By collaborating with teachers, governments, communities, and parents, we unlock childrens potential, enabling themto make positive and healthy choices and to create better futures for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Protect

Children cannot grow and thrive in environments where they are threatened by exploitation, violence and abuse. Sustainable change in children’s lives begins by ensuring that they are protected and safe from harm. In many places where we work, children’s futures are threatened by child marriage, child labor, violence, forced participation in conflicts and harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation. We prevent and respond to these situations by strengthening systems that create positive and safe environments where children can learn and thrive and providing play-based psychosocial support to children in crisis and conflict situations.

Educate

Children need positive and engaging educational environments in order to learn. We train teachers on how to use play-based approaches in the classroom to create engaging learning environments that foster positive learning and development outcomes. We strengthen education systems and curricula to support children’s learning and development for generations to come.

Empower

We believe all children should have their rights respected, have a voice on the issues that affect their lives, and have a chance to realize their full potential. Through our approach to program development as well as specific interventions like Junior Leader training and Child’s Rights’ Clubs, we seek to empower children with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to thrive and inspire the next generation to rise.

Right To Play works with teachers, coaches, and communities to create environments where children can realize their potential and fully participate in society.

We train teachers in how to use play-based learning in the classroom to create safe learning spaces and an inclusive and engaging educational experience. Playful learning helps teachers manage larger classes, build positive relationships with their students, make learning fun, and boost learning outcomes. Play-based classrooms encourage students to be active participants in their learning, express their ideas and creativity, and build social bonds with their peers.

We train coaches to run safe, inclusive community activities that break down social divisions that hold back children’s development. Coaches use play to encourage children to empathize with one another, communicate respectfully, and collaborate. They host discussions where children reflect on what they’ve learned, connect it to their lives, and share their insights with one another to help them understand one another’s lives.

We work with communities to challenge unjust social norms that hinder children’s growth, especially girls, refugees, and children with disabilities. We host Play Days that promote strong parent-child bonds and give marginalized children the chance to publicly speak about their challenges. We set up Child Rights Clubs that bring children and local volunteers together to stop abuses and exploitation and protect children’s rights.

Working with Partners

We partner with local organizations, educational institutions, civil society organizations, and governments to achieve impact and scale. Forming strong local partnerships is necessary to ensure programs are relevant and appropriate, and that the impact children experience is sustainable over time. We seek to both learn from and empower partners by bringing a learning mindset, our expertise and methodology, and a collaborative approach to each partnership we form.

Each of our 7 national offices serve as fundraising centers by raising funds from specific funding pools: Institutions, high net worth individuals, corporations, and targeted mass markets. Each office is primarily responsible in a single country for acquisition and stewarding all key donor relationships in these selected pools. By having national offices around the world, we can diversify our donors and maximize our potential gains. In terms of funding our expanded programming, we promote excellence in our stewardship model in order to meet our aspirations. We have a fully developed stewardship plan for all funding pools and centers, integrated across markets. Additionally, we utilize quality technology which enables enhanced and consistent donor engagement, stewardship and retention as well.

In 2022:
- 2,786,798 Children were reached through direct and indirect programs. 49% of them were girls.
- 12,767 Youth were reached through programs, including close to 8,000 youth who participated in Junior Leader training.
- 101,514 Educators and Coaches were equipped to support children’s learning, development, and well-being.
- 175,763 Parents and Caregivers were empowered to protect children and keep them learning.

In Mali, we protect children against child labor, female genital mutilation, early marriage, and begging. Our work reached 85,000 children and 1,400 teachers and coaches in over 200 villages. 70% of children felt safe in their communities at the end of the project, compared to 39% at the start.

After the Beirut explosion in August 2020, our team provided rapid play-based psychosocial support affected children to protect them from the mental health effects of grief, displacement, and social disruption.

In Pakistan, the proportion of children reporting experiencing physical punishment at home dropped from 62% to 28% among boys and from 38% to 11% among girls between the beginning and end of our project.
In Ghana, 73% of girls in Right To Play-supported schools showed improved reading, compared to 60% in other schools. On average, girls are reading seven more words per minute than at the start of the program.

In Uganda, 68% of girls stopped missing classes because of menstruation after teachers were trained on gender-inclusive classroom management.

In Mali, the average reading comprehension score of students in Right To Play-supported schools was over twice as high as students in other schools – 27% compared to 13%.
In Ghana, 89% of girls in schools with Child Rights Clubs showed high levels of leadership skills, compared to 75% at project start.

In Senegal, we’re empowering 10,000 adolescent girls and boys to build positive life skills, and challenge gender-based violence through sport and play.