LEGO Foundation donates $97 million to expand play-based learning in conflict zones

The LEGO Foundation has committed $97 million over five years to expand International Rescue Committee programs that use play to support education and recovery for children living through conflict and crisis. The partnership is designed to reach more than 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East, and to fold play-based learning into national education, health and early childhood systems instead of treating it as a one-off aid project.

The timing reflects a brutal global backdrop. More than 473 million children live in areas affected by conflict, and conflict drives about 80% of humanitarian needs worldwide, according to UNICEF. The UN refugee agency says close to half of refugee children remain out of school, while pre-primary enrollment among reporting countries was 42% and primary enrollment 67% in the 2023-24 school year. In that context, the IRC is framing play as more than a morale booster. It is a tool for trauma recovery, classroom continuity and child development in places where schools, health services and family stability have all been shaken.

David Miliband, the IRC president, said the aim is to give children back as much of childhood as possible. The organization says its play-based model is 5 to 10 times more cost-effective than sector benchmarks, and points to PlayMatters in crisis-affected Ethiopian schools as evidence that the approach can produce results. IRC says the program delivered learning gains for as little as $24 per child, compared with an average humanitarian education program cost of $240 per child. In Ethiopia, the group says PlayMatters produced twice the impact on emotional regulation and an equivalent impact on empathy compared with other social-emotional learning interventions.

The new phase begins in May 2026 and builds on a partnership that the IRC says has already reached more than 7 million children since 2019 across 12 countries. Past and current work has included PlayMatters in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, TeachWell in Kenya, and LEGO Foundation-backed efforts such as Ahlan Simsim and the Remote Early Learning Program in Lebanon. The IRC says the new money will support children from birth through primary school years, including pregnant mothers, and will be directed where conflicts and needs are most severe over time, including Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The wager is bigger than education branding. The IRC says more than 400 million children are living in or fleeing conflict zones, while less than 4% of aid to crisis countries funds early childhood development. Against that funding gap, the LEGO Foundation is betting that play is not a luxury for safer times. It is part of the humanitarian response itself.