Ninety percent of brain development occurs before the age of five, making high-quality early experiences critical to building a strong foundation for the rest of a child’s life. Yet millions of children are still denied the opportunity to learn, play, and thrive during these formative years. In low-income countries, only one in five children has access to pre-primary education.
BRAC has championed Early Childhood Development for decades. Our flagship Play Lab initiative helps children learn and heal through play. BRAC’s Play Labs provides children aged 3-5 with high-quality play-based learning through a low-cost, culturally relevant, sustainable model in low-resource and humanitarian settings.
A two-year study of BRAC’s Play Lab initiative in Bangladesh has demonstrated measurable developmental improvements, including cognitive, language, motor, and socio-emotional skills.
Since 2015, over 500,000 children have been reached through the Play Lab model in Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Uganda in local communities, government schools. We have also adapted our Play Labs to respond to the realities of humanitarian crises, implementing Humanitarian Play Labs in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and Rhino Camp, Uganda.
Our holistic approach to early childhood development places a strong emphasis on mental health and wellbeing alongside learning outcomes. We also champion play-based learning at the global level, advocating for its integration into education systems.
OUR IMPACT
500,000
children and caregivers have been reached across Africa and Asia.
868
Play Labs are reaching 26,759children across Asia and Africa, over half of whom are girls.
104,014
children were reached through 304 centre based and 1,400 home-based humanitarian play labs in the Rohingya camps to date.
OUR WORK
Breakthroughs driving positive change
Our Stories
-
BRAC Humanitarian Play Lab: when playing becomes healing
Play is especially important for children in fragile settings, where they are exposed to violence and poverty. Play helps such children better manage possible trauma caused by their experiences. By adapting the model to the highly contextualised settings in the Rohingya community, BRAC seeks to provide healing through play for Rohingya children, in a way that improves on traditional approaches to early childhood development, child protection and psychosocial well-being in humanitarian settings.
-
Path to equity in early childhood development
Play is one of the most important ways in which young children gain skills and knowledge.
-
Early childhood development should be a global priority
The first five years of a child’s life are among the most important developmentally. Children living in the most marginalised conditions are thus being left behind.