Play 2 Protect is one of two Kenya-based programmes funded and supported by the Olympic Refuge Foundation using sport to help young people thrive. Located in the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, the programme harnesses the power of sport to prevent gender-based violence and improve the mental health and wellbeing of young refugees.
Kenya is the second largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, due to a large influx of refugees from the regions of the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa (UNHCR). Kenya hosts more than 500,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, with more than 200,000 located in the northern Kakuma and Kalobeyei region.
Those living in the camps and settlements are at increased risk of gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage as well as other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. They are also likely to experience tensions between their own communities and their hosts.
Run locally by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the programme is:
- Helping adolescent girls be seen as equals so they can participate more in sports activities, by engaging with host and refugee community leaders, as well as sport role models.
- Improving the use of sport facilities by adolescent girls, young women and boys, through establishing safe spaces, and training coaches on inclusion.
- Increasing awareness of gender-based violence by promoting prevention measures, training on the risk of gender-based violence in sport and engaging men and boys in encouraging participation of girls in sport activities.
- Providing psychosocial support and clinical services for gender-based violence survivors and those at risk by training frontline workers and young people.
- Ensuring young people learn life skills, such as leadership and teamwork, through sport by training coaches and young people as peer educators.
- Increasing access to life skills-related services, linking young people to health services, vocational training and sport entrepreneurship programmes.
This three-year programme is fully funded by the Olympic Refuge Foundation at a cost of $1.48 million. It will benefit up to 24,000 young people, as well as more than 1,100 sport officials, teachers, government officials and managers.