The first week of April, ICDI’s Giulia Cortellesi and Asia Koerten spent 3 days in Warsaw, Poland, where they presented the TOY for Inclusion approach to new potential partners. The TOY for Inclusion approach is gaining recognition as an effective way to support the integration and inclusion of Ukrainian children and families fleeing from the war, as well as a powerful non formal education model for vulnerable children in general. In the course of 2022, Play Hubs in Slovakia and Hungary have opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees and based on their positive impact, embraced by organisations such as UNICEF, new Play Hubs are being opened in both countries as well as in Ukraine. Moreover, the first steps are being made towards expanding the TOY for Inclusion approach to new countries as Czech Republic and Poland.
During the 3 days in Warsaw, Fundancja Rozwoju Dzieci; Fundacja Pro-Fil; Centrum Wspierania Rodzin “RODZINNA WARSZAWA”; and Towarzystwo Ochrony Praw i Godności Dziecka ‘Wyspa’ participated in the workshop organised by ICDI and shared their best practices on inclusive ECEC, psychosocial support and integration of (refugee) young children. We were humbled by the stories demonstrating the efforts and creativity of those organisations, and in fact, the entire Polish civil society, to support Ukrainian neighbours in these times of war.
During the last day we had the opportunity to visit the impressive non formal education spaces of Rodzinna Warszawa, where vulnerable children and teenagers are engaged every day in indoors and outdoors activities and offered educational and psychosocial support.
We returned home feeling inspired and hopeful of a cross-pollination of different forms of cooperation between all organistions present.
The workshop is Warsaw was funded by the Visegrad Fund.
