A respite for children at crisis shelters
Who: Save the Children
What: Safety, coping, and self-confidence through play and leisure time with volunteers.
Where: Norway
When: 2024-2027
About the project
Each year, 1,500 children stay at Norwegian crisis centers. The children who come here have stories and experiences that can be traumatizing.
Play is important for processing these experiences and provides a safe space. Save the Children's volunteers therefore offer regular activities at various crisis centers to contribute to a safe and active everyday life. The activities range from visiting places in the local area, physical activities where children can test their limits and experience a sense of accomplishment, to calmer activities inside. Our volunteers also facilitate activities that cost a bit more and that some do not have the opportunity to pursue on their own. This can include anything from a trip to the cinema or bowling, to excursions during holidays. The children say that activities help them focus on something else: “It was a space to breath, a positive atmosphere for us even after we got home”.
Concrete objectives:
13 groups of volunteers will carry out regular activities with approximately 500 children and their parents annually at 11 crisis centers.
Further develop existing groups with a focus on maintaining the quality of services, providing good follow-up for volunteers, including participation and safe activities.
Utilize knowledge from the report to develop our volunteer work, with particular attention to further developing the services for children in the process of re-establishing themselves after staying at a crisis center.
Conduct training and professional development for volunteers locally and nationally (both digitally and in person), focusing on motivation, increased knowledge, and relevant tools.
Integrate knowledge and experiences from working with children into Save the Children's political advocacy efforts.
Facilitate meaningful participation for children and young people, ensuring they feel and experience that they have resources that are valuable to the group and the activity, and that what they contribute is significant and meaningful.
About the organisation
Save the Children is a voluntary, member-driven rights organization that is religiously and politically independent. Save the Children Norway works to ensure the fulfillment of children’s rights in Norway, especially for children who are particularly vulnerable to rights violations, such as children with disabilities, children seeking asylum, children exposed to violence and abuse, and children growing up in families with persistent low income.
Based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Save the Children carries out activities to contribute to a better and more active everyday life for children. Drawing on the experiences from our activities, Save the Children also works to change structural frameworks through knowledge development and political advocacy.
