The Playground Movement is a project which allows children to exercise their right to play. 400 trained and organized volunteers will build playgrounds for 20 public pre-schools in Panama, impacting 600 children by providing them a space to play and exercise freely.
There are 1,200 informal public pre-schools in Panama; they are called "informal" because they are located outside a formal public school, and they are managed by volunteer teachers. They are named CEFACEI, but are also known as the "forgotten sector", they have poor infrastructure and the teachers receive little support with materials and training. This represents a population of 40,000 children which are forgotten in their most critical stage in life, early childhood development.
The Playground Movement is a component of a larger project called Born Learning. Born Learning is in execution and has developed manuals and trained all 1,200 teachers on math, reading-writing and graphic-plastic skills. In addition it is working on bettering infrastructure and providing school materials. On the other hand, the playground movement will dignify the pre-schools by providing a safe and beautiful playground were children can play and exercise freely.
The playground movement will have a two-fold impact: first it will allow pre-school children to exercise their Right as Stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, the right to free play and exercise; in addition to dignify the public pre-schools by building a safe and beautiful outdoor space for their children. Secondly, it will foment a national volunteer movement, mobilizing people to see the public pre-schools, and building awareness on the importance of children's rights.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
