East African Playgrounds

East African Playgrounds is a UK registered charity and international NGO, focused on East Africa, primarily Uganda.

We believe that all children deserve to have a safe, fun and exciting place to play, so they can access all the benefits that play has to offer for their learning, development and wellbeing.

Our mission is to:

Give children their childhoods through play, by providing play facilities and play training for communities.  

By implementing our play programmes in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, primary schools, hospitals and refugee settlements across Uganda, we work towards our vision.

Our vision is:

Across East Africa, the importance of play is recognised and acted upon, and children can access their childhoods through play.

What we do

East African Playgrounds provides play programmes in disadvantaged communities across Uganda. In each community, we use our repeatable model which includes:

Playgrounds

• the installation of a high quality, safe and exciting playground, based on community consultation and following the latest international safety standards, built using locally sourced and recycled materials

Vocational training

• in-depth theoretical and practical training for teachers in the importance of play-based and child-centred teaching for children‚Äö√Ñ√¥s learning, and its use in the classroom

Community engagement

• training for communities and parents in the importance of play for children‚Äö√Ñ√¥s healthy development, and practical ways to encourage children to play.

We have developed our play programmes to create quality training opportunities and employment for young adults in our playground building workshops. By constructing our playgrounds using local materials and using our teams of locally trained playground builders we ensure even greater positive impact in Uganda.

In response to the eruption of violence in neighbouring South Sudan and the resulting influx of refugees to Uganda, we have recently expanded the work we do to Uganda's many refugee settlements. We work with organisations including UNICEF and Plan International, using the power of play to help vulnerable refugee children deal with the trauma they‚Äö√Ñ√¥ve experienced.

Our Values

We believe in honest development

Quality over quantity: We strive for the highest quality in every aspect of what we do. From our playgrounds to our training, from our volunteering projects to the jobs we create, quality is paramount.

Grassroots development: We believe that giving people the opportunity to develop themselves, their families and their communities is the best way for a country to develop. Providing training and quality employment opportunities helps enable this.

Local investment and involvement: Every region has the materials, the people and the children to build a playground. We believe in using local materials, local people and local communities to build and help design all our playgrounds. Community involvement is vital in the success of any project.

Our focus is on improving childhood

Children all around the world have a right to play and to enjoy their childhoods. We believe in the power play has to impact a child‚Äö√Ñ√¥s development, their schools, their teachers and the world around them. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and stifles his development.

We unlock potential

We are a charity founded by young people with the drive to give others the opportunity to make a positive change to others in East Africa. The drive, passion and hard work of our volunteer teams, our fundraising teams and our Ugandan building team has shown what an impact young people can have. Everyone has the ability to develop themselves, their families and their country and should be given the chance to succeed. Training and employment are the best tools to fight poverty and enable development in Uganda. We provide a dynamic, rewarding and safe working environment for our staff, and offer ongoing support, training and development.

We portray a positive image of East Africa

Africa is an amazing continent that should be celebrated around the world, not pitied. Promoting the wonders and fantastic things that are happening across Africa will help its development far more than the negative portrayal we are used to seeing in the media.

We are efficient and transparent in our work

We operate to clear standards, to ensure that our work is based on best practice and proven solutions. We work hard to ensure that our overheads are minimal to make sure every cost is clear and transparent for all our stakeholders.