We Love Reading Chosen as Winner of UNHCR “Protecting Urban Refugee Children” Challenge

April 12, 2018

We Love Reading Chosen as Winner of UNHCR “Protecting Urban Refugee Children” Challenge

We Love Reading has been chosen as one of the winners of the “Protecting Urban Refugee Children: An Innovation Challenge,” organized by the UNHCR Child Protection Unit and Innovation Team.

WLR will now have the opportunity to present our idea to UNHCR staff and partners and discuss how it might be implemented in different contexts.

                  The “Protecting Urban Refugee Children” Innovation Challenge was created by UNHCR to answer the question, “How might we better protect refugee children in cities?” WLR was one of 125 ideas submitted for the challenge. Submitted ideas received direct feedback from UNHCR staff and refugee youth, and winning ideas may be eligible for possible funding up to $50,000.

                  We Love Reading has previously partnered with UNHCR and Plan International to work with South Sudanese refugees in Kule Camp in Ethiopia, training over 40 reading ambassadors who have since read to over 3,000 refugee children. We have also been working with Syrian refugees in Jordan since 2014. WLR builds resilience for the children, who draw courage from the heroes they read about; and it establishes agency, purpose, and dignity for the women in the camp, allowing them to take some control over their lives in the camp. It also encourages parents to send their children, especially their daughters, to school. The children in these camps step in as champions for reading, which makes it easier for them to catch up later once formal education systems are re-established. You can learn more about our work with refugees here. Visit the Protecting Urban Refugee Children challenge’s website to learn more about the challenge, and to view the other challenge participants.