Children reclaim space, Ethiopia

Project name: Children reclaim space: Community playground for a changing society

Project location: Ethiopia

Project description:

Urbanisation is rapidly changing the face of Addis Ababa and has taken many of the public spaces kids had used for play; an increasing number of children now lives in condominium sites where green areas and safe space for play are very limited and children have no opportunities to make their needs heard. Families in these new sites come from different parts of the country and hence face challenges to integrate and form communities that offer mutual support and social cohesion, essential in a country with no functional social welfare system. Children and youth often spent their time luring around the compound, exposed to different protection risks.
With the grant from #youforG20, the ideas, which the children of the condominium site had put on paper during a first session, will be transformed into technical designs for the construction of play equipment/infrastructure and the layout of the play space. Youth residing in the condominium site will be directly engaged in that process, which will not only build their skills in space and technical design, but more importantly give them an opportunity to meaningfully engage for the community and contribute to maintaining a community-owned structure. Using recycled and locally available materials, community members will set up the play equipment with technical guidance and supervision through civil and mechanical engineers. International safety standards will be adhered to, and the playground will be accessible for children living with disabilities.

Goal and purpose of the project:

Playgrounds offer a number of benefits for children, as they learn to take responsibility for their own choices; playing allows children to develop a sense of well-being, develop their emotional responses and improve their inter-personal skills. Play involves exploration and creativity, language skills, and problem-solving skills – all these skills will be essential to succeed in a changing society. In addition, girls and boys as well as children with and without disabilities can play together in a safe and protected environment, and learn to respect each other. Girls will have the same opportunities to play, which will contribute to a more inclusive approach of gender perceptions.
The aim of this project is to engage a community of a selected condominium site in Addis Ababa to design, construct and sustain their own playground, serving both children and youth residing in the compound according to their respective needs. This is expected to not only contribute to the full development of the children and reduce the idleness of youth, but also strengthen the community cohesion having ownership over the project, and meaningfully engage the youth in design, construction and maintenance of the playground. A condominium site hosting 200 families has already been identified where both sufficient space as well as commitment from the community are existing, and the existing association has the capacity to sustain the project.

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team:

Our group comprises a civil engineer (Mezgebe), a mechanical engineer (Thomas) and a marketing manager (Engdawerk); we are all working on this project on a voluntary basis. Some of us are fathers and we used to play on the ground that is now the condominium site when we were kids. We draw our motivation for this project from the desire to improve the opportunities for children to play, engage with other children, and develop their full potential in a changing society with a fast-progressing urbanisation, the way we have been able to when we were children. In addition, we have seen a number of attempts in the city to set up playgrounds fail, mostly due a poor design and the lack of a strategy to sustain the investment. The submitted project aims to pilot a sustainable community-based approach through strong engagement and ownership of local communities in the entire lifespan of the playground. If successful, the approach will be replicated to other spots in the city.

Use of prize money:

The prize money will be used to prepare the site and plant trees providing the required shade; materials (recycling and natural materials) will be procured for building the play equipment designed by the community, following a sustainable and cost-efficient approach through using recycled and locally available materials where possible. Other amenities, such as benches for parents and dust bins, will be set up, and adequate surfacing materials for different sections of the playground will be procured. A smaller component will be used to train the community members, particularly youth, in maintaining and repairing the play equipment, which will not only reduce recurrent costs, but also significantly increase the life-span of the playground and ensure safety for the children.