A donation of 100 million dollars to give children in Ethiopia and Uganda the opportunity to learn through play.

the Lego Foundation donates 100 million dollars - or nearly 700 million - to a project to provide troubled children the opportunity to learn through play.

Concrete donated the money to a consortium under the leadership of the organization the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which will support solutions that put the focus on learning through play for children affected by the crises in Ethiopia and Uganda.

this was stated by The Lego Foundation in a press release.

- Play provides the comfort. It helps children to process traumatic experiences and return to their routines and a more normal experience of being a child, says Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, chairman of the Lego Foundation.

- With the new donation enables the Lego Foundation once again focus on how important it is to contribute with solutions to one of our time's biggest challenges and to change the way the world perceives learning through play and its importance for children in trouble spots, he continues.

the Consortium under the leadership of the IRC will work in Ethiopia and Uganda with the opportunity to expand to a third country, in the long term.

According to the Lego Foundation, the initiative will improve the atmosphere for around 800,000 children. It hangs together with the fact that approximately 10,000 preschool - and school teachers as well as educators and 170 000 carers will receive training in learning through play with children who have experienced adversity and crisis.

PlanBørnefonden is a part of the consortium of organisations which will benefit from the money.

- The children have fled, and many of them are orphans. They have nothing and have fled from terrible conditions. They are traumatized. Now living in a refugee camp, where the situation is also not good. They live there for many years, says director of PlanBørnefonden Gwen Wisti and adds:

- You give the traumatized children an opportunity for both to get away from their tough daily lives and at the same time get a knowledge, which gives them the opportunity to get a decent life when they leave the camp.

the Lego Foundation is one of the largest uddelende funds in Denmark.

the Fund, which owns a quarter of the Lego group, has previously donated 100 million dollars to help children in refugee camps in Bangladesh, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

/ritzau/