OUR PROGRAMS

 

 

Element of Play® Program and Professional Development Training

Element of Play® is WWO’s trademarked program developed to support early childhood development, bring about psychosocial change and rehabilitate communities in areas of extreme poverty and disaster. Adverse childhood experiences cause trauma in children which often causes them to miss critical developmental milestones and creates lasting negative consequences in their lives. These developmental delays produce a cumulative effect on their communities.

What differentiates Element of Play® is our theory of change. True change happens when a community works together to care for one another. The key to this program’s success comes from our foundational premise – children thrive when the adults around them engage in the play, too.  Element of Play® brings trauma-informed, play-based programs to young children and our Element of Play® Professional Development Training brings the mastery of this methodology to the professionals who work with children in the community. By building the capacity of these professionals, a mutually beneficial relationship between children and adults is facilitated, positively impacting their health and well-being and bettering the community as a whole.

WWO’s Element of Play® program goals include:

  • A strengthened relationship between adults and children

  • Improved developmental outcomes for children

  • Improved psychosocial wellbeing for both children and adults

 
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Skills Development Program

Adverse childhood experiences cause trauma in children. These negative experiences interrupt a child’s ability to develop positive relationships. This trauma causes them to miss critical developmental milestones and creates lasting negative consequences. Youth and adults who have experienced significant childhood trauma are more likely to drop out of school, leaving them unable to achieve their full productive potential.

Low skills perpetuate poverty and inequality and the cycle continues. According to the World Bank, one third of the working age population in low- and middle-income countries lack the basic skills required to get quality jobs. 

WWO works within this reality, ensuring that youth, adults and professionals have opportunity to identify gaps and strengthen their intra- and interpersonal capabilities. Our Skills Development program encourages re-enrollment in school, reducing unemployment, raising incomes, and improving standards of living.

WWO’s Skills Development program goals include:

  • Improved socio-emotional skills, including positive youth development and healthy peer relationships

  • Increased job skills

  • Increased number of youth and adults re-enrolling in school or becoming gainfully employed

 
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Camps for Children Living with Serious Illness

In partnership with SeriousFun Children’s Network,* we provide camp experiences for children living with serious illness in Ethiopia, Haiti, and Vietnam.

Children living with illnesses face difficult emotional and social challenges, including higher rates of anxiety and depression. They must learn life skills to help manage their illness, stay as healthy as possible, and cope with future obstacles that may arise. 

We provide opportunity for children to access residential camp (4-5 days away from home), day camp and family weekend activities that provide deep and meaningful impact, increased knowledge, and create strong and lasting bonds with peers who face similar struggles. 

An outcomes evaluation, in partnership with San Diego State University, exploring the impact of camp programming in Ethiopia and Vietnam found that campers build stronger peer and family relationships, take their medication correctly and consistently (improved adherence), and show an increase in positive health and hygiene behaviors.

WWO’s Camps for Children Living with Serious Illness program goals include:

  • Improved adherence to medication: leads to a higher quality of life and normalizes the regimen that children must follow by embracing compliance as a part of their daily lives

  • Improved peer and family relationships: building positive youth development skills and increasing the number of friends who are identified as safe and understanding.

  • Improved emotional health and wellbeing: tackling together the tough issues children face, including stigma, depression, sexual and reproductive health, and false information about their illness. This leads to an increase in resiliency, greater self-esteem, and an overall improved sense of wellbeing.

*SeriousFun Children’s Network’s mission is to create opportunities for children and their families to reach beyond serious illness and discover joy, confidence and a new world of possibilities, always free of charge. Today, there are 30 camps and programs serving the needs of children and families around the world.

 
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