Nearly 60,000 people applied for asylum in the Netherland in 2015, confronting the governmental structures and services with great administrative, logistical and service provision challenges. Refugee children’s psychosocial needs and wellbeing are often overlooked, and post-migration support is of pivotal importance. An easy accessible movement–based psychosocial intervention, called TeamUp, was developed for children aged 6–17 living in refugee reception centres. A mixed-method process evaluation was conducted of (1) implementation process, (2) implementation quality, and (3) perceptions on implementation and outcomes. The intervention was positively perceived by all stakeholders and was found to have a positive impact on children’s psychosocial learning and wellbeing.

2021-03-19

• Education
• Mental health and psychosocial support

Children new to The Netherlands perform markedly better at school if their social-emotional well-being is given priority, a new evaluation report has found. The report, a collaboration between War Child, Save the Children and UNICEF Netherlands, looks at how TeamUp activities improve children’s well-being. The organisations consider it important that more attention is paid to socio-emotional learning within newcomer education.

2020-10-26

• Mental health and psychosocial support

TeamUp, a play and movement-based intervention by War Child, Save the Children and UNICEF Netherlands, has been shortlisted for the 2023 Laureus Sport for Good Award. The prestigious award celebrates social initiatives which have made a significant contribution to transforming the lives of children and youth through sport.

2023-02-20

• Mental health and psychosocial support

Who would’ve thought that War Child would share the stage with all-time sporting greats like Lionel Messi and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce? Yet, as we pick up the prestigious Laureus Sport for Good Award, it will be all eyes on TeamUp - our flagship psychosocial support intervention for children affected by conflict…

2023-05-07

• Education
• Mental health and psychosocial support

Since the war began in Ukraine in 2022, millions of children's lives have been upended. In response, War Child has partnered with the All-Ukrainian Foundation for Children's Rights and Montessori UA, supported by UN OCHA's Humanitarian Fund.

2025-02-11

Today, Monday 24 February 2025, marks three years since Russia’s deadly war in Ukraine began. To this day, the violence continues, with three million children still requiring urgent humanitarian aid.

2025-02-24

After almost 15 years in Burundi, War Child is embracing change: reducing its physical presence in Burundi and supporting locally-led programming through technical collaboration.

2025-04-15

Two years after the devastating earthquakes on 6 February 2023, War Child and partners have supported over 125,000 people in northwest Syria.

2025-04-07

• Child protection
• Mental health and psychosocial support

Each year on 20 June, the world recognises World Refugee Day. This annual event serves as a powerful reminder of the millions of lives uprooted by violence, families forced to flee with nothing, and children robbed of safety and certainty. It’s also a moment to honour their strength, resilience, and their right to seek protection.

2025-06-16

• Mental health and psychosocial support

Across the globe, millions of children are growing up in the midst of conflict. War and displacement leave lasting scars—especially on young minds. Yet mental health and psychosocial support for children in crisis settings remains severely underfunded and overlooked.

2025-06-27

• Mental health and psychosocial support

Since 2017, War Child has been implementing the TeamUp methodology to help children in Uganda—the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa—to cope with stress, heal from trauma, grow, and reconnect with their childhood.

2025-07-11

• Mental health and psychosocial support

War Child is taking major steps forward with how it scales effective support for children in conflict thanks to a new iniaitiave supported by the LEGO Foundation and implemented in collaboration with Save the Children Nederland.

2025-09-15

• Mental health and psychosocial support

The mental health needs of children are deeply complex and multi-layered—especially in contexts like Sri Lanka, where many, particularly adolescent girls, live with the silent burden of emotional and psychological trauma. Countless children face abuse, neglect, loss, and isolation. Stigma, systemic failures, and a scarcity of accessible services leave emotional wounds unaddressed.

2025-10-30

• Mental health and psychosocial support

Cyclone Ditwah has caused the worst flooding and landslides Sri Lanka has seen in decades, destroying over 86,000 homes and taking more than 630 lives. Nearly 70,000 people, many of them children, are living in temporary shelters, including schools converted into emergency accommodation.

2025-12-12

• Mental health and psychosocial support

Every child has the right to safety, education and psychosocial support. Especially in times of war. War Child supports children affected by armed conflict to cope with its impact, with one clear goal: to take the war out of a child. So, there is once again space to laugh, play and catch their breath. To make this impact truly visible, War Child is working with Pipple on a smart, data-driven solution: the Attendance App.

2026-02-05

• Mental health and psychosocial support

In the Masisi Territory located in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, children and caregivers traumatised by violence and displacement are learning to breathe again thanks to mental health and psychosocial support methodologies TeamUp and Bethere, supported by the Dutch Relief Alliance.

2026-03-18

• Mental health and psychosocial support

In contexts of war, access to education is often one of the first things children lose, and one of the most vital to restore. Beyond learning, education provides children with stability, routine, and a pathway to recovery. In Gaza, children and their families are being supported not only to return to learning, but to rebuild a sense of safety, confidence, and hope. This is the purpose of War Child's project Reconnecting to Education implemented by a local partner in Gaza, with support from READ Foundation.

2026-05-11

• Mental health and psychosocial support

This International Day of Play, we speak with Yara Sleiman, Research Coordinator at War Child, about the transformative role of play in children’s mental health, behaviour, and development, and how evidence-based research is reshaping the way we understand its importance.

2026-06-11

On 15 April deadly violence once again engulfed Sudan with at least 7,500 people killed and more than 5 million displaced at the time of writing. We sat down with Toendepi Kamusewu, our Project Development Manager in South Sudan to talk about War Child’s response to the crisis as well as the broader challenges facing aid organisations.

2023-09-25

• Mental health and psychosocial support

Children living with the brutal effects of armed conflict are forced to manage difficult emotions - such as feelings of fear, distress and uncertainty. Many are refugees living far from home in unstable situations. Some psychological support is available - yet research suggests that simple play-based activities could play a vital role in boosting these children’s wellbeing. We look at the evidence…

2024-03-14

Those with power have allowed the war on Gaza to endure for 12 months too long, says the War Child Alliance – the specialist charity for children affected by conflict.

2024-10-08

• Mental health and psychosocial support

For children caught in the horrors of war, healing is not just about physical wounds—it’s about finding a way back to hope.

2025-03-11

• Mental health and psychosocial support

In Syria, a country ravaged by war and shaken by earthquakes, a group of 11 children at a school for the blind gathered weekly for moments of movement, reflection, expression, and connection using the TeamUp methodology.

2025-07-01

In a country ravaged by war and shaken by earthquakes, the “Building a Brighter Future” initiative, funded by the European Union Humanitarian Aid, in partnership with Takaful Al Sham (TAS), has provided thousands of displaced children and their families in Northwest Syria with vital education, child protection and psychosocial support service.

2025-07-08

• Mental health and psychosocial support

In a room filled with laughter, music, and movement, fourteen passionate professionals from War Child offices in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, and Yemen – along with colleagues from the local organisations Lavender Gate and Just.Childhood in Lebanon – came together earlier this year in Amman. They gathered for a week not just to be trained, but to be transformed.

2025-10-29

• Mental health and psychosocial support

When Nahed Sahmoud steps into a room full of children, the atmosphere shifts. Laughter fills the air, small feet move to the rhythm of games, and for a brief moment, the world feels lighter. “Implementing TeamUp is an amazing experience,” she says. “When you see the kids smile, just having a short time to escape all the harsh reality they’re living in, it’s very rewarding.”

2025-11-06