Integration of
Ukrainian Refugee Children
Through Sport

Each year on 20th June, the world celebrates World Refugee Day, reflecting on the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day 2024 is focused on solidarity with refugees: for a world where refugees are welcome. Solidarity means ensuring they feel safe in their new communities, that they have opportunities to thrive and to settle and ultimately, to ensure they feel that they belong.

According to the UNHRC, in June 2024 there are more than 115 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. Out of them, more than 37 million are refugees. 

When someone becomes a refugee there is no way to know when, or if ever, they will be able to return home. It could be for a short time but more often it takes years, even generations. An average of 339,000 children are born as refugees per year. Many will be refugees for the rest of their lives, living in a legal and economic limbo. 

It is crucial that initiatives to support refugees focus not only on the immediate emergency needs when a crises arises but also have the long term view to ensure refugees will be able to rebuild their lives, access education and work. 

More than two years since the start of the war in Ukraine, there are an estimated six million Ukrainian refugees across Europe.

During the last 18 months, Laureus Sport for Good and its partners in the IURTS programme have worked to ensure that children refugees from Ukraine could feel safe and welcome in their host communities and schools in Poland and Romania.

V4Sport, Suceava Sport for all and Terres des Hommes Romania have created materials and provided training to 150 teachers to use sport, play and physical activity as a tool to bring children together in the classroom, facilitate learning and contribute to overcome the trauma of war.  

The materials have a key focus on interaction, helping children from Ukraine, Poland and Romania to learn more about each other. 

Reflecting on the success of the programme, a school teacher from Poland, said: “What pleases me the most is that Polish children could learn something interesting about Ukraine. So far, they only associated Ukraine with war. They were unaware of Ukraine's cultural heritage. The Ukrainian children were very happy that we were learning about their country during the lessons”.

In Bucharest, ‘Terres Des Hommes Romania’ have been supporting children through football. "The children who come to training are from different regions of Ukraine and the fact that they come together in teams (with children from Romania), that they do activities together, makes the integration process easier," says Artem Sergeevich, coach of the IFA Freedom team. "Terre des hommes activities are very much appreciated, the children have the opportunity to understand what children's rights mean and to share with each other what they have learned.”

Alexandra Jijie is one of 14 physical education and sport teachers who have been trained through the Integration of Ukrainian Refugees through Sport (IURTS) project. Working in Suceava, near Romania’s border with Ukraine, Alexandra uses the methodology of sport, games and creativity as a psychosocial tool to develop the personal and social skills of children who are at some point in their lives in a vulnerable situation.

"What we, physical education and sport teachers, have learned can be applied to other children with special educational needs, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, are victims of bullying, have suffered a trauma, or who simply cannot relate properly with their peers," says Alexandra.