Children in rural communities in Adamawa and Ebonyi states will gain from a new programme by UNESCO to build their resilience over hardship through play.

A statement by UNESCO says the programme will help disadvantaged children to cope with adversity and become resilient.

The project, titled ‘Play and Resilience: China-Africa collaboration project for Building a Peaceful and Sustainable Future’, is funded by Victoria Charitable Foundation and the Chinese government.

UNESCO will implement the programme in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, National Commission for Colleges of Education and Universal Basic Education.

It will be working with states ministries of education, state universal basic education boards, colleges of education, rural communities, teachers/caregivers, parents and families to implement the project, which is expected to run from 2017 to 2019

UNESCO noted that the project would contribute to strengthening the delivery of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in Nigeria by targeting disadvantaged children in rural communities in Adamawa and Ebonyi states.

It explained that ECCE has the possibility to nurture caring, capable and responsible future citizens.

“In Nigeria as in the rest of the world, more children are faced with misfortunes inflicted by poverty, conflicts, displacements, loss of or separation from family members and friends, and deterioration of living conditions among others,” said the statement.

“Thus, the need to provide them with psychological and physical supports to let them cope with the situations by building resilience through play.  The support helps them to demonstrate personal strengths needed to cope with adversity and become resilient.”

According to UNESCO, the project will complement existing efforts by government and non-state actors to help select communities underserved with quality early childhood care and education services by building their human resource capacity and materials production.