Our Stories
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Building Ownership, Improving Outcomes: How Communities Improved Enrolment, Engagement in Afar, Ethiopia
In the pastoralist community of Chifra, sending children to school has never been easy. Low student enrollment, high absenteeism, and limited community participation have historically hindered the performance of The Parent-Teacher-Student…
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Preparing for Scale: Inside the PlayMatters 3.0 Inception Workshop
From March 3–5, 2026, PlayMatters teams from Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Sudan gathered in Entebbe, Uganda for the PlayMatters 3.0 Inception Workshop, a critical milestone in preparing for the next phase of Learning through…
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Yumbe District Lighting the Path to System-Wide Adoption of Learning through Play
Yumbe District, one of Uganda’s largest refugee-hosting districts, has long faced complex education challenges, including overcrowded classrooms, limited teaching and learning resources, and the difficulty of delivering quality education in both…
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Sustaining learning through play in Northern Ethiopia: Reflections from Sheraro and Dedebit
In Sheraro and Dedebit towns of northern Ethiopia, schools are steadily rebuilding, not only their classrooms, but their culture of teaching and learning. Following several years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict…
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Strengthening Learning through Play in Ethiopia’s Education System: Insights from a New Policy Brief
In June 2025, stakeholders in Ethiopia’s education sector gathered to explore the growing role of play in early childhood learning. The National Conference on Play-based Learning, held alongside the International Day of Play, brought together…
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Low-cost tools, high impact: Sustaining learning through play through co-creation and improvisation of teaching and learning materials
Everyday materials as teaching and learning tools Meaningful learning does not always require expensive resources. Across schools supported by the PlayMatters project in in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, teachers are demonstrating that creativity…
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How parents and leaders helped sustain learning in Yumbe and Adjumani districts
In Adjumani and Yumbe districts, teachers and communities continue to show resilience and commitment to learning amid everyday challenges. Even with large class sizes and limited resources, schools are finding practical, locally driven ways to keep…
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From Play to Progress: Tanzania Celebrates a Milestone in Education
The official close of the PlayMatters Project in Tanzania wasn't an ending, but a celebration of a legacy taking root. On September 24, 2025, the air at Dar es Salaam's Sea Shells Hotel was electric with student performances and a shared commitment…
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From Harry to Mama Viazi to DAERO: Scaling playful edutainment learning across contexts and platforms
Dunga episode 1_Active Listening.mp3 Dunga is an edutainment show on socio-emotional learning In a small animal…
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First PlayMatters Learning through Play e-course goes live in Tanzania
The PlayMatters Learning through Play (LtP) e-course was recently developed and rolled out in Tanzania in January 2026, through a strong collaboration between PlayMatters, the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), and the Agency…