“Domus ludens-A House that plays". Effective promotion of the right to play of youngsters in residential care

Background Play is an unquestionable right for children and young people (Article 31 CRC). Play, in its essence, is an end in itself, not a means to an end. On a second level, play is a tool for working on transversal skills and has a determining role in the integral development of children and young people from a perspective of emotional, physical, intellectual and social well-being. Despite all these considerations, play and its variants are often considered a non-essential element. The project hypothesises that a structured and sustained implementation of play (with a specific focus on board games) can have a positive impact on the improvement of skills (planning, organising, goal setting, decision making, collaboration, action skills) and well-being of young people with a specific profile, who are in residential care. Protective services tend to prioritise actions focused on the promotion of education, employability and autonomy, and relationship with the family of origin and may relegate the benefits of play as a tool for comprehensive development to a secondary level, either due to lack of training, space or resources. Objectives General goal: To improve the subjective well-being and the acquisition of personal competencies of young people in residential care through play. Specific Objective 1: To qualify and train educators of residential care services as play agents: a figure able to analyse the specific context of young people in residential care and based on an assessment to structure play spaces in a programmed and sustained way. Specific goal 2: To implement the right to play in residential care services through a specific play programme based on board games and the play agent in the framework of 8-month pilot experiences. Specific goal 3: To evaluate the impact of the play agent and the play programme on the subjective well-being and the acquisition of competencies of young people in residential care. Implementation 1. Management and coordination: general coordination, monitoring and communication tasks. Monthly virtual follow-up meetings, translation of intellectual products, dissemination activities, evaluation activities, project logo and website, 4 dissemination newsletters, local training in 3 countries (during October 2021), and implementation of pilots in 3 countries (between November 2021-June 2022). 2. Elaboration of three intellectual products: - IO1. Board games guide - IO2. Play Agent Manual - IO3. Evaluation of the impact of regular and systematic participation in play spaces on the acquisition of skills and well-being of young people in residential care. 3. Short training event for staff (20-24 September 2021). 4. National Conferences in 3 countries (Germany, Poland, Spain). 5. face-to-face TRANSNATIONAL MEETINGS and one TRANSNATIONAL MEETING online. 6. Celebration of the International Day of Play (28th May 2022) with activities at the service provider partners' sites. 7. One International Meeting of International Ludic Agents 8. Construction and development of the project website. 9. Creation of 4 newsletters and activities. Achievements The project has produced 3 major outputs: 1) IO1. Board Games guide. 2) IO2. Ludic Agent Manual 3) IO3. Pilot Impact evaluation study Other results have been: 4) International training: to train trainers of ludic agents. 8 people trained. 5) National training of ludic agents in the 3 countries. 71 people trained. 6) Pilot experience: implementation in the 3 countries of pilot tests during 8 months; the participation of a total of 79 play agents involved in play sessions (71 trained in the local training plus some trainers of the international training and some not formally trained) and 138 children at the beginning of the test and 112 children at the end. 7) National Conferences held in Spain, Germany and Poland. 8) 4 transnational meetings ( 3 face to face and 1 online) 9) website. 10) 4 newsletters. 11) dissemination of all products at regional, national and European levels through the network of contacts of the partner organisations. 12) specific dissemination and commemoration activities on the occasion of the Game Day (28th May). 13) Intellectual product 3 has also produced a series of results that can be consulted on the project web.