Reclaim Childhood sports NGO finalist in UNHCR award

AMMAN — Reclaim Childhood, a non-profit sports programme for refugee and local girls in Jordan, has been selected as one of the regional finalists in this year’s edition of the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award, which celebrates the best initiatives to support refugees, internally displaced and stateless people every year since 1954. 

The programme was recognised in a ceremony held on Sunday by the Swiss and Norwegian embassies in Jordan, where UNHCR Representative in Jordan Stefano Severe congratulated Reclaim Childhood for “their inspiring work on empowering women and girls through sports in Jordan”. 

The initiative was chosen for its service and dedication to refugees in Jordan as well as its efforts to empower refugee women and girls across the Kingdom, according to a UNHCR statement.  

Each year, the initiative benefits some 500 vulnerable Jordanian and refugee girls from Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, providing them with after-school and summer camp courses on a range of sports and activities including basketball, football and Zumba dance classes.

Waed, a Sudanese refugee girl who arrived in Jordan five years ago, said the programme has made her “unrecognisable” from the girl she once was. “I feel like I’m a coach and a leader for my team, and I feel a lot of excitement,” Waed told the UNHCR while sprinting around a basketball court flinging passes, expressing that “this excitement is what wakes me up in the morning — to come and play and release my energy through basketball”.

 “We see a tangible difference from how the girls start versus how they end,” Reclaim Childhood’s programme director, Jessie Wyatt, said, explaining that  “by the end, they view themselves as leaders, willing to speak in front of groups, willing to take charge, willing to present their own opinions”.

“We are trying to bring girls from all nationalities together to play and realise that, even if they look different or have a different accent, they all have one thing in common: they love to play sports,” Wyatt continued. 

In addition to running leadership programmes for refugee girls, the initiative also draws on the communities it serves for its coaching staff, selecting refugee women to run the courses offered to the girls. 

Amman head coach, Reem Neyaz, a Syrian refugee who came to Jordan in 2013 and had never worked outside before, said the experience has changed her personality and her outlook. “As a refugee, this has taught me to be self-confident and strong — because I know that when I return to Syria, I will have to start over,” she expressed, stressing, “I belong with these girls — we have had the same tragedy, and together we’re moving on step by step."

Commenting on the coaches’ work, Wyatt said: “As well as running the day-to-day sports activities, the coaches also encourage girls from their local communities to participate and provide a link between parents and the scheme.”

“Parents actually have a genuine relationship with the coaches,” the programme’s director pointed out, explaining that “coaches will make home visits and get to know the families, not only so that the girls can come to the programme, but so that we can help the girls in their outside lives by a process of referrals [to other organisations]”.