Call to Action

Your expertise and resources can make a tangible difference in overcoming the educational and mental health crisis exacerbated by this conflict and war. Join us in this critical mission to rekindle hope and learning for the children of Gaza.

The Need to Act Now

Since October 2023, the war has devastated an already fragile education system in Gaza, leaving over 625,000 children without access to schooling and adversely affecting their mental health. The situation has rendered 22,564 teachers jobless and has resulted in death and injuries to thousands. Infrastructure, including most schools/universities and internet services, have been destroyed. 

Children are experiencing severe signs and symptoms of trauma including anxiety, fear and worry about their safety and that of their families. Caregivers are themselves stressed and struggling to help children cope.

Creativity Lab, in partnership with Yes Theater for Communication among Youth, currently operates with over 150 teachers and psychologists across Gaza in 60 shelter centers reaching thousands of children. Since 2016, they have engaged 350+ educators across Gaza to offer children an informal, engaging way to play through theater to begin to address their Mental Health and Psychosocial (MHPSS) challenges, reaching over 20,000 children to date. Through their lens and ongoing operations on the ground in Gaza, they see that much can be done in Gaza today. Creativity Lab and Yes Theatre have no political or religious affiliations.

Can you help Creativity Lab innovate their activities based on expertise from other warzones and similar situations?

How this Catalyst Co-Lab will work

This Catalyst Co-Lab will help Yes Theater and Creativity Lab adapt and expand their work to address the increasingly challenging situation for the children they reach in Gaza regarding mental health and education. It will do so by:

1. Learning about effective methods from around the world;  

2. Co-creating new approaches to childhood trauma support and informal and accelerated learning that can be used and disseminated in Gaza; 

3. Building new relationships for continuing this important work in the near and long term. 

The Catalyst team will work with Creativity Lab to frame the challenge, and recruit/curate experts, practitioners, and potential partners from across the world through our networks including Catalyst 2030, WEF, Skoll, Ashoka and more.

Through Catalyst Co-Labs’ proven co-creation process, including a series of two online, facilitated co-labs, these experts will lend their experience and knowledge to ideate and identify education and MHPSS intervention solutions to be used NOW. 

Expected Outcomes

From these Co-Labs, Creativity Lab aims to develop partnerships and a suite of interventions that can be rapidly deployed to mitigate the educational disruption faced by the children of Gaza. The ultimate goal is to restore and enhance their learning opportunities and psychological well-being as much as possible. These interventions will be developed and shared with interested stakeholders for joint funding purposes. 

The Co-Lab Process

Catalyst Co-Labs will facilitate a co-design process, bringing together 30 invited experts, practitioners, and stakeholders who are committed to achieving this goal.

Two live 90-minute online Co-Lab sessions will take place on 26 and 27 June 2024, from 15:00 - 16:30 CET on both days.

Who are we looking for? 

We are looking for passionate individuals, including global leaders, experts and directly affected community member with expertise in: 

• Trauma therapy for children of all ages

• Informal and accelerated education for humanitarian settings

• Experts in Art Therapy including Theater, Drama, Play

• Teacher training during extreme circumstances

• Off-line training materials

• MENA expertise in any of the above (desirable, not required)

Motivation for Joining

We ask all Co-Lab participants to bring a collaborative mindset to share openly and forge new partnerships aligned around a shared challenge. We also ask all participants to focus on actionable, practical solutions related to the challenge; this Co-Lab is not a forum for geo-political discussion or activism.