Playrise modular playgrounds bring play as a right to refugee children

Key facts

• Playrise is a UK charity founded by Alexander and Ariana Mouyiaris Meininger with Hikaru Nissanke.
• 48 million children are displaced worldwide due to conflict and war (UNICEF).
• 52% of all displaced people are children (UNHCR).
• Aysaita refugee camp in Ethiopia has zero playgrounds for over 10,000 children.
• The modular play structure is designed by OMMX, co-directed by Hikaru Nissanke.
• The system is made of timber beams, planks, and plates with metal connectors.
• Attachments like nets, ropes, monkey bars, or basketball hoops can be added or removed.
• The kit can be reconfigured into playgrounds, theatres, tunnels, or safe spaces.
• CatalyticAction, co-founded by Joana Dabaj and Ricardo Conti, advises the team.
• CatalyticAction completed the Ibtasem playground in Lebanon in 2015 with Syrian refugee children.
• Playrise cites Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Field visits were made to Aysaita camp, a Palestinian community in Cairo, and a Sudanese refugee settlement in Egypt.
• Workshops involved children directly in identifying play configurations.
• The project frames play structures as infrastructure, not furniture.