In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than one in five children aged 6 to 11 does not attend school, and among children aged 15 to 17 this rises to nearly 60% (World Bank, 2023). For girls and children with disabilities, the barriers are even higher. Fewer than 10% of children with disabilities attend mainstream education (World Bank, 2018), and only two-thirds of girls who enroll complete primary school (UNESCO, 2024). When children do go to school, learning is often very static and hierarchical, which limits engagement. Corporal punishment is still widely used, and positive relationships between teachers and pupils are often missing. Schools also tend to have limited interaction with the wider community, so parents are less involved in their children’s education. Children with disabilities often face additional stigma and are frequently left on the sidelines, both in the classroom and on the sports field. This leads to a large number of dropouts and too many children who do not get the education they deserve.
Join for Joy’s innovation lies in how teachers are trained to use play as a structured teaching method. During the training, teachers learn to work with the Join for Joy Game Manual. The games are organised around different themes: academic subjects such as maths or geography, health topics like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and puberty, and social themes such as gender equality, inclusion, and challenging stereotypes.Teachers learn not only how to facilitate the games, but also how to connect them to life skills and social-emotional learning. While children play, teachers guide reflection and discussion so that activities strengthen skills such as collaboration, communication, empathy, confidence, and emotional regulation.An example is the game “Don’t Bite Me.” In this activity, children take on the roles of mosquitoes, doctors, and villagers. Mosquitoes try to tag villagers. When tagged, villagers freeze and act out malaria symptoms such as fever or shaking. Doctors cure them by rolling a ball, representing medicine, through their legs so they can rejoin the game. Through this playful scenario, teachers help children understand how malaria spreads, recognize symptoms, and discuss prevention.Through this training approach, teachers gain practical tools to address academic content, health education, and sensitive social topics in an engaging and accessible way, while simultaneously helping children build confidence, cooperation, and critical life skills.
Join for Joy initially started operating in Kenya in 2011, and the approach has since spread to Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. In Uganda, together with a partner organisation, Join for Joy collaborates with teacher training colleges and offers a creative playful learning course for teachers in training. In the other countries, the focus is on direct implementation in primary schools, providing professional development for teachers on using creative and playful learning in the classroom. In Malawi and Zambia, Join for Joy is registered as a national entity. Since 2011, Join for Joy has cumulatively reached over 1 million children, teachers, family members and community members.
Three important enhancements have strengthened the program in recent years: menstrual health, disability inclusion, and digitalisation. The menstrual health component was introduced after recognizing that, although more children were attending school and participating in activities, many girls were still missing classes or staying on the sidelines during sports and games due to menstruation and the lack of appropriate menstrual products. Through playful menstrual health education combined with access to a reusable menstrual cup, girls gain both the knowledge and the menstrual products they need to manage their periods with confidence, ensuring they can continue attending school and participating fully in activities. In addition, the teacher training program places a strong emphasis on the meaningful inclusion of children with disabilities. During teacher training, educators learn practical and creative ways to create inclusive environments so that children with different abilities can participate. Furthermore, every game in the manual includes specific adaptations that help teachers include all children in daily activities. Join for Joy is currently taking an important next step by digitalising our approach. This will help ensure that knowledge remains accessible, including for schools in remote areas, for new teachers who were not present during the training, and for student teachers who want to practise and revisit the material independently.
Join for Joy is open to collaborating with other organizations to implement and expand our playful learning methodologies. We welcome partnerships that help bring inclusive, playful education to more schools and communities. For collaboration opportunities, please contact Charlotte at charlotte@joinforjoy.net
