TeamUp across the years

2015: TeamUp is set up

In 2015, an increasing number refugee children started arriving in the Netherlands. In response, we joined forces with Save the Children and UNICEF Netherlands to create TeamUp - a programme to support the social-emotional development of refugee children in asylum reception centres.

Traumatic experiences

Refugee children endure a lot hardship. Most have been exposed to war and violence in their countries of origin and have had to deal with extremely stressful situations. This doesn’t end when they cross the border. On arrival in the Netherlands, they continue to worry about their parents and friends back home and are often forced to move. Many still have vivid nightmares of the violence at home and experience deep feelings of sadness, anger and anxiety.

Expressing emotions

The TeamUp programme teaches 6 to 18 year olds how to cope with their feelings. This is done through structured sports, games and movement activities provided by trained volunteer facilitators. Every activity has a specific goal related to a theme such as dealing with anger, stress and interacting with peers.

The activities ultimately provide children with emotional support, a much-needed sense of stability and tools to use in their daily lives. Even if they don’t share a common language, all the children can participate as the activities themselves are central to the project.

2016: Joining forces with COA

In 2016, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) – responsible for receiving asylum seekers and supporting them in preparing for a future in the Netherlands or elsewhere - signed a national cooperation agreement with TeamUp. This allowed TeamUp to better organise and coordinate activities for refugee children. It was first implemented in eight asylum centres and was soon spread to 24 locations across the Netherlands.

Further growth

In the same year, TeamUp received a staggering additional donation of €2.5 million from the Dutch National Postcode Lottery (NPL). This quickly helped grow the programme and reach even more children.

Voluntary facilitators

The weekly TeamUp activities are held at a fixed time and with a permanent team of voluntary activity supervisors. This gives children much-needed structure and stability. It makes them more resilient in dealing with their sources of stress such as bullying, anger and fear, and helps reduce the likelihood of developing long-term psychosocial problems. Our voluntary facilitators keep a close eye on the children during the sessions, and consistently check for any signs of abnormal behaviour. If these appear, the children are referred for specialist support. |All the volunteers and trainers are fully supervised by TeamUp staff.

2017: TeamUp at school

All children in the Netherlands, including refugees, are required to go to school. When many schools opened their classrooms to refugee children in 2017, many of the teacher felt unprepared to handle the new challenges that their students were bringing with them. Teachers wanted to be better equipped to support them, learn about their backgrounds and know how to identify children that needed additional support. To help them - and the refugee children themselves – ‘TeamUp at School’ was launched in 2017, at first as a pilot in seven schools with our partners, CED Group.

Miss Rosan, a teacher in Paterswolde remembers the day the first bus of refugee children arrived. "I was waiting outside with the other teachers to welcome them," she says. She doesn't know all the refugee children’s stories, "but I know and can feel that they’ve been through a lot. It’s very difficult for them to talk about their experiences. The TeamUp activities help them open up more.’

2018: TeamUp around the globe

Over 80 million people worldwide are fleeing their homes - half of them children. In 2018, TeamUp started a programme in Uganda to support refugees from South Sudan. A few months later, in 2019, it started projects in Colombia and the occupied Palestinian territories follow. At the end of 2019, it started activities in Sri Lanka.

In 2020, TeamUp is starting in Sweden and is now partnering with SOS Children's Villages International to start work in Italy and Greece.

2019 - 2022: Upholding quality

When working with children, it’s not enough to simply try what works best; you have to know what works best. So we asked researchers to assess how TeamUp was being implemented and to investigate whether our methodology was being properly implemented in different contexts.

The study showed that TeamUp is supporting children by helping them channel their energy and emotions; volunteers see clear changes in children's behaviour. And the methodology helps identify those children who are in need of additional help. Children themselves indicate that the activities are helping them make new friends.

TeamUp's ambitions

The number of refugee children who are growing up with - or fleeing from - conflict has again been on the rise in recent years. TeamUp is persevering in its efforts to support them by continuing to invest in networks and relationships with organisations, individuals and institutions who are committed to providing refugee children with psychosocial support. Together, we are working to lighten the burden of refugee children’s complex and stressful lives. By 2025, TeamUp is aiming to reach one million refugee children.