10 ways our sports programs protect and empower children
Protection from harm is every child's right. Learn how sports like soccer, swimming and cricket play a role in our work to keep children safe.
Written by Deborah Wolfe
on March 13, 2026
Each child is born with the God-given right to play. It’s also their right to participate in group and community events. Everywhere the light touches, sport plays a big part in honouring those rights.
But what about their right to protection? It’s enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Even here in Canada, sports help safeguard children, connecting them with caring mentors in safe spaces.
The same is true around the world, no matter where a child lives. Sports play a major protective role in every context—even amidst humanitarian crises from earthquakes, floods and armed conflict.
Here are 10 ways sports protect children today, safeguarding their futures for tomorrow:
1. Sports offer safe gathering spaces
In emergency settings, safe places for young people to spend time can be limited. Organized sport creates structured environments where children and youth can come together, interact and feel protected from many of the risks that can arise in unstable conditions.
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, children in Lebanon needed ways to stay mentally healthy. This open-air courtyard offered ways to protect kids’ well-being, while gathering for sporting activities. (Photo: World Vision)
2. Sports protect routine and stability
Disasters often strip away the rhythms of daily life. Regular practices or games help protect and restore structure and predictability—two things that can help children and adolescents feel grounded.
In this Indonesian community, practice can’t start unless everyone shows up on time! From development programs to humanitarian responses, our sports programs provide the structure and routine children need for mental health. (Photo: World V
3. Sports support physical well-being
In places where poverty and disaster are part of childhood, girls and boys carry heavy loads. Imagine walking 6 km with dead-weight water jugs or being forced into manual labour. Learning to stretch and warm up for safer movement can help protect children from injury.
In Vietnam, a community volunteer helps children warm up before learning new sports skills. In addition to warding off injury, it sends the message that bodies deserve care and safeguarding. (Photo: World Vision)
4. Sport lowers barriers to psychosocial support
In some disaster contexts, children are unable to verbalize what they’ve been through. Sport provides an accessible and familiar entry point where supportive conversations, guidance and coping strategies can be introduced in a more comfortable setting.
In Türkiye’s deadly 2024 earthquake, many children lost loved ones. Some were too traumatized to speak when they arrived at our child-friendly spaces. Activities like gentle sports are a great way to begin receiving psychosocial support. (P
5. Sports builds resilience through challenge
Sport naturally involves setbacks—missed passes, tough opponents or difficult losses. Learning to navigate those moments in a supportive environment builds persistence, emotional control, and problem-solving. Kids learn how these strengths pay off in the end.
In India, the Hena Girl Power group has played an instrumental role in reducing child marriage. They are also building confidence and self-protection, through karate. Qualifying for belts as they master the next level of skills is a critica
6. Sport helps rebuild social bonds
Displacement and disaster can fracture communities and separate friends and family members. Team activities encourage cooperation and communication, helping children reconnect with peers and form new friendships.
This 2021 photo shows youth near Kenya’s Kakuma camp for refugees regaining skills they may have lost amidst years of turmoil. People from South Sudan, Somali and the Democratic Republic Congo had all fled to the camp. This peace club is he
7. Sports restore confidence and a sense of control
When children experience crisis (like drownings of friends or siblings in a flood) they often lose a sense of agency. Sport gives children opportunities to learn life skills, set goals and experience progress. These small achievements can rebuild confidence and self-belief.
Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. After a child in their community narrowly saved a friend from drowning, World Vision Vietnam staff arranged for lessons for the other children. (Photo: World Visio
8. Sports provide healthy outlets for energy and stress
In many humanitarian contexts, young people may lack age-appropriate activities, like school or clubs. Sports can channel energy into something positive and engaging, offering an alternative to long periods of inactivity or manual work.
9. Coaches can become trusted role models
In well-designed programs, coaches do far more than lead drills. With the right training, they can provide mentorship, encouragement and emotional support, often becoming reliable adults that young people trust.
Through sports, children get to know the World Vision staff in their communities. Even when life has been difficult, having thoroughly trained, carefully screened workers among their mentors can help young people make safer choices in life.
10. Sport strengthens community resilience
With the bonds that form on the sidelines of children’s activities, adults are better equipped to protect young people from harm. People get to know each other’s families. As in Canada, close-knit communities galvanize more quickly when disasters strikes.
In Sri Lanka, cricket is a popular sport across generations. Communities bond over the results of the country’s national team—and the progress their own children are making as they learn. (Photo: World Vision)
Of course, sport alone can’t address the complex needs created by extreme poverty and humanitarian crises.
But at its core, sport provides something every community needs in difficult times: connection, hope and the chance to move forward together. In places where life is challenging, sports programs offer stability, belonging and a healthy outlet for children.
World Vision’s sports programs help keep children protected and connected today, while safeguarding their futures for tomorrow.