Synthesis of Evidence from Right to Play’s Play-Based Programmes

Client:             Right to Play

Duration:        2023

Geography:     Global

Solutions:        Research, Organisational Learning and Growth

Right to Play have been working for almost 20 years to support social change through play. Throughout this period, they have been gathering evidence about what works in a range of play based approaches and a range of thematic areas, including primary and secondary education, early childhood development (ECD), psycho-social support and wellbeing, social cohesion, girls voice and agency, employability and skills, health and hygiene, and support for out of school children.

As Right to Play worked towards a new strategic phase, Oxford MeasurEd supported them to consolidate what they had learned across this evidence base. We synthesised and assessed the quality of evidence from 40 evaluation outputs produced between 2017 and 2023 to identify what Right to Play have learned about what works in implementing play-based projects and programmes, and to consider how this learning could inform their future programming and evidence generation.

Key Activities:

• Cataloguing and description of the evidence base.

• Creation of a matrix to extract key information from evaluation reports.

• Thematic analysis across the evidence base to identify lessons learnt.

• Presentation of conclusions and recommendations to Right to Play.