LEGO Foundation CEO talks coronavirus impact

John Goodwin, CEO of the LEGO Foundation, has discussed the importance of protecting the most vulnerable children during the global pandemic.

In an interview with the LEGO Foundation’s new partner, Education Cannot Wait, CEO John Goodwin has explained why funding is so vital during the coronavirus pandemic, and why it specifically needs to go to areas where children are already at risk.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of donors and governments deprioritising investment in education,” he explained. “Underfunded areas like early learning could be even more affected. This has the potential of severely impacting all children, but children who have been impacted by conflicts and crises are even more vulnerable. Children in crisis settings not only need quality education opportunities but also ways to address their own stress and socio-emotional wellbeing. The LEGO Foundation strongly believes that learning through play-based pedagogy can help to address these challenges.”

Earlier this year, the LEGO Foundation committed $50 million to help the most vulnerable children around the world during the global pandemic, with Education Cannot Wait named as one of the delivery partners receiving the money.

He also discussed the goals that the LEGO Foundation has for the future: “In 10 years, we would like to see a better understanding by the key stakeholders of the complete “learning journey” of a child – from birth to adulthood. The investments currently being made by the LEGO Foundation are geared to make programmes scalable and sustainable. We believe that in 10 years these programmes and the learning from them, would help other governments and organisations to reach even more children who might find themselves in difficult situations with development interventions that will help the children get back on a positive learning journey. Although, we hope that in 10 years, there would be no child in a crisis situation and therefore there will not be a need for such programmes.”

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