18 | Play for Wales | Spring 2022
Community Community Play Ambassadors is a Play Wales partnership project funded by the Healthy & Active Fund. As we enter its final year, we reflect on the implementation of the project during the COVID-19 pandemic, following an independent evaluation.
As we’ve previously reported, the project aims to prepare young people, aged 14 to 19, to become ‘play ambassadors’ in residential areas across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
project
• Providing playwork training for young people (aged 14 to 19) to add capacity to the workforce
These initiatives combine to influence opportunities to play for children in their neighbourhoods. The Neighbourhood Play Networks are intended to enable connections to be made between residents, community organisations, schools, parents and children with a view to making sustainable opportunities for play using streets, formal play settings (such as playgrounds), parks, and school grounds out of hours. This will make whole neighbourhoods more playable and play-friendly.
• Supporting playwork trained young people to act as Play Ambassadors in their areas
The project seeks to remove barriers – both physical and psychological – to play. Specifically:
• Recruiting residents and other key stakeholders to be local Play Champions
• Physical barriers – traffic, time and available space
The vision is to enable the Play Ambassadors to support neighbourhood-based interventions to increase opportunities for playing through:
• Working with Play Champions and other local stakeholders to form Neighbourhood Play Networks.
• Psychological barriers – adult/parent attitudes, fears and values.
