Workshop: Design interventions at Al-Azraq Refugee Camp
Client: Civic
Year: June 2020
Team: Liyan Al Jabi, Sara Yaseen, Sarah Hejazin, Jafar Al Jabi
This workshop was part of a research on Al Azraq Refugee Camp to co-design interventions in public spaces across the camp. The workshop sessions created informal discussions around the participants’ memories of play and play areas in their hometowns in Syria. They reflected on the different perceptions of play and the definitions of the tools used for playtime and games. The participants were asked questions on what they used to play with growing up and where they played, all while shedding light on how playing in cities (via playgrounds and play areas) is different than playing in rural areas, with the latter depending on natural landscapes and open spaces.
The participants were encouraged to reflect their childhood memories of play on their current environments using accessible resources, materials and tools. They were also asked to share their thoughts on the existing playgrounds, childcare services and play tools at the camp.
Remote workshop
The original intentions of conducting a live workshop at the camp were revoked upon the COVID-19 outbreak and the strict lock-down that followed. A remote workshop that used WhatsApp as a communication medium was selected as an alternative. The workshop material was revised and optimized for distant communication. It was transformed to prints, stickers, mapping games, game cards and colors. 10 participants were chosen from three villages at the camp.
Videos
The team prepared 7 videos to be shared with the participants in order to explain the assignment and the instructions for completing the attached sheets.
Kit
Thirty kits were packaged and shipped to 30 different Syrian families at the camp. Each kit contained eight different media sets:
- Introductory Brochure
- Social Status Questionnaire
- The Neighbourhood kit
- Gamecards
- Satisfaction Questionnaire
- Storyboard
- Children’s board game
