What is Azahir
SPARK-PY?
SPARK-PY stands for STEAM-Powered Activities for Resilience and Knowledge – Palestinian Youth. It’s a weekly after-school program where children explore science, technology, engineering, arts, and math through things they can touch, build, break, and rebuild.
The project is implemented with funding from Grand Challenges Canada, made possible by the LEGO Foundation.
We weave in socio-emotional learning — “Purpose Labs”
We run sessions at the SPARK Youth Lab, a dedicated space inside Azahir’s second community center built entirely for this work. Each week, kids spend an hour on structured activities in robotics, coding, digital literacy, and creative problem-solving — plus seasonal camps during school breaks to deepen what they’ve learned.
But SPARK-PY isn’t only about the machines. We weave in socio-emotional learning — “Purpose Labs” where children practice self-awareness, empathy, and working together. In a place shaped by displacement and trauma, that combination matters: kids aren’t just learning to code, they’re learning that they belong in a room where things get made.
HOW IT WORKS
Who it’s for: Children aged 8–12 across Nahr al-Bared camp.
The rhythm:
- Weekly sessions — one hour each week, after school, at the SPARK Youth Lab.
- Seasonal camps — intensive weeks over summer and winter breaks for students selected from each group.
- Graduation showcases — every cohort closes with a public exhibition where families and the community come to see what the kids have built.
The numbers: Over two years, SPARK-PY reaches 360 children (180 enrolled each year). Each year runs nine months and is divided into three cohorts of 60 students — three classes of twenty. Every cohort begins with a one-week introduction, then moves into an eight-week cycle of STEAM, robotics, psycho-social support, and Purpose Labs.
THE FACILITATORS: YOUTH FROM THE CAMP
One of the things that makes SPARK-PY different is who teaches it. We train 30 local young people, aged 18 to 35, to become trauma-informed facilitators and mentors. After training, they lead sessions independently, working in pairs so that sixty children learn side by side in each cycle.
For these young people, the role is more than a job. It builds real skills – classroom management, inclusive teaching, trauma-sensitive delivery – that strengthen their employment readiness. And for the children, seeing someone from their own neighborhood confidently running a robotics class sends a message no curriculum can: someone like you can do this.
WHY PLAY MATTERS
In Nahr El Bared, more than half of children are out of school, facing developmental setbacks and very limited access to safe, inclusive learning. Rote memorization doesn’t reach a child who hasn’t felt safe in a classroom.
So SPARK-PY starts with play. Kids engage with LEGO Spike robotics kits, coding games, arts-based projects, and real-world challenges. They think critically, collaborate, and solve problems — while practicing how to name their feelings and work with others. The result is a joyful, inquiry-driven, culturally grounded experience that helps children heal, grow cognitively and emotionally, and build resilience.
And because the model is designed to be replicated, SPARK-PY isn’t just a program for one camp — it’s a blueprint for bringing early childhood development and education to other emergency contexts.
SUPPORT SPARK-PY
Every robot built, every line of code, every confident “I did that!” is made possible by people who care. Supporting SPARK-PY funds the kits, the space, the facilitator training, and the seasonal camps that keep children learning.
Your contribution directly supports children’s education and the livelihoods of young local facilitators in Nahr El Bared.
