GAMES

Here you will find three interactive games developed as part of the RYVU research to improve policy and practice by raising awareness of the issues young refugee volunteers face and explore what volunteering means to them.

  • RYVU Volunteering Journey: this role-play game invites players to take on the roles of refugee volunteers with different skills, backgrounds and needs, as they respond to volunteering challenges and opportunities that the data reveal, promoting discussion about who participates in volunteering, who it benefits, and what issues to consider when engaging when engaging volunteers who are refugees.

  • RYVU Volunteering Diamond: this game invites players to organise and rank different definitions and features of volunteering identified in the research to reflect on their own motivations to volunteer and how the meanings of volunteering can be perceived differently by others, allowing participants to discuss what impacts this might have in volunteering policy and practice.

  • RYVU Photo Pairing Game: this card matching game invites players to align photographs taken by young refugee volunteers and with the description of the image provided by the photographer, prompting reflection and discussion about the different meanings volunteering can have for young refugees and highlighting how dominant thinking and ideas shape how we interpret and understanding volunteering in the global South.

All resources are free and available below for download (both in colour and black and white versions) in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Kiswahili.

If you download and play the games, please get in touch with the research team to share your feedback.

The Volunteering Journey Board Game

This game aims to highlight the complexity of refugee volunteering experiences in a creative and participatory way. The circular board of the game represents the volunteering journey, which is not always a straightforward route from A to B. The volunteering journey presents refugees with opportunities, challenges, and chances to get together and make connections with other members of the community.

Stakeholders in Uganda playing the RYVU Volunteering Journey Game

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Volunteering Diamond Game

There is no set meaning to volunteering. People volunteer for many different reasons. Very often what volunteering means depends on personal circumstances. The RYVU research has identified nine key meanings of volunteering, as follows:

  • Helping the community

  • Earning some income

  • Building connections

  • Developing your skills or career

  • Having fun and making friends

  • Getting recognition from others

  • Coping with personal challenges

  • Advocating for change

  • Spending your free time

The volunteering diamond game aims to help people engaged in volunteering to reflect on their personal volunteer experiences and share these experiences with others.

You can download the game below in different languages to play yourself:

Below you can also see how some of the young refugees who took part in the research have ranked their own meanings of volunteering:

Photo Pairing Game

The objective of this game is to use photographs to explore how young refugee volunteers in Uganda interpret their volunteering experiences.

Young refugees in Uganda playing the RYVU Photo Pairing Game

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