Location and general information
Access to Sport - 
Conflict victims - 
Employability - 
Gender Equality - 
Personal developmentContext
Eastern Chad hosts 360,000 refugees, with numbers increasing due to violence in Sudan. Highlighted in the 2020 SDG report, refugees and those fleeing armed conflict, particularly women and children, face even greater risk to their health, education, and livelihoods due to COVID-19.
iACT is a groundbreaking international action organisation with a mission to inspire a more mindful humanitarian system. It works to ensure conflict-affected children and young people are able to exercise their rights to education and healthy development. iACT’s refugee-led, gender equity-focused early childhood education and football programmes meet immediate needs and have the ability to expand during and beyond the global pandemic to support communities long-term.
iACT’s Little Ripples and its Refugees United Soccer Academy (Academy) are the only programmes in eastern Chad that address gaps in preschool education and sport, providing refugee children aged 3–13 with comprehensive social-educational opportunities that will have a life-long impact. Little Ripples is an early childhood education programme that empowers refugees and communities affected by humanitarian crises to implement child-centred, quality, and comprehensive pre-primary education that supports the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children aged 3–5. The Academy is a place for refugee girls and boys aged 6–13 to learn about teamwork, leadership, and peacebuilding, all while improving their football skills.
Project content
iACT’s Little Ripples and its Refugees United Soccer Academy (Academy) are the only programmes in eastern Chad that address gaps in preschool education and sport, providing refugee children aged 3–13 with comprehensive social-educational opportunities that will have a life-long impact. Little Ripples is an early childhood education programme that empowers refugees and communities affected by humanitarian crises to implement child-centred, quality, and comprehensive pre-primary education that supports the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children aged 3–5. The Academy is a place for refugee girls and boys aged 6–13 to learn about teamwork, leadership, and peacebuilding, all while improving their football skills.
Objectives
- Provide children with opportunities to heal from trauma and develop leadership skills through refugee-led early childhood education and sports programmes in all 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad.
- Document the refugee-led process, particularly the expansion of programmes, and extract lessons learned to share with the humanitarian community, partners and supporters of refugee-led work, and sports and early childhood education leaders.
Project activities
- Six days a week, children aged 3–13 will participate in Little Ripples and the Academy.
- iACT’s refugee staff will lead the expansion of Little Ripples to one new camp (Amnabak) and the Academy to four new camps (Amnabak, Gaga, Oure Cassoni, and Treguine):A team of experienced staff members will travel to new programme
- locations, engage the community leaders and members in dialogue, and train and hire coaches, teachers, cooks, and programme coordinators.Little Ripples teachers and Academy coaches will complete three training sessions over the course of 2021.
- All new iACT teachers and coaches will participate in LEAD with EMPATHY, a leadership development and human rights curriculum that provides the tools and guidance for refugees to learn and practise community organising and programme management skills.
- iACT staff will share insights and lessons learned from the entire refugee-led expansion process with UEFA and the humanitarian community.
Expected results
- 80 coaches trained in iACT’s Academy curricula (50% male and 50% female).
- 30 female teachers receive iACT’s Little Ripples teacher training.
- 16 coaches hired (50% male and 50% female).
- One camp coordinator hired.
- Eight teachers hired.
- 34 refugee staff trained in iACT’s LEAD with EMPATHY leadership development curriculum.
- Three iACT refugee staff leading programme expansion in four camps.
- 8,000 children enrolled in four new Academy programmes.
- 180 children enrolled in four new Little Ripples preschool centres where they will receive nutritious daily meals.
Partner
