Future Leaders of Kalebuka

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Democratic Republic of Congo, Kalebuka
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project €72,000
Foundation funding €35,000
Project identifier 20201055
Partners Georges Malaika Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Despite being one of the most resource rich countries in the world, the Democratic Republic of the Congo faces challenges related to poverty, education and access to resources. Kalebuka, where Malaika operates, has one of the lowest literacy rates in the country. The lack of education and opportunity needs to be addressed in order for the community to thrive. Malaika works with community members to provide education, access to sports and sports for social development. Malaika’s programmes equip the young people of Kalebuka to become the future leaders of their communities. Youth who are educated, confident, and respected will become adults who change their community, their country and the world.

Project content

By providing access to formal education, sports and health programmes, Malaika is helping to change a community in the DRC. The Kalebuka Football for Hope Centre provides young people with free access to literacy, IT, English, health and sports. The Sports for Development programme addresses topics such as conflict management, COVID-19, HIV/AIDS and communicable disease prevention, leadership skills, reproductive health and children’s rights.

Objectives

  • Develop leadership and life skills in Kalebuka’s youth to enable them to access their potential and empower themselves and their community.
  • Improve the young people’s physical and mental health by providing health education and encouraging them to prioritise themselves and their health.
  • Improve public health by disseminating health information and disease prevention tools and distributing hygiene supplies.
  • Improve overall life outcomes.
  • Foster community cohesion and respect.
  • Progress gender equality.

Project activities

  • Implementing games and outreach sessions through sports for social development.
  • Hosting workshops on children’s rights, gender equality, conflict and violence prevention, hygiene and health.
  • Holding daily classes for out-of-school youth in literacy, English, IT and mathematics.
  • Hosting tournaments to raise awareness across communities.
  • Hiring and managing coaching staff.
  • Training staff in health outreach and social development techniques.
  • Repairing and maintaining football pitches and community centre facilities.

Expected results

  • More peer leaders and coaches (up from 12 to 17) via leadership training programmes.
  • More young people (up from 65 to 80) attending health-based sports sessions, giving them a safe space to discuss health topics.
  • More young people (up from 90 to 115) attending life outcome training sessions designed to positively change youth mentality in regard to conflict resolution, drug and alcohol use and domestic violence.

Partner

Good Health and Climate Action through Football

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Lesotho
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 12/31/2022
Cost of the project €245,000
Foundation funding €122,600
Project identifier 20201058
Partners Kick4Life
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Employability - Gender Equality - Healthy lifestyle

Context

Young people in Lesotho face many severe and overlapping health challenges that negatively impact their well-being and prospects, including:

  • The world’s second highest prevalence of HIV and a lack of access to HIV testing and counselling.
  • High levels of gender-based violence.
  • A lack of access to sanitation facilities and poor standards of hygiene, contributing to the spread of preventable diseases such as TB.
  • An accelerating COVID-19 infection rate.
  • Drug and alcohol abuse.
  • Extremely high levels of poverty and food insecurity.
  • An urgent need for mental health support, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • A reduction in vital resources due to climate change.

The young people engaged in the programme come from a range of underprivileged and vulnerable backgrounds, including:

  • Children living on the street.
  • HIV-positive youth.
  • Orphans.
  • Teenage mothers.
  • Children living in poverty.
  • At-risk children and vulnerable girls.
  • Children engaged in child labour.

Project content

The project focuses on improving the health and long-term prospects of Lesotho’s youth, with an enhanced emphasis on gender equality and reducing gender-based violence. It tackles issues such as HIV prevention, hygiene, nutrition and urgent COVID-19 health education, as well as facilitating referrals to specialist healthcare providers. The project also develops key life skills, empowering participants to protect the health of people and the planet. Participants are also encouraged to take part in other Kick4Life activities such as employability programmes and training and employment opportunities within its hospitality social enterprises.

The expanded project also aims to reduce the health impact of climate change, with new sessions on water conservation, biodiversity and preventing land degradation. A Youth Climate Action Group will be set up to drive climate action by young people across Lesotho.

Objectives

The project aims to increase the health-related knowledge of 5,000 young people through a football-based curriculum in order to improve their physical and mental health, well-being and nutrition and reduce their vulnerability to HIV and COVID‑19. The project’s outcomes are aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 3 (good health and well-being), 5 (gender equality), and 13 (climate action).

Project activities

  • Delivery of an 18-session football-based curriculum to 5,000 young people, in 200 intakes of 25 participants, with an even gender balance
  • Creation of four new climate education sessions and a Youth Climate Action Group
  • Development of a COVID-19 adaptation plan for alternative delivery if regular programming is interrupted
  • Two training courses for 20 coaches, including updated COVID-19 safeguarding
  • 500 referrals to health and protection services
  • Monitoring and evaluation including 125 pre- and post-tests and eight focus groups

Expected results

5,000 young people will have:

  • Increased health-related knowledge, including on HIV prevention and sexual health, hygiene and sanitation and nutrition
  • Improved attitudes to gender equality
  • Improved access to healthcare, including HIV testing and mental health services
  • Better understanding of climate change and motivation to take climate action
  • Greater confidence in maintaining their health and achieving their potential

Partner

Girls on Track

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Tanzania
Start date 07/01/2020
End date 04/30/2021
Cost of the project €447,646
Foundation funding €48,739
Project identifier 20200526
Partners Right to Play
Categories Access to Sport - Employability - Gender Equality - Infrastructure and equipment

Context

In Tanzania, nearly one third of the population live below the poverty line and the country has one of the highest birth rates in the world.

Tanzanian girls do not have the same educational and life opportunities as boys. Despite girls enrolling in primary education at the same rate as boys, only 73% complete it and less than 26% progress to secondary education. Literacy and numeracy skills in Tanzania are poor, with 19% of children finishing primary school classified as illiterate, and the situation is worse for girls with national primary pass rates of 49% compared to 56% for boys. For women and girls, improvements in the quality of education will have direct and long-lasting benefits to health, such as a huge reduction in under-five mortality.

 

Mara and Morogoro are two of the most marginalised regions of Tanzania, with household income below the national average. Mara has the lowest Kiswahili literacy pass rates in the country, the fourth lowest primary school leavers pass rates, and the third worst ratio of school toilets to girls, at only one per 192 girls. Morogoro has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children, the majority of whom are girls. High number of girls in these regions drop out of school due to socio-cultural practices, negative attitudes toward girls’ education, early marriage, high levels of gender-based violence, and the stigma attached to teenage pregnancy. This is exacerbated by poor gender responsive education and a lack of conducive learning environments for girls.

Project content

The project will improve the quality of education for children, especially girls, in Tanzania. Better education and life skills will empower girls to transition to womanhood, become better parents in the future and break the cycle of poverty endemic in the target regions. Investing in quality education will also pay dividends in health and gender equality.

Objectives

  • Improve children’s life skills to support their educational attainment.
  • Promote gender-sensitive and safe learning environments in primary schools to improve the engagement and performance of girls.
  • Enhance local community support for girls’ education to reduce barriers and tackle negative gender norms.

Project activities

  • Supporting teachers to develop gender-sensitive, play-based learning through training, mentoring and support, and the provision of learning aids and sports equipment.
  • Facilitating peer exchange among teachers and government education staff to help integrate gender-sensitive, play-based learning into teaching practices.
  • Organising community play days and sports tournaments to raise awareness of gender equality.
  • Rehabilitating sanitation facilities in schools to reduce barriers to girls attending school.
  • Engaging community groups in dialogue on gender equality and the value of education for girls and boys.

Expected results

  • 60% of girls in target locations demonstrating an increase in leadership, confidence, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities.
  • 60% increase in the number of girls with improved knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
  • 80% of teachers applying a gender-sensitive, play-based approach to curriculum subjects and life skills development.
  • 6% increase in school attendance rates.
  • 2% increase in girls’ transition rates to secondary school.
  • 50% of parents/caregivers regularly participating in community awareness campaigns on the value of education for girls.

Partner

Kick the Ball, Save Our Wildlife

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Kenya
Start date 12/01/2020
End date 05/01/2021
Cost of the project €15,054
Foundation funding €13,054
Project identifier 20200447
Partners Water4Wildlife
Categories Access to Sport - Infrastructure and equipment - Personal development

Context

The Maasai Mara ecosystem is one of the largest wildlife conservation areas in East Africa and is home to several conservancies that make a significant contribution to Kenya's tourism revenue. The Lemek conservancy is home to many marginalised children with a passion for sports. Most local public schools are attended by underprivileged children and lack basic social amenities. There are no football pitches but there is plenty of land on which to build one. Water4Wildlife Maasai Mara identified a public primary school as the ideal location to build a modern sports ground to serve children from the various conservancies. By playing football, 300 children aged 4–16 will be able to build new friendships, nurture their talents and learn teamwork skills. Through learning about wildlife conservation, it is hoped they will grow up to be future conservationists.

Project content

Water4Wildlife teaches the children about the various dangers facing wildlife and the threat of extinction. They are also taught about the dangers of poaching and eating game meat, and reassured that they can report it to the rangers in safety. During football tournaments, the game rangers will have a chance to kick a ball with the schoolchildren and talk about the importance of wildlife conservation.

Football games are also organised at local hotels and lodges between the visitors and the children. This gives the children the opportunity to meet the visitors, share their dreams and gain an understanding of why the visitors come to the Maasai Mara to see wildlife.

The project will build the local community's first football pitch at a public primary school. Better recreational and community sports opportunities for the children will not only improve their health and help them to acquire a variety of skills, but also help to break the cycle of idleness, vice and child labour.

Objectives

  • Construct a football pitch that will connect all the children from various conservancies in the Maasai Mara ecosystem.
  • Promote sports and community development in the young population.
  • Use sports as an avenue for wildlife conservation from an early age.

Project activities

  • Creating public awareness about wildlife and children’s sports.
  • Conducting site clearance and an environmental survey.
  • Constructing the pitch and procuring sports equipment.
  • Launching the project at the annual inter-conservancy sports competition.
  • Continuous monitoring of the project for the first three years before handing over to the local conservancy communities.

Expected results

  • 300 girls and boys will have access to the sports field.
  • A safe environment for children.
  • Improved relationships between communities and with tourists.
  • Improved wildlife conservation due to greater awareness.
  • Children will be more integrated thanks to better social skills, greater self-confidence, teamworking skills and stronger friendships.
  • Children will be taught discipline through sports.
  • Children will apply the dedication and hard work acquired through sports to their studies to achieve greater academic success.

Partner

SCORE

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Ivory Coast, Abidjan, Bouaké and Man
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 06/30/2022
Cost of the project €131,578
Foundation funding €86,197
Project identifier 2019969
Partners La Balle aux Prisonniers (LaBAP)
Categories Access to Sport - Employability - Gender Equality - Personal development

Context

Ivory Coast’s efforts to reintegrate young offenders into the community have been largely unsuccessful. After observing young people locked up all day in the juvenile detention centres with nothing to do, LaBAP approached the authorities about setting up activities that meet international standards aimed at helping the detainees prepare for reintegration.

The SCORE project targets young people, especially girls, in the Abidjan, Bouaké and Man juvenile detention centres. The detainees, mostly boys, are aged between 12 and 17 and have usually been sentenced to 3–6 months, although some end up being detained for longer or have been given longer sentences. The turnover of detainees is high, with the population changing almost daily – every 18 months, at least 220 minors pass through the three centres.

Project content

LaBAP’s programmes are inspired by the fundamental principles of sport and recognise sport as a driver of social change, education and development. It provides young offenders with an escape from daily life in detention and promotes cooperation, solidarity, tolerance, understanding, social inclusion and health. Combined with other activities, such as vocational and literacy training, sport is a first step towards their reintegration.

Objectives

  • Help juveniles to reintegrate socially and professionally through training and support.
  • Create social cohesion between juveniles in detention and society through sport.

Project activities

  • Developing sports programmes for juveniles in detention (weekly football training and introductory sessions).
  • Sports events with outside teams.
  • Celebration and media coverage of human rights days.
  • Providing materials and logistical support to the centres’ literacy programmes.
  • Practical training in income-generating activities.

Expected results

  • 324 weekly football training sessions and 18 introductory sessions giving juveniles in detention a place of freedom where the harmful effects of detention can be counteracted.
  • Three detention centres will have a suitable area and the equipment needed for playing sports.
  • Events will provide opportunities for socialisation and for society to change the way it views young offenders: 12 events with outside teams providing interaction with 120 external players and 3 gala matches.
  • All detainees will have access to high-quality, inclusive education and lifelong learning opportunities and 20 detainees will be registered for exams.
  • 6 tables and 120 benches/chairs will be provided or restored and each centre will receive a literacy kit.
  • Male and female detainees will acquire skills to help them reintegrate into the workforce: training 20 juveniles in patisserie and 60 juveniles in rabbit farming in Abidjan and Bouaké, 15 juveniles in fish farming in Abidjan, and 30 juveniles in poultry farming in Man.

Partner

Adopt a Ball for All

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Greece and more than 170 countries across five continents
Start date 01/01/2021
End date 01/01/2021
Cost of the project €100,000
Foundation funding €95,000
Project identifier 20200573
Partners Youthorama
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

There is a challenge globally to include pupils with visual impairment in physical education (PE) in general primary schools. There is generally only one type of PE class for all pupils and there are limited inclusive sports tools. As a result, pupils with visual impairment do not participate in PE at the same level as their sighted classmates. This project meets this global need and provides a sustainable solution. It supports children’s right to education and their right to play as well as Sustainable Development Goals 4 (quality education) and 10 (reduced inequality).

Project content

Youthorama’s founder invented an innovative lightweight sound ball. The unique mini ball for all children is not for sale – it is only donated. In Greece, an educational programme using the mini ball was approved by the ministry of education for all schools – both general and special – and all grades. This project aims to establish a network of schools across the world that will promote inclusive sports through this new educational package.

         

Sierra Leon                                                              India

Objectives

  • Produce and donate up to 2,000 mini blind footballs for children
  • Create a more inclusive society through the use of these balls as a non-formal learning tool
  • Educate mainstream nursery and primary schools, NGOs and public structures on inclusive sport
  • Create a manual of up to 40 good practices
  • Launch an Adopt a Ball pilot initiative for schools to raise awareness of sports for all
  • Establish an Inclusive Football Network across the world (currently spanning 172 countries)

Project activities

  • Donation of the innovative mini blind footballs – the only ones available on a global level and not for sale – to children in need and their schools across 5 continents
  • Designing an inclusive educational package
  • Delivering up to 200 sports workshops in general and special nursery and primary schools to promote personal development, empathy and inclusion
  • Evaluation of the project’s success in achieving its aims
  • Launching the Adopt a Ball campaign and promoting open four-a-side events

Expected results

  • 100 schools in disadvantaged areas across the network delivering the educational programme
  • 25,000 sighted and visually impaired pupils in mixed classes
  • 500 schools registered in the Adopt a Ball network
  • 2,500 questionnaires
  • 500 PE teachers and volunteers using the accessible e-learning platform
  • 3,000 participants in the open four-a-side events
  • 2,000 mini blind footballs donated
  • 1 social message documentary for TV

Our vision is for the ball to be heard in every visually impaired child’s home and school around the world!

Partner

Sport for inclusion: football against racism

Location and general information

En cours
Location Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia
Start date 11/06/2020
End date 11/06/2022
Cost of the project € 199,662
Foundation funding €more than 50% financed by the Foundation for Children
Project identifier 2019519
Partners International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

In 2020, it was estimated that 60,145 people had migrated to Tunisia for a broad variety of reasons. Some of them are faced with racial discrimination from the local populations. Fuelled by prejudice and stereotypes about the migrants’ origins and status, this discrimination aggravates various types of social exclusion that can have a serious impact on their lives, such as ghettoisation, physical violence and human rights violations. The social exclusion of migrants also has a negative effect on host societies, in that it breaks down social cohesion, increases violence, gives rise to political and social instability, and results in the underemployment of migrant workers.

 

Project content

The IOM’s project is intended to resolve or alleviate various harmful effects of a lack of social cohesion between migrant groups and the host community. These effects are easy to spot: tensions between the communities, a lack of migrant access to grassroots or professional sport, no sports opportunities for migrant women, a lack of sports activities for children in vulnerable neighbourhoods, and discriminatory practices in both grassroots and professional football.

Rather than restricting the project to isolated events aimed at encouraging a collective spirit, the intention is to emphasise the need for sports programmes that involve both target groups and establish a feeling of integration (familiarity) beyond mere tolerance (forced acceptance).

Objectives

The IOM will run sports activities aimed at bringing the public and private sectors together to fight against the discrimination and marginalisation of migrants and ultimately  integrate them into Tunisian society.

The project comprises four parts: (1) creating or renovating football pitches or sports grounds; (2) sports equipment for vulnerable communities; (3) coach education in inclusion and non-discrimination; (4) encouragement to include migrants in leagues and tournaments.

Project activities

The following activities are to be carried out from August 2021 to November 2022:

  • Training for football instructors
  • Seminar on social inclusion and anti-racism for coaches, referees and sports journalists
  • Women’s football tournament
  • Men’s football tournament
  • Children’s sports days
  • Women’s sports days
  • Sports equipment supplied to amateur football clubs

Expected results

The following results are expected:

  • Four equipped sports grounds for use by migrants and locals
  • 60 instructors trained to teach football to 400 Tunisian and migrant children
  • Introductory sports activities for more than 100 Tunisian and migrant women
  • Support for four grassroots tournaments involving more than 400 Tunisians and migrants
  • Educating more than 80 coaches, referees and sports journalists in anti-racism
  • Two grassroots football tournaments (one men’s and one women’s) involving Tunisians and migrants, to promote social cohesion

Partner

Exercising change in Palabek refugee settlement

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Uganda
Start date 02/01/2020
End date 04/01/2021
Cost of the project € 34,168
Foundation funding € 34,168
Project identifier 20199933
Partners Street Child
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

Palabek is one of the newest refugee settlements in Uganda, hosting over 50,000 refugees primarily from South Sudan. According to the 2019 United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report, 85% of arrivals are women and children. Due to the conflict, many children in the camp have been traumatised by violence, exploited as child soldiers and lost loved ones. Women and girls in particular face gender-based violence and discrimination. In 2018, the UNHCR reported 4,822 incidents of sexual gender-based violence. The cultural taboo around menstruation also makes girls skip school or even drop out entirely. Limiting their educational and economic opportunities, they increase their risk of child marriage, abuse and teen pregnancy.

The situation has worsened further with the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of schools for more than 9 months and the 3 months shutdown had devastating effect on the most vulnerable families.

Project content

As repatriation is unlikely to occur soon and the refugee settlements welcome more and more people every day, there is a need to strengthen social cohesion and forge closer ties between the communities. Street Child and its partner African Women and Youth for Action Development (AWYAD) use sports and educational workshops to promote well-being, community engagement, child protection and social cohesion, and combat gender stereotypes. They provide the opportunity for children to escape from traumatic experiences and provide safe spaces where they can flourish. Sport will not be limited to school times, but also held during after school clubs, thereby creating a greater educational environment.

Objectives

  • Inspire both refugee and host children through sport
  • Address the disparity in girls’ active participation in sports
  • Provide safe spaces for marginalised children
  • Increase opportunities for schools to take part in inter/intra-class and regional competitions
  • Provide an inclusive sport offer for girls, boys and children with disabilities
  • Train local coaches to ensure the longevity of the project
  • Introduce and develop four sports across the settlement: football, netball, volleyball and athletics
  • Build infrastructure for sports

Project activities

  • Train community coaches to recognise psychosocial risks in children and understand referral pathways at settlement level
  • Train community coaches on the importance of inclusivity, with particular reference to girls and children with disabilities
  • Train community coaches to promote fair play, cooperation, sharing and respect in sport
  • Dialogue with communities at 10 schools, on health, education and inclusivity, in conjunction with sports sessions
  • Provide 10 schools with the necessary sports equipment to enable children to pratice netball, football and volleyball.
  • Organise weekly sports sessions in 10 schools across Palabek refugee settlement to promote wellbeing for 8000 refugee and host community children

Expected results

  • Target 11,000 beneficiaries – 8,000 children between the ages of 6 and 13, of whom 60% are girls and 40% boys, and 3,000 community members
  • 10% of the beneficiaries will be children with disabilities
  • As Palabek is facing extreme levels of poverty and in need of support similar to the refugees, 30% of the children will be from host communities.

 

intermediate outcome:

  • 10 schools have been supplied with sports equipment
  • 1050 children have been enrolled into the sports clubs
  • 6 community coaches have been recruited and trained

Partner

Future leaders of DRC

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Kalebuka, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project €76,740
Foundation funding €18,000
Project identifier 2019997
Partners Georges Malaika Foundation
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Despite the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) being one of the wealthiest countries in the world due to its natural resources, a large majority of its population live in extreme poverty. This is also true of the area of Kalebuka (Lubumbashi) in the south-eastern part of the DRC where many services are lacking. The Munama quarter, where the Kalebuka Football for Hope Community Centre is located, has one of the lowest literacy rates in the country (source: Georges Malaika Foundation). Furthermore, the decades-long conflicts in the DRC have led to the displacement of many Congolese people in this area, with families often lacking the money to meet their basic needs, such as education and healthcare. This situation has also led to health issues, such as malaria, reproductive health problems, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Members of the community have lacked education and opportunities to thrive, hampering their ability to make a significant change in their community.

Project content

The Georges Malaika Foundation believes in the enormous potential of the Congolese people to bring about change on their own terms. It aims to support the youth of Kalebuka in becoming future leaders who will bring about positive change in their community. To achieve this mission, the foundation offers access to a variety of sports, including football, basketball, tennis, and volleyball. Through the community centre, young people in Kalebuka have access to sports programmes which was not previously available to them. The centre allows boys and girls to play football and attend matches and tournaments. They have peer and coach-led mixed-sex football training, providing a common ground on which to relate and build trust. The foundation has also developed games and sporting activities that address issues relevant to the children such as conflict resolution, health and well-being, and gender equality.

Objectives

  • Help young people living in Kalebuka access educational opportunities and become economically self-sufficient so that they can bring positive change to their community
  • Use sports activities to help change the internalised beliefs and practices of community members, such as gender inequality and ethnic conflicts
  • Improve health issues by giving young people the tools to remain healthy and active

 

Project activities

The Georges Malaika Foundation’s activities target three mains areas:

  • Leadership and life skills:

The foundation trains participants to become coaches and helps them develop leadership skills through sports. It attaches importance to engaging boys in activities with girls to promote gender equality.

  • Health:

The foundation has developed a fun programme which gives participants the opportunity to have open and honest discussions about relevant health topics, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and general well-being. The coaches are trained to provide workshops on these topics, and football activities are used to promote the social messages.

  • Improvement of life outcomes:

Many of the foundation’s beneficiaries come from families affected by child and domestic abuse. By providing information and tools that allow young people to express their feelings and peacefully resolve conflict, the foundation aims to set in motion change that will positively affect their future, as well as lead to a community-wide decrease in conflict and abuse.

Expected results

OUTCOME/OBJECTIVE BASELINE TARGET
Increase young people’s leadership skills through training programmes, thereby increasing the number of peer leaders and coaches 10 15
Create a safe space to discuss health topics and increase the number of young people attending health-based sports sessions 64 80
Improve life outcomes by positively changing the youth mentality in regards to conflict resolution, drug and alcohol use, domestic violence, etc. and increase the number of young people attending training sessions related to life outcomes 90 115

Partner

Busajo Campus: Equal chances through sport

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Ethiopia
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project € 99,221
Foundation funding € 65,000
Project identifier 2019659
Partners Busajo Onlus
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Busajo Campus is social and educational project aimed at street children living in the Ethiopian city of Sodo and the surrounding rural areas. It supports rehabilitation, prevention and family reintegration, thereby helping the beneficiaries to regain their dignity and trust in the future. It is estimated that there are about 3,000 street children in Sodo.

Inside Busajo Campus, sport is promoted as an educational activity that supports people’s physical and emotional growth and a social activity that teaches people the rules of coexistence and community.

Project content

The support of the UEFA foundation will enable Busajo Campus to build a gym, changing rooms and bathrooms, to extend the use of its sports fields and facilities to children and young people in non-residential programmes and neighbouring communities, and to promote equal opportunities for boys and girls through the universal language of sport.

The gym will increase and diversify the sports activities available to improve motor and social skills, while enabling activities to continue even during the long periods of heavy rain that are typical of the Ethiopian climate. In addition, the changing rooms and bathroom facilities will enable to project to teach and promote day-to-day hygiene rules and good practices among Busajo Campus residents and other users.

The Busajo Campus project aims to encourage the socialisation and integration of resident street children, with the help of guests who have successfully integrated society (e.g. university students and children without any particular social problems) offering positive life prospects for those that remain socially vulnerable.

The project also offers educational activities to socially marginalised children living off campus, in order to offer an educational pathway to as many young people as possible and involve the surrounding community.

In this way, sport becomes an important social vehicle that creates strong emotional bonds and human relationships that encourage respect and tolerance.

Particular attention is given to the inclusion of culturally and socially marginalised girls, who need special care and attention both psychologically, socially and physically, and need to learn how take care of their own person.

Objectives

  • Improve the socio-educational conditions of Sodo street children, permanently removing them from social exclusion and offering them better prospects, a greater sense of dignity and confidence in the future
  • Teach minimum hygiene standards and improve conditions and practices among residents and visitors to the campus
  • Improve the motor skills of children and young people and enable sports activities even during the rainy season
  • Increase the interpersonal skills of boys and girls on Busajo Campus
  • Promote equal opportunities between girls and boys, teach rules of tolerance and respect, increase children’s capacity for socialisation
  • Encourage integration between children and young people living on campus and the surrounding community

Project activities

  • Construction of a gym, changing rooms and bathroom facilities
  • Educational sports activities for Busajo Campus residents using existing sports fields (volleyball, football, basketball)
  • Other informal educational activities (recreation and play, agricultural activities) Busajo Campus residents
  • Extension of the project to non-residents and inclusion of new indoor disciplines for residents and non-residents (gymnastics, martial arts)
  • Awareness-raising and promotion of equal opportunities through sport

Expected results

  • Construction of the gym to enable activities to continue year-round, even in the rainy months, to increase the range of activities on offer, to improve the motor skills of children and young people and to fight against diseases such as rickets in a more effective way
  • Construction of changing rooms and bathroom facilities, promoting improved personal hygiene
  • Delivery of an educational pathway that uses sport to promote equal opportunities for girls and boys and integration between street children living on campus and the surrounding community
  • Beneficiaries: 100 street children (Busajo Campus residents) and 100 non-resident children (external users)

 

Partner

Remba Island Education, Health & Nutrition Project

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Kenya
Start date 03/01/2020
End date 07/01/2021
Cost of the project € 9,220
Foundation funding € 4,300
Project identifier 2019190
Partners Power for the People (PFP)
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Remba Island is situated in Lake Victoria Homa Bay County on the north-south border between Kenya and Uganda. It is a small, densely populated island and home to some 20,000 people whose economy is entirely dependent on fishing. It is also home to people from all over Africa, the majority being Abasubas, Luos and the Somalis of Kenya; there are also fishermen and traders from Southern Sudan, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and other African countries. Crime is inevitably high, including rape, theft, prostitution and drugs.

Sanitation and health are very poor. Huge mounds of garbage spread disease and pollute waters along the shore, water that is used for bathing, cooking and hygiene. There are only four public latrines on the island, two of which at the local primary school are kept locked by their owners. The latrines are shallow holes that leak into the nearby lake, and the smell from them is overwhelming. Many residents resort to defecating in the open. In rainy periods, the human waste is washed into the surrounding lake.

Prostitution and sex-for-fish is rife among the female population, and inevitably multiple sexually transmitted diseases are widespread on the island. Most of the children on the island suffer from malnutrition. There is no light or fencing at the school, and in the evening,  there is pitch black darkness. Our project partners, EPGE DREAM Kenya discovered that children were sexually abused and raped but managed to stop it and have the perpetrators arrested.

DREAM subsequently asked us to partner with them on this project. The children – girls and boys – are football fanatics but have nowhere to play and no kit. The ground is rocky and covered in rubbish. The island authorities and residents have told us the football pitch will not only benefit the children, but also teenagers, who after a long day of fishing can let off steam by playing football instead of drinking and fighting.

Project content

The programme will provide basic infrastructure to support women and children on the island – economically, nutritionally and educationally. The intention is to reduce prostitution, rape, sexually transmitted diseases and malnutrition, while improving children’s school attendance and women’s literacy and business skills.

The local and county authorities have already provided the land for the poultry farm, kitchen garden and football pitch.

Objectives

  • Promote sustainable livelihoods for the participating women
  • Improve literacy, business and life skills among the participating women
  • Provide food security and better nutrition for the women and their families
  • Improve school attendance and the graduation rate for the children

Project activities

This will be achieved by:

  • setting up a poultry-raising programme and kitchen garden for a select group of women, providing them with jobs, food, education, training and mentoring It will also generate revenue to further develop their community;
  • establishing a football pitch and island team with uniforms, whose players will be selected on the basis of academic performance and school attendance;
  • providing electricity for the school in return for a literacy and business training programme for the women;
  • security lighting at strategic points on the Island to reduce crime, in particular rape.

The project will be monitored for a period of three years before the assets are transferred to the island women’s group.

Expected results

  • A new poultry farm will be set up as well as a chicken garden
  • Build a new football pitch and create teams
  • Install electricity and security (fences) at the school
  • Increased food security for the women - Women and their families have at least one nutritious meal per day
  • Improved school attendance and performance of children - Improved school attendance and performance of children

Partner

UVS International Education Centre

Location and general information

En cours
Location Senegal
Start date 04/19/2018
End date 01/01/2022
Cost of the project € 340,063
Foundation funding € 200,000
Project identifier AFR-0108
Partners Unis Vers le Sport (UVS)
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

Talibé is the name given to children living on the streets of Senegal. They are on the streets for various reasons: many are orphans, from poor families or marginalised because of a disability. Left to take care of themselves, their main objectives are often simply to find enough to eat and a roof to sleep under. In this desperate situation, the children of Saint-Louis find refuge in violence or drugs, using substances such as glue in plastic bags.

Life is also tough for children living at home with their family. With financial resources scarce, one out of every two children do not attend school but carry out household chores or painstaking work in the fields from a very young age.

Project content

In 2008, Unis Vers le Sport, in cooperation with UNESCO, opened its first school in Mali, which enabled more than 160 children from disadvantaged families to benefit from school education, sports activities, medical care and vocational training. Unis Vers le Sport would like to open a similar school in Saint-Louis, where the French organisation has been running various education and sports-based projects since 2002.

The UVS International education centre will have:

  • dormitories for boarders
  • a dining hall and kitchen for the children’s meals
  • three classrooms
  • an administrative building
  • a barn for animals and a fenced plot of land
  • a toilet block
  • an indoor sports court (basketball, volleyball, handball)
  • a football pitch

The sports activities available at the UVS International centre will also be used to promote prevention campaigns relating to local health issues (malaria, typhus, etc.) and to raise public awareness concerning various topics such as children’s rights.

Objectives

The centre has a two-fold objective. In cooperation with the Saint-Louis social services, it will accommodate and take full responsibility for the street children of Saint-Louis by offering them:

  • board and lodging
  • a full school curriculum
  • medical care
  • vocation training from age 16
  • daily sports activities
  • micro-credit when they leave the centre in order to start their own business
  • access to suitable regular sports activities for children from neighbouring villages that do not have any sports facilities or equipment of their own
  • the centre will be totally self-financed by agricultural activities (farming and market gardening)

Expected results

  • Initially, to take in and look after 100 Saint-Louis street children
  • To offer sports activities to 5,000 pupils of schools within a 20km radius of the UVS centre. A school bus service will enable the children concerned to enjoy a variety of suitable sports activities run by experienced sports coaches.
  • The center is self-financed

Partner

“African Black’n Blue” developing children’s resilience through education and football

Location and general information

Ongoing
Location Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project € 377,736
Foundation funding € 153,460
Project identifier 2019880
Partners Inter Futura srl
Categories Access to Sport - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

The African Black’n Blue project will run primarily in four sub-Saharan countries, with the involvement of Italy through its coordinating partner Inter Futura.

Angola

The country's population is growing rapidly and is expected to double to over 47 million by 2060.

The urban social situation is challenging. Structural development has not kept pace with the growth of the population, and poverty has contributed to an increase in juvenile crime. In addition, Angola received just over 12,000 refugees and around 3,000 asylum seekers at the end of 2007, the vast majority from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Angola’s health situation is critical. In 2005, the estimated life expectancy was just 43 years and infant mortality was estimated to be the highest in the world, at a rate of 187.49 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Against this backdrop, sports activities play a preventive and developmental role in at-risk groups of children.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to suffer from a particularly unstable climate. The west of the country is affected by violent demonstrations, while the provinces of North and South Kivu are affected by persistent fighting among non-governmental militia composed of former soldiers and tribal groups.

However, malnutrition and the collapse of the health structure are the main causes of death. The population increased fivefold in the latter half of the 20th century, from 16.5 million in the 1960s to 80 million today (United States Census Bureau). Ten-year population growth forecasts indicate an increase to 100 million by 2025. The infant mortality rate is 54 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Cameroon

Cameroon has 25 million inhabitants with the urban population at 60%. The country is divided into 8 main ethnic groups (Cameroon Highlanders, Equatorial Bantu, Kirdi, Fulani, North-western Bantu, Eastern Nigritic, other African and non-African) with 250 subgroups and a linguistic division between the French-speaking majority (80%) and the English-speaking minority (20%). The country is at high risk of civil war. In addition, there are currently 300,000 refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigeria. 50–55% of the population lives below the poverty line, the quality of healthcare is insufficient and life expectancy is low.

These social challenges prompted Inter Futura, in collaboration with a local partner, to set up a project that emphasises ethnic integration using football as an educational tool for peace in a country where football is considered almost a religion by many.

Uganda

Uganda continues to experience the aftermath of the civil war. Many crimes against humanity have been committed, including the slavery of children. The conflict in northern Uganda has killed thousands and displaced millions more. The Ugandan public sector is considered one of the most corrupt in the world and the country’s literacy rate stands at 68%.

Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2012, 37.8% of the population lived on less than $1.25 a day. Despite making huge strides in reducing the incidence of poverty across the country, poverty remains deeply entrenched in rural areas, where 84% of the population live. People in rural Uganda depend on agriculture as their main source of income, with 90% of all rural women working in the agricultural sector. In addition to agricultural work, rural women are responsible for looking after their families – preparing food and clothing, fetching water and firewood, and caring for the elderly, sick and orphans. They work an average of 15 hours a day compared to men, who work between 8 and 10 hours.

Gender inequality is the main obstacle to reducing poverty among women. Women are submissive to men, which reduces their power to act independently, participate in community life, learn and escape domestic violence.

Children living in these areas are also underprivileged according to all United Nations health parameters:

  • physical health
  • psychological health
  • social health

With regard to their physical health, the majority of children are underdeveloped from a physical and nutritional point of view. This is certainly linked to food shortages, both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. In addition, drinking water is very poor and often polluted. Data is equal across age groups (6 to 14 years) and genders.

The main psychological health problems encountered are low self-esteem and self-awareness linked to difficult family situations and poverty, low tolerance to frustration, hostile behaviours, and high levels of anxiety due to a lack of caregivers or parents.

With regard to their social health, children have problems building relationships and violent verbal and physical behaviours are common. Children suffer from low levels of empathy, which is key to maintaining social relationships.

Project content

Inter Futura operates the Inter Campus project in 30 countries around the world, helping thousands of children and 200 local coaches every year. Inter Campus is present in the four above countries in two ways:

  • through the steady presence of its four partners: Polidesportivo Salesianos de Dom Bosco (Angola), Centre Sportif Camerounais (Cameroon), Alba Onlus (DRC) and St Joseph’s Primary School (Uganda);
  • through regular visits by the Italian staff, aimed at sharing experiences with the local partners and monitoring progress.

Inter Campus has developed a theoretical and practical didactic methodology to help its local social partners better achieve their specific goals through continuous sports activities with children (boys and girls) from 6 to 13 years. Inter Campus uses football as a tool to develop not only the children’s motor skills, but also the social, cognitive and emotional aspects of their behaviour. Sports is a means to promote education, health, development and peace.

African Black’n Blue: developing children’s resilience through education and football aims to promote knowledge exchange between the various actors, giving groups of local representatives the opportunity to meet each other and share their personal experiences. Through a number of travelling seminars, benefiting from the specific knowledge of every local partner and the social methodology Inter Campus has been using for many years, a boost will be given to local coaches’ skills and children’s personality development.

Despite a tough overall situation, one to three priority issues have been identified for each country:

  • Angola: Health improvement, sanitary protection and crime prevention
  • Cameroon: Ethnic integration and improvement of rural areas
  • DRC: Secondary prevention targeted at street children in rural areas
  • Uganda: Gender equality, education and entertainment

Objectives

The project’s goal is to help socially deprived children combat the problems they encounter in their everyday lives. This may be violence, poor sanitary conditions or nutritional deficiencies affecting their physical development. Working on and off the pitch, with a good network of partners and strong support from its local partners, Inter Campus hopes to alleviate these difficult conditions and create a virtuous circle from which future generations can benefit.

Inter Campus also pledges to respect the ten fundamental values and principles set out in the UN Global Compact and to promote sustainable solutions.

The project aims to:

  • promote children’s right to play by organising regular training sessions;
  • support education through leisure and sports activities;
  • support social and sanitary programmes;
  • ensure gender equality by encouraging the participation of girls;
  • develop a new football-related social methodology, closer to children’s local needs and local coaches’ on-the-pitch experience;
  • create a strong network among the four sub-Saharan countries involved to lower barriers and take advantage of cross-cultural capabilities.

Project activities

  • 16 one-week clinics and monitoring visits (four in each country)
  • Four transnational meetings, one in each country
  • Production of a specific methodology compendium based on both local partner knowledge and Inter Campus’ experience in terms of sports’ social power
  • Utilization of the above-mentioned methodology to foster children’s right to play, always focusing on education, development and health protection
  • A focus on gender equality, especially on female integration and equal access to sports opportunities
  • Football training sessions for every child, every week, benefiting around 1,500 children per year

Expected results

The direct beneficiaries of the project will be the local trainers involved in the staff exchanges (12). They will also be responsible for passing on the knowledge gained during the transnational meetings to their local colleagues (60) not having participated in these meetings. The indirect beneficiaries will be the boys and girls of Inter Campus Angola, Cameroon, Congo and Uganda, aged 6 to 13 years.

The number of children expected to indirectly benefit is 1,500, broken down as follows:

  • Angola (800)
  • Cameroon (200)
  • Uganda (250)
  • Congo (250)

Girls are expected to account for around 15% (250).

Partners

 

Showing exclusion the red card

Location and general information

Closed
Location Burkina Faso
Start date 01/01/2020
End date 12/31/2021
Cost of the project € 555,940
Foundation funding € 175,000
Project identifier 2019824
Partners Samusocial International
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Samusocial International has been helping its partner, Samusocial Burkina Faso, to develop adapted care for street children in Ouagadougou, since it was created in 2003. These children run away from dysfunctional, often violent families and are left to fend for themselves as there is a lack of public protection for vulnerable children. Without family protection, street children are deprived of their basic rights and exposed to violence. To survive in this context, they develop self-protection measures but also gradually suffer desocialisation, which results in altered perceptions of themselves, of time and space, and losing any confidence in society in general. Struggling every day to find ways to survive, often suffering from violence and abuse, they lose any sense of belonging to humanity as a community and seek refuge in themselves. Offering them a way off the street therefore involves recreating social bonds and helping them to regain trust in others.

Project content

To fight against social exclusion of street children in Ouagadougou, Samusocial Burkina Faso has developed various services, including mobile teams carrying out street rounds, an emergency shelter, and a day-care centre. It also supports its partners in building and consolidating a continuum of care, including assisting street children and teenagers wanting to leave the street.

To complete the support for street children, Samusocial International will help Samusocial Burkina Faso to develop sports activities as a key tool to rehabilitate these very damaged children. Sport has always been part of the activities offered, particularly in the Samusocial shelter; however, these activities were considered mostly occupational and not exploited for their educational and resocialisation potential. The project will enable Samusocial Burkina Faso’s beneficiaries to:

  • facilitate social integration through sports activities;
  • develop life skills through sports activities, such as a sense of responsibility, respect, fair-play and team spirit, communication, trust.

 

Objectives

Objective: Contributing to the social inclusion of street children in Burkina Faso, using sport as an adapted tool for their specific needs

Specific objectives: Teaching the children to take responsibility for their actions, treat others fairly, value communication and mutual respect, through sports activities

Project activities

  • Activity 1: Introducing professionals to the sport-based project methodology in working and training sessions
  • Activity 2: Carrying out street rounds five nights a week, to identify at-risk children and teenagers, offer them medical care, psychosocial support, awareness and educational activities, and refer them for day-care activities or for shelter.
  • Activity 3: Providing day-care services for street children and teenagers, five mornings a week, including participation in resocialisation activities through sport
  • Activity 4: Providing shelter and all related support and activities for children who need a rest off the street or who are ready to initiate a stabilisation process, including the creation of a football team
  • Activity 5: Developing a football cup for Samusocial children and other children (girls and boys) supported by partner organisations
  • Activity 6: Supporting and following up on children who are ready for a long-term solution off the street

Expected results

  • 500 street children provided with sports activities as resocialisation and educational tools each year
  • 700 street children (including 100 girls) benefiting from social and medical care each year
  • 235 street rounds carried out each year
  • 14 professionals working for SSBF and its partners trained to apply the sports-based project methodology
  • 2,000 children given access to the day-care centre every year
  • 120 children provided with shelter every year
  • 180 children in the football team
  • 2 football cup tournaments organised
  • 50 children helped to leave the streets, go back to school, move into a long-term partner centre, return to live in their families

 

Partner

Kick for Trade

Location and general information

Terminé
Location The Gambia and Guinea
Start date 09/01/2019
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project € 287,750
Foundation funding € 200,000
Project identifier 2019585
Partners International Trade Centre and streetfootballworld
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Globally, more than 59 million young people are unemployed and nearly 136 million of those who are working continue to live in poverty. Young people are often denied decent employment opportunities or the possibility of setting up their own businesses due, for example, to skills mismatches or a lack of access to finance. Such barriers to employment and entrepreneurship stand in the way of young people applying their skills, making their voices heard, and actively shaping society, creating an environment of decent work and successful trade that works for them.

Through Kick for Trade, the project consortium of International Trade Centre, streetfootballworld, Kick4Life, FedEx Express and the UEFA Foundation for Children aims to ensure that youth are part of the game and  receive the training they need to support them in their professional development and entrepreneurial aspirations.

Project content

Football offers an opportunity to engage with young adults who are far from the job market and need career guidance. Through the Kick For Trade project, the International Trade Centre plans to develop two toolkits – life skills for employability and football for entrepreneurial skills development – to address specific youth development needs among young people in and returnees to The Gambia and Guinea.

The project is aimed at young people from different backgrounds, delivering demonstrable results that move participants closer to education, training, employment and entrepreneurship.

In addition, Kick for Trade will develop the capacities of local football coaches to deliver employability and entrepreneurship curriculums included in the toolkits.

 

Objectives

The project aims to:

  • achieve a measurable and sustainable positive social impact for young adults, helping to develop their life skills and entrepreneurial skills;
  • train local football coaches to deliver life skills for employability and football for entrepreneurial skills programmes;
  • demonstrate support for youth development through football in The Gambia and Guinea.

Project activities

Project activities in The Gambia

  • Development of toolkits for “Life Skills for Employability” and “Football for Entrepreneurial Skill Development"
  • Stakeholder event in the Gambia to introduce Football for Employability and Entrepreneurship
  • Toolkit validation workshop
  • Training of trainers
  • Curriculum rollout
  • Ongoing capacity development for local coaches

 

Project activities in Guinea

  • Adaptation of the Kick for Trade “Life Skills for Employability” and “Football for Entrepreneurial Skill Development” toolkits
  • Development of Monitoring & Evaluation Framework and progressions strategy
  • Training-of Trainers (ToT) workshop to develop the capacities of life skills football coaches
  • Kick For Trade curriculum roll out
  • Stakeholder event in Guinea to introduce football for employability and entrepreneurship
  • Ongoing capacity development for local coaches.

Expected results

  • Increase in the number of young people and local football coaches engaged in the programme
  • Increase in the number of young people who successfully gain skills and motivation
  • Increase in the number of young people who improve their academic standing and economic well-being, and who move from education and training into employment and entrepreneurship

Partner

Football for health prevention

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso
Start date 01/01/2019
End date 12/31/2019
Cost of the project €412,000
Foundation funding €181,249,20
Project identifier AFR - 2018491
Partners Streetfootballworld
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

The issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) involves complex social, cultural and gender-specific factors. Since that practice contributes to the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, eliminating FGM is also an essential step on the road to achieving other sustainable development goals (SDGs), including targets relating to health and well-being, high-quality education, safe motherhood and economic growth, all of which are underpinned by work that empowers women and girls. It is clear, moreover, that the struggle against HIV/AIDS requires a far greater focus on women, since the reasons for women’s particular vulnerability to HIV are complex and varied. Indeed, social obligations and the lack of dialogue between men and women remain persistent barriers to the containment of both FGM and HIV.

With all of that in mind, this project focuses on female empowerment, education and the life skills of marginalised young people (both male and female).

Project content

This project offers low-threshold access to safe spaces where girls and young women can open up, build trust and acquire the knowledge they need to lead healthy, autonomous lives, ultimately acting as an important vehicle for change. We use football as a way of engaging in a sustainable manner with an extremely hard-to-reach target group: vulnerable children between the ages of 10 and who are living in areas that are particularly affected by HIV/AIDS and FGM. That target group will be given comprehensive information relating to sexual health, personal rights, and the risks and realities of both HIV/AIDS and FGM via a fun, innovative and educational football-based programme. The project will seek to engage with young people and other members of the community through training sessions, football festivals, discussions and workshops, and these activities will be delivered with the support of local multipliers. Educators and coaches will be trained to deliver HIV/AIDS and FGM-related football activities in their own local communities, and they will be given extensive support in this regard. Activities will be implemented in cooperation with health facilities, community centres, sports clubs and other local organisations with a view to providing information, testing and appropriate counselling to a wide audience.

 

Objectives

The UEFA Foundation for Children, streetfootballworld and the various local partners are aiming to achieve the following objectives:

  • Local partners acquire competence and expertise in a controlled organisational environment and systematically anchor the Football4Good method within their respective organisations. Those partners take responsibility for implementing project activities for disadvantaged children and adolescents and develop the skills needed to teach the Football4Good method at local/regional/national level.
  • 3,000 participating children and young people learn to protect themselves and others against health risks such as HIV/AIDS and the practice of FGM.
  • 40 volunteer multipliers establish civic structures and independent training courses where health messages are conveyed. In addition, 20 young programme alumni between the ages of 18 and 35 serve as mentors for a new generation of volunteers, further improving their own knowledge and skills, which they can then pass on.
  • Parents, siblings, teachers of participating children and adolescents, and decision-makers from the worlds of politics, religion and civil society gain knowledge about innovative approaches to health education as regards FGM, the prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexual/reproductive health/rights. As part of this, knowledge transfer will take place through target groups’ participation in community festivals.
  • The concept of ‘quality management’ is developed and implemented in project operations, laying the foundations for its future use outside West Africa.

Project activities

  • Thus far, 3,000 children between the ages of 10 and 18 (30% of whom are girls) have participated in at least 60% of all weekly training sessions in project locations in West Africa.
  • 70% of those 3,000 children have gained knowledge about FGM, the prevention of HIV and sexual/reproductive health/rights through their participation in such training sessions.
  • Participants have access to a sheltered forum where they can engage in open discussions about sexual/reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, FGM and health education in general.
  • At least 70% of the 40 volunteer multipliers have successfully completed their training and received their certificates.
  • At least 70% of those 40  multipliers are running weekly local education and football training sessions, providing simple and effective health messages to more than 3,000 young people.
  • Five high-impact festivals have been successfully implemented with a view to engaging with communities, families and local stakeholders as regards health education (FGM, prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexual/reproductive health/rights, etc.), gender equality, football and life skills.
  • 80% of local partners have reported an increase in their competence and expertise as regards the implementation and assessment of Football4Good
  • In cooperation with local stakeholders, a sustainability strategy for safe spaces (community pitches) is being developed and put in place in Dano, Burkina Faso, to ensure that usage remains in line with the project’s developmental objectives in the longer term.

Expected results

  • Health education: Reduction in new HIV infections and a decline in the incidence of FGM in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast through (i) the delivery of football-based life skills training sessions which improve knowledge and encourage positive behavioural change, and (ii) the training/education of multipliers, who communicate the project’s values, activities and methods to children and peers in their own communities.
  • Establishment of safe spaces: Building of football pitches, which creates a safe space for young people and the broader community, underlining football’s ability to foster behavioural and social change.
  • Quality assurance: Establishment of a quality management process that supports the implementation of programmes in the West African region and serves as a basis for the design and implementation of Football4Good projects in general.

Partner