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 Fondazione Inter EF
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 Côte d’Ivoire 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 Côte d’Ivoire 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

Girl Power at the Football Foundation

Location and general information

Terminé
Location South Africa
Start date 12/01/2018
End date 12/31/2019
Cost of the project €133,000
Foundation funding €25,000
Project identifier AFR 2018489
Partners Grootbos Green Future Foundation
Categories Personal development

Context

The Football Foundation of South Africa, which is subsidiary of the Grootbos Green Future Foundation, was founded in 2008. Its aim is to build a network to reach large numbers of beneficiaries through local schools and the community in South Africa (in the area between Stanford and Gansbaai in the Western Cape). Most South Africans attend schools that are overcrowded and under-resourced. Few qualify for university and very few can afford tertiary education. The aim of the project is to empower South African girls by giving them improved opportunities in football, other sports and life skills, along with a better, sustainable future, improving their position in society. Young girls are particularly vulnerable and disempowered in low-income communities. The town of Gansbaai is situated in a rural area with an exceptionally high rate of unemployment and characterised by an influx of migrant workers from neighbouring Eastern Cape. Unemployment and a lack of parental guidelines often result in young girls having to take on parenting roles in spite of their young age.

Project content

Educational initiatives include the grassroots soccer HIV/Aids programme, female empowerment programme, Dibanisa environmental education, food for sport and various life-orientation curriculums that are developed using football and other sports terminology to illustrate and consolidate life skills and learning. Programmes are tailored to girls and boys in two age groups. For children up to 6 years, there is a programme that develops gross motor skills; for children from 6 to 19 years there is a programme for afterschool training and opportunities in football, hockey, athletics, rugby, netball and canoeing in Gansbaai, Stanford and Hermanus.

Additional guidance programmes are provided for over 1,300 high school students a year to help them with subject choices and career guidance.

The female empowerment programme is essential in reaching out to young girls who are, in the organiser’s opinion, increasingly difficult to reach through sport once they become teenagers.

Objectives

To empower vulnerable young girls and teenagers by giving them access to sport, educational programmes, environmental awareness and health programmes.

Project activities

  • Female empowerment
  • Excursion
  • Self-defense course
  • Inclusive integration camp
  • Grassrooths soccer HIV testing
  • Multiple sports trainings, camps and tournaments

Expected results

  • Increase attendance among girls from age five and into their teenage years
  • Increase the number of girls who attend the female empowerment programme from 20 in 2018 to 60 in 2019
  • Increase the number of girls who attend Rock the Boat canoeing from 11 in 2018 to 20 in 2019
  • Increase the number of girls who take part in football, rugby, hockey, netball, track and field, cross country from 2,286 in 2018 to 2,500 in 2019
  • Increase the number of girls attending swimming from 77 in 2018 to 100 in 2019
  • Organise a girl power tournament to coincide with International Women’s Day

Partner

Malawian Youth Kicks Back

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Malawi
Start date 01/01/2019
End date Ongoing
Cost of the project €240,000
Foundation funding €54,886
Project identifier AFR-2018652
Partners SIMAVI
Categories Access to Sport - Children with disabilities - Personal development

Context

The UEFA Foundation for Children’ support will help develop the sporting dimension of the project, which aims to combat the gender stereotype, that women are inferior to men, in Malawi. As a consequence, girls and young women feel vulnerable and are often the target of sexual and gender-based violence.

Project content

The Centre for Alternatives for Victimised Women and Children (CAVWOC) organises sports activities, such as football and karate, to bring vulnerable girls and boys together in a setting of greater equality.

The goal is for the children to learn mutual respect, develop self-esteem and start a process of resilience. Combining sports training with information on sexual and reproductive health rights will help girls and boys protect themselves.

If the girls play football with boys, the masculinity related to the game will disappear. This will give an enormous boost to their self-esteem and will be one step towards breaking the gender stereotype. Sport will help the girls to work in a team and develop their objective-setting skills. Working with coaches, trainers, and teammates to win games and meet objectives is great practice for success later in life. Sport will also make them better able to accept defeat and emerge stronger from it. Being a team player will make it easier for them to work with others and resolve issues, whether on the field or in their personal lives.

CAVWOC will set up 12 girls’ football teams and organise a football tournament, inviting successful national female players to take part. This experience will boost the girls’ feeling of empowerment.

CAVWOC has run a pilot programme to teach the girls karate, and it has increased their self-esteem and confidence and even the boys are more understanding and treat the girls equally. In addition, the karate training helps them to defend themselves.

In addition to the sports activities, boys and girls will take part in the information campaign about sexual and reproductive rights. We aim to reduce the inequalities and power imbalance between boys and girls. We believe that men and boys are not only part of the problem in gender imbalance, but also part of the solution. This is one way to increase solidarity with girls. Male champions can influence their peers about how boys and men can support girls.

Beneficiaries:

  • 1,000 vulnerable children aged between 16 and 18 living in rural areas
  • More than 76% are girls
  • Around 5% are disabled children
  • 5% are orphans
  • 25% live in difficult social contexts

Objectives

The overall objective is to reduce the number of women and children that encounter rights violations in Malawi. The project provides infrastructure and support to enable communities to acknowledge and value the laws that protect and allow all women and children to live healthy lives and sustain themselves financially.

A society in which women and children feel safe and protected from gender-based abuse and are economically strengthened.

Project activities

  • Educate 30 boys and girls on sexual rights and health (SRH) and a gender-transformative approach (GTA).
  • Support girls’ football
  • Raise awareness of teen pregnancies and gender equality
  • Teach girls karate
  • Train girls in leadership
  • Communication with international female football stars

Expected results

  • 15 girls and 15 boys trained in SRH and GTA
  • 8,000 youngsters taught awareness of teen pregnancies and gender equality
  • 12 girls’ football teams set up
  • 30 girls taught karate
  • 30 girls trained in leadership skills
  • Nationwide campaign on female empowerment with the support of international female football players

Partner

Tusobola

Location and general information

Closed
Location Uganda
Start date 01/01/2019
End date 12/31/2020
Cost of the project €250,000
Foundation funding €100,000
Project identifier AFR-2018270
Partners Right To Play
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Kampala has an estimated population of over 1.5 million according to the 2014 national census. It has 62 informal settlements that are home to 560,000 families, most of which do not meet minimum humanitarian standards for access to water, shelter and sanitation facilities. The impact of poor sanitation, coupled with the lack of hygiene knowledge and bad practices, is evident in Kampala, especially among low-income households.

According to a Right To Play assessment report, Kamwokya is one of the most poorly planned and congested settlements in Kampala. The quality of public sanitation is still poor and there is a serious lack of sewer systems. It is estimated that fewer than 10% of the residents make use of these systems, while the rest use on-site or collective sanitation facilities with a few well-maintained public toilets. Kamwokya has both public and private health service providers, public and private education services at primary and secondary level, and no public tertiary education institution. The teacher-to-pupil ratio remains as high as 1:110, reducing access to effective and quality teaching that caters for children’s needs, especially girls and vulnerable children, contributing to the high youth unemployment rate in the city.

Based on studies carried out by the Uganda Youth Development Link and other organisations, the key challenges in Kamwokya include child prostitution, high school drop-out rates, high teenage pregnancies, child labour, drug abuse, youth unemployment, absolute poverty, poor health services, child abuse and limited education opportunities for most children and teenagers. These challenges also negatively affect overall community development.

Project content

The Tusobola (Improving Quality Education through Sport and Play) project aims to enhance the quality of children’s education in Kamwokya. In a series of training courses, school teachers and community coaches from youth associations will be equipped with the tools to run regular, good-quality sport and play-activities. These activities will enhance the life skills of the child beneficiaries, and address issues of child protection, gender equality and health. The project will take a proactive approach towards engaging community stakeholders (parents, caregivers, education authorities, community-based organisation, local leadership) to address barriers to education and positive youth development in Kamwokya.

Objectives

Right To Play uses sport and play as a way to develop life skills and increase knowledge in children and teenagers, so that they are well equipped to rise above their challenges. The Right To Play methodology comprises several manuals of football for development, positive child and youth development and play-based learning. This approach ensures that:

    • children and teenagers learn football skills through age- and developmentally appropriate activities while gaining important life skills;
    • they learn how to make better life choices;
    • positive attitudes, values, and behaviours are promoted;
    • children have access to good quality education in a supportive environment, using play-based learning.

Project activities

The project will comprise the following key activities:

  • Train 40 teachers in gender-responsive play-based methodologies. Teachers will attend a series of courses, be monitored continuously, and take part in themed workshops to meet specific needs. This professional development approach contributes to the project’s sustainability;
  • Train young people to become football coaches in partnership with the Ugandan Football Federation (FUFA);
  • Build networks of teachers so they can exchange information about good practices;
  • Raise parents’ awareness of the benefits of play-based learning;
  • Teach girls about menstrual health and reusable sanitary pads;
  • Organise regular sports and play activities in schools and communities to give children the opportunity to learn life skills, such as self-confidence, communication and leadership outside the classroom;
  • Organise stakeholder and community review meetings to share best practices and project progress;
  • Advocate for healthy and positive learning environments by ensuring that environment-related health risks are minimised or avoided altogether.

Expected results

  • Children and teenagers engage in regular sport and play-based learning activities
  • Teachers and coaches are trained in child-friendly and participatory play-based learning, gender equality and creating a positive learning environment
  • Improved school attendance rates among children and teenagers
  • Partner schools have an established safe and positive learning environment

The programme is expected to benefit 3,500 youngsters aged 6 to 18, 40 teachers and 20 coaches, as well as parents, caregivers, and other community members in Kamwokya.

Partner

Using football to end child marriage and FGM in Tanzania

Location and general information

Closed
Location Tanzania
Start date 02/01/2017
End date 01/31/2020
Cost of the project €824,000
Foundation funding €39,186
Project identifier AFR-2018571
Partners Plan International UK
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Tanzania has one of the highest rates of child marriage globally, with over 37% of girls married before their 18th birthday. Early marriage not only has a significant impact on girls’ health, well-being and personal development, but every year more than 8,000 girls in Tanzania drop out of school due to child marriage and pregnancy. Moreover, the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is closely tied to marriage in Tanzania. Complex social pressures can force girls into having the procedure, but it can be extremely dangerous. To give girls a future beyond an early marriage, and to enable them to say no to FGM, they need help in claiming their rights and changing the minds and attitudes of their communities. In this context, Plan International UK has set up a project to work specifically in the regions of Geita and Mara. In Mara 40% of girls are subjected to FGM; significantly above the national average of 15%.

Project content

We are seeking to create real change in people’s attitudes towards girls and young women, to enable these individuals to exercise their rights and to have the potential to be more than just a wife or mother. To do this, we will engage the support of decision-makers and seek to change the minds of those in charge.

Additionally, in order to include the most at risk and most marginalised girls, namely those who have dropped out of school, the project is working with village leaders to identify girls living in remote areas with disabilities and without parental care. Girls are at the heart of this project. We will be working directly and extensively with them to give them the skills, knowledge, attitudes and power they need to make their own choices.

Objectives

With the support of the UEFA Foundation for Children, and by engaging young people through football, the objective is to help girls raise their voices against the traditions which affect their rights. Reaching young people through peer support and young women through vocational training, we will work to create lasting change in several communities by engaging with men, women, leaders and government officials. The ultimate goal is to use football to end child marriage and FGM in Tanzania, as well as to empower girls and young women.

 

Project activities

  • Build a support network for girls by setting-up 49 girls’ clubs in 31 schools with the aim of creating a safe and supportive space for girls who are likely to face the challenge of traditional harmful practices.
  • Encourage girls to raise their voices by delivering training in life skills to members of girls’ clubs during sessions, helping them to build self-esteem and self-worth.
  • Bring issues onto the football pitch and into the open. 40 coaches (30% female) will be trained to deliver football drills for 1,470 girls and 620 boys. The events will use football to spark discussions and boost knowledge about early marriage and FGM. Generally speaking, football will be used to attract support.
  • Turn influential women into champions of change. We aim to secure the support of female decision-makers and empower them to raise their voices against harmful practices.
  • Give vulnerable girls the chance to earn a living. In parallel with working alongside influential women, 160 of the most marginalised girls and women aged 15-24 will take part in a livelihoods development scheme. They will be trained in starting their own businesses and with their own independent income they will be better-equipped to negotiate the pressures of early marriage.
  • Help communities support young people to reject FGM and early marriage. We are seeking to create real change in people’s attitudes towards girls and young women, so that these individuals can exercise their rights and have the potential to be more than just a wife or mother. To do this, we will engage the support of decision-makers and endeavour to change the minds of those in charge.
  • Effectively engage with communities and gain government support. To achieve real and lasting change, it is vital that local leaders work with the project. We will meet with the key decision-makers at district, ward and village level to introduce the project and ensure their support. We will make everyone aware of the relevant policies and laws about children’s rights and examine the impact of early marriage and FGM on girls and their communities.
  • Strengthen and support local systems for protecting girls. This will be achieved through establishing and supporting child protection teams at government level, collaborating with these teams to maximise their effectiveness, and influencing the government’s decisions by working closely with national and district authorities.

Expected results

In total, 1,470 girls will be helped to raise their voices against the traditions which affect their rights. Through peer support networks we will reach a further 2,100 young people, and 160 young women will be provided with vocational training.

Overall, the objective is to create lasting change in 31 communities by engaging with leaders and government officials. The project has been developed with local partners and has a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities, thus ensuring sustainability of the aims and achievements. The expected results will be to spread awareness, knowledge and support among young people, and girls and women will be empowered to make informed decisions about child marriage and FGM.

Partner

Good Health and Well-being through Football

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Lesotho
Start date 06/01/2019
End date 06/01/2020
Cost of the project €244,210
Foundation funding €122,105
Project identifier AFR-2018543
Partners Kick4Life
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

Over the last few years we have become aware that the various health challenges facing young people in Lesotho are interconnected and that there is a need for a holistic approach to health education.

These challenges include the following:

  • HIV is prevalent in Lesotho and young people are vulnerable to infection due to a culture of multi-partner relationships, pressure to have sex at a young age, a lack of access to HIV testing and counselling, stigma and discrimination.
  • Drug and alcohol abuse are another key driver of new HIV infections.
  • Both poverty and food insecurity contribute to the propagation of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and respiratory illnesses.
  • Poor standards of hygiene lead to the spread of preventable communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.
  • Road accidents kill or injure more than 1,500 people every year in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho.

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

  • Street children
  • HIV+ youth
  • Orphans
  • Teenage mothers
  • Children and teenagers living in poverty
  • At-risk children and vulnerable girls
  • Children engaged in child labour

Project content

The project includes the development and delivery of a holistic and integrated health and well-being programme for 3,000 children and teenagers in the Maseru district of Lesotho, using football to engage, educate and motivate positive behaviour change.

The programme will focus on key health challenges faced by vulnerable girls and boys, including:

  • Communicable and noncommunicable diseases
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Nutrition
  • Sanitation and hygiene
  • Road safety
  • Mental health
  • Access to health services
  • Environmental protection

There will also be a strong gender-equality and life-skills component, with personal development critical to ensuring that acquired knowledge leads to sustainable changes in attitude and behaviour.

Objectives

The project will conduct a mapping exercise to identify partners in other districts of Lesotho that can be trained to deliver the programme going forward. This will ensure effective future scalability of the initiative to reach many more vulnerable young people in Lesotho. The programme will also be developed with a high level of flexibility so that it can be adapted to a variety of health challenges, offering potential for delivery by other organizations beyond Lesotho and for the most pressing health challenges in any given community.

Project activities

The programme includes the following sessions:

  1. Welcome to Good Health & Well-being through Football: A focus on building self-esteem and gaining the confidence to be active members of the programme. It considers the importance of making your own choices, building a support structure and setting goals.
  2. Tackling HIV: Covers the basics of the HIV virus and encourages healthy behaviours that prevent infection.
  3. Goal Protection: Promotes the importance of protection and prevention when it comes to sexual health.
  4. Be Fair (gender equality): Focuses on promoting gender equality, challenges stereotypes about the role of women in society.
  5. Only Girl Goals: Reinforces the importance of gender equality and valuing the contribution of women and girls in all areas of society.
  6. Nutrition & HIV: Explores how good nutrition and regular meals can boost the immune system of someone living with HIV, and how diet can support the effectiveness of medication.
  7. Healthy versus Unhealthy: Empowers participants by giving them the knowledge to judge what is healthy, and what is not.
  8. Be Healthy and Be Clean: Focuses on healthy eating and exercise and how developing healthy behaviours can reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The session also covers the importance of basic hygiene and sanitation in preventing illnesses such as diarrhoea and food poisoning.
  9. Balanced Football: Focuses on eating healthily and the importance of a balanced diet in maintaining good health.
  10. Planet Football: Focuses on the importance of protecting the environment, including topics such as recycling, single-use plastic and rubbish collections. The session includes a group discussion about how they can make a difference to the environment in their own communities.
  11. Crossbar Soap of Challenge: Reinforces the importance of cleanliness and promotes safe practices regarding hygiene and sanitation.
  12. Be Safe on the Road: Focuses on road safety, avoiding risky behaviours and encouraging safe practices when crossing roads.
  13. Traffic Football: Reinforces the importance of avoiding risky behaviours for pedestrians and the importance of crossing roads safely.
  14. Balanced Future: Brings together everything learned in the programme. Each participant is helped to develop an individual plan and goals to improve their health in the longer term.

The programme will be delivered by our experienced and inspirational coaches through local partnerships, as well as reaching out-of-school youth through an extensive network of community-based organizations and community mobilisers.

Expected results

  • 3000 children and young people complete the programme, demonstrating improved knowledge and attitude related to health
  • 3000 children and young people have improved health and well-being
  • 15 young people trained as programme coaches
  • 300 young people have improved access to health services through referrals to external health provision
  • 1000 children and young people linked to further development opportunities with Kick4Life

The project will include a robust approach to monitoring and evaluation that will assess changes in knowledge, attitude and behaviour, in line with the specific targets of SDG 3.

 

Partner

Girls’ football league: Mutola Cup

Location and general information

Terminé
Location Mozambique
Start date 02/01/2019
End date 11/30/2019
Cost of the project €200,000
Foundation funding €80,000
Project identifier AFR-2018573
Partners Futebol dá Força
Categories Access to Sport - Personal development

Context

In Mozambique 60% of the population lives below the international poverty line. Traditional social practices deteriorate the situation further; the educational system remains poor and 50% of Mozambican girls marry before the age of 18. Early marriages lead to less power in decision-making and early unwanted pregnancies, increasing the risk of maternal and child mortality. In this context, girls unfortunately have very few ways of obtaining information and support when they need it.

To improve the situation, alternative educational platforms that can reach girls need to be set up, empowering these young women by giving them knowledge and practical information on how to exercise their rights daily. The independent foundation, Futebol dá força, which uses football to empower girls is actively engaged in creating this educational platform for both girls and their community. By providing safe places and football teams with well-equipped leaders, the goal is to influence girls’ ability to improve their own future prospects.

Project content

Futebol dá força has a plan to develop a girls’ football league in Mozambique called the Mutola Cup. The football league is a structure which already exists, and it is run jointly by local stakeholders, such as the Mozambican Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Health, as well as the Mozambican Football Association. Concretely, training sessions and football matches will be organised, as well as workshops and interactive discussions on topics including life skills, children's rights and sexual and reproductive health. This will create an established safe space where people, especially girls, can engage in dialogue.

 

Objectives

  • Reaching 15,000 girls (aged 11 to 15), increasing their awareness of children's rights and health issues
  • Empowering these girls to build agency and increase their self-esteem
  • Engaging community members to highlight the role they play in girls’ strategic life choices
  • Training 800 voluntary football coaches, of which 100 should be female
  • Organising football training, matches and workshops
  • Maintaining low costs, in order to integrate the project as part of everyday activities
  • Having a long-term impact, which means working closely with the national structures

Project activities

The girls’ football teams will have several weekly training sessions between February and November. The training sessions, reaching 15,000 girls (15 to 25 per team), will take place in eleven provinces in Mozambique. In parallel, together with local stakeholders, the Mutola Cup football league will take place between April and October, as part of which girls’ football teams will play games every Saturday at district level.

Before each football game, the 800 volunteer coaches trained will facilitate a workshop with the girls on key topics linked to their rights and health with the purpose of increasing their ability to make informed decisions regarding their future. The workshop themes will be streamlined throughout the football league so that all teams get access to the same evidence-based information.

In addition to the girls' workshops and between games, the coaches will engage spectators at the football grounds. In this way, the message will also be shared with the girls’ parents, friends, siblings and other community members, meaning approximately 45,000 individuals. Here, the focus will be on how community members can apply children's rights, in particular sexual and reproductive health rights, to support girls in their decision-making processes.

Expected results

In practice, Futebol dá força will look at a number of indicators measuring the current situation and future opportunities for girls, to assess whether the expected changes in attitudes and behaviour actually take place. These indicators include:

  • girls' views of their own value (self-esteem)
  • attitudes in relation to gender equality
  • assessment of girls’ treatment by the surrounding community
  • access to educational opportunities
  • number of early marriages, pregnancies, school drop-outs and cases of abuse

The objective is to track the achievable outcomes by doing a baseline survey and monitoring the activities and their quality. Regular visits will be conducted and, at the end of the project year, a follow-up end-line survey will be conducted.

 

Partner

Solidarité aveugle ; Blind Solidarity

Location and general information

Context

The project began with keen photographer Catherine Cabrol taking pictures of blind and partially sighted children at the Institut des Jeunes Aveugles (IJA), a school for blind children in Bamako. Catherine, who is also founder of the Libre Vue (Free View) association, wanted to connect with these girls and boys in a meaningful way and help them by selling her photos to fund a project to introduce them to blind football.

Thanks to her photography and the support of benefactors, Libre Vue was able to build a pitch designed especially for blind football, which opened in October 2012.

Solidarité Aveugle (Blind Solidarity) is a sustainable project designed to promote and develop blind football activities at the IJA. Focusing on the considerable needs of the school, the project aims to improve the lives of blind and partially sighted children by using football as a force for integration and development. By visiting mainstream schools, the project also aims to raise awareness among other children and change attitudes towards disability and difference. Sport plays an educational role, promotes important values, combats exclusion, improves well-being and increases self-esteem. At the IJA, the children receive special education, but in difficult conditions and with poor infrastructure. Sports facilities are limited and the football pitch, which floods during the monsoon season, requires regular maintenance.

Project content

In 2017, Libre Vue received initial support from the foundation following the annual call for projects. This funding was used to achieve the following objectives:

  • management of the sports centre and its activities;
  • first-rate training of coaches and young players in blind football, in accordance with international standards;
  • organisation of Mali’s first blind football cup; the first official tournament in Bamako was finally held as described in the interim report
  • raising awareness of visual impairment among the young people of Bamako;
  • building of new facilities, including separate showers and changing rooms for girls and boys. This ‘house for blind football’ project was finally launched at the end of 2018 and will finish in April 2019. The part of the grant earmarked for this project was therefore used at the end of last year.
  • participation of young people from Libre Vue in the Africa Cup of Nations thanks to additional funding alongside the association’s crowdfunding campaign

Results obtained:

  • 120 young people, including 35 girls, aged between 7 and 25 benefited from the project.
  • Four weekly training sessions were organised.
  • Eleven coaches were trained by a coach and a player from the French blind football team.
  • The ten best youngsters participated in the CAN2017 in Cape Verde, winning a silver medal that enabled them to qualify for the Blind Football World Championships in Spain in 2018

At the IBSA Blind Football World Championships held in Madrid in June 2018, the Mali team finished tenth out of 16 participating nations, a remarkable performance for a first appearance.

[Photo of the Mali team at the World Championships]

On 21 April 2018, UEFA and the United Nations Office in Geneva joined forces to organise the Match for Solidarity. All the gate receipts, along with funds generated by an auction, were donated to humanitarian and development projects selected by the UEFA Foundation for Children.

Some of this income was used to provide a second payment to the Blind Football in Bamako project. Further activities are being planned for 2019 and 2020.

Objectives

  • Make blind football more accessible: annual pitch maintenance and gradual renovation of existing facilities; replacement of sports equipment (bell balls, including Youthorama mini-balls (also recently provided by your organisation), blindfolds, shirts, shin guards, bags, boots); and purchase of specific equipment for girls (sports bras).
  • Promote elite performance: support from an expert coach for competition preparation, assistance from therapists; purchase of specific equipment (treadmill, exercise bike and street workout equipment); training for referees and guides; and coach education.
  • Adapt the ‘house for blind football’ partially funded by the foundation (opening in spring 2019): furniture for the changing rooms and teaching staff offices; and energy-producing technologies (solar panels to heat water for the showers and generate electricity for the building).
  • Encourage girls: launch of an art project combining photography and a poetry competition to help partially sighted girls excel; organisation of an event at the French Institute in Bamako; and publication of an explanatory booklet.
  • Promote economic and social integration: help with clothing and mobility (white sticks, transport subsidies); awareness-raising in schools; academic support (braille paper, portable braille computers for older children); and creation of a professional integration centre involving companies in Bamako.

Project activities

  • 120 blind and partially sighted children participate in blind football activities, with access to a new building with changing rooms and showers
  • 20 youngsters are given extra support to play at elite level
  • 12 youngsters receive support with professional integration from a dedicated project manager
  • 120 young people receive general support
  • 16 girls involved in an art project

Partners

Children on the Move Uganda

Location and general information

Closed
Location Moyo, Uganda
Start date 01/01/2019
End date Ongoing
Cost of the project €296,592
Foundation funding €140,000
Project identifier AFR2018161
Partners Swiss Academy for Development (SAD), Community Psychosocial Support Organisation (CPSO, local partner)
Categories Children with disabilities - Conflict victims - Personal development

Context

The current conflict in South Sudan has led to the arrival of nearly 800,000 refugees in Uganda, the largest group of refugees in the country.[1] Uprooted from their homes as a result of the war, many refugees suffer from severe mental illness. Unfortunately, trauma victims are rarely treated on account of the focus on meeting immediate basic needs. In addition to mental illnesses, UNICEF recently reported that over 4,400 children and 2,706 pregnant women in Ugandan refugee camps were living with HIV.[2] These figures do not include undeclared cases, which could be much more numerous. It is therefore vital that refugees are given accurate information.

In addition to health issues, tensions and conflicts between the refugees and their host communities serve to amplify the difficulties faced by the refugees.

[1] UNHCR, https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/southsudan

[2] UNICEF Uganda CO Humanitarian Annual Situation Report 2018  https://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/UNICEF_UGANDA_CO_Humanitarian_Annual_Situation_Report___January_to_December_2018.pdf

Project content

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 65% of South Sudanese refugees are under the age of 18.[1] In this context, the Swiss Academy for Development (SAD), in collaboration with the Community Psychosocial Support Organisation (CPSO), wants to enable young refugees in the Moyo district to better cope with trauma and stress by increasing their resilience and self-belief and by encouraging peer support through sport and play-based psychosocial activities. A 24-month programme of supervised group sport and play activities, including non-competitive team sport, will be implemented to help them overcome feelings of stress and anxiety and develop social cohesion, trust and critical life skills. Life skills training will be expanded to include HIV/AIDS awareness, while a new environmental focus will highlight the need to maintain a clean space within the camps.

[1] UNHCR, https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/southsudan

Objectives

  • To support the most vulnerable young South Sudanese refugees living in camps in the Moyo district.
  • To offer regular sport and play-based programmes designed to help children and young people to build essential life skills, strengthen resilience and foster social cohesion between refugees and local populations.
  • To improve young refugees’ resilience and offer them sustainable livelihoods.
  • To reduce the negative psychosocial effects of war-related trauma on displaced children and young people from South Sudan.

Project activities

The sport and play sessions will be based on the ’Life Skills for Overcoming Trauma and Coping with Stress Curriculum’, which the SAD and the CPSO developed together and is being continuously adapted. In an easy-to-read format with clear objectives for each session, the curriculum document contains precise instructions for every activity, while teaching aids are adapted to refugee camp settings. Each session will be followed by an educational activity on topics relevant to the participants’ age group, such as alcohol and drug abuse, child marriage and early pregnancy, HIV/AIDS prevention, psychosocial awareness, hygiene and healthy relationships.

Similarly, the ‘Children on the Move Uganda’ project will provide a theoretical basis for the organisation of sports programmes specifically designed for victims of trauma.

Supervised team sports (particularly football) and life skills games will continue to be used as a powerful vehicle for bringing children and young people from different social backgrounds together in a relaxed and enjoyable setting, where they can share their emotions – both verbally and non-verbally – and be distracted from their immediate sorrows and suffering. At the same time, sport and play activities will strengthen social bonds among refugees and members of the host community, and provide a positive, safe space to deal with difficult emotions such as fear and frustration.

The project will include group discussions and workshops designed to raise refugees’ awareness and understanding of the mental health problems that could result from their exposure to traumatic events before, during and after their displacement. Participants will be taught a variety of response and coping strategies.

Discussion sessions will also help CPSO psychosocial counsellors to identify more serious psychological problems, as well as problems with family dynamics that require individual, family or group counselling or referral to more specialised mental health care services.

Expected results

 

  • During phase I, the CPSO has been working in eight of the 15 camps established for refugees from South Sudan in the Moyo district. In phase II, it plans to extend its activities to two more camps and open two new safe spaces as well as five satellite playgrounds. In total, ten safe spaces and ten satellite playgrounds will be established within the ten camps. Weekly sport and play sessions for children and young people will be planned and run by a total of 20 coaches. Five additional coaches will be recruited. Sessions will be held at a convenient time for all (late afternoon) and last two hours.
  • The provision of sport and play activities in a psychosocial context requires an effective team of facilitators. To this end, the SAD and the CPSO will train existing and newly recruited coaches to run trauma-informed sport and play activities and use sport, games, drama, singing and storytelling to lead discussions on coping with trauma and daily stress.
  • Weekly sport and play sessions will be followed by educational activities aimed at children, young people and women, covering topics associated with trauma, PTSD and coping strategies. Participants will learn how to recognise the signs of trauma and PTSD, and will develop their personal understanding of coping strategies.
  • Thematic sessions will be run for children, young people, women and men on health (HIV/AIDS), peace-building and conflict resolution. This will support their general well-being, and their resilience and ability to cope in particular.
  • Individual, family and group counselling sessions will be held to provide children, young people, men and women with support and a safe place to talk about psychosocial issues and concerns. Through these sessions, participants will strengthen their support networks, improve their communication skills and find a safe place to discuss challenging issues.
  • Ten mobile clinics (one for each camp) will be equipped and ready to provide medical support for camp residents with severe mental health disorders. Patients who exhibit signs of need during sport and play or counselling sessions will be referred to these clinics.
  • Ten additional saving and loan groups will be established to give young people and men an opportunity to develop an income-generating activity.
  • Technical training (i.e. entrepreneurship and agriculture) will be provided to at least ten groups of young people, women and men in each camp to help them establish their income-generating activities.
  • Seed capital will be provided to help young people, women and men start their income-generating activities based on the training they receive.

Partner

BOPHELO KE KGWELE – “The game, The life!”

Location and general information

Context

In South Africa, physical education was removed from the school curriculum in 1994, before subsequently being reinstated, thanks to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, among other things. However, sport is generally neglected in townships such as Mamelodi, which have few suitable sports pitches and playing fields. As a result, only schools with sufficient infrastructure and financial resources are able to offer such lessons, which are essential for children’s development.

Project content

The Bophelo Ke Kgwele (The game, the life!) project offers a programme based on three pillars: educational support, sport and the development of life skills. Through extracurricular activities combining sport and education, it aims in particular to equip children with the tools they need to develop as people and reduce high-risk behaviour. The project uses football (among other sports) to drive social cohesion, personal development and children’s awareness of issues such as criminality, health, HIV/AIDS, self-esteem and high-risk behaviour (violence, alcohol, drugs, gangs, early and unprotected sex, teenage pregnancies, etc.). Most of these activities, which are supervised by six young local coaches, are held on the public Rethabile Sports Ground (RSG) and at the project’s partner schools.

IMBEWU runs the Bophelo Ke Kgwele (The game, the life!) project in partnership with Altus Sport, a local organisation that has spent almost 20 years providing youth education through sport, and four partner primary schools that host the ‘Read & Write’ educational support sessions. Aimed at children in years 1 to 4, these sessions are teacher-led, although youth leaders can also monitor the children’s progress and help them with any problems. Furthermore, since many children in Mamelodi township are malnourished, the project’s objectives now include a nutritional element, with each participating child given a piece of fruit every day (except Fridays, when the number of participants is unpredictable).

Objectives

The primary objective of the project is to use sports and educational activities to improve the life chances of children from the townships and to help them become drivers of change within their own community.

  • Improve children’s physical and mental well-being: sport gives children and young people a healthy lifestyle, and this is accompanied throughout the programme by personal development sessions spelling out sport’s intuitive lessons.
  • Support children’s general education by means of ‘Let’s Read’ sessions: enabling the very youngest children (six to eight years old) to learn to read and write in English in a stimulating environment.
  • Raise awareness and provide information about HIV/AIDS: the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS is one of the main issues addressed at these sessions, as children and disadvantaged groups in townships have to deal with this pandemic from a very young age.

Project Activities

‘Let’s Move’ sports sessions

The children participating in the project learn how to play a wide range of sports four times a week throughout the year. Every Friday, non-participants are also invited to attend open-doors events known as ‘Fun Fridays’, when sports matches and tournaments are organised.

‘Life Skills’ sessions

‘Life Skills’ sessions promote social awareness and health prevention through fun, interactive games. They start with a game that focuses on a specific life skill, which is followed by a discussion on the chosen theme. The children then participate in an activity linked to the theme, before the session concludes with a final game involving the sport and the life skill taught during the session. The sessions address social and health-related topics such as HIV/AIDS, the environment, rights and responsibilities, criminality and gender equality. Older children tackle more sensitive issues linked to sexual and reproductive health, drug use and various addictions.

Educational support

Through its ‘Let’s Read’ programme, the Bophelo Ke Kgwele project offers support with reading and writing in English to children aged between six and eight.

Camps and other weekend and holiday activities

In order to give children a chance to get away from the harsh realities of life in their township, camps are organised once a year, when they can escape, discover nature, spend time with their peers and develop a sense of responsibility by cooking, cleaning and tidying. These camps also enable the coaches to assess the children’s leadership skills.

Monthly meetings and training sessions for the six young coaches

A training workshop is held for all the coaches involved in the projects run by Altus Sport in order to provide opportunities for discussion and dialogue between the young leaders and offer them training that will help them find employment.

Expected results

Specific objective A:

Enhanced psychosocial well-being and general education for the children and teenagers participating in the Bophelo Ke Kgwele project.

Expected results A:

A.1         Improved social skills and behaviour among the children and teenagers participating in the project.

A.2         Improved personal skills among the children and teenagers participating in the project, as well as development in various areas such as leadership, target-setting, sense of responsibility, etc.

A.3         Improved English and critical thinking skills among the children and teenagers participating in the project.

A.4         Improved sports performance and health among the children and teenagers participating in the project.

Specific objective B:

By building partnerships, the local partner (Altus Sport) becomes stronger, more sustainable and more autonomous in the local and international contexts.

Expected results B:

B.1          Local partners (primary schools, Tshwane municipal authority and parents) are involved in the project and contribute to its sustainability and success.

B.2          Lessons learned from the experience within the partner organisation are used to improve the quality of the project.

Partners

IMBEWU, Altus Sport, Pula Difate, Zakhele, Balebogeng and Mononong primary schools, University of Pretoria