Sport and Development in Africa
From SOUL BEAT AFRICA - where communication and media are central to AFRICA's social and economic development
In this issue of THE SOUL BEAT:
- SPORT AND HIV/AIDS-related knowledge summaries
- POLLon Challenges to Sport for Development Programmes
- SPORT AND PEACE BUILDING-related knowledge summaries
- A CALL FOR PAPERS on the gender dimensions of the Soccer World Cup 2010
- SPORT AND GENDER-related knowledge summaries
- Spotlight on the RIGHT TO PLAY organisation
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In 2010, Africa will host the FIFA World Cup for the first time. With only one year to go, Soul Beat Africa would like to highlight the role of sport and communication for Africa's development.
This issue of The Soul Beat shares summaries from the Soul Beat Africa website which look at how sport is being used to communicate around HIV/AIDS, peace-building, and gender equality.
If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa website and in The Soul Beat newsletters, please contact soulbeat@comminit.com
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1. Football for an HIV-Free Generation - Africa
This collaborative initiative by the Africa Broadcast Media Partnership (ABMP), Coxswain Social Investment Plus (CSI+), Grassroot Soccer (GRS), Love Life, and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) seeks to help reduce the rate of HIV infection among young Africans; re-engage young people across Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS; and help boost leadership and increased country-level focus and funding of more concerted large scale HIV-prevention across Africa. Designed to tap into the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, the project combines a sustained media campaign with community-level outreach and education programmes, using soccer to promote healthy living and responsible choices among African youth.
Contact Sandra Ngwena sngwena@gmail.com OR Grace Matlhape grace@lovelife.org.za
2. Zebras4Life-Test4Life - Botswana
Initiated in 2007, Zebras4Life-Test4Life is an HIV testing campaign led by Tebelopele Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Botswana/United States (BOTUSA) collaboration. The campaign uses the popularity of the Zebras national football team to encourage men and out-of-school youth to test for HIV. The campaign involves outreach activities where members of the football team visit communities together with HIV/AIDS counselors. Players interact with crowds and some go for HIV tests in order to encourage others.
Contact Margarett Davis cdcinfo@cdc.gov
3. Sports for Peace and Life Program - Sudan
Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian aid organisation, aims to harness the power of sport to engage young people and encourage positive social behaviour through its Sports for Peace and Life Program in Sudan. The project is using the Grassroot Soccer life skills training methodology to decrease young peoples' vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, while increasing their capacity to avert and resolve potential conflict. The project uses game-based activities to de-stigmatise HIV/AIDS, and teach youth about the difference between HIV and AIDS, how the disease is transmitted, and how to avoid infection through the use of condoms, abstinence, or by having only one partner.
Contact Grassroot Soccer info@grassrootsoccer.org OR Mercy Corps through the online contact form here.
4. The Potentials of Sport as a Tool for a Rights-Based Approach to HIV/AIDS
By Marleen Bosmans
This paper, published by International Platform on Sport and Development, explores how sport can be used as a rights-based tool that can facilitate the access of vulnerable youth - male and female - to HIV/AIDS information, education, care, and treatment. According to the author, sport has been identified as a new and important resource for reaching youth whose prior concerns and interests are not necessarily how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. The assumption is that sport can facilitate access to HIV/AIDS messages because sport is not only a favourite pastime, but is also considered to be a good way of promoting respect for diversity, tolerance, non-discrimination, and solidarity.
5. Grassroot Soccer HIV/AIDS Education Program: An Intervention in Zimbabwe
By Luba Botcheva, Lynn Huffman
This is an evaluation of the Grassroot Soccer HIV/AIDS Education Program, conducted by Grassroot Soccer Foundation in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The programme aimed to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by training adult soccer players to educate at-risk youth about HIV/AIDS. It was implemented in 9 schools in Bulawayo, targeting 7th grade students who are considered at-risk of HIV infection in their community. Fourteen locally and nationally known soccer players, recognised role models for these students, were trained to be educators for the programme. Results of this evaluation study showed that Grassroot Soccer Foundation has developed and implemented an effective intervention programme for educating at-risk youth about HIV/AIDS and how they can protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.
6. Together for HIV and AIDS Prevention: A Toolkit for the Sports Community
By Andrew Doupe
Produced by the International Olympic Committee and United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), this toolkit is designed to provide practical advice to National Olympic Committees (NOCs), sports clubs and federations, managers, administrators, employees, coaches and trainers, and athletes who have to deal with the numerous and complex issues surrounding HIV/AIDS that arise both on and off the field. According to the publishers, the toolkit focuses on HIV prevention, care, and treatment simultaneously, providing HIV prevention information while encouraging an environment in which HIV-positive people can fulfill their potential and access life prolonging treatment.
7. Kicking AIDS Out: Through Movement Games and Sports Activities
By Oscar Sichikolo Mwaanga
This book is a collection of methods, aids, ideas, and experiences related to how coaches can confront HIV and AIDS in and through sports. The central issue discussed is the strategy for adapting and creating movement games to help participants learn to develop "Kicking AIDS Out" (KAO) skills through a combination of sport and life skills. The book presents practical guidelines on how to use sports to promote information on HIV and AIDS. It is designed to promote volunteer work among young people and explains how to combine sport skills and life skills.
8. Sport in Action: Sport in the Development Process
By Mercia Takavarasha, Justin Mukumbo, Frankson Muchindu, Kizito Chileshe, Teresa Muchindika, Junie Kayoki, and Veronica Shipanuka
Realising the high capacity that play and sport has in developing and promoting behavioural formation and change, Sport in Action (SIA) has designed this resource document for persons working with children in schools and communities in Zambia. The document presents ways and means of planning and conducting play and sport for children's activities, as well as how to integrate selected Zambian traditional games with HIV/AIDS and child rights education. The toolkit includes a sport administration component that deals with leadership, sponsorship, communication, and event organisation.
9. Lurdes Mutola Foundation - Mozambique
Founded in 2001 by Mozambican Olympic running champion Maria de Lurdes Mutola, the foundation gives small grants and implements its own initiatives in the areas of education, sport, culture, and entrepreneurship. The FLM focuses on participatory youth programmes designed to help young people improve their skills, confidence, health, and development. One of their programmes, Desporto de Vida (Sport for Life), uses soccer to promote health education among youth. The programme focuses on the training of coaches on issues related to health, in particular HIV and malaria. The programme uses a manual made specifically for coaches working with 8 to 16 year olds, which introduces games that develop young people's skills on and off the field.
Contact flmutola@flmutola.org.mz
10. Commitment to Practice: A Playbook for Practitioners in HIV, Youth and Sport
This paper, published by Mercy Corps, looks specifically at the role of "plus sport" programmes, as opposed to "sport plus" programming. Sport plus programming involves young people in sport to learn new sports skills and/or improve health and social integration. Here the outcomes are sport-related. The plus sport approach discussed in this document, on the other hand, has non-sport, HIV/AIDS-related outcomes as the primary objective. The document draws on the experiences of two plus sport projects run by Mercy Corps - Yes To Soccer programme in Liberia and the Sports for Peace and Life programme in southern Sudan - to discuss this approach and assess its value and limitations. Based on these projects, the document also offers tools and recommendations intended to contribute to developing a body of knowledge on practices within sport-based youth HIV/AIDS programming.
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Which of the below options do you consider as the BIGGEST challenge facing sport for development efforts in Africa. (you may choose more than one option)
Options:
*Lack of funding
*Lack of community participation
*Lack of government/policy support
*Limited involvement of girls
*Lack of existing sports organisations/infrastructure
*Lack of partnerships
*Going to scale, still very localised
*General lack of understanding of the benefits of sports for development
To vote and send comments go to the Edutainment theme site and see the Top Right side of the page.
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11. O Jogo (The Game) - Angola
This is a radio soap opera developed by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in Angola. Broadcast in 2006, it examined the issue of national reconciliation through the lens of a fictional protagonist dreaming of playing football in the World Cup. O Jogo (which means "The Game") utilised the popularity of football in Angola to examine the concept of a national Angolan identity as a means to achieve unity and reconciliation. Besides dealing with the issue of conflict, economic disparities, and the temptation to join a street gang, the series also dealt with domestic violence, alcoholism, immigration, health issues, and teenage pregnancy.
Contact Michael Jobbins mjobbins@sfcg.org OR Frances Fortune ffortune@sfcg.org
12. Soccer for Re-integration - South Africa
Following xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa in 2008, Sonke Gender Justice, as part of its "One Man Can" project, initiated a street soccer festival in collaboration with Hope World Wide, Western Cape Street Soccer League, and Grassroot Soccer in an attempt to combat xenophobia. The soccer tournament hoped to foster re-integration and dialogue between foreigners and South Africans living in Khayelitsha, a township outside of Cape Town. The event was based on the idea that encouraging communication and shared experiences between foreign nationals and South Africans within a community will help to ease relations within that community and encourage reintegration.
Contact Dean Peacock dean@genderjustice.org.za OR Bafana Khumalo bafana@genderjustice.org.za
13. Sport as Opportunity for Community Development and Peace Building in South Africa
By Marion Keim
This paper, written for the International Conference on Sport and Development at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, focuses on the South African context of sport and development and considers if and under what conditions sport can play a role in peace-building and development. The paper argues that although sport plays a vital role in contemporary society, both as physical activity and as a place for social interaction, current sport activities by the government like the 2010 Soccer World Cup, while laudable and important, are mainly driven by economic desires and neglect the social transformative power inherent in them. In order to build a better future for all, the author states that the nation must not be afraid to engage in some very difficult self-reflection and evaluation, and begin implementing a coordinated approach to sport and development in communities.
14. Sport for Development and Peace: From Practice to Policy - Preliminary Report of the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group
This report, published by the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (SDP IWG) as part of the International Platform on Sport and Development, explores diverse approaches to sport and development. It explores a cross-section of countries, discussing what is working, the challenges, and how national governments can broaden current dialogues to strengthen and encourage more countries to engage in sports initiatives. The report suggests that sport can be a powerful part of broader national development and peace strategies. To this end, the Secretariat reviewed available English-language policy and programme information and interviewed leading government proponents of Sport for Development and Peace from 13 developing and developed countries.
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Call for papers on Gender Dimensions of the Soccer World Cup 2010
Gender Links is calling on researchers to submit discussion papers on the gender dimensions of the Soccer World Cup 2010. The paper should address issues such as: active participation and creation of space for women in decision-making structures particularly those relating to economic opportunities; how can local government use 2010 as a flagship project for benefiting women; what will the potential impact of the Soccer World Cup 2010, positive or negative, be on women in the SADC region?
For more information, contact Judith Mtsewu progofficer@genderlinks.org.za
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15. The 2010 Soccer World Cup: Opportunities to Engage Men and Boys in Advancing Gender Equality
This report documents the main themes and discussions that came out of a 2-day conference held by Sonke Gender Justice Network, Grassroot Soccer, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund in 2008. The objectives of the conference were to identify and showcase best practices related to sport and social change; identifying existing opportunities to engage with 2010 to promote gender equality; build relationships between organisations; identify shared strategies for making use of 2010 to engage men in gender equality; find strategies that link gender equality work for 2010 with the 2014 World Cup in Brazil; and discuss strategies to promote child protection around 2010 and beyond. The report points out that there are many opportunities for the global event to help support gender equality campaigns.
16. Ishraq - Egypt
Established in 2001, Ishraq is part of a series of interventions for out-of-school girls aged 12 to 15 year in 4 villages in the Minya governorate in Egypt. Initiated by the Population Council and Save the Children/USA, in partnership with the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) and Caritas Egypt, the programme works to create safe public spaces for girls and improve girls’ functional literacy, recreational opportunities, livelihood skills, health practices, and mobility. Using sports and outreach, the project is designed to influence social norms concerning girls’ life opportunities and enhance local and national decision-maker support for girl friendly measures and policies.
Contact pcouncil@popcouncil.org OR asalem@popcouncil.org
17. (she’s into sports) How Sports Promote Gender-Equity Worldwide
By Mariette van Beek and Dena Leibman
This study, conducted by Mama Cash, aims to map and analyse the current state of women-sport-and-development initiatives, and use this information to help Mama Cash refine its own grant-making to encourage best practices in using sports as a women’s empowerment strategy worldwide. According to the report, after extensive research - which involved a call for input to a wide range of actors and a document review - a wealth and diversity of women sport and development initiatives emerged. The study also reveals some of the challenges and offers the beginnings of a list of "best practices" to overcome these.
18. Letting Girls Play: The Mathare Youth Sports Association's Football Programme for Girls
By Martha Brady and Arjmand Banu Khan
This report, published by the Population Council, provides a case study of the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Kenya, and its efforts to integrate girls into a community-based, large-scale youth football programme. According to the authors, the case study provides an example of the role of sports in development, as well as its potential to transform gender norms. Specifically, it documents the nature of girls' participation in the organisation, paying particular attention to impediments to their full participation.
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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child includes the Right to Play. Based on this, the organisation called Right To Play uses sport and play programmes to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Click here for more information.
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Related previous issues of The Soul Beat newsletter include:
The Soul Beat 102 - Communicating for Human Rights
The Soul Beat 99 - Communication for Conflict Prevention and Resolution
The Soul Beat 94 - HIV/AIDS Communication
Click here to view all archived editions of The Soul Beat Newsletter.
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