Right to Play Sport Health Programme

Right To Play trained coaches living in Chilenje teamed up to form a group called the Junior Coaches In Concern (JCC). This group was formed to use the attractions of sport and play among their peers as a rallying point for interacting with the youth, especially the girls, about topics including child abuse, preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

On June 12 2004, the programme held an under-16 girls' soccer tournament, which attracted 9 girls' teams. The tournament was held at the Chilenje Community grounds. Before the teams could play football, the players went through Right to Play child holistic development games (called Red Ball Child Play Module). Later on, the teams and their coaches went through a one-hour workshop on child abuse, HIV/AIDS and early pregnancy.

The Red Ball Child Play module is based on a holistic child development, with each of the balls representing an area of child development: mind, body, spirit, health and peace. Right To Play has created a number of games and play activities for each ball that allow children to learn in a fun and memorable way. The Red Ball Child Play module is often implemented through schools. Teachers are also taught the material so they can continue to implement the activities on a regular basis.

Children

In December 2003, during the International Child Health Week, Right To Play organized a national launch of The Red Ball. The Red Ball is a worldwide symbol of positive health behaviour and is Right To Play logo and philosophy. The Philosophy "Look After Yourself, Look After One Another" is written on the Red Ball. The Red Ball has been seen during the National Measles Campaign of June 2003, among other health programmes.

Other programmes within the project are:

• Coaching Education: Coach Training The objective of the coach training is to train a pool of local coach volunteers that can implement the sport activities and manage daily sport and play activities with the children. The module consists of practical sport skills, leadership, communication skills, project management, health issues (first aid), child development, evaluation processes and group dynamics. Experienced coaches can participate in extra workshops that teach them how to train new coaches. More than 800 volunteer coaches have been trained since September 2002.
• Health Education Initiative: Live Safe, Play SafeLive Safe, Play Safe is a health education programme module designed to give children knowledge about personal health and the skills to make the decisions needed to maintain their health.
• Community Capacity Building: Community-based Group and Networks (CGN) Right To Play Project works with any existing community or sport groups and networks as well as with local, national and international NGOs. The purpose is to ensure active community leadership and participation in both the planning and implementation of the programme. This group is responsible for the management of the sport leagues, the planning of infrastructure construction and special events.
• Light Infrastructure Development: Sport and Play Facilities In some project locations the community requests support to develop sport and play facilities in order to host regular activities in a safe environment. Right to Play will then upgrade and repair existing facilities or build new ones to a limited extent.