Youth development scores a goal

Project description

Title: Youth Development through Football (YDF)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: South Africa and up to ten other African countries
Lead executing agency: Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA)
Partner: Governmental and non-governmental organisations throughout the partner countries
Overall term: 2007 to 2013

Context

All over the world sport in general - and football in particular - is increasingly considered a suitable tool for youth development. Not only does football have the power to unite people and cultures all over the world, but as a team sport it promotes fairness and tolerance, leap-frogs gender boundaries and fosters mutual understanding, thereby contributing to the positive development of personality and character. The enthusiasm of the youth for football also provides a perfect opportunity to combine the game with educational measures.

In South Africa the number of socially disadvantaged youths is considerably higher than in countries in the northern hemisphere, with many coming from difficult familial relationships. Almost 50 per cent of 15- to 24-year-olds are unable to find work after they finish school, and struggle to achieve recognition in their communities. These are figures with an enormous potential for social conflict, which schools alone have little chance of countering. This is where the Youth Development through Football (YDF) project comes in.

Objective

The project is targeted at non-profit organisations and government bodies both at national and provincial level. It aims at them using the social and educational potential of football and sports in general for youth development in South Africa and in other African countries. The focus is on disadvantaged girls and boys. The project provides skills that help them to shape their lives and improve their future perspectives and inspires to create enduring structures that will become a long-term investment.

Approach

The project which is co-funded by the European Union was initiated in 2007 as a legacy of the 2006 Football World Cup in Germany. YDF is targeted at disadvantaged youths in the 12- to 20-year-old bracket across the race spectrum. The project cooperates with governmental and non-governmental institutions that already successfully use football for youth development, and further capacitates them. It has also embarked on public-private partnerships with VW South Africa and Nike. The project is part of the Mass Participation Programme of the South African Sports Ministry and works closely together with schools and sports coordinators.

The project uses football for extra-curricular education and for the involvement and integration of socially disadvantaged youths in their communities. In addition, it uses the sport to strengthen civil society and as an opportunity for people to meet. Project approaches differ according to the needs of provinces and countries. Thematic focal points relevant to development include environmental protection and the prevention of crime and violence and of HIV/AIDS. Interventions are aimed directly at the coaches and at the youths.

YDF’s national partner, the South African Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA), has recognised the project’s potential and has consequently integrated it into its national Mass Participation Programme.

Successful approaches are standardised and notated in easily understandable manuals that serve as ‘toolkits’ and are disseminated as widely as possible. The YDF Toolkit comprises manuals for the training of instructors and coaches and focuses on the role-model function of the coaches. It illustrates how social competencies (so-called 'life skills') can be integrated into football, and underlines the responsibility of the coach towards his/her players.

With the help of these manuals, young coaches are trained in such a way, that they are able to transfer the concepts of the project even to remote areas of the nine South African provinces and to the other nine African partner countries. YDF also uses sporting events that emphasise the promotion of the youth to explain the approach of the project. It furthers networks that focus on social change through sport, and is part of Nike’s Sport for Social Change Network (SSCN). The project’s progress and success is regularly monitored by the University of Johannesburg. The results serve to improve the concept continuously.

Results achieved so far

Together with the South African Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA), YDF has created enduring structures. The project is implemented in all the South African provinces as well as in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zambia.

To date, the project has directly reached around 30,000 young people in South Africa and a further 30,000 in the nine other African countries. More than a third of the participants are between 13 and 16 years old and almost 40 per cent are girls. Many of them were previously unemployed. Over 90 per cent increased their self-efficacy as well as their pro-social skills and 30 per cent decreased their anti-social behaviour. In their communities, these young people function as important disseminators of information and as messengers for the YDF project.

Approximately 100 instructors function as multipliers and messengers for the concept of youth development through sport. Over the same period, more than 500 coaches have been trained in the use of football coaching as an extra-mural learning platform to effect social change.

In addition to the core manuals on football coaching and life skills, three specific short modules for instructors and coaches have been finalised or are currently being developed. Their focus is on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and of crime and violence, as well as on environmental education. The YDF Toolkit, as the manuals are collectively known, is currently undergoing an accreditation process and will subsequently be integrated into the South African Mass Participation Programme as official educational and training material. In 2011 UNESCO took over patronage for YDF and its toolkit.

The project has elicited much publicity, and journalists from all over the world have come to see YDF in action and report back to their home countries. In addition, it has attracted the interest of a fair number of politicians and international organisations, and formed an important part of South African-German cooperation in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup 2010TM.

South Africa. Foto: Ralf Baecker. © GIZ

Youth Development through Football Video (2010)

      Further information


      Contact


      Gerald Guskowski
      Email: gerald.guskowski@giz.de