Grassroots sports development gets another boost from a major global sporting name

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation South Africa announced that it has started funding three new community-based projects, namely Boxgirls, United through Sport and AMANDLA Edufootball. With the addition of these three new projects, the Foundation is now supporting 18 projects across South Africa with many of the existing projects having a multitude of sites that implement their sport for good programmes, ultimately impacting a total of 70 communities across the country.

The Foundation will also now fund the new Grassroots Soccer site in Alexandra, Johannesburg, which has over 400 active students enrolled in the programme, an extension of their current partnership with Grassroots Soccer in Khayelitsha.

“We are really excited and honoured to be in partnership with these projects, they are doing some remarkable work in their respective communities. We would like to thank each of them for their continued hard work and dedication, as well as welcome them to the Laureus family” said Brett Graham, Executive Director, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation South Africa.

“We have set a number of key short and long term goals as an organisation, one being to reach more kids across South Africa, and this expansion is definitely a step in the right direction. We are witnessing a significant shift, with many sustainable social change projects emerging, focusing on a variety of different sporting disciplines, whilst addressing key social issues. These are exciting times, as we are seeing first-hand how the model of using sport to inspire our youth, and effect positive change is gaining more momentum in our communities. We will continue to do our best not only in terms of funding, but also to provide our projects with the necessary tools to equip themselves effectively.”, concludes Graham.

The three new social change projects that will funded by the Laureus SA include:

Boxgirls

For the last 7 years Boxgirls South Africa has been working with primary schools to bring self-defence and leadership training to girls and young women in disadvantaged communities. Founded in 2009 as an initiative of local volunteers, they have registered as a Non Profit Company and launched its Girls’ Leadership Education Programme in 5 primary schools located in the urban townships of Khayelitsha just outside Cape Town. Today there are 20 primary schools in Khayelitsha that are part of the Boxgirls community. Their mission is to help girls and young women in socially disadvantaged urban areas of South Africa to develop strong personal skills, create a supporting social network and improve their academic skills so they can broaden their current and future opportunities.

o   Website: www.boxgirls.org.za/en/boxgirls-south-africa/

o   Facebook: www.facebook.com/BoxgirlsInternational/

United through Sport

United Through Sport is a South African registered non-profit organisation focussed on using sport as a tool to develop children and youth from disadvantaged communities across Nelson Mandela Bay.  The project focuses on the following sporting codes: Football, Rugby, Cricket, Netball, Hockey, Tennis, Basketball and Swimming. Currently the programme reaches over 18 000 disadvantaged and vulnerable youth with direct sports coaching and life-skills programmes, each of these children completing the 18 hour United Through Sport curriculum. Their educational programmes are currently yielding 87% average improvements in English scores and 83% average improvements in maths scores.  They have 63 children on full 5 year high school scholarships at top level schools around Nelson Mandela Bay and so far have a 100% University placement rate for their Senior School of Excellence Programme.

o   Website: www.unitedthroughsport.org.za

o   Facebook: www.facebook.com/uts.za/

o   Twitter: @utscharity

Amandla Edufootball

AMANDLA uses the power of football combined with holistic education to empower young people and to change lives. As a catalyst, AMANDLA Safe-Hubs serve as safe, educational, youth friendly centres in communities characterised by poverty, unemployment and inequality. They currently operate in Diepsloot, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu. Since the project begun, youth participation in AMANDLA activities has increased by 92%. With the aim of continually improving its reach and impact, AMANDLA monitors and evaluates all activities on a regular and ongoing basis. Currently, over 3,000 young people benefit on a weekly basis from AMANDLA Programmes. Additionally, countless young people in the immediate vicinity have come into contact with the programme through educational activities and positive role models. The continual increase in participation proves and strengthens the attraction and relevance of the AMANDLA Programme for young people.

o   Website: www.edufootball.org/en/

o   Facebook: www.facebook.com/EduFootball/

o   Twitter: @AMANDLAFootball

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation currently funds 18 different social change projects across South Africa. The Foundation’s overarching goal is to use sport as a tool for social change, to help young people overcome the limitations imposed by challenging social issues including poverty, homelessness, war, violence, drug abuse, discrimination and AIDS.

For more information on the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation go to: http://www.laureus.co.za/

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• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaureusSouthAfrica/
• Twitter: @Laureus_sa