About Coaching for Hope
Skillshare International's Coaching for Hope programme aims to use football and art to:
- Empower disadvantaged children in the developing world.
- Empower local coaches and youth workers in the developing world.
- Help combat HIV and AIDS.
- Raise awareness of global poverty amongst new UK audiences.
How does it work?
Coaching for Hope uses football to empower vulnerable young people in the developing world and help make them aware of the dangers of HIV and AIDS. We do this by training local coaches and educators to provide football and HIV and AIDS education to vulnerable kids in their communities. The local educators take part in intensive week long courses where they receive training in HIV and AIDS education as well as expert coaching tuition from UK Championship and Premiership football coaches. Once the schools finish they receive ongoing top up training and support from UK coaches and Coaching for Hope field staff to help them put what they learned into practice. Over time the local educators are trained to take over from the UK coaches and run their own Coaching for Hope schools. The aim is to spread grassroots community football throughout some of the world’s poorest regions, sparking a domino effect that will deliver key messages about HIV and AIDS along the way.
Find out more about Coaching for Hope in Burkina Faso.
Find out more about Coaching for Hope in Mali.
Find out more about Coaching for Hope in South Africa.
Why football?
It’s the world’s number one game. A universal language, football is played across Africa. Bringing children together in this way is a great opportunity to build their confidence and self-esteem and give them a positive, fun experience. It also gives local coaches and youth workers the chance to receive vital training in HIV and AIDS prevention and develop their coaching skills.
Why art?
Coaching for Hope aims to empower local children and art is one very important way of doing this. It gives disadvantaged children the opportunity to express themselves and interact with one another in entirely new ways as well as an opportunity to develop through creative play.
What is the aim here in the UK?
We want to build awareness amongst new UK audiences of the harsh daily realities of life for disadvantaged young people in the developing world. By forging links with English football clubs and using the media to spread the message about our work we hope to bring new people into the debate about global poverty. Coaching for Hope has generated an impressive array of coverage in newspapers, football programmes, fanzines, and major television stations. This has helped to place two of the world’s poorest countries onto the UK media radar (click here to see Coaching for Hope News coverage). We also work with schools and youth groups to raise awareness of the plight of disadvantaged kids in Africa and build new links between people based on a love of football and an appreciation of our common humanity.
Following the birth of the Coaching for Hope concept in autumn of 2004, we secured the official support of The FA and Nationwide making this a very high profile programme with enormous potential.
Philip Williamson, Chief Executive, Nationwide Building Society
“I am delighted that Nationwide is supporting the launch of International Service’s Coaching for Hope initiative in West Africa. Football is very popular amongst young people in the area, and the project will give them self-confidence, hope and essential education through football. We know that a lot of young people will benefit from the initiative and we are confident that it will be a great success.”
Geoff Thompson, Chairman, The FA
"The FA is supportive of initiatives and events which show how the power of football can help to build a better future. Our International Development programme operates all around the world developing skills in coaching, refereeing and administration. We are pleased to support the Coaching for Hope project which will use football as a tool to communicate vital messages on key issues such as HIV/AIDS as well as to develop football skills amongst young people in Mali ".
