Thank you for your entry. In regards to your listed barriers, (lack of support, inability to train local staff and find and/or develop workshop premises), I highly recommend that you reach out to the changemakers community for advice. It is clear that several entrants (some of which are fellows!) have worked through some of these questions and come up wtih ways to approach government agencies, train staff and have developed workshop guidelines. We encourage this collaboration and idea exchange!
Import substitution is something that Africa in particular needs in order to improve its economy as well as to empower the local people. You mention getting domestic manufacturers to make the sports equipment, do you have partnerships established with these manufacturers and are they equipped to make the sporting goods? How ready is the local industry to take on your wonderful challenge?
Hello Trevor:
I want to emphasize with the others above that your entry is impressive on several levels (it addresses import substitution, partnerships, government involvement, job creation, etc.)- my question about the proposal regards the potential sustainability of the model. When outside donors fund the packs, will the students value the equipment sufficiently to care for it? Even if they do (which I assume they will if they valued the sport and the newfound ability to play), you do talk about eventual needs for repair and replacement. Can you create a plan to ultimately wean yourself from reliance on outside donors to pay for the packs? I assume that even a nominal fee for participation could be out of the question, but what about other revenue-generating options? Some of the other postings hint at this possibility.
I read the aplication and was impressed with the idea, but at the same time I was alarmed by the amount of capital that is required to grow the program as you describe.
You mentioned setting up retail and wholesale relationships to sell some of your products to raise capital, but the discussion was very superficial and not in any depth. I encourage you to look for products you can manufacture and sell worldwide. There should be some niche where your plant could be competitive, even if it is a product(s) you do not use for your program.
Finding a way to make your program self sustaining in 5 to 10 years makes the idea must more supportable.
Thank you for sharing your program. What kind of educational training or toolkit is provided in connection with the kit? What kinds of curriculum and life lessons are integrated as part of the kit distribution?
Thank you again, and I will look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest regards,
Eli
Eli A. Wolff
Manager, Research & Advocacy
Center for the Study of Sport in Society
Northeastern University e.wolff@neu.edu
Patrick Gathitu is an Ashoka fellow working in Kenya on a project to use sports as a way to increase household incomes and conserve the environment. He is working to acquire and create sports equipment. His email address is etang@kenyaweb.com. I imagine that the two of you could create some great projects together! Good luck.
First of all, it was a pleasure to meet and talk with you during the international seminar on sport in post-disaster intervention. We will absolutely look into the possibilities of visiting your great organization in Uganda in order to exchange some knowledge.
We believe that your project can make many children participating in sports. However, we have some questions about it. As we have visited many schools in Kenya, we were wondering about the situation in Uganda. In Kenya, many schools in the poor area do not have sufficient facilities such as playing grounds in order to offer the children sport opportunities. Besides, most of the school teachers do not have adequate knowledge in sport or coaching skills. If this would be the case in Uganda as well, supplying them with the right equipment might not always be sufficient. How do you think to address these problems?
We hope to see you soon.
Pierre and Steffi
Mathare Youth Sports Association
After just learning about your projects in Uganda that focus on coaching and programme development, it sounds like this concept to develop sporting infrastructure throughout the school system would create enormous opportunities for millions of school children to be able to play and engage in sport and physical activity, both during and after school hours and be a drawcard to promote school attendance.
It's a great idea to create these equipment kits and this is a comprehensive strategy aimed at sustainable change. I'm interested to know if neighbouring countries, or other developing countries, have similar problems with school sporting facilities and equipment and how are these issues being dealt with in other places?
What type of organisations and institutions collaborate together to create or maintain school sports facilities? Do you (or does anyone esle) have other examples of sustainable sports facility and equipment programmes???
Good luck with getting this project off the ground!
Best regards,
Jackie Lauff
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Comments
Hello Trevor,
Thank you for your entry. In regards to your listed barriers, (lack of support, inability to train local staff and find and/or develop workshop premises), I highly recommend that you reach out to the changemakers community for advice. It is clear that several entrants (some of which are fellows!) have worked through some of these questions and come up wtih ways to approach government agencies, train staff and have developed workshop guidelines. We encourage this collaboration and idea exchange!
Good luck,
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Dear Mr. Dudley:
Import substitution is something that Africa in particular needs in order to improve its economy as well as to empower the local people. You mention getting domestic manufacturers to make the sports equipment, do you have partnerships established with these manufacturers and are they equipped to make the sporting goods? How ready is the local industry to take on your wonderful challenge?
I thank you in advance for your response!
Best,
Tyler Ahn
Changemakers
Hello Trevor:
I want to emphasize with the others above that your entry is impressive on several levels (it addresses import substitution, partnerships, government involvement, job creation, etc.)- my question about the proposal regards the potential sustainability of the model. When outside donors fund the packs, will the students value the equipment sufficiently to care for it? Even if they do (which I assume they will if they valued the sport and the newfound ability to play), you do talk about eventual needs for repair and replacement. Can you create a plan to ultimately wean yourself from reliance on outside donors to pay for the packs? I assume that even a nominal fee for participation could be out of the question, but what about other revenue-generating options? Some of the other postings hint at this possibility.
I read the aplication and was impressed with the idea, but at the same time I was alarmed by the amount of capital that is required to grow the program as you describe.
You mentioned setting up retail and wholesale relationships to sell some of your products to raise capital, but the discussion was very superficial and not in any depth. I encourage you to look for products you can manufacture and sell worldwide. There should be some niche where your plant could be competitive, even if it is a product(s) you do not use for your program.
Finding a way to make your program self sustaining in 5 to 10 years makes the idea must more supportable.
Thank you for sharing your program. What kind of educational training or toolkit is provided in connection with the kit? What kinds of curriculum and life lessons are integrated as part of the kit distribution?
Thank you again, and I will look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest regards,
Eli
Eli A. Wolff
Manager, Research & Advocacy
Center for the Study of Sport in Society
Northeastern University
e.wolff@neu.edu
Hello Trevor,
Patrick Gathitu is an Ashoka fellow working in Kenya on a project to use sports as a way to increase household incomes and conserve the environment. He is working to acquire and create sports equipment. His email address is etang@kenyaweb.com. I imagine that the two of you could create some great projects together! Good luck.
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Dear Trevor,
First of all, it was a pleasure to meet and talk with you during the international seminar on sport in post-disaster intervention. We will absolutely look into the possibilities of visiting your great organization in Uganda in order to exchange some knowledge.
We believe that your project can make many children participating in sports. However, we have some questions about it. As we have visited many schools in Kenya, we were wondering about the situation in Uganda. In Kenya, many schools in the poor area do not have sufficient facilities such as playing grounds in order to offer the children sport opportunities. Besides, most of the school teachers do not have adequate knowledge in sport or coaching skills. If this would be the case in Uganda as well, supplying them with the right equipment might not always be sufficient. How do you think to address these problems?
We hope to see you soon.
Pierre and Steffi
Mathare Youth Sports Association
Hi Trevor,
After just learning about your projects in Uganda that focus on coaching and programme development, it sounds like this concept to develop sporting infrastructure throughout the school system would create enormous opportunities for millions of school children to be able to play and engage in sport and physical activity, both during and after school hours and be a drawcard to promote school attendance.
It's a great idea to create these equipment kits and this is a comprehensive strategy aimed at sustainable change. I'm interested to know if neighbouring countries, or other developing countries, have similar problems with school sporting facilities and equipment and how are these issues being dealt with in other places?
What type of organisations and institutions collaborate together to create or maintain school sports facilities? Do you (or does anyone esle) have other examples of sustainable sports facility and equipment programmes???
Good luck with getting this project off the ground!
Best regards,
Jackie Lauff
Free University Berlin
University Challenge