Sport to improve lives of people with disabilities
Esta presentción ha sido seleccionada como finalista del desafío
Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition .
APAID's implementation of sport projects and research in developing countries aims to contribute to an improvement in quality of life of persons with disabilities.
Sobre ti
Ubicación
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
tu idea
Field of Work
health/sports
If Field of Work is “other” please define in 1-2 words below
Year project started (or projected start date) (yyyy)
2008
YouTube Upload
APAID video - English version
Video APAID - version française
Project URL (or link to any media coverage)
What is the primary problem your venture is trying to address and how are you addressing it (or planning to address it)?
The mission of Adapted Physical Activity International Development (APAID) is to improve the quality of life of people with physical and intellectual disabilities in developing countries. Serious problems exist in these countries where many children with disabilities are treated as outcast, kept hidden or even thrown out of thier homes and deserted.
In order to improve their quality of life, APAID uses adapted physical activity (APA). With this tool, we can empower people with disabilities, raise awareness about their abilities rather than disabilities and promote their rights as stated in the United Nations convention on the rights of people with disabilities (2006). To this end, APAID follows different steps:
- Partnering with local organizations that are willing to implement projects for people with
disabilities but lack the knowledge to do so.
- Capacity building and spreading of existing knowledge in the field of APA by organizing courses
about disability related topics in general and APA in specific for local partner organizations.
- Implementing projects for people with disabilities by assisting and advising local partner
organizations in the development of project proposals relating adapted physical activity, planning
and project management.
- Raising awareness about the situation of people with disabilities by including community
information meetings in the projects and by informing people in Western countries during inclusive
events, fundraising activities, presentations, workshops and letters.
- Conducting research, monitoring and evaluation of projects in order to improve running and future
projects and to develop APA tools for local partner organizations.
Name Your Project
Sport to improve lives of people with disabilities
Describe Your Idea
APAID's implementation of sport projects and research in developing countries aims to contribute to an improvement in quality of life of persons with disabilities.
Innovación
Project Description
APAID's implementation of sport projects and research in developing countries aims to contribute to an improvement in quality of life of persons with disabilities.
Unique and different
Many (international) development organization are founded to help developing countries improving the quality of life for their citizens. However, people with disabilities often miss out on the benefits of development efforts because organizations and donors do not know how to include them (Vanleit, 2008). APAID is unique because the organization aims to assist able bodied sport and development organizations in the inclusion of people with disabilities so that this world's largest and most neglected minority can also benefit.
APAID's originality comes also from the combination of sports projects with social goals (e.g. inclusion, sensitization) and research projects (e.g. physical activity level and quality of life of persons with disabilities living in the slum areas). Most organizations using sport as a tool do not include scientific research within their activities. APAID aims to develop a body of knowledge in this field of intervention in order to keep on improving their projects.
Project plan
APAID plans to continue and expand its project with MYSA (Kenya), which contains weekly recreation days and sport outreach programs which reach more than 200 children with disabilities every month. In addition, APAID will start a new project with The Kids League (Uganda) to start sport competitions for children with disabilities by January 2009. APAID also aims plans to network with other local organization for the development of new projects.
APAID intends to publish its articles on physical activity level and quality of life of persons with disabilities living in Kenya. Early 2009, APAID will collect data about the project in Kenya and about disability in (conflict affected regions in) Uganda.
Lastly, to ensure financial sustainability, APAID will continue to raise funds following the below described strategies.
Partnerships
The first succesful partnership is with MYSA (Kenya). This organization is one of the world's most famous sport and development organisation that has been awarded and nominated for a large number of prizes (including a nomination for the Nobel Peace Price). After an introductory visit and several meetings, APAID and MYSA formed a partnership. Together, we will improve the inclusion of children with disabilities in their sport projects.
Our second partnership is with The Kids League (Uganda). This well known sport and development organization works in several regions in Uganda. APAID had meetings with the director during a seminar where he showed his interest in our work. After a introduction visit to his organization we signed a partnership agreement aiming to start a project for children with disabilities.
In research terms, APAID works together with the University of Paris 10 (France) and Jomo Kenyatta University (Kenya) in order to conduct research. Furthermore, APAID is in the process of discussing possible collaboration with Stanford University (USA) and the University of Leuven (Belgium).
Impacto
Impact
APAID's projects change attitudes of community members, empower and improve the quality of life in persons with disabilities.
Effectiveness
In the slums of Nairobi, monthly 30 volunteers, over 200 children with disabilities and more than 300 community members participate in activities (e.g. sport, raising awareness).
More than 2000 Europeans have been informed about APAID during events.
How do you engage and impact the community?
In Kenya, community members (including persons with disabilities) were selected to follow an education in APA to be able to work as project volunteers. Currently, they are leading the weekly recreation days in which children from the communities take part. These volunteers also organize sport activities within their community (out-reach program). Since these outreach programs take place on open community fields, it brings together a big group of curious community members. They get the opportunity to see the abilities and potential of the active children with disabilities. In addition, awareness on disability issues (including right for peeople with disabilities and inclusion) is raised when the educated volunteers share their knowledge with the children and the community members during these gatherings.
In France and The Netherlands, we organize fundraising event and workshops in which we raise awareness on the situation of people with disabilities in developing countries.
How do you measure this impact?
APAID puts a high premium on the monitoring and evaluation of its projects. Therefore, APAID conduct scientific research to observe the impacts of the intervention. Through observation, interviews and longitudinal field data collection about physical activity level and quality of life of the participants and community members' attitudes toward people with disabilities, APAID measures its impacts quantitavely and qualitatively.
Obstacles
One of the foreseeable obstacles for maximizing our impact is the attitude of some government officials in developing countries. They do not always recognize the importance of projects for people with disabilities. By inviting them to the activities and explaining our point during meetings, we try to give them this insight (we find it important to stay with our values and therefore not using bribing as a strategy).
Another obstacle is the difficulty in finding financial support for these projects. We therefore implement projects that can be self-sustainable after a few years.
Esta presentación se trata de
Sustenibilidad
Fuente de financiamiento
(or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)
APAID is financed by donor organization, corporates and regular donors. In addition APAID organizes fundraising events, and offers workshops to schools, organizations and companies.
Our projects are implemented in such a way that they can be self-sustainable after a few years (e.g. by hiring out a renovated sport hall).
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow and sustain your project?
APAID plans to sustain and grow by partnering with reliable local partner organization who have proven to be sustainable within their culture. In collaboration with universities, we conduct research in the regions where we work to ensure suitable and (cost-)effective projects.
Furthermore, we are currently meeting with several well-known international organization to learn from their exeperiences.
Lastly, we plan to work together with a professional film maker to prepare a small documentaire that will function as promotion movie of the organization.
Finance details
Money raised:
Project in Kenya: 36 565 Euro (Donor organisation, charity actions)
Project in Uganda (for 2009): 1 200 Euro (Private donors, sale of gadgets)
APAID operating costs: 1 990 Euro (Private donors, charity events)
Number of people in the team: 3
Director of project department, Director of research department and East Africa Manager
Number of partners: 4
MYSA (Kenya), The Kids League (Uganda)
University of Paris 10 (France), Jomo Kenyatta University (Kenya)
Creative funding
APAID fills in proposals for funding, but also uses creative strategies to acquire finding. Firstly, APAID takes initiatives in organizing fundraising events such as charity sports tournament for people with and without disabilities. During these events we not only want to raise fund, but also raise awareness about the situation of people with disabilities in developing countries.
Another way in which we acquire fund is by leading workshops in schools about sports for people with disabilities or their situation in developing countries. In exchange for our information, the schools organize fundraising events, such as sponsor runs, parties and auctions.
Other non finance needs
Non-financial resources that APAID needs to sustain its projects are reliable partners, volunteers, media attention, local wheelchair producers and of course a lot of dedication and enthusiasm.
La historia
Motivation
Since early childhood, we (Steffi de Jong and Pierre Bataille: APAID founders) have been passionate about sporting activities. Life brought us many experiences with persons with disabilities that showed us the positive effects of sports on their mental and physical well being. We both decided to dedicate our future to this area. Because of that, we met each other during the international Erasmus Mundus Master on Adapted Physical Activity. Having experienced disability in Europe, we discovered another "world" while studying in South Africa. Seeing persons with disabilities in the townships who were left without assistance and locked up in their houses, made us realizing that our knowledge could contribute to a better life for these people who live in places where they do not have the right of dignity. While staying near Cape Town, we met a responsible from MYSA Kenya which is a sport and development organization focusing on children from the slums of Nairobi. This well known organization wanted to start a project for persons with disabilities, but needed help to realize that. That was the opportunity we took and with a high motivation we started this challenge. That is where APAID started...
Awards
As a young organization, APAID has not yet have the opportunity to win any awards. However, the organization is starting to receive invitations to compete for awards, even after the short time of existence.
The most honourable recognition of APAID comes from the International Federation in Adapted Physical Activity who supports APAID since its creation. APAID has also appeared in several positive articles in news-papers and relevant magazines in The Netherlands (including De Telegraaf, Nederlands Dagblad, Brabants Dagblad, Tilburgse Koerier, Onze Wereld), France (including La Voix Du Nord, Le Journal de la Haute-Marne, Le Phare Dunkerquois) and Kenya (including Metro).
Broader context
APAID is in different ways related to the youth and social change movement. First of all, APAID has been initiated by Steffi de Jong and Pierre Bataille who are two 23 years old youth working towards social change. The social change APAID aims for is the improvement in the quality of lives of people with disabilities in developing countries. Both the beneficiaries and volunteers of our projects are mainly youths. Youth that organize, youth that raise awareness and youth that brings socail change.
Lastly, our raising awareness campaigns in Europe also mainly focus on the youth in schools. We make them awere of the situation in developing countries and support them in organizaing fundraising activities to contribute themselves to a social change.
Ongoing
At this moment both of us (Pierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong) feel that we will keep on contributing to the situation of persons with disabilities and fight for their rights. We are passionated about sustaining and developing our organization. In the future, we hope to reach the point where we have trained personnel who can initiate APAID's project so that we can stay at the background to monitore, evaluate and supervise.
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| Adjunto | Tamaño |
|---|---|
| Logo | 110.87 KB |
| Empowerment through sports | 182.13 KB |
| Education of volunteers | 195.01 KB |
| A girl with intellectual disability enjoying activities | 216.72 KB |
| Activities in the middle of the slums | 244.75 KB |
| Steffi de Jong teaching activities | 195.07 KB |
| Activities in the middle of the slums | 280.76 KB |
| Day 2 (15).JPG | 263.86 KB |
| Photo de groupe avec Pierre Bataille | 184.62 KB |
| Outreach (43).JPG | 174.59 KB |
| Basketball | 240.05 KB |
| Smile | 158.03 KB |
| Strategic plan.pdf | 1.23 MB |
| Newsletter 1 2008.pdf | 383.55 KB |
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 | 182 weeks agoTyler Ahn said: These names look familiar! Great project guys, great to see your project posted on this competition too! ---------- Tyler ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 184 weeks agoLoes Berkhout said: Dear dedicated Pierre and Steffi, I have been following your work for quite a while now and I simply know that you have the educational ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 185 weeks agoPierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Dear Claire, Thank you for this encouraging message! We hope, want and belive that we can become "a strong advocate for the quality ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 185 weeks agoClaire Boursier said: With this project, you contribute to the improvement of our world, especially for those who need most attention and care! APAID will be ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 186 weeks agoPierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Merci Sylvain de ton soutien. Surtout n'hésite pas à faire la promotion de notre candidature et de convaincre de voter pour APAID auprès ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 186 weeks agosylvain loriot said: Je vote pour vous :) Sylvain ---------- www.bernard.fr about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 186 weeks agoSport to improve lives of people with disabilities has been chosen as a finalist in Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition . |
| 188 weeks agoPierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Dear Cheri, Thank you so much for your positive comment and support. We hope that we can continue to make more and more people aware ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 188 weeks agoCheri Blauwet said: Dear Steffi and Pierre - I want to sent a note of support and congratulations with regards to your Changemakers application and the ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 189 weeks agoRinske van Dijk said: Dear Pierre and Steffi, Thank you for the broad answer! I'm looking forward to the pre-post results of the evaluation of the ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |