Inclusive sports to break down social barriers
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Gamechangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport competition.
APAID strenghtens local sport and development organizations by teaching them strategies on how to use inclusive sports to break down social barriers
About You
Contact Information
Title
MSc
First name
Pierre Bataille
Last name
and Steffi de Jong
Your job title
Founders APAID
Name of your organization
Adapted Physical Activity International Development
Organization type
Non-Profit
Annual budget/currency
This field has not been completed
Location
Project Street Address
Rue Waeteraere
Project City
Dunkerque
Project Province/State
Nord
Project Postal/Zip Code
59140
Project Country
France
Your idea
Choose your sport: (check all that apply)
Other
If you chose "other" for Sport, please define in 1-2 words below
Adapted sports
What approach does your initiative incorporate?
Advocacy
Year the initiative began (yyyy)
2008
Paste your video code here:
If your project has a website, paste the web address here:
Plot your innovation within the discovery framework:
Barrier
Social stigmas and prohibitions
Insight
Visibility multiplies participation
This field has not been completed. (333 words or less)
Name Your Project
Inclusive sports to break down social barriers
Describe Your Idea
APAID strenghtens local sport and development organizations by teaching them strategies on how to use inclusive sports to break down social barriers
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
APAID strenghtens local sport and development organizations by teaching them strategies on how to use inclusive sports to break down social barriers
How many people does your innovation serve or plan to serve? Exactly who will benefit?
In Kenya, monthly 30 volunteers (of which 16 are women, some with disabilities), over 100 girls and over 100 boys with disabilities and more than 300 community members participate in activities (e.g. sport, raising awareness).
In the next 5 years we aim to implement yearly 2 new projects each reaching a minimum of 100 children with disabilities per month.
In Europe over 3.000 people have been informed about the situation of people with disabilities in developing countries during fundraising
Do you have any existing partnerships? If so, please list and describe.
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). Together, we improve the inclusion of girls and boys 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. We signed a partnership agreement aiming to start a project for girls and boys with disabilities.
In research terms, APAID works together with Stanford University (USA), the University of Paris X (France), and Jomo Kenyatta University (Kenya) in order to conduct research. Furthermore, APAID is in the process of discussing possible collaboration with the University of Leuven (Belgium).
For financial support we have partnerships with several companies and schools in France and The Netherlands.
In which sector do these partners work? (Check all that apply)
Citizen sector (non profits, NGOs) .
How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
Many organization are founded to help developing countries improving quality of life of 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). Therefore, especially women and girls with disabilities still face discrimination and negative attitudes toward them.
APAID tries to adress this problem by assisting able bodied sport and development organizations in the inclusion of girls and boys with disabilities into their sport projects (as we believe that we can only change the situation for girls by making the boys aware of the girl's abilities). We build capacity during local courses, consult during the implementation phase of the project and help setting up awareness campaigns concerning disability. Afterwards, the local organizations are responsible for the sustainability of the projects. APAID stays involved by monitoring and evaluating the projects.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact
APAID's projects empower and improve the quality of life in girls (and boys) with disabilities and change attitudes of community members.
What does impact/success look like? Please list any tangible measures of the impact of your innovation
APAID puts a high premium on the monitoring and evaluation of its projects. In collaboration with specialized universities we conduct scientific research to observe the impacts of our interventions. 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.
Is there a chance that your project could change policy (within an institution or government)?
APAID estimates it crucial that local partners work with acceptable disability policies. Having one project targeting girls and boys with disabilities is not sufficient (e.g. it is very important to also include women with disabilities in leading roles). Therefore, we make sure that we discuss the disability policies with the management of our local partners. During capacity building for the staff we focus on a disability-friendly approach. We also ensure that women and men with disabilities are included in the project staff.
Since we build a network of local actors around our projects, these organizations can also be influenced by our approach.
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow the initiative or expand your intended impact?
As described in our strategic plan, APAID aims to implement and subsequently monitor and evaluate (in collaboration with universities) yearly 2 new projects for the coming 5 years. As there is a big demand, we get many requests from local organization to assist them. We strictly select our local partners in order to implement high quality projects reaching a minimum of 100 girls and boys with disabilities per month.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
First of all, APAID receives money from foundations (NCDO, Wilde Ganzen), companies (Shopex, Bela) and private donations.
Secondly, in order to be more independent from donors, APAID set up an income generating department. We provide services (capacity building/workshops/presentations) to schools, universities, companies and other international NGO's. During these services, we do not only raise money, but also raise awareness about the situation of people with disabilities in developing countries.
At the moment we are also organizing a fundraising event in collaboration with Roul&doorsMusik dj''s/producers.
Financing source
Annual budget
Budget 2009:
Project department (including M&E) = EUR 83.100
Income generating department = EUR 11.000
Overhead costs = EUR 14.500
Annual revenue generated
At this moment we have collected EUR 52.517
Number of staff (full-time, part-time, volunteers)
Board (6), Board of Advisor (3), Department Directors (2) and Regional manager (1). All are volunteers but APAID aims to employ the last two mentioned.
What are the main barriers to financing your initiative, and how do you plan to address these barriers?
Our main barrier to financing our initiative is the attititude towards people with disabilities in developing countries. It is difficult to find local funding partners as most of them do not see the importance and need of projects for people with disabilities. By actively involving potential funding partners in our projects (e.g. joining the activities as a volunteer for one day), we try to show them the results and make them aware of the necessity.
What are the major challenges with regards to partnerships?
As we use a strict partnershipfilter (assessing the organizations on different criteria including sustainability, financial transparency etc.) we try to avoid the main challenges. Of course the small cultural challenges (e.g small differences in communication style) remain, but we try to those issues immediately.
The Story
What stage is your project?
Ongoing project .
What was the motivation or defining moment that led to create this innovation? Tell us the story.
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 . 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...
Please tell us about the social innovator behind this initiative
Pierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong have both graduated for two Master studies in the area of Adapted Physical Activities (sport for people with disabilites). As described above, this working field is really their passion.
Both of them also love to explore new cultures. Even though they are only 23, they have already lived in several countries (including 3 African and 4 European countries).
(Optional) To be eligible for an additional prize, please select age range
22 – 26
 | 213 weeks ago Pierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Dear Gamechangers Judges’ Panel, Thank you for the recognition of our work. I would like to start with answering your last ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 214 weeks ago Cynthia Drayton said: Hi Pierre and Steffi, Congratulations on being selected a Gamechangers finalist! The work APAID is doing using sport to better the ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 214 weeks ago Andisiwe Silimela said: Hi APAID, I must say this is a great project pity i didn't notice it before the finalist stage and i must say guys you deserve the ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 214 weeks ago Cheri Blauwet said: Hi to all.. this is very exciting! To my colleagues at APAID... well done and I am rooting for you from Stanford. To all.. Steffi and ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 223 weeks ago Christopher Minko said: Hi Guys - congratulations on a great initiative - you may wish to have a look at our website: www.standupcambodia.net - the CNVLD is an ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 223 weeks ago Pierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Hi Renata, Thank you for this positive reaction and for the invitation. Having met Astrid Aafjes and some of Womenwins fellows we ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 223 weeks ago Pierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Hi Aykan, Thank you for your comment. The question you ask is a very important one as for every organization working with ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 226 weeks ago Renata Affonso said: Hello guys, What a great entry! It is so good when projects use audiovisuals to show their work. You give life and faces to a bunch ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 226 weeks ago aykan gulten said: Hi, I am impressed with your program and I find it great that you partner-up with so many organisations and volunteers. I am ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 230 weeks ago Pierre Bataille and Steffi de Jong said: Hi Stephani, Cheri is indeed great and we are very happy to work with her. The research in Uganda will only start in February 2009, ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
