Grassroot Soccer: Using the Power of Soccer in the Fight Against AIDS
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Sport for a Better World competition.
GRS combines the power of soccer with innovative educational activities, empowering a youth-led movement for a 100% stigma-free Africa and no new HIV infections.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sport
Soccer
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2002
YouTube Upload
Project URL (include HTTP://)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram:
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Sport is trivialized
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Use sport to build character
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic:
Barrier: Stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS makes discussing it taboo
Principle: Using sports figures as role models to induce self-efficacy in others
Name Your Project
Grassroot Soccer: Using the Power of Soccer in the Fight Against AIDS
Describe Your Idea
GRS combines the power of soccer with innovative educational activities, empowering a youth-led movement for a 100% stigma-free Africa and no new HIV infections.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
GRS combines the power of soccer with innovative educational activities, empowering a youth-led movement for a 100% stigma-free Africa and no new HIV infections.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
1. Engagement of professional soccer players- Behavior change is essential to disrupt Africa's devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic. Role models, experiential education, and community involvement are all cornerstones to behavior change (Social Learning Theory). Thus, GRS engages professional African soccer players as role models - delivering the curriculum in adolescent-targeted educational interventions. Following each intervention, students demonstrate their new knowledge in graduation ceremonies held during soccer matches. Graduates also receive a copy of "Extra Time," an HIV/AIDS workbook that doubles as a colorful, compelling soccer magazine.
2. Research and evaluation- GRS prides itself on conducting thorough scientific evaluations that extensively study the impact of our programs. Moreover, GRS is the first organization to publish an academic article in the Sport for Development field.
3. Scale through sharing, networking, and consultation- Rather than re-inventing GRS in different places as we expand, we provide training and technical assistance for local organizations and projects to help them adopt the GRS model effectively. We’ve provided these services in 11 countries throughout Africa and are expanding rapidly.
What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change?
Of the 33 million people infected worldwide with HIV, 22.5 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. In three of GRS's locations (Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa), 600,000 people died of AIDS in 2005, nearly three million children live as AIDS orphans, and roughly one in five adults is infected with the virus. Today, one half of all new HIV infections occur among youth aged 15-24. Young Africans lack the knowledge and skills necessary to make responsible decisions that could save their lives.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
GRS trains educators (coaches, teachers, aid workers, professional soccer players, etc.) to deliver an innovative, sports-based curriculum that empowers youth with the knowledge, social support, and life skills they need to live HIV-free. Consisting of 16 sessions, including games, dramas, and other dynamic activities, the curriculum encourages open discussion on decision-making, stigma, and risk reduction.
In Zimbabwe, GRS directly delivers the curriculum in public schools. In many other African countries - including South Africa, Zambia, Sudan, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Lesotho - GRS partners with NGOs to start successful programs by providing technical assistance through training, curriculum and project design, and systems for monitoring and evaluation. Some current partners include the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in South Africa, Mercy Corps in Liberia/Sudan, and the International Organization of Migration in Botswana.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
GRS has developed a model and methodology that is effective, replicable, and scalable. The greatest contribution that we make is providing HIV prevention training for existing agencies/organizations, while facilitating the design and management process. We plan to continue to expand our program by linking with like-minded organizations with capacity to help the project reach scale and remain sustainable. We anticipate that this will involve a combination of government agencies (particularly, Ministries of Education), community based organizations, corporate partners, and large NGOs.
GRS has already proven its ability to do this effectively. The next step for GRS as an organization is to build its infrastructure, maximizing our capacity to continue to provide quality services at a larger scale, evaluate our interventions’ effectiveness, and develop innovative ways to use football as a tool for fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Create a youth-led movement by arming African youth with the knowledge, social support, and life skills they need to make responsible decisions and live HIV-free.
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries?
GRS targets boys and girls from age 10-18 for its programs. Particular emphasis is placed on youth aged 12-14. Independent evaluation studies of the GRS program, conducted by the Children's Health Council and consultants from The Population Council and Harvard School of Public Health, have shown the GRS curriculum and model to be effective in increasing students' knowledge, attitudes, resiliency skills, and perceived social support related to HIV/AIDS. Moreover, an article published in the journal AIDS suggested that knowledge/attitude improvements among participants "diffuse" to their classmates who do not participate in the GRS curriculum. In fact, another study in Botswana found that GRS graduates, on average, share their new knowledge with 5-8 others after graduation. GRS not only uses powerful role models as instructors, but also trains youth to become role models in their own communities, thereby reaching an audience far wider with HIV prevention messages.
How many people have you served directly?
195,000 youth have graduated the program across Africa. Over 99,000 graduated in 2007. We aim to graduate 1 million youth by World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
How many people have you served indirectly?
Over 3 million people have been reached indirectly with GRS HIV prevention activities.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation?
In 2003, Stanford University's Children's Health Council independently evauated GRS in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Surveying 314 students, the CHC concluded:
"Overall, the GRS Program is a culturally appropriate, internationally suitable, creative, and effective way to educate at-risk youth about HIV/AIDS and its prevention… Significant changes in students knowledge, attitudes and perceived social support are observed as a result of the program. These changes were sustained over 5 months."
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
The greatest barriers to Grassroot Soccer and all of us in the field of development through sport stem from the fact that sport-based education is still a relatively unproven concept. Until the developmental concepts are proven scientifically to have a significant impact, this emerging field stands the risk of being labeled unsuccessful. Proving the effectiveness of this concept is essential to obtaining buy-in from the institutional donors, government agencies, and policymakers of the world.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
In addition to funding from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GRS has received funding from a number of committed individuals and prestigious foundations and corporations including: Draper Richards Foundation, Thrive Foundation, The Byrne Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, De Beers, Barclays Bank, DaimlerChrysler, and Johnson & Johnson.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization.
Annual Budget: $1,000,000
Annual Revenue: $1,000,000
Full Time Staff:
US citizens - 6
Africans - 9
Part Time Staff:
US citizens - 3
Africans - 15
Volunteer staff: 100-175 (volunteers, trainers, etc.)
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
The potential demand for GRS is enormous, given the global popularity of soccer and the daunting spread of HIV/AIDS. Most NGOs working on AIDS prevention in the developing world have the capacity to implement the GRS curriculum, as do Ministries of Education. Living up to the growing worldwide demand for evidence-based HIV prevention, GRS is constantly evaluating and improving its curriculum in order to remain at the cutting edge of international health interventions.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
Financial sustainability is always a problem for grassroots level educational programs. Programs such as ours often rely on grants, which are typically awarded for a fixed time period. For this reason, Grassroot Soccer’s ultimate goal is to develop models that can impact policy, such that the innovative concepts being developed at the grassroots level can be adopted permanently within government structures (e.g. public school systems). We havenoted the need and opportunity for self-sufficiency.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
Grassroot Soccer, Inc. became a registered 501(c)3 charitable organization in 2002. Founder Tommy Clark, MD, conceived of the idea after having played soccer professionally in Zimbabwe where he witnessed first hand both the devastation of HIV and the fanatical popularity of soccer. Together with a group of friends who had similar experiences, he and co-founders Methembe Ndlovu, Ethan Zohn and Kirk Friedrich created Grassroot Soccer. The core group traveled to Zimbabwe in 2002, and with the support of advisory board member Albert Bandura, consultants, and local stakeholders, developed and piloted an interactive, soccer-themed HIV prevention curriculum that was first implemented in Zimbabwe in 2003. After a positive independent evaluation of the project by The Children’s Health Council, a Stanford University affiliate group, GRS received a three-year program grant in 2005 from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to expand its work. In 2007, following the successful design and implementation of the 2006 De Beers Pilot Project in the Northern Cape, GRS launched several community-based, football for development programs across South Africa. While the curriculum is currently implemented through partnerships in eight African countries, GRS focuses its own resources in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material.
Former All-American soccer player, Tommy Clark left the US to play professional soccer in Zimbabwe, where he witnessed first-hand both the power of soccer and the destruction of HIV. After completing medical school, he founded GRS. In addition to being named a Draper Richards Fellow, Tommy has received the Annie Dyson Child Advocacy Award for the resident nationwide who best furthers social causes and Dartmouth College's Martin Luther King Award for his contributions to social justice.
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate? (this is confidential)
We were strongly encouraged to apply by Dana Frasz at Ashoka. Our main incentive to participate is gaining exposure among those who can help GRS reach its full potential. We are constantly looking for partners in the private, public, and nonprofit sector, so we hope this competition will help us to become better known in the world of changemakers, sparking new opportunities for collaboration (particularly with companies and other effective nonprofits).
Affiliation (please list all that apply)
Dartmouth College (former All-American soccer player)
Dartmouth Medical School
Completed Pediatric Residency at University of New Mexico
Research Fellow - Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco
Draper Richards Fellow
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Comments
Dear Tommy,
Your initiative is terrific!
The potential outreach in the next few years, as World Cup fever rises, is massive. As we have talked about before, we at Spirit of Football would like for "The Ball" to visit some of your locations in 2010 and highlight the great work you are doing.
I'm not sure if you know much about participatory video. It is something that we think is very interesting indeed. I think it could be really well suited to GrassrootSoccer.
http://www.insightshare.org/video_malawi_hiv.html
Keep up the great work!
Andrew Aris
University of Erfurt
----
Spirit of Football - football's equivalent to the Olympic Torch
http://www.spiritoffootball.com
Dear Mr. Clark:
I am curious about your model, you indicate that you hire local professional athletes to work with the kids on a daily basis. Could you provide more details on this? How have those in the professional ranks responded to their experience and are they remunerated for their time?
Thank you for your response,
Tyler Ahn
Changemakers
Dear Mr. Clark:
I am curious about your model, you indicate that you hire local professional athletes to work with the kids on a daily basis. Could you provide more details on this? How have those in the professional ranks responded to their experience and are they remunerated for their time?
Thank you for your response,
Tyler Ahn
Changemakers
Hi Tyler,
Several players from top teams in the Zimbabwe and Botswana Premier Soccer
Leagues and the Women's National Teams work as GRS trainers. They do receive
a small stipend, as do most GRS trainers. GRS was founded on this model of
training professional players to act as role models in the fight against
HIV/AIDS. Theoretically, the model is based on Social Learning Theory - the idea that adolescents will learn best from role models whom they truly admire. The players have responded tremendously to this program and
several have worked with us for more than 3 years now. We have also worked
with pro players in Lesotho and South Africa, but generally on a shorter
term basis (attending events, etc.).
Don't hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions. Dr. Clark or I would be happy to discuss them in person as well.
Thanks for your interest,
Kirk Friedrich (on behalf of Dr. Clark)
Managing Director, Grassroot Socccer
Tyler,
We have worked with pro players in a variety of ways. By way of background, I and many of the people in the Grassroot Soccer organization, played professional soccer in Africa and so have a good understanding of and connection to this world. In the early days in Zimbabwe, top professional and national team players from both mens and womens team delivered the entire program. As we expanded and saw the limitation of that we started using pro players in more strategic ways, having them involved in more high impact areas of the curriculum (eg "coaches story" where they talk openly about how HIV has impacted them and what they are doing about it). I hope that helps,
Tommy
I am impressed with this project, and thanks to Mr. Thomas Clark, Kirk Friedrich, and the rest of the team for the good job. It's so amazing to see an organisation sharing visions as mine, using soccer as a tool to educate people about HIV/ADS and ultimately, foster change, and Sports & Development. I will be happy to join your organisation or share views with you. I have worked with a leading international soccer website, Goal.com, for seven years and have just resigned as their Africa Editor. I also co-founded a US-based NGO (NeonCirc) and we focus on "HIV Prevention For The Next Generation." Please see my profile on the International Platform on Sport and Development to have more details about me and my work, and how I can be of help to your organization. http://www.sportanddev.org/en/team-players/see-all-team-players/ibrahim-...
Also see an indepth editorial I wrote on the Power Of Football In Africa: http://goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=338731
My contact details are ibrahimdabo@gmail.com or idabo@neoncirc.org
It looks like there are some great collaboration opportunities here! I encourage you to check out other soccer programs in Africa that have entered this competition. Together, much could be accomplished! From your application is seems that the target population for your program is youth ages 12-18. Does your program have the capacity to reach out to a broader audience that are outside that age range?
Thanks!
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Hi Dana,
The curriculum is particularly designed for adolescents, keeping in mind that one-half of all new HIV infections (over 4 million new infections in 2006!) occur among youth. However, GRS' influence certainly extends beyond that target audience. Through participation in the program, adolescents are empowered to become role models within their own communities - to spread their knowledge and positive energy. A recent study in Botswana found that the average GRS graduate shares his/her knowledge with 5-8 others (peers, family members, teammates, etc).
Moreover, GRS reaches a broader audience through community-wide graduations. These graduation ceremonies (frequently held at soccer games or in other public venues) not only give graduates a sense of honor for their accomplishment, but also allow them to set a positive example, confronting HIV/AIDS publicly, in front of thousands of supportive family members, friends, and other soccer-enthusiasts. We truly see collaborating with FIFA to integrate HIV prevention into the 2010 World Cup as an opportunity to reach the broadest possible audience, as 1 billion people worldwide will have their TV sets tuned in on South Africa.
So the short answer to your question is that the curriculum is specially designed for maximum impact among adolescents, as they have incredible power to halt the spread of HIV by making responsible decisions about sexual behavior. The longer answer is, as mentioned above, that Grassroot Soccer's influence extends far beyond the direct implementation of the curriculum itself.
Best,
Zak Kaufman
Director, College KickAIDS Campaign, Grassroot Soccer
Check out this recent story and video by FIFA on Grassroot Soccer and "Football's Fight Against AIDS" in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/worldwideprograms/news/newsid=640480.html#...
Dear Mr.Clark,
Congratulations! Your program is fabulous. The number of volunteers on the program(110-150) is fantastic.It sure is a challenge to get people in the community interested and engaged on an initiative.
I too submitted my entry this competition- Goal: Reaching New Heights, which is a Women's Empowerment program from India using netball as a means of social change.
Reading about your program sets me thinking about the role that Professional players can have on youth. We don ot have too many professional netball palyers associated as yet on our program and this could be a good area to explore and give our girls exposure.
Kalyani
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