PACES: Step Away From Potential Extremism
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Sport for a Better World competition.
Using sports to provide a sanctuary for children; one that gets them off the streets and away from the clutches of potential extremism.
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)
2006
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?
Few effective tools for personal improvement
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:
The use of sports to give children an opportunity to discover and develop talents, to give them hope and an outlet that is rare for those who live under occupation. Sports can, and should, be used as a means to teach work-ethic, community service and team-work in a particularly fragmented society where mobility and continuinty do not exist.
It is also hoped that through these programs children with exceptional talents might be discovered, and that such talents could be developed and nurtured into producing potentially world-class athletes who migh one day act as role models for Palestinian children. It is astounding how our society is devoid of "living heroes": men or women to whom children can look up and try to emulate. In asking most Palestinian children to name a hero, the most frequent and recent ones named tend to be those from the early Islamic conquests. In essence there has been a 1400-year absence in role models. And therein lies a real tragedy.
Additionally, we hope that our programs might be a conduit and a stepping-stone to developing talents that might feed into the national teams therefore giving Palestinians some national pride.
Sports can give hope, can build character and can encourage a health competitive environment that is lacking.
Name Your Project
PACES: Step Away From Potential Extremism
Describe Your Idea
Using sports to provide a sanctuary for children; one that gets them off the streets and away from the clutches of potential extremism.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Using sports to provide a sanctuary for children; one that gets them off the streets and away from the clutches of potential extremism.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
PACES' innovation is unique because it creates sanctuaries for the children to go to where they feel safe, productive and happy. Within such sanctuaries the children learn and develop skills, and are talked to about many social issues such as work-ethic, community service, avoidance of militancy and violence, and hygiene to mention but a few. These sanctuaries "isolate" the children, albeit for a few hours, from the hopelessness and frustrations of their normal lives. Furthermore, in a conservative society where not much currency is given to sports excellence, we encourage the children, girls and boys alike, to develop and improve their skills. We take team work a step further by pooling together groups of 25 children of varying skills so that they learn to support one another and develop the ability to work as teams: this is of critical importance in a society that is so fragmented and isolated.
What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change?
The central problem for Palestinian children is lack of direction and hope. If a child is left idle on the street, he or she are then exposed to drugs, smoking, and in this case [exposure] to extremism that may result in violence. We provide an alternative for the children by having programs that they can go to instead of being unsupervised on the streets with no hope or direction. PACES provides a sanctuary in which children can enjoy sports and learn.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
We create sports programs and activities at community centers in and around poor areas and refugee camps. We encourage children of all abilities and skill levels to join these programs. We teach our coaches how to talk to the children and to become their mentors as well as their coaches. We also provide instructional clinics for the coaches to improve their abilities and give them an opportunity to develop their own careers. Our coaching sessions are frequent and therefore provide continuity for the children and hence there are less gaps of time through which the children could lose their focus and their momentum. We now have 120 coaches who also have hope in their lives.
The main problem we are addressing is the idleness that creates frustration and hopelessness. Instead of having nothing to do, the children now have programs to go to, enjoy, learn from and ones through which they can develop many skills.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
We currently have 1500 children in our programs and have funding commitments and pledges for 3000 for next year thus we can continue to expand our programs to other areas of Palestine. We are also in the process of expanding our partnerships with international NGOs whose experience and knowledge will add further value and depth to what the children learn. Furthermore, as we did with one group in 2007, we have plans to take between 2 and 4 teams of children to Europe in 2008. The teams will either tour and /or partake in tournaments. This will give the children exposure and allow those who would otherwise never have a chance to travel to see the "outside world". Addiotionally, through developing relationships with Foundations and schools, we hope to provide those children who are academically and athletically talented with the chance of getting scholarships and a chance to study outside Palestine. There are also serious discussions about developing similar programs in Jordan and Lebanon.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Reduce the chance of the children gravitating towards extremism and idleness. Provide them with an alternative to violence. In essence, give them hope
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries?
In our first 11 months we have had two sets of programs, one for 400 children and the current one which is for 1500. In essence our target is to get as many children as possible off the streets and give them hope and get them away from potential extremism.
We took 10 ten-year olds to Italy and exposed them to an experience that they are not likely to soon forget.
The benificiaries are the children, their families, and communities. One healthy child with leadership abilities ( that we also help them develop) will have a positive impact on her or his environment and friends thus expanding the sphere or our impact. As mentioned above, if we succeed in developing the talents of one child to where he or she might become a world-class athlete, then we have helped develop a role model and a living hero that the entire country can be proud of. The last hero that most children in Palestine relate to lived over 1400 years ago and this absence of a real role model is national tradgedy.
How many people have you served directly?
We started with 400 children last year and we now have 1500 children in the programs. We have created employment for 120 coaches and assistant coaches this year alone. We also helped community centers develop other educational programs by putting them in touch with other NGOs and we will be getting involved in the improving the quality of the playing fields and courts. Most of our coaches have other jobs as school-teachers and coach elsewhere, so in improving their abilities we are also providing children who are not part of our programs with better coaches and mentors
By putting together "partnerships" that fund the improvement of sports facilties we would have succeeded in developing and improving the very basic sports infra-structure of the country, and giving children safer venues to play at.
There are very few "proper" venues in poor areas and refugee camps and PACES will be getting involved in improving the facilities through partnerships with other NGOs.
How many people have you served indirectly?
It is difficult to gauge, but most likely the families of the children as well as those of the coaches. A happy child will talk about her or his positive experiences in our programs and hopefully impacting those who are not yet involved in programs. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the coaches learn and mete out their knowledge and experiences to children who are not yet part of our programs.
Once we are actively involved in improving the sports infra structure then all the children of the area would benefit by having a safe venue to play in. Furthermore, the work needed would generate desperately needed employment in an economically desperate area.
Furthermore, as a result of our on-going work we come across new "groups" who need attention and help in developing sports programs: we are now trying to develop a basketball program for handicaped children.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation?
Introducing the children to social issues such as ethics, community service, hygiene and many more. We also stress the importance of family, academic achievement, attendence and team-work. But above all we encourage non-violence and tolereance.
Furthermore, building a partnership with other NGOs adds to the quality of our work and potentially allows for more programs to be developed.
As we develop our programs it is envisioned that a sports center of excellence will be built. This will reflect our success and continuity.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
So far we have not faced any real problems, but future political turmoil or possibly our inability to send money to Palestine to fund our programs could be the main barriers in the future: but this would not be due to internal financial situation, but because we may not be able to transfer funds or send equipment and material to Palestine to sustain our programs should the West Bank be subjected to the same restrictions Gaza is under at the moment.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
PACES' appraoch to financing its programs is very simple and yet unconventional. There are many private foundations in Palestine, and there is a complete absence of trusted and efficient government support. So, in PACES I created a middle-ground: I initially approached all the successful Palestinian men and women that I knew and asked for an annual commitment of $5,000 from each of them. We now have over 100 committed donors and the list is expanding daily. We now accept up to $10,000 but for those who want to give more we just created an endowment/reserve account. The cash contributions received to date are about $450,000. We receive funding quarterly. We expect to get about $750,000 in 2008 excluding money for the endowment account.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization.
Our annual budget for 2007 programs is $400,000 (revenue over $450,000) and about $650,000 (revenue over $750,000) for the 2008 programs. We now have 3 full-time staff, 3 part time staff and the 120 coaches and assistant coaches. This will increase in mid-2008 as our programs double to include activities for 3000 children.
I am the only full-time volunteer at PACES. And this was an intentional policy decision in order to project that PACES was not merely short-term feel-good project , but a long-term one by those who fund and run it.
One worthy point here regarding our finances: UK charity law did not require us to have an audit in our first year and will not for 2007. Yet we subjected ourself to a voluntary audit and will do so again and again. PACES is a transparent organization.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
The potential demand is unlimited. Though we have programs for 1500 children this year and will have 3000 children as of August of 2008, we are approached on almost daily basis by community centers for programs. We can expand easily as our income increases. As mentioend above, there are serious discussions about develop ing such programs in Jordan and Lebanon.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
The only potential problem would be our inabilty to send money to Palestine. So far we have not had any problems and that is probably due to our transparency and above-board approach, and to the respected international and Palestinian partners that we have: NGOs, individuals and corporate.
As for fund-raising, our simple model seems to working well and our donor-base expanding daily. Our financial strength comes from the partnership appraoch that all our donors espouse and they themselves become fund-raisers.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
I have always wanted to return to Palestine to teach and coach, and PACES is the vehicle through which I was able to do that in partnership with many friends. I believe those of us who have lived outside Palestine need to give something back, but can never find the proper vehicle for that. PACES is ideal for those who do not want any political involvement for it is a progressive, secular and a non-political charity that is exclusively involved with children and sports.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material.
I would rather not make myself that focal point here. PACES grew because of our partnership approach, and to create the perception that this is about me might prove determental to the organization. It is a partenrship of equals and for it to continue with its success we must insure that it operates outside personal egod, needs, and issues.
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate? (this is confidential)
I got an email from ninemillion organizations suggesting that I enter PACES for this competition.
Affiliation (please list all that apply)
NIKE/NIKEGO/MercyCorps provided PACES with all our material requirements for our 2007 programs, and the uniforms for the Italy team last summer.
My son attended a basketball clinic in London that was organized by Mr. Deng for the past two summers, and my son's coaches probably know Mr. Deng well.
PACES won an award at a UNICEF supported mini basketball tournament in Italy this summer.
If you believe that any or all of the above pose a potential conflict of interest, I would understand and withdraw PACES' application.
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Comments
Two significant features stand out in your entry, Hani--the financial stability that PACES has been able to achieve in less than a full year of existence and the absence of ego on your part. (As testimony to this, I can't remember any other entrant who declined to provide a personal biography to accompany the entry.)
In addition, your goals of instilling a sense of personal hygiene and avoidance of militancy among Palestinian youth are deserving, and I suspect that your emphasis on gender equity among Palestianian boys and girls has not been eagerly accepted either by some families in Palestine or by everyone in the Palestinian diaspora community in the UK.
You note that you'd like to take two-four teams of youth to Europe this year. Approximately how many young people would that involve, and which country(ies) would you like them to visit? Italy again, or elsewhere?
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your kind words, and constructive comments. However, I must say that our emphasis on gender equity was well-received within the community in the UK and elsewhere. The only caveat being in very conservative areas in Palestine where we had to engage in "house to house begging". My colleagues went house to house in Hebron pleading with parents to allow their daughters to partake in our programs. It was a tough task but in the end we got our way.
As for the teams this coming summer we hope to take two teams to the mini basketball tournament in Itlay and two more teams to the UK for a football tour.
warm regards
Hani
Hi Hani,
I was so excited to see your entry. I lived in Palestine some years ago - in Ramallah - and played basketball at the Sarriyet Ramallah with the girls' team there. It was an incredible opportunity and I learned first hand the particular impact that this program had on girls in a setting where freedom is limited by both the occupation and societal expectations of appropriate behavior for girls. I am really interested to know more about the arguments you used to persuade parents to release their girls to play - this is such a common problem all over the world, that I think others would benefit from your insights.
On another note, there are two projects that have been posted on this competition that you may want to look at - one is a sports project serving girls in Bethlehem and a second is Kigali Women's Footballers which addresses trauma through sport. It is inevitable that many of the young people living in the West Bank, Gaza and probably many of the refugee camps across the Arab world have experienced emotional trauma - the founder of the Rwandan program has done quite a bit of work on how sport can be used to address trauma, and its effectiveness as a diagnostic tool of emotional disruption as well. I enourage you to check out their projects.
btw, great title-very catchy
Best of luck with your initiative. I will definitely follow your progress and if I travel to Palestine again, would love to visit your projects.
All the best,
Ziba
Hi Ziba,
As I wrote in my entry we engaged in "house to house begging" in order to persuade the parents to allow their daughters to join our programs. It was easier to get parents to agree to basketball than to football (part of the social taboo against girls playing the game) and in some instances we had to agree to hold the practice sessions for the girls indoor, which isnt always easy to do. Needless to say, the girls adorn the head-scarves and wear long-sleeved shirts and always cover their legs, but at least they attend religiously (no pun intended). What helped was our reputation for seriousness and more so the fact that most house visits were done by one of our full-time colleagues who is also the captain of the Palestine Woman's National football team. Her charisma and persistance paid off. Of note here is that we only encountered this problem in Jenin, Tulkarem and Hebron.
Small world: the major sponsors of your former club in Ramallah are also one of my main partners in PACES and have just built an indoor basketball arena at the club. Smaller world still: the other entry from Palestine was one of several potential locations we had ear-marked three weeks ago as a potential venue for our programs for next year. We will now wait till this competition is over before making contact lest we create any impression of collusion
As for the Kigali initiative, I agree that we could learn from their experiences. However, as I mentioned in my entry we have forged several relationships with NGOs who have similar experiences with refugees and we are tapping on that for guidance and help.
I hope that you will soon visit Palestine again. It would be a pleasure to show you our programs.
Warm regards,
Hani
Hi again Hani,
So here is my question for you: it seems the world over that reluctant parents are willing to let their girls play the sports that are associated with their gender (and its all contextual, but nonetheless interesting to me that it is rarely football!). I know your primary focus is not on gender, but I will ask your opinion nonetheless! We have found that there is a greater impact on affecting change in gender dynamics when the sport played by girls is precisely the one society is the one not traditionally associated with girls. On the other hand, I think there are also a lot of benefits to girls playing sports (especially team sports) from an empowerment perspective which is a bit less about challenging societal norms. What are your thoughts on this? I notice that you perservere with pursuing the football option for girls by using the captain of the Palestinian national team.
Thanks so much,
Ziba
Hi Ziba,
I absolutley agree with you, and that is precisely why I "put my foot down" and refused to give in when parents offered to allow their daughters to join our basketball program as opposed to football. Football is not regarded as a socially acceptable game for girls to play..yet (PACES will do its past to change that). However, in some cases, and as I mentioned previously, even getting girls to play basketball was a challange.
I must add here that we chose basketball and football for a variety of reasons: We wanted team sports to allow the children to develop social skills and interact with one another in a healthy and productive envirnoment where the most skillful of the children and the least [skillfull] could be on the same team and in the same group. This was critical to my thinking in teaching children social skills, team-work and work-ethics. Furthermore, we are morally obligated to maximize the impact of each dollar that we raise and to that end having a team of two coaches per 25 children is more economically effective than trying to nurture swimming or tennis talents.
Warm regards
Hani
Have you seen the "Fitness and Dance: Sports for Beautiful Change" entry submitted by Abdelfattah Abusrour? Abdelfattah is also working on sports for social change in Palestine. Here is the link to his entry http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/2033 and here is his email: aabusrour@gmail.com. We hope that the two of you will connect!
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Hi Dana,
We are already have [connected] and we hope to meet during my next trip to Palestine. In the meantime my colleagues will meet with him to exchange ideas.
Hani
Hani,
do you have any plans on getting together kids from Palestine and Israel, like in a soccer competition? Or am I being too idealistic here?
- Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
Jasper,
I wondered how long it would take before I was asked that question.
Since I founded PACES last year I have successfully kept it away from any involvement in politics. I have walked away from several "internal" situations in Palestine where politics would have played part in our progrms, and I dont mean on the Palestinian macro level, but on the very micro level within small communities. This is now one very strong "selling-point" for PACES and I want to keep as such.
On the Palestinian-Israeli issue politics and conflict become more complicated, and one has to tread even more carefully. Therefore, regardless of my personal thoughts, or those of fellow trustees and donors, PACES must not take a political stand that is not reflective of the feelings and aspiartions of its constituents. And those feeling are so acute among Palestinians now that taking PACES further above the political fray is not only wise, but very neccessary in my opinion.
Furthermore, our innovation is creating sanctuaries for the children to feel happy, safe and productive within, and to detract from that in any way would be wrong at this stage. The children in our programs need stability and a healthy envirnoment and to introduce an element that might result in an internal conflict for a child might take us many "paces" backward at this stage.
Warm regards
Hani
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