I LOVE this idea! How amazing - I have so many questions for you but I'll start off with a few...
You mention initial financing to get your project off the ground and sustaining the company by selling it to developed countries. Have you priced it against the mainstream cost of a soccer ball and is it comparable? Also, in a place such as Africa, one of the largest challenges is to replace certain components when they wear down/break down, etc. Has your team looked into that at all and is it durable in all conditions? Nike created a partnership with UNHCR to develop a soccer ball made out of a high percentage of recycled rubber but to also withstand harsh conditions of climate, field space, etc. Check it out: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=44ab...
Thanks so much for your comment -- we really appreciate your helpful feedback!
While we have not yet priced our prototype against the normal cost of a soccer ball, it is definitely one of our top priorities to make it comparable. We are doing more research on this issue now!
In addition, two of our main objectives for our pilot study this summer in South Africa is to ensure that the sOccket will be able to be produced with materials locally available in Africa, and to explore different soccer ball materials that can hold up in African conditions of dust, rain, and heat. We would definitely love to learn more about Nike's work with UNHCR with the recycled rubber, if you can provide any further information!
Hi Jessica:
This is a great idea that encompasses three major issues of our times- energy,global health and gender inequality..it's a very creative way to get at these issues by using the soccket to create the energy and to empower women and girls to play team soccer.
This is my question- how much,what percentage of time spent on your project will be devoted to educating women and children, about using soccer as a mean educating women and girls about how to get off the grid electricity,how much will you work on developing the health component(HIV prevention) vs. getting women and girls involved and empowered by being involved in team sports and thus dealing with one aspect of gender inequality in developing countries?
It seems that with limited resources and time(as you are all college students) you have to decide upon which aspect you will focus on because you have to make decisions regarding the allocation of resources for each of the dedicated areas of your proposed project.Have you all thought about this?
Liz Abzug,February 10th, 2009
You're right: as college students, we do have to prioritize certain objectives, and we have been considering many different approaches with which to take. As I will be graduating this June, I will be able to dedicate time to this pilot study. We hope that this initial study will help to guide us in terms of what areas are most relevant and important to the local South African population. What we hold to be our core objective at the moment is to involve girls and women to empower themselves by playing soccer to generate electricity. We believe that this, in turn, will promote health education and gender equality.
Jessica,
Definitely agree, this is very cool! If you are looking for organizations to test with, we can put you in touch with the members of the sport for change network - a group of grassroots "sport for change" NGOs in South Africa. Here is their Ning site: http://sscn-global.ning.com/ - let me know and we can help broker that introduction!
Best,
ziba
I found your idea very criative and I would like to ask you some questions:
How does trhis idea inspire youg women to get invloved in sports as something that will help on their self development?
Are you going to provide an infra structure for girls to play soccer? How will they learn how to play, even though they are provided whith the ball.
What will be the social impacts in adition to cheaper energy and acess to a soccer ball?
Beyond sOccket product development, we definitely need to and plan on working to develop programs that draw out and encourage young girls to play. For now, we plan to partner with already existing local soccer organizations in South Africa to create programs which are specialized for young women, to teach them and support them to play. We are looking into learning more about other projects' programs which can help us to do so!
As for social impact, we believe that the sOccket will have the ability to generate "power" for the community to take initiative and promote team building, play more community-wide games, and foster relationships between children and adults alike.
We also believe that the health benefits of a clean energy device like the sOccket can greatly contribute to the improvement of a community's health. An elementary school teacher in Tanzania described the effects of kerosene lamps on her students: “children come in to school with the inside of their noses black from smoke.” This problem heavily compounds the fact that respiratory infections account for the largest percentage of childhood deaths in developing nations—more than AIDS, and more than malaria. Other students do not even have light in their homes. “Some of them go out to the road,” the teacher said, speaking of the common practice of students taking their books to the nearest highway with streetlights, to study, literally, in the gutters. Thus, with proper sources of electricity, we hope to also enable children to study after sundown, helping to make strides in educational progress.
Women Win is the first ever international women’s fund that supports sport and physical activities as instruments for social change and women’s empowerment.
Women Win believes that sport is the way for women and girls to learn leadership skills, develop character, self-esteem and a sense of belonging, while at the same time discover the fun, support and power of being together.
Women Win will find a fellow between the ages of 15 and 65 years old that positively change the lives of women and girls in their community through sports.
Women Win has fellows and ambassadors who are brilliant, innovative and effective women who contribute significantly to the advancement of societies and address social problems through sports as a strategy. http://www.womenwin.org/fellows.html
Comments
Hey Jessica,
I LOVE this idea! How amazing - I have so many questions for you but I'll start off with a few...
You mention initial financing to get your project off the ground and sustaining the company by selling it to developed countries. Have you priced it against the mainstream cost of a soccer ball and is it comparable? Also, in a place such as Africa, one of the largest challenges is to replace certain components when they wear down/break down, etc. Has your team looked into that at all and is it durable in all conditions? Nike created a partnership with UNHCR to develop a soccer ball made out of a high percentage of recycled rubber but to also withstand harsh conditions of climate, field space, etc. Check it out: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=44ab...
This is great - thanks so much for entering!
Stephani
Nike
Hi Stephani!
Thanks so much for your comment -- we really appreciate your helpful feedback!
While we have not yet priced our prototype against the normal cost of a soccer ball, it is definitely one of our top priorities to make it comparable. We are doing more research on this issue now!
In addition, two of our main objectives for our pilot study this summer in South Africa is to ensure that the sOccket will be able to be produced with materials locally available in Africa, and to explore different soccer ball materials that can hold up in African conditions of dust, rain, and heat. We would definitely love to learn more about Nike's work with UNHCR with the recycled rubber, if you can provide any further information!
We look forward to hearing more from you soon!
Thanks,
Jessica
Hi Jessica:
This is a great idea that encompasses three major issues of our times- energy,global health and gender inequality..it's a very creative way to get at these issues by using the soccket to create the energy and to empower women and girls to play team soccer.
This is my question- how much,what percentage of time spent on your project will be devoted to educating women and children, about using soccer as a mean educating women and girls about how to get off the grid electricity,how much will you work on developing the health component(HIV prevention) vs. getting women and girls involved and empowered by being involved in team sports and thus dealing with one aspect of gender inequality in developing countries?
It seems that with limited resources and time(as you are all college students) you have to decide upon which aspect you will focus on because you have to make decisions regarding the allocation of resources for each of the dedicated areas of your proposed project.Have you all thought about this?
Liz Abzug,February 10th, 2009
Hi Ms. Abzug,
Thanks very much for your comment!
You're right: as college students, we do have to prioritize certain objectives, and we have been considering many different approaches with which to take. As I will be graduating this June, I will be able to dedicate time to this pilot study. We hope that this initial study will help to guide us in terms of what areas are most relevant and important to the local South African population. What we hold to be our core objective at the moment is to involve girls and women to empower themselves by playing soccer to generate electricity. We believe that this, in turn, will promote health education and gender equality.
We would love to hear more feedback!
Thanks,
Jessica
Jessica,
Definitely agree, this is very cool! If you are looking for organizations to test with, we can put you in touch with the members of the sport for change network - a group of grassroots "sport for change" NGOs in South Africa. Here is their Ning site: http://sscn-global.ning.com/ - let me know and we can help broker that introduction!
Best,
ziba
Hi Ziba -- what an awesome network! We will definitely be in touch!
Hi Jessica!
I found your idea very criative and I would like to ask you some questions:
How does trhis idea inspire youg women to get invloved in sports as something that will help on their self development?
Are you going to provide an infra structure for girls to play soccer? How will they learn how to play, even though they are provided whith the ball.
What will be the social impacts in adition to cheaper energy and acess to a soccer ball?
I will love to know more abou your project.
Thanks!
Christiane Rosenburg
Hi Christiane,
Beyond sOccket product development, we definitely need to and plan on working to develop programs that draw out and encourage young girls to play. For now, we plan to partner with already existing local soccer organizations in South Africa to create programs which are specialized for young women, to teach them and support them to play. We are looking into learning more about other projects' programs which can help us to do so!
As for social impact, we believe that the sOccket will have the ability to generate "power" for the community to take initiative and promote team building, play more community-wide games, and foster relationships between children and adults alike.
We also believe that the health benefits of a clean energy device like the sOccket can greatly contribute to the improvement of a community's health. An elementary school teacher in Tanzania described the effects of kerosene lamps on her students: “children come in to school with the inside of their noses black from smoke.” This problem heavily compounds the fact that respiratory infections account for the largest percentage of childhood deaths in developing nations—more than AIDS, and more than malaria. Other students do not even have light in their homes. “Some of them go out to the road,” the teacher said, speaking of the common practice of students taking their books to the nearest highway with streetlights, to study, literally, in the gutters. Thus, with proper sources of electricity, we hope to also enable children to study after sundown, helping to make strides in educational progress.
We definitely welcome more questions!
Thanks,
Jessica
Hi Jessica,
I would like to invite you to join the Women Win group at http://sportforchange.changemakers.net/en-us/group/womenwin. Just click in join this group.
Women Win is the first ever international women’s fund that supports sport and physical activities as instruments for social change and women’s empowerment.
Women Win believes that sport is the way for women and girls to learn leadership skills, develop character, self-esteem and a sense of belonging, while at the same time discover the fun, support and power of being together.
Women Win will find a fellow between the ages of 15 and 65 years old that positively change the lives of women and girls in their community through sports.
Women Win has fellows and ambassadors who are brilliant, innovative and effective women who contribute significantly to the advancement of societies and address social problems through sports as a strategy. http://www.womenwin.org/fellows.html
We would love to hear your opinion on the topics debated here http://sportforchange.changemakers.net/forum/262.
All the best luck!
Hi Renata,
Thanks very much for the invite! We have just joined and look forward to interesting discussion with Women Win group.
Best,
Jessica