SOCIAL INCLUSION FOR YOUTH WITH FEWER OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH SPORT IN KENYA

Youth Initiative Development Programme aims to promote sporting activities, education and a healthy lifestyle among young people in disadvantaged communities across Kenya in collaboration with other stakeholders. There is a special focus on sports, which is used to tackle education, health and social exclusion. The joint initiative will help to strengthen club structures and local entities in order to foster the integration of vulnerable sections of the population and bring about positive social change.
PROJECT CONTENT
“Caring Hand Touching Hearts Transforming Lives.”
With this motto, Youth Initiative Development Programme focuses on the individual in his/her own environment. The initiative shall use sports to create a better quality of life, greater self-esteem and increased opportunities. Many small, rural and slum communities in Kenya cannot afford the basic facilities required to cater for young people who want to participate in football or other sporting activities, as funding is very limited. Assistance with the development of appropriate infrastructure in those communities would give thousands of young people the opportunity to play football or other sports within and outside Kenya.
OUR EXPECTATION FOR THE PROJECT ON MY VISIT
• To gain knowledge on how successfully run the sport project
• To learn how to manage group dynamic and cohesion
• To learn how to sustain the project
• To share experiences and the way forward
• If time allow, we can discuss or explore the mid-term and long-term goal for the project

HEALTHY LIFE’S STYLE PROGRAMME
Youth Initiative Development Programme collaboration will help communities through its ‘Healthy Life’s Style Programme, which involves a local team working with communities to increase awareness of how important healthy living is for young people. That initiative is based on three elements:
Education regarding nutrition, a balanced diet and the importance of regular physical activity;
the provision of an outlet for that physical activity; support for the local team and the community to keep the programme going. The power of football is effectively used to build community cohesion, promote health, education and encourage lifelong participation and learning in this programme.

EXPECTED IMPACT AND RESULTS
• Improved infrastructure in order to increase access to sport in remote rural areas
• More children playing football or other sports, including girls and children from disadvantaged communities.
• Trained, qualified coaches in both rural and urban areas.
• Greater awareness of the growing malnourished issue in Kenya and the provision of solutions through sport, education, nutritional guidance and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.
• Tangible positive impact on children’s health and social integration, and an increase in lifelong participation and learning

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF KENYA
This project aims to give young people in marginalized community of Kenya access to inclusive education and sport. It will support 10 of the 46 public Kenyan schools in Kenya. The biggest problems related to Kenyan education marginalized community are a shortage of classrooms, a lack of playgrounds, restrictions on the movement of both students and teachers, insufficient resources, the use of a Kenyan curriculum and textbooks, a lack of adequately trained teachers, and tensions related to the socio-political situation exacerbated, causing a significant increase in the number of minors arrested, with the consequences of social and psychological problems affecting the students’ academic achievements and increasing the already high drop-out rates.

THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL TAKE AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH, HELPING SCHOOLS TO:
identify the challenges and support children with additional educational needs; make full use of the resources available within and in relation to the school environment; mobilise existing resources in schools and the wider community; establish inclusive spaces in schools where curricular and extracurricular activities are promoted; and strengthen school staff, involving caregivers and university students in the educational process.
The aim is to enable public basic schools to improve the quality of the learning/teaching process in order to address the individual needs of their students, ensuring participation and equal opportunities. An integral part of that process is the provision of access to extracurricular activities, especially sports-related activities. The project is expected to have long-term benefits in terms of the fight against child labour, trafficking and poverty, while preserving and developing the children’s cultural identity.

Giving children access to inclusive education
This project focuses on the promotion of children’s education and individual development, seeking to fight child labour and poverty. The project seeks to address the educational needs of the most disadvantaged Kenyan children in defence of their fundamental rights. This inclusive model will be implemented by 10 of the 46 public Kenyan schools. All parties involved teachers, university students, staff of the Ministry of Education, parents and other members of the community will receive specific training with a view to developing an inclusive culture and supportive educational practices.

EXPECTED IMPACT AND RESULTS
The project is predicted to benefit a total of 2,500 children. The expected results are as follows:
A more inclusive culture and more supportive educational practices at the target schools
Improved access to inclusive educational services, higher levels of school attendance and/or academic performance, and increased participation in structured inclusive sport and extracurricular activities among children aged between 5 and 18 who are living and/or attending school in Kenya. Increased empowerment, awareness of additional educational needs and how to support the children and participation in inclusive extracurricular activities and workshops/seminars among coaches, referees and members of the local community. Increased networking among Kenyan public schools, supporting the exchange of educational practices