Grassroot Soccer - Role Models and Community Support are Keys to Helping Kids Thrive
September, 2006
by Dr. Thomas S. Clark
I believe that every child has the right to the information, the role models, and the community support he or she needs, both to stay alive and to realize his or her potential in life. Many young people around the world have been given a raw deal and the odds are weighted heavily against them from the start. In Africa, with HIV having destroyed communities and economies, young people face an uphill battle.
Despite the fact that HIV is preventable, life expectancy in many African countries has fallen from approximately 60 years to 30 years in two decades. The disease disproportionately affects young people. Fifty percent of new HIV infections occur in people aged 15-24. Despite this catastrophe, young people in sub-Saharan Africa receive little or no education about HIV transmission and prevention. The developed world has been slow to respond to the AIDS crisis in Africa. Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa warned in a recent briefing, "... There are no excuses left, no rationalizations to hide behind, no murky slanders to justify indifference. There will only be the mass graves of the betrayed." The World Health Organization has stated that focusing prevention efforts on young people is likely to be the most effective approach in confronting the pandemic, particularly in high prevalence countries (WHO 2004).
At Grassroot Soccer (GRS), we have developed an innovative approach to AIDS prevention by leveraging African youths' passion for soccer to educate them about the facts concerning AIDS and to empower them to make healthy choices about their own physical health. GRS relies on the founder's (me!) background in medicine, in soccer and in Africa where I played soccer professionally and taught English. By relying on African youths' interest in soccer and soccer players, we are already part of the way there! Some of the strategies that we have incorporated into our program, which we believe are essential to the positive development of the youth we serve, include:
Educating:
Knowledge is power. Our approach at GRS is to engage young people in an educational experience that gives them the knowledge they need to keep themselves alive and to help them to make sound choices, to take care of themselves, and to recognize the connection between their behavior and their long-term physical health.
The Grassroot Soccer curriculum is based on Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory. The program combines three powerful principles of education:
- Kids learn best from people they respect. Role models have a unique power to influence young minds. Young people listen to and emulate their heroes. Grassroot Soccer uses professional players and other role models as HIV educators and spokespeople.
- Learning is not a spectator sport. Adolescents retain knowledge best when they are active participants in the learning process, teaching others what they themselves have learned. Grassroot Soccer graduates are trained to become peer educators and advocates in their communities.
- It takes a village. Role models can change what young people think about, but lifelong learning requires lifelong community support. Grassroot Soccer fosters community involvement through youth outreach, long-term partnerships and special events like graduation ceremonies for graduates.
Engaging the Community:
Our long-term measure of success at GRS is how effective we are, not only in providing factual knowledge about AIDS, but also in changing lives. At GRS, we are committed to long-term, sustainable life impact. In order to do that, we know we need to engage the community in which the youth lives.
Social Learning Theory holds that culturally relevant role models in the setting of a supportive community environment can increase self-efficacy, the confidence necessary for individuals and groups to change attitudes and behaviors in positive ways. For kids to thrive, they need both positive role models and sustained community support. This is especially true when it comes to learning about AIDS and to sustaining a personal commitment to avoid becoming infected. The highly sensitive nature of the subject, especially in Africa, requires a paradigm shift for the whole community. We promote the sustainability of our educational messages and of the programs themselves by maximizing community involvement in GRS programs so that the youth we target aren't learning in isolation. At GRS, we involve high-profile professional soccer players, which immediately draws the interest of community. We then target the communities in a variety of ways.
First, the curriculum is filled with take-home activities in which participants are asked to talk with friends and parents outside the classroom and share what they have learned. This begins important conversations and gives our students a forum to reach out to people who can provide ongoing support to them. The students can compare the challenges, fears, and successes with each other in the next classroom.
Thandi, a 13 year old girl in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe said this:
"I was very very scared to talk with my mother about HIV but when I heard my friends saying they were scared and that they had managed, I knew that I had to try too."
Second, a graduation ceremony following completion of the curriculum and attended by the soccer players has two strategic goals:
- It is an opportunity to educate parents and other community members.
- It helps graduates feel that they are supported by their parents and the community.
In a small rural town in northern Botswana, two parents emotionally confessed:
"We are very grateful for your program as we now feel that we can share with our child that we are both HIV positive."
Social Learning Theory, applied in the context of countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe, not only activates people's natural social connections, but it also teaches us to address the biggest issue of our day more effectively and with greater humanity. By modeling a more information-based, neutralized, and positive approach in the larger social context, we support learning that will have deeper, more realistic, and longer-lasting impact.
Empowering:
We at GRS are just helping young Africans help themselves. They have the talent, the imagination, the hope to imagine a better future.
Our symbol at Grassroot Soccer is a rag soccer ball made by an African child. The ball, on one hand, represents the lack of opportunity and harsh economic conditions. On the other hand, it represents the ingenuity and resourcefulness of African youth - ingenuity and resourcefulness that we are banking on. We believe that African youth can change their communities. To do that we help them develop what is already there - a sense of their own self-efficacy.
Youth thrive best not only when they are given the knowledge, the role models, the community, and the support to act wisely and well, but also when they are empowered to act wisely on their own behalf. Bandura said, "People who believe they have the power to exercise some measure of control over their lives are healthier, more effective and more successful than those who lack faith in their ability to effect changes in their lives."
A 12 year old in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe reflected this empowered position in some poetry he wrote after the program:
"Doctors and Scientists are trying their best. The answer is in our hands. Now let's go out there."
Promoting resiliency:
One of the most rewarding aspects of our work with African youth is the unique way in which we may be able to help our kids become stronger people through their engagement with our program. At GRS we have been studying resiliency and have begun integrating some of Thrive's tools to assess and promote thriving in our youth. We are working to help youth identify their own skills and to help the coaches and trainers who work with them reinforce those positive self-images. We are working to help youth identify their allies. Nobody can make it alone. Whether it is family or faith or friends - the young people are encouraged to make their support network work for them.
Grassroot Soccer has determined that we must not betray the young boys and girls of Africa. When I think about helping young people to thrive in places like Zambia or Botswana or Ethiopia or Zimbabwe, I like to think about Methembe Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean who grew up as an optimistic kid from the poor townships of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; went on to attend an Ivy League university in the United States; returned to Africa to captain his national soccer team; and then become an AIDS educator with GRS. When I watch Methembe changing the course of 12 and 13 and 14 year-olds' lives, I feel we may have arrived - local role models, inspired and inspiring, teaching youth how they, too, can realize their dreams.
Dr. Thomas S. Clark is founder and director of Grassroot Soccer. |
