Please note that while some of our partners are Faith-based organisations, TackleAfrica are not a faith based organisation, do not in any way promote religious or faith based messages and work with young people and partners of any religion.  We only work with partners who allow us to promote condom use within our work, though we always consult with local partners on issues of cultural sensitivity and local practice.

Our UK partners support our work by donating funds, products or expertise, or helping us raise our profile in the UK and attract new supporters.  We also  collaborate closely with other charities who undertake similar work and are a member of several networks devoted to fighting HIV or using football as a tool for development.

You can view a description of our partners below – if you are interested in partnering with TackleAfrica in Africa, please contact info@tackleafrica.org.  If you are interested in partnering with TackleAfrica in the UK please contact tom@tackleafrica.org

TackleAfrica Coach:
Graeme Sears

Project Description:

(i) Bolga
Date: October 2009

For the first week of the project, Graeme visited TackleAfrica partner AfriKids in Bolga. AfriKids is a Child Rights organisation working to improve life for Ghana’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Their work ranges from the more traditional children’s projects including foster homes, schools and street child centres to more groundbreaking initiatives which tackle complex cultural issues including HIV, child trafficking and child labour.

TackleAfrica had sent a team out previously in 2007, so Graeme primarily went back to see how those coaches were doing and do some follow up coaching with them. Over a 3 day period Graeme, ran a refresher course with 14 coaches in attendance. This included delivering drills from the TackleAfrica coaching manual as well as HIV education workshops. Graeme also tested some new drills which will be part of the next edition of the TackleAfrica coaching manual which is coming out in 2010.

Graeme also visited the following coaches to evaluate their delivery of the coaching manual to their teams. The opportunity to get feedback from Graeme proved very useful and helped the coaches to continue their development and give them confidence to use the coaching manual more regularly.

• Coach Ayine Nicolas: Soccer Masters U12 (15 players)
• Coach Salifu Fatwu: Juventus U17 (20 players)
• Coaches Abwbakar Malik & Azabre Paulina: Sharp Arrows Ladies FC U15 (16 players)
• Coach Ataih Albert: Harvest Academy U15 (30 players)

(ii) Tamale
Date: October 2009

In the second week, Graeme went to visit another partner, RAINS (Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems) in Tamale. TackleAfrica had sent coaches out earlier in the year to work with R.A.I.N.S, so again Graeme’s primary objective was to see how the coaches were doing, if they needed any support and demonstrate more TackleAfrica drills.

During the week, Graeme visited 9 previously trained coaches around Tamale working with over 300 players, both boys and girls, in teams of all age groups from U12 to U17. Graeme also ran a refresher course for around 20 previously trained coaches demonstrating both drills from the current manual and drills from the new manual due out in 2010.

As well as sending six coaches from the UK, TackleAfrica was excited to invite Moses Kingango from Uganda as an additional coach. Moses is a key member of our partner, KCCC in Uganda with whom we have been working for several years.

Project Description:

(i) Kisumo (Western Province) & Siaya (Nyanza Province):
Date: August 10th – 22nd

For the first 2 weeks of the project, TackleAfrica partnered with an organisation called FRACODEP (St. Francis Community Development Programme) to run activities in both Kisumu (week 1) and Siaya (week 2). This was the 2nd successive year working with FRACODEP after a very successful pilot project in 2008. FRACODEP implements a range of HIV/AIDS projects in Western Kenya supporting HIV/AIDS orphans, widows and those living with HIV, and carries out several awareness on HIV/AIDS and safer behaviour activities in their Youth, AIDS and Behavioural Change Project.

Using a model that empowers local coaches to deliver HIV messaging, the TackleAfrica coaches successfully delivered coaching courses to 100 local football coaches, teachers and peer educators in both Kisumu and Siaya; with a specific focus on training the coaches to work with the TackleAfrica coaching manual. The courses in Kisumu and Siaya lasted 5 days each and included:

- Introducing and delivering the TackleAfrica Manual to the participants
- Interactive educational sessions on ‘How to be a Good Football Coach’ and ‘How to Structure a Coaching Session’
- Q&A session with an HIV/ medical expert
- Participants delivery of TackleAfrica drills with evaluation
- Award ceremony with certificates
- Local tournaments with TackleAfrica activity

As well as local coaches from the community, invitations to participate on the course were also extended to coaches and peer educators from other organisations in Kenya including; SAIPEH, MTGK and Alive & Kicking.

(ii) Mumias (Nyanza Province):
Date: August 24th – 29th

After the first 2 weeks, Clive Fogelman stayed in Kenya to visit an organisation in Mumias called SAIPEH (Support Activities in Poverty Eradication and Health). SAIPEH started as a small acting group who travelled around in their own time to local communities to deliver educational entertainment about HIV/ AIDS; most notably dispelling the many myths about how HIV infects and spreads. This was delivered in the mother tounges of the area i.e. the tribal language; contributing greatly to the effectiveness of the message. Using a range of creative formats to bring the message across, they are particularly concerned with getting their message into schools, as a way of bringing HIV out into the open and reducing the stigma that currently exists.

Together with Wanyama Nelson and Pamela Osore (2 coaches from SAIPEH who had completed the TackleAfrca coaching course in Siaya), Clive delivered a 4-day TackleAfrica coaching course for 25 local coaches and peer educators at Mumias Secondary School for boys. Using the same structure which had worked so well in Kusmu and Siaya, the program was hugely successful in Mumias, with many members of the public and the council supporting the program.

(ii) Kilifi (Kenya Coast):
Date: August 31st – September 5th

For the final week of the project, Clive visited MTGK (Moving the Goalposts Kilifi) a girls’ youth sports and development organisation in Kilifi on the coast of Kenya. MTGK set up a sport and development programme in 2001 and now has close to three thousand girl football players. It aims to promote football excellence, youth leadership, reproductive health rights and economic empowerment to help girls and young women escape the cycle of poverty most of them live in. HIV and AIDS awareness is a central element of their overall program and currently is mainly executed through their Peer Education program in schools and is predominantly a classroom based initiative. Working with TackleAfrica was an opportunity to take the message from the classroom to the field in an interactive and creative format.

This project also provided TackleAfrica with an excellent opportunity to understand some of the challenges that women specifically face in regard to HIV/ AIDS. Rather than run 1 course for a week, MTGK arranged for Clive to visit different areas in the coastal region where MTGK has set up football leagues for women and work with the different coaches in those areas. During the week, Clive worked with around 60 women in Mnarani, Vitengeni, Kaloleni and Ganze. Clive introduced and delivered drills from the Tackle Africa manual to the coaches from each division and set up discussion groups to explore the challenges that women face on the Coast.

About the locations:

The Western and Nyanza Provinces are both located in an extremely vulnerable area of Kenya with HIV prevalence estimated at around 30% (against the national prevalence of 7.5%). Within the region, the age group 15-30yrs has been devastatingly affected by the pandemic and available statistics indicate that the youth make up 33% of those infected. (Kenya national Youth Policy 2006). High HIV/AIDS prevalence in the region has been attributed to a number of issues. Retrogressive cultural practices like widow inheritance, upon the death of the husband, non-circumcision of men, as well as sexual promiscuity along the fishing beaches, and sugar cane plantation, are some of the issues in question. Coupled with this is the fact that the province also has the highest poverty prevalence rates in the country, standing at 65%.

The Coastal Province has also become increasingly affected by HIV. According to a recent United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, commercial sex tourism is growing rapidly on the Kenyan coast, and gaining increasing acceptance as a valid way of earning an income, spurred on by a flourishing tourism industry. There are often little alternatives to earn money elsewhere, and the promise of income often lures women away from the inland provinces. Of further concern, child sex work (CSW) has become increasingly apparent along the coast. Another study by the government and UNICEF found that up to 30 percent of teenagers in some coastal areas were involved in casual sex for cash.

From their own experiences in Africa, TackleAfrica’s founders recognised the potential of football as a means of bringing people together, and providing a platform from which to convey hugely important messages about HIV and AIDS.

From these origins, the charity has grown to work regularly with local partners in 6 African countries, reaching over 20,000 young people each year.   In early 2007, TackleAfrica piloted a unique way of combining HIV education directly into football coaching drills, publishing the first edition of the HIV education through football coaching manual later the same year.   We have since rolled out this programme across our partners, training 450 coaches in 2009 and publishing a second edition of the manual in May 2010.

Since 2005, the majority of TackleAfrica’s funding has come from our annual flagship event, the football marathon, which has raised nearly £400,000 in the last 5 years.  This has allowed us to rapidly grow our output in Africa and invest in staff and other infrastructure in the UK to ensure that our internationally programmes are sustainable and fully supported.

In April 2010 we employed a full time Head of Fundraising and Development to work alongside our part-time Managing Director, and by the end of 2010 we will have recruited our second full time position, the Coach Development Manager.   These three roles will work closely together to ensure TackleAfrica has the maximum possible positive impact in Africa while maintaining a very cost effective UK base, and over the next 5 years we hope to rapidly develop our programmes and reach hundreds of thousands of young people.

TackleAfrica is governed by an unpaid Executive Committee - currently made up of 8 trustees – each with expertise in relevant areas including international development, fundraising, media relations, and working in Africa.   We are also hugely reliant on the support of our volunteers both in Africa and the UK.   None of what we do would be possible without the time, effort and expertise provided for free by people with a passion to help TackleAfrica succeed, whether by coaching in Africa, raising money or helping with marketing or admin. 

To learn more about TackleAfrica or find out how you could get involved, please contact us at info@tackleafrica.org.

Keep reading for some suggestions for how you can get involved in raising funds for TackleAfrica. If you have any ideas of your own, please get in touch – we will support you all the way.

Football Marathon

TackleAfrica’s annual fundraising event is the Football Marathon, which has grown is size, scope and popularity every year and in 2008 featured over 250 players raising £70,000. The ultimate test of skill and endurance, the Football Marathon features teams playing in a super-tournament for 12 hours and raising funds through sponsorship.

Contact Tom at tom@tackleafrica.org if you want to take part in the 2009 Football Marathon, or would like information on how to organise your own Football Marathon.

Organise your own event

If you want to organise your own football tournament, keepy-uppy world record attempt, sponsored swim, silence or cycle or absolutely anything else you can think of, we will support you all the way. In the past, our supporters have raised funds by cycling from London to Paris and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Take part in a national/locally organised event

If you are interested in completing a Triathlon, Marathon, Mountain Climb, Channel Swim or any other professionally organised event, we will support your application, training and fundraising efforts and can provide you with TackleAfrica t-shirts and/or running vests.

Ask your employer

TackleAfrica are currently contacting companies and other organisations to help us in our World AIDS Day appeals. We are also looking for patrons, sponsors and any other offers of support. Many companies will match funds that you raise individually or give you paid ‘charity days’ if you are volunteering or organising fundraising events.

Examples of how you can ask your company to help are:

• ‘Wear your football shirt to work’ day – where members of your organisation make a donation to TackleAfrica and get the chance to show their support for their favourite team
• Company Football tournament – we can help you organise a football tournament within your organisation or against other organisations within your sector to raise money for TackleAfrica
• One game saves lives- Appeal to colleagues to donate 90 minutes of their salaries to TackleAfrica
• Give as you earn – check if your employer is set up for payroll giving, and invite us to give a presentation to your colleagues about our work and give people the opportunity to support us with a regular gift through their salary

World AIDS Day

World AIDS day takes place worldwide on 1st December each year and is the perfect time to arrange a fundraising event or ask your company to support TackleAfrica.  For information on TackleAfrica’s World AIDS Day fundraising ideas contact  info@tackleafrica.org

HIV and Young People in Africa

TackleAfrica works in sub-Saharan Africa, the part of the world most affected by HIV and AIDS where young people are one of the groups most at risk of infection. It is estimated that 10 million people aged 15-24 are living with HIV worldwide, this age group represents about 40% of all new infections. We aim to promote positive behaviour change among young people, by providing them with information about HIV and AIDS through the medium of football.

Despite the crucial role that young people have to play in mitigating the impact of HIV, the level of awareness remains low, especially in rural areas.  Young men and women are becoming sexually active in their teens, but parents, schools and community leaders are often reluctant to talk to them about sex before they are perceived to be adults, this is often too late.

We acknowledge that although we make every effort to include girls/young women and increase their participation in football, and many of our volunteer coaches are women, the fact remains that most of the young people we work with are boys/young men. We believe that they are an important target group, particulary those who do not attend school, as they are often missed out by more general HIV education or health programmes.

One of the strongest influences on the speed at which the HIV virus spreads is the sexual behaviour and attitudes of men.  It the communities where we work, it is usually men, not women, who hold the power in sexual relations, determining when and how often sex takes place and whether or not a condom is used. However old they are when they first have sex, attitudes to sexuality and women are formed at an early age. Helping boys to learn about relationships and sex before they are sexually active is key in influencing them to adapt their behaviour in future.

In order for the power relations to change, young women need to become empowered, educated and economically independent, but this cannot happen in isolation. Young men must be involved and included, learning to respect their sexual partners and women in general, they can become role models and peer educators in HIV prevention campaigns, helping to protect the next generation.

Three Tackle Africa coaches visited Kabwe in October 2008; Kabwe is a town characterised most perhaps by its once booming copper mining industry, and now a place short on jobs, and struggling with high HIV infection rates and young people not unlike youngsters in the UK, turning to drink, drugs and sexual activity for excitement.

The Kabwe project used a day centre for vulnerable street kids (Sables) as a base; its situated right next to a community pitch used by a lot of local teams. We aimed to achieve two major objectives; firstly to run a coaching clinic for local football coaches, thus training them to deliver the Tackle Africa HIV related training drills to a high coaching standard and with clear HIV messaging, and second to foster relationships that could mean Tackle Africa’s model of reaching young people through football could continue and grow after our departure.

The coaches visiting Kabwe brought their own unique experiences to the table, Tim Newsome as a UEFA B level coach and Charlie McGrath, an experienced project worker in Zambia and also someone able to coach netball and reach Zambian girls in a country where ladies football is not yet as popular as elsewhere in Africa.

We achieved the objectives; not only did the coaches come together to learn the drills, we have formed a forum of local coaches representing ten junior sides, who will continue to meet and share coaching practice and innovations in HIV drills. A proposed Tackle Africa ‘Play Safe’ Youth League is also in the offing, and several new drills have been designed by local coaches.

Lusaka

The second half of the trip, to Lusaka (with potential partners Breakthrough Sports Academy who support youth football in Lusaka’s poorer districts) played out a bit differently, but ultimately with similar outcomes. The coaches involved, Ele Lewis, Clive Fogleman and Gudrun Jevne, again ran a coaching clinic, though in the absence of an organised local partner.

We ran the sessions using paper and marker pen, blu-tacked to a wall next to a community pitch, and managed to run 3 days worth of coaching clinics, reaching out to football coaches from five different areas of Lusaka (often with large crowds of schoolkids peering over their shoulders). We visited the sites where the local coaches coached, community pitches in or just outside the local ‘compounds’ that people live in, and were able to introduce the training sessions to large groups of under 10s to under 19s and also assess the local coaches delivering Tackle Africa drills.

We were also involved in three ‘Independence Day’ football tournaments, where we ran sessions for teams who were in between games, and presented awards, particularly focussing on the players’ involvement with the Tackle Africa workshops in between games.

While a future partner did not emerge from this leg of the trip, the coaches who attended the course fedback positively and a short trip was able to reach a very large target audience, confirming I believe that a model that empowers local coaches is Tackle Africa’s most effective means of creating a sustainable impact on young people. Where we can back this up by supporting ongoing football events, or giving the youngsters chance to play competitively, and train with a peer group that supports each other, it is clear that the impact of the HIV training drills carries on beyond the football session and informs the lives of many young people.

The trip also enabled us to formalise a coaching clinic ‘curriculum’ with valuable feedback from local coaches on what was most needed for them to continue to spread the messages of healthy living through high quality football coaching.

In late September, 20 intrepid volunteers from across the UK set off on a six month HIV/AIDS awareness football tour of West and East Africa. Flying into Morocco, the team travelled down the West Cost of Africa as far as Senegal, before turning inland and passing through Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria before reaching Cameroon in mid December. After New Year the team flew across to Ethiopia, before travelling down into Kenya, and on into Uganda and finally finishing the project in Tanzania in late March. Over the course of the 6 months, the project team took part in 16 different HIV awareness events and played more than 40 games of football.

Each event was carried out in collaboration with an established local NGO, ensuring that the event was geared for the specific needs of the local community. The events varied enormously in terms of size and style, with venues ranging from glistening national stadia to dirt pitches with no proper goals or markings. The opposition was also hugely eclectic – on some occasions full times pros and even internationals, and at other times school teams or farm workers.

As well as taking part in football matches, the team also took part in HIV awareness seminars and workshops, street parades, cultural evenings and schools visits – all designed to increase people’s awareness and understanding of HIV and AIDS and to challenge people to take positive steps to protect themselves against the disease.

The project team also distributed leaflets and posters and other materials to help raise AIDS awareness, and also a huge amount of sports equipment – hoping to help local partners to continue to run similar events in the future, and encouraging the local community to take part in the activities.

At the end of the project, the team returned to the UK road weary and exhausted, but also filled with a considerable sense of achievement. Over the course of the 16 events, the volunteers had won a huge number of friends, and had been able to convey vital messages to more than 50,000 people.

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The province in which CCFMC operates has the highest rate of HIV prevalence in Kenya – at 29%. The impact of HIV in this area is most serious amongst adolescents and young adults – 3 in every 5 new infections are aged between 15 and 24. There is also a high rate of teenage pregnancy – estimated at 10% per year for girls aged 13-14 years and young people exhibit significance ignorance about HIV/AIDS and its modes of transmission.

This project aims to equip the youth and community with accurate and appropriate knowledge and skills for curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS and facilitate, establish and support activities among the youth that will enhance their active participation in efforts to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. CCFMC are also using the project to address the socio-cultural issues that relate to HIV/AIDS and reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy amongst the adolescents.

The project is based on a tournament model, with build up taking place in two areas – Siaya and Chiga, with a series of 9 build up events at a sub-parish level followed by final matches between the winning teams. During these events, HIV/AIDS messages are passed on through printed T-shirts and caps, through posters and banners, and also through guest speakers from local government and HIV awareness programmes.

CCFMC are also using these events to raise HIV awareness through a number of core activities:

• Peer education activities in groups
• Facilitate youth group and interschool competitions
• Coordination with local health facilities to monitor treatment seeking behaviour among the youth
• Promotion of information through football, songs and poems among the youth
• Distribution of IEC materials
• Promotion of Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV

50 members of the Kabaa Young Cobras Football Club & Tulila United Football Club, aged 15-24 years, are being trained as peer educators who will be able to inform young people about HIV/AIDS at football events. Their activities are expected to reach an additional 10,000 young people aged 5-30 years old.

Many young people in the Machkaos area drop out of school and become involved in child labour. Many are involved in ‘sand-harvesting’ which involves digging up sand from dry rivers beds and selling it in sacks at the roadside to trucks which take it to Nairobi for in construction. This is illegal, poorly paid and bad for the environment, but it provides the young people with disposable income, which is sometimes spent on drugs. There is also pressure from some families to contribute to household income. PfP is working with the schools and local leaders to discourage this activity

A PfP survey carried out last year identified negative peer pressure, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and poverty in the family as the key impediments to the development of young people and to their communities. The objective of the project is to promote positive behaviour change among young people. This will be achieved by providing them with information about HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and related issues so that they can make informed decisions and take control of their lives. Young people out of school cannot readily access information about HIV/AIDS and they are particularly vulnerable to infection. This project will specifically address this urgent need to help save young people’s lives

The project involves 8 one-day training seminars for all club members to equip them with accurate and relevant information about HIV/AIDS. The seminars will also be used to plan the events and help the members design the messages, and methods of delivery, they will use during the sporting activities.

The project also provides for ongoing support to club members from PfP staff and the Provision of sporting equipment, kit, balls, nets etc.