Transforming Young Lives Through Sport

[kayiwa]

Transforming Young Lives Through Sport

Participation in sport is an internationally recognized human right and is important for people of all ages to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Foryoung people, sport, play and exercise are vital for optimal growth andlearning, stimulating physical, cognitive, emotional and social development.But the benefits of sport extend far beyond the individual. Through sport, wecan lay the groundwork for positive, lasting change on the societal level.

Around Uganda, Beyond Youths Sports programs promote health awareness, accelerate psychological healing in areas affected by natural disasters andconflict, further social inclusion and cohesion, and contribute to economicdevelopment through a variety of sport-based activities. Our programs takeadvantage of sport’s popularity and convening power to mobilize young peopleand their communities, communicate key messages, bring diverse groups togetherand teach valuable life skills in a way that is fun and participatory.

Our sport-based programs also aim to empower and promote the inclusion of marginalized groups, especially minorities, girls, refugees, people withdisabilities and vulnerable children and youth.

Meeting Challenges with Sport
BYSPORTS strives to be a leader in the field of sports programming bydeveloping a series of innovative and replicable models that demonstrate thepowerful effect of sport in transforming the lives of young people.

BYSPORTS is organizing sports-related projects in Uganda. These projects have a focus primarily on helping youth overcome health challenges (specifically, HIV/AIDS) and thetrauma associated with natural disasters. Now, we are broadening the scope ofour work to include programs addressing conflict management and economicdevelopment using sports.

Protecting Against HIV/AIDS
we appeal to all local sports coaches to incorporate an innovative HIV/AIDSlife skills curriculum into their teams’ activities. Through their work, youngpeople will learn how they can prevent HIV/AIDS and live a healthy life. Theprograms also work to reduce stigma and discrimination against people affectedby HIV/AIDS.

[Bradley Troast]

Have you heard of Engage Uganda? It's a summer study abroad program for Northwestern University undergraduate students. I know a few people who did it in 2007 and 2008 and they all loved it.

[Willow Yang Liuqing]

I think the ideas behind how to promote our programs are the same. It is to find a platform to which many people pay close attention, and use that to transform part of people's interests into other things, say our programs. Yet the reaction may not be that quick, Passing our messages out is essential anyhow.

[kayiwa]

You are right Daniel
I see in some countries like Ghana they train professional fans of their national Teams and other volunteers join them un fortunately they dont have web pages

I will ensure that we have that In Uganda

[Daniel Bassill]

Imagine if each of the teams in the World Cup had a page on their web site, encouraging their fans to visit the web sites of youth organizations in their own countries, to become volunteers and donors. We need to teach athletes to do that