Friend of EduSport originated in Falkirk, Scotland.  Since we started in 2007, we now have regional development committees operating in Scotland, Bath, Southampton and London.  We also proud of our International links with dedicated supporters in America, New Zealand, Norway and also across Zambia.

 

Our Vision:  

Guiding Principles:

Educate Empower Inspire

Objectives:

• To support high quality teaching learning and practice
• Support community schools with resources and professional development
• To involve and empower young people with development opportunities
• To advocate for girl empowerment towards more equal, equitable and active societies
• Promote the use of sport as a dev tool and to advocate importance of education in pathway to creating responsible citizens

We have worked 3 communities in Lusaka, namely Kalingalinga, Chawama and Bauleni since 2007. We are proud to be extending our support to Ngombe community in 2011.

 

One of our aims is to expand our work to other areas and create sustainable partnerships with innovative projects.  Our work is focused on the use of sport and education as development tools, while our current focus in Zambia we would be happy to hear from organisations seeking to develop further partnerships. 

Our work is divided into two sections: projects and programmes. Read about some of our success stories to date 

Programmes:

Peer leader sponsorship (See how to sponsor )

Individual sponsors support our valued peer leaders with school fees to ensure they remain in school. In return for their sponsorship, the youth peer leaders commit to delivering 2 hours of sport or education support to young people in their communities with support from our partner organisations. 

Some examples of our sponsored peer leaders in action delivering sport and HIV/AIDS games to young people in disadvantaged community compounds in Lusaka

Kelvin & Moses, Kalingalinga EduSport

Teacher/coordinator sponsorship

We are currently looking for new sponsors to allow us to expand our support to teachers within our link schools and to the community sport coordinators which provide vital support to the peer leaders and other youth. This support is often invaluable given that there are large numbers of orphaned youth in the communities, thus the teachers and coordinators provide guidance and positive role models.

Dare 2 Dream

Started in 2007 we offer small grants/loans to inspiring individuals to allow them to follow their dreams on completion of school. To date we have made it possible for 3 youth to take up further education courses, one community to initiate a small income generation project and also for a debut solo album to be produced. Grants/loans are provided with an agreement through an annual application process. We have seen that this programmes creates a valuable stepping stone from education into employment for the peer leaders.

“Adolescence is a period marked by creativity, energy and resilience which if properly tapped, can lay the foundation for a healthy future” (Brady & Khan, 2002)

Internship

Friend of EduSport recognised that many of the young leaders remained highly committed to their community work on completion of school/education however with an unemployment rate of over 70% it remains a challenge to complete the transition from school to a job. Therefore, in 2009, we created an internship to allow a selected peer leader a one year contract to gain professional experience operating within the EduSport secretariat with a remit to provide support to our partner schools, communities and organisations.

Projects

Chawama SEE School

 A community school which Friend of EduSport provided a start-up grant back in 2007. The school is now self-sustainable with over 200 children attending class daily. Chawama SEE school is one of our biggest projects, we are currently in the process of approving a grant to buy land and build a new school to ensure that the school reaches it potential to be a school of sporting and  academic excellence. It is also hoped that the school will provide facilities for sport development in partnership with the EduSport Foundation and will become a peer leader academy in the years to come.

Library Project Development

In 2009 Friend of EduSport organised a container of 17,000 donated books to set up over 12 school and community libraries. With education such a precious commodity it was also evident from discussions with schools that a limiting factor to development was the availability of books with many classes having 1 textbook between 50 pupils. To encourage a more literate generation and to support the educational provision in our partner schools we launched our library development project. We hope that phase 2 of the project will be underway in 2011.

Link a school

We have been overwhelmed by the support and interest in our work by schools across the UK, it was this demand for information about international links and learning resources that prompted our ‘link a school’ campaign for mutual benefit between the UK and African schools.  As part of our commitment we provide an International Development Day in our schools, exchange school profiles and letters between pupils.  We have been delighted by the response in both the UK and Zambia to the new partnerships which are developing, as always we are inspired by the innovative ideas that arise from the minds of young people when we seek answers to global challenges. 

Sporting Ambassadors 

With our belief that sport can change lives it seemed natural that we attract a number of successful athletes to become ambassadors and conduct advocacy work. We are proud of our athlete ambassadors, we believe that their dedication and commitment to sport offers a valuable lesson to young people. They perfectly compliment and embody our principles of educate, empower, inspire as they excel in their chosen field.

Encapsulating the power of sport is at the centre of our activities