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WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak in Liberia Officially Over

Ebola-Outbreak-in-Liberia-Over
On Saturday May 9, the World Health Organization  (WHO) released an official statement announcing the end of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia.

The announcement came 42 days after the burial of the last laboratory-confirmed Ebola patient, a woman from near the Liberian capital of Monrovia. Health officials monitored all 332 people who may have been exposed to the woman. None developed symptoms.

Most people infected with Ebola show symptoms within 21 days of being exposed to the virus. However, as a precautionary measure, the WHO waits an additional 21 days before declaring that a country or region is Ebola-free.

During the outbreak’s peak in August and September of 2014, Liberia reported over 300 new cases every week. Lack of treatment beds and protective equipment made it difficult to provide necessary care to an increasing number of patients.

Dr. Alex Gasasira, WHO representative to Liberia, traveled with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to visit hospitals after the formal statement was released. The overall mood seemed hopeful. “The health workers are dancing and clapping and singing ‘no more Ebola,’” Dr. Gasasira said.

The WHO praised such health workers, along with ambulance drivers and burial teams, for their courageous efforts in handling the crisis. “[They] were driven by a sense of community responsibility and patriotic duty to end Ebola and bring hope back to the country’s people,” the official statement read.

The report also credited the leadership of President Sirleaf and the support of the international community with the efficient handling of the crisis.

However, the U.N. health agency will “remain on high alert” as it tracks Ebola cases in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

On Monday, May 11, people gathered in the streets of Monrovia to attend the government-held celebrations. President Sirleaf held a moment of silence at the event for the thousands of Liberians who died from the disease. She also pledged her support for the governments and people of Sierra Leone and Guinea. “Until they are free, totally free, we are not free,” she said.

The WHO has termed the interruption of Ebola transmission in Liberia a “monumental achievement.” In the coming weeks, the Liberian people will begin to rebuild a country devastated by the horrors of an epidemic. Children have already started to return to schools, with new practices, such as hand-washing programs, in place.

The sense of victory is a cautious one, however. Until the entire region is Ebola-free, officials will continue to monitor the borders between Liberia and neighboring infected countries.

– Caitlin Harrison

Sources: United Nations, World Health Organization, NPR, US News and World Report, New York Times

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The Evolution of Women around the Globe

Evolution of Women
A new age for women is being ushered in, although this battle seems to have been going on for years now. It’s the evolutions of women!

Women in countries around the world that previously lived in prejudice and oppression are beginning to see a light at the end of a very long tunnel. Here are five areas in which women around the world are evolving and even excelling:

Girls’ Education

Education has become a priority for many countries around the world that previously lacked a stable and equal educational system. A heavy emphasis being placed on girls’ education has women around the world beginning to speak not only for themselves, but also for their daughters, sisters, mothers and friends.

Schools are being built near once-remote villages and girls are being educated instead of tending to homely or motherly duties. USAID has supported the Ministry of Education’s efforts to build thousands of new schools in the Middle East and Africa, as well as partnering in the distribution of millions of textbooks and supplies. The barriers are breaking down for girls’ education and opportunities for higher learning are expanding.

The Health of Women and Children

Numerous countries are working with USAID to completely reform the current health care systems in order to allow mothers and women to reach the medical treatment and health facilities they need to care for children and birth healthy offspring. In addition to building more healthcare centers, training for medical staff and midwives has been expanded to promote health in all areas of life for women.

Women in Politics

Women are gaining momentum in politics. In the Afghanistan 2014 elections, for example, voter participation reached a record high for both men and women. Women also served as election observers, ran for public office and were victorious on the campaign trail. Women made up 21 percent of winners from the 2014 Provincial Council Elections, 11 percent of judiciary seats and 20 percent of judges in training.

Women in the Economy

More women are taking on entrepreneurial roles than ever before. In response to the growing demand for the skills needed to participate in the increasingly advanced job market, USAID has provided job training for thousands of women and helped thousands more to find rewarding jobs. In addition to job training, many markets are expanding to create new jobs that both men and women can go after.

Women and Leadership

For countries to prosper, more women need to take leadership roles, and they are doing just that. USAID programs such as “Promote” will serve as the missing stepping stone between education and careers for thousands of Afghan women driven to serve as political, civil society and private sector leaders.

– Alaina Grote

Sources: About, USAID
Photo: Professional Women’s Breakfast Club

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World Cancer Day 2015 Highlights Unity

world cancer day 2015
February 4 was World Cancer Day 2015, taking place under the tagline “Not beyond us.” The campaign had four key areas of focus: choosing healthy lives, delivering early detection, achieving treatment for all and maximizing quality of life.

There were 690 official events planned for World Cancer Day this year across the globe, ranging from a university awareness event in Israel to a World Cancer Day Walk in Ohio to a free cancer screening for women event in Lagos, Nigeria.

World Cancer Day is observed each year to “unite the world in the fight against the disease through raising awareness, educating the public and lobbying for change.”

Cancer is not just one disease but a collective name for many diseases; there are more than 100 types of cancer. Cancer is the term given to a disease characterized by the uncontrollable division of abnormal cells, which can spread throughout the body. There are five broad categories of cancer types: carcinoma, sarcoma, leukemia, lymphoma and melanoma and central nervous center cancers.

Worldwide, cancer is a leading cause of mortality with about 14 million cases and 8.2 million deaths in 2012. Globally, the number of new cancer cases is expected to rise almost 70 percent in the next 20 years. More than 60 percent of these new cases and 70 percent of cancer-related deaths occur in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Risk factors for cancer include tobacco use, alcohol use, infection by Hepatitis B, sexually transmitted HPV-infection, urban air pollution, ionizing and nonionizing radiation, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, indoor smoke from use of solid fuels and being overweight or obese. By modifying or avoiding these risk factors, 30 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented.

Cancer detection and treatment are expensive and often unavailable to poor communities, especially in developing countries. Although fewer cancer cases occur in developing countries, there is a higher mortality rate. This shows that detection and treatment options are severely lacking. Because governments’ health budgets are usually constrained, difficult decisions have to be made about expenditures. Generally, infectious diseases get a higher percentage of the budget, leaving cancer and other non-communicable diseases to continue to wreak havoc.

Cancer is part of a larger group of diseases called non-communicable diseases, or NCDs. NCDs include cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases and cannot be passed from one person to another directly. NCDs have been on the rise in developing countries but still receive little funding or treatment. The World Health Organization launched a campaign called the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013 – 2020, which aims to reduce premature mortality caused by NCDs by 25 percent by 2025.

– Caitlin Huber

Sources: Union for International Cancer Control, National Cancer Institute, World Health Organization, International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research
Photo: Post Media Canada

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Cell Phones Improve Literacy Rates

cell_phones
Out of the 7 billion people on the planet, 6 billion have a mobile phone. Cell phones have become widespread in developing countries, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. The mobile technology has become ubiquitous even in poverty-stricken areas and its impact on users is rapidly changing poor populations. Studies conducted in the past have shown that cell phones can provide literacy to the world’s poorest nations.

Literacy is known to be essential for economic development and fighting poverty. More than 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty, and nearly 2.5 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Studies have shown that literacy has a positive effect on GDP per capita. It is estimated that if all children from low-income nations could read, the poverty rate could drop by 12 percent.

Cell phones have been named the new important devices in the world. The mobile technology has even helped provide schools, teachers and parents with access to educational insights for success.

Moreover, cell phones help thousands of people in developing countries learn to read using their mobile phones. In fact, before the widespread use of cell phone technology, the adult literacy rate in all of Africa stood at 52 percent; by 2008, the literacy rate had increased to 63 percent.

Illiteracy is partially due to the lack of books in the developing world; an alternative solution to this problem is cell phones. Cell phones are inexpensive, convenient, cost-efficient and provide electronic books in the hands of developing nations.

Literacy not only empowers people, but it empowers the mind as well. When it comes to alleviating global poverty, literacy is important for development. Women who are involved in literacy programs and activities obtain a better knowledge of health and family planning. Additionally, children who have parents that are literate are more likely to be enrolled in an educational program and have extra support toward their studies.

Reports have also shown that low literacy costs the healthcare industry over $70 million each year. Children whose mothers can read are 50 percent more likely to survive past the age of five years old. To be able to read can be vital for survival; understanding medical guidelines or security instructions are crucial for a person’s health and safety.

Literacy also develops societies on a political level. People who are literate have the upper hand in becoming more educated, and therefore are more likely to become civically engaged. Whether they are involved in labor unions, politics, or community activities, they will have the opportunity to change the world. To be able to read, write and count contributes to an individual’s self-development, and allows each individual to have their own sense of personal freedom and better understand how to adapt to the constantly changing world.

– Sandy Phan

Sources: World Bank, Do Something, UNESCO
Photo: USA Today

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ACDI VOCA: A Nonprofit That Means Business

acdi voca
Dating back to the 1997 merger of the Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance, ACDI VOCA is a nonprofit devoted to improving global economic development.

The merger of the two nonprofits increased the individual organizations’ capabilities and scale, combining the complementary strengths of ACDI’s long-term development approaches and VOCA’s people-to-people volunteer activities.

ACDI VOCA works to help others on a large scale, expanding economic opportunities around the world, increasing social benefits and promoting food security solutions. In order to accomplish these goals, the organization implements development projects.

While the number of projects underway is impressive in itself, the scope and lasting impact is even more significant for countries in need.

While initially the organization began with strictly an agricultural focus, today the organization embraces comprehensive economic development approaches in the fields of food security, value chain-oriented enterprise development, poverty alleviation, access to financial services, farmer organization, self-help community development and efforts to stabilize fragile states.

Strategizing to obtain results through expertise, accountability, collaboration and innovation, ACDI VOCA seeks to understand problems through a comprehensive lens. Proving it can tackle complex and international interactive projects, the organization staffs experts in areas ranging from financial services to health and nutrition to community development.

An important benefit of ACID VOCA’s services is that most assignments provide short-term expertise to complement long-term development projects. For example, after the fall of the Soviet Union, a substantial number of assignments were carried out in Central and Eastern Europe providing entrepreneurs in these countries with their first exposure to the dynamics of the private sector and modern commercial operations.

ACDI VOCA provides U.S. and international career opportunities, summer internships for graduate students studying international development or a related field and a volunteer program.

The development program provides employees with extensive in-house training and tuition reimbursement where appropriate, such as if an employee takes an online language course for a project. The organization also offers numerous programs for its staff through e-Cornell and the Harvard Business School.

Programs that are currently under way include a business oriented agricultural cooperative in Ethiopia, a farmer’s fertilizer cooperative in India and cooperative banking in Poland. The projects are diverse, and the experts placed on each case depend on the needs of that particular community.

ACDI VOCA receives funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the World Bank and various regional banks, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and private sector firms.

Although the lasting impact of ACDI VOCA is immeasurable, success is certainly apparent in a record of over 11,000 assignments carried out in 146 countries by highly qualified volunteer specialists and on-staff experts.

– Caroline Logan

Sources: ACDI VOCA, DEVEX
Photo: Africaag

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Soccer Star Creates Kanu Heart Foundation

Nwankwo Kanu
Nwankwo Kanu is not only the former captain of the Nigerian national soccer team, but he also goes to a great length in doing charity work. Born in Nigeria, he started to show his soccer talent on the Dutch Ajax team by scoring 25 goals in 54 performances in his first year in Ajax. He also led the Nigerian team win the Olympic Gold Medal in 1996. He was named African Footballer of the Year in the same year. In his charity path, he launched Kanu Heart Foundation, which he claimed as his proudest achievement. At the same time, he is a UNICEF ambassador.

Just after winning the Olympics, he was diagnosed with a heart valve defect, underwent surgery and did not return to his career for almost a year. Because of his experience, he started his Kanu Heart Foundation to make sure children with heart problems are able to obtain heart surgeries, especially underprivileged children in Africa. Through this organization, hospitals provide surgical heart transplants, laser surgeries and more.

“These kids remind me of when I was growing up as a little boy,” Kanu said to BBC Sport. “There’s no amount of success on the football pitch that can give me more smiles than the numbers of lives I’ve touched.” He wants to put smiles on the face of every child who deserves the chance to pursue their dreams.

According to its official website, the Kanu Heart Foundation has undertaken 452 open heart surgeries since the foundation was first established in 2000. All sponsored surgeries are done in countries such as England, Israel, India and Sudan. The Cardiac Specialist Hospital will offer free surgeries for children from 1 to 12 years old and those for adults will be subsidized.

– Jing Xu

Sources: BBC News, Wikipedia, Kanu Heart Foundation 1, Kanu Heart Foundation 2
Photo: Connect Nigeria

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Six Successes of Plant With Purpose Around the World

plant with a purpose
Plant With Purpose is a San Diego-based Christian development organization. It assists the impoverished living in rural areas “where poverty and environmental degradation intersect” globally.

Through agricultural training, restoring the land and providing financial education, Plant With Purpose helps poor farming families become self-sufficient. To date, they have helped plant 11.9 million trees since their founding in 1984.

Plant With Purpose is currently present in more than 325 communities, providing aid and support to over 17,132 individuals within Burundi, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania and Thailand.

Location: Davi, Haiti

The Need: In Haiti, only 2 percent of its original forestry remains. Eighty-four percent of the population lives in poverty, and the country imports 60 percent of its food needs. Half of Haitian children under 5 are undernourished. With the help of Plant With Purpose, smallholder farming families are planting trees, implementing soil conservation methods and preventing soil erosion. Locals are educated on sustainable agriculture methods that restore the land and increase their food production and incomes. Village Savings and Loan Associations are also implemented.

Instead of providing food aid, Plant With Purpose is educating for self-sufficiency.

The communities in Davi are facing particular hardships. Floods and landslides cause destruction every rainy season, washing away the fertile topsoil and preventing farmers from growing crops. Families are forced to migrate to cities to find work. Plant With Purpose is working to reverse deforestation through its various methodologies.

Progress: Assisted families showed a 46 percent decrease in cholera and a 50 percent decrease in typhoid, compared with others. They also now actively save cash four times more frequently. They cultivate about 20 percent more land, own 30 percent more land and protect 20 percent more land through reforestation or erosion control.

These families also plant about three times as many trees as non-assisted local families.

Location: Panasawan & Pang Dang Nok, Thailand

The Need: The government of Thailand refuses to recognize many hill tribe members as citizens. Thus, they have few legal rights. They also have limited access to healthy fields, leaving them to grow crops on devastated hillsides. Plant With Purpose has been working with these communities to help them learn sustainable farming techniques and advocate for legal status in Thailand.

The village of Panasawan suffers from extreme poverty and a destroyed environment. Soil erosion, poor water quality and sanitation, difficult access to land rights and lacking availability of credit has ensnared the community in the cycle of poverty and environmental degradation. Plant With Purpose is providing farmers with environmental and financial training and economic opportunities necessary to break the cycle.

Progress: Hill tribe farming families are gaining access to land and basic rights. Village Savings and Loan Associations are providing a means to save and gain credit. Plant With Purpose is also helping congregations better meet the needs of their communities by training leaders.

Families aided now have twice as many children enrolled in high school, are 31 percent more likely to actively save cash, are 41 percent more likely to own land that is protected, have planted 2.5 times more trees, have shown a 19 percent decrease in admitted gambling and are 20 percent more likely to eat meat, eggs or fish on a daily or weekly basis.

Location: Lyasongoro, Tanzania

The Need: In Tanzania, Plant With Purpose mainly works with women, many of whom are widows or single mothers, because women and children there represent the poorest segment of the communities. Roughly 98 percent of these women who work earn through agriculture, but because they don’t have access to the same training their male counterparts receive, their yields suffer.

Plant With Purpose  provides agricultural training, which doubles crop output, and plants over a million trees each year around Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are also establishing Village Savings and Loan Associations.

Progress: Assisted families showed a 65 percent decrease in diarrheal disease and a 70 percent decrease in typhoid incidence. It’s also true that 99 percent of these families actively save cash, compared with 48 percent previously, and 50 percent have enough savings to cover household expenses for six months, compared with 6 percent previously.

Of participant families, 80 percent own cattle, which is 42 percent higher than those not assisted, and 66 percent of participants earn some household income through microenterprise endeavors, a significant 43 percent higher than those who were not trained.

Location: El Café, Dominican Republic

The Need: While the Dominican Republic is gaining wealth, there is a growing gap between the rich and poor. The most impoverished, deforested regions exist near the border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The Dominican government relies on Plant With Purpose to help with their reforestation programs.

El Café mainly profits off of its oregano crop, but recent deforestation threatens this trade. Plant With Purpose is helping to replenish the soil and diversify their economy. The organization has started a nursery, growing seedlings, fruit trees and other plants to replenish the forests and provide an additional source of income. Plant With Purpose has also provided a solar drier to villagers to convert their oregano into a marketable good. They are also offering workshops teaching sustainable farming and land conservation methods.

Progress: Families who work with the organization own twice as much land and protect 75 percent more land than non-participant families. These households are 60 percent more likely to own cattle as well.

Cacao, a valuable cash crop, is harvested 30 percent more often by Plant With Purpose farmers than other locals. Assisted families have planted almost three times as many trees than before.

Location: Kiremba, Burundi

The Need: In the world’s hungriest country, 80 percent of Burundi’s 8.5 million people live below the poverty line. At least 90 percent of Burundians depend on agriculture, but their farmland has been devastated by deforestation, drought, war and over-farming. Plant With Purpose is helping these farmers access land and maximize their productivity. They are also working with agriculture research institutions to provide disease-resistant crops. Through the introduced Village Savings and Loan Associations, villagers are saving their money and providing loans to others.

Progress: Plant With Purpose reports that 95 percent of farmers in associations have shared their knowledge with other farmers; each farmer shares with an average of 23.5 people. Participants are 24 percent more likely to save cash than non-participants, have planted three times as many trees as non-participants and have harvested 31 different crops, compared with 20 crops harvested by non-participant farmers.

Location: Tamazola, Mexico

The Need: In Oaxaca and Chiapas, two of the poorest states in Mexico, more than 75 percent of indigenous people live in extreme poverty. As men migrate to find work elsewhere, women are frequently left to care for their children and households.

Plant With Purpose is teaching families in rural communities to plant vegetable gardens that will increase their food production and incomes. Village Savings and Loan Associations have also been established to provide financial security and opportunity.

Progress: Plant With Purpose reports that participant households actively save cash 68 percent of the time, while non-participants save cash only 45 percent of the time, with participants being 43 percent more likely to have enough savings to cover six months of needs. Seventy-seven percent of participants own cattle, compared with 51 percent of non-participants, with the number of cattle owned by participants being twice that of the number owned by non-participants. Only seven percent of participant households have dirt floors in their homes compared with 29 percent of non-participant households. Participant farmers harvested 22 different crops, compared with eight by non-participants.

Plant With Purpose has seen measurable success from its efforts, objectively putting donations to good use. If seeking an effective, Christian-based charity that assists the poor on the ground, look no further. Personal contributions can be guaranteed to yield maximal benefit in the hands of this organization.

– Elias Goodman

Sources: Charity Navigator, Plan with Purpose, Scribd
Photo: New Identity Magazine

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ONE Launches New Campaign

one
What better way to give the girls and women of the world a voice than by giving them a worldwide platform on which to broadcast the issues that matter to them? That’s exactly the thinking behind ONE’s innovative new campaign called “Girls & Women.” The campaign seeks to “unleash the full potential of girls” by showcasing stories with women at their center.

Women have long been disproportionately affected by poverty; of the most impoverished people across the globe, more than 60 percent are female. Empowering women in developing countries to become full-fledged economic participants is crucial to eliminating poverty, but it begins by solving the social issues behind unequal access to education, employment and financial resources. Putting gender inequality in the spotlight is the first step to achieving equality.

ONE’s new “Girls & Women” initiative seeks to bring about equality by allowing different female “curators” from around the world to share their stories. The very first curator is Phiona Mutesi, a young Ugandan chess prodigy who has used her talent to help her family rise from poverty. On the same page that features stories about female entrepreneurs and resources for female empowerment, Phiona chose to share articles about how she personally escaped slum life, and some of the highlights of her life since then – specifically, challenging her chess hero and learning that Disney is preparing to produce a movie based on her life. Yes, Disney.

In conjunction with the “Girls & Women” initiative, ONE also offers its readers the chance to reach out to their Congressmen (at this time, to promote the Electrify Africa Act,) — an endeavor very much in line with The Borgen Project’s mission. In this way, ONE represents another agency using the power of advocacy to create measurable change. By shedding light on inspiring women and the issues that contribute to their poverty, ONE is working to make the world better for over half of its inhabitants.

– Elise L. Riley

Sources: ONE, United Nations Development Programme
Photo: NBC News

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Developing Young Political Leaders

young political leaders
The American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) focuses on international education exchange programs for young political leaders worldwide. Participants gain more than a standard experience abroad, however. The program provides in-depth exploration of the governance, politics, bilateral relations, geographic diversity, culture and policy-making of the host country. Since their founding in 1966, ACYPL has worked in 113 countries around the world.

ACYPL’s goal is to provide opportunities for the development of future political leaders, allowing them to gain insight into the realm of international relations. The program promotes more than just knowledge, focusing on individual growth and development as well.

One of ACYPL’s strategic goals is to strengthen participant’s leadership skills and promote an open-minded attitude. Mutual understanding, respect, and friendship are all positive outcomes of the experience. In addition, the program provides an opportunity for networking, allowing people to stay in touch across the globe.

Lasting around 14 days, the program is for mid-level professionals with leadership potential in government, the private sector or civil society. The program requires that participants be between the ages of 25-40 and have current employment related to the legislative and governing process.

As our world becomes increasingly globalized, cooperation is becoming as crucial as ever. The founders of ACYPL understood the importance of promoting understanding across cultures as an imperative ingredient for a progressive future. In 1966, in the midst of the Vietnam War, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Chinese revolution, a group of young Democrat and Republican leaders decided to create an opportunity for the next generation of political leaders to know and understand each other.

With the support from the U.S. government, Spencer Oliver, Peter McPherson, Hodding Carter, Bill Hybl, Charles Manatt and Pat Buchanan created the ACYPL. Young American political leaders began to travel to the Soviet Union and throughout Western Europe. In return, the U.S. welcomed international delegates.

As the program grew in response to political developments, new exchanges were forming at a rapid speed. When President Carter normalized relations with the People’s Republic of China, his special White House advisor at the time was Sarah Weddington—the only person in the administration who had actually been to China. She was on the first ACYPL delegation in 1977 as a young Texas state representative.

The ACYPL conducts multinational programs on topics of global or regional importance including the North American Trade Agreement, clime change and energy security and political activism for minority populations.

According to the ACYPL, the U.S.’s national and international conversations have become increasingly polarized. Thus, the ACYPL works to open a door for respectful dialogue among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all over the U.S. In addition the conversation is shared with numerous political affiliations from countries all around the globe, who despite their differences, desire to solve problems through informed policy making. The ACYPL hopes to enhance delegate’s understanding of international structures, advocating for a well-informed and comprehensive perspectives on issues.

Most recently in 2004, Pakistan joined the partnership. The ACYPL works to continue to establish exchanges with countries on all ends of the spectrum—whether it is a country deemed strategically significant, a developing democracy, or a longtime ally, the ACYPL is constantly looking to extend its network.

While continuing to develop as many political leaders as possible, the ACYPL signifies a beacon of hope for peace. Aiding in a mutual understanding of a country’s culture and the political system in which governs its borders is a crucial first step in this process.

– Caroline Logan

Sources: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Exchange Program, American Council of Young Political Leaders
Photo: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Exchange Program

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Sadili Oval Sports Academy Ignites Positive Change in Africa

sadili oval sports academy
Many nongovernmental organizations currently doing work in Africa utilize the power of sports to help positively shape the lives of those who live in poverty and slums across the continent. However, very few of these organizations are like the social enterprise that is the Sadili Oval Sports Academy. What makes the Academy so unique is that it offers underprivileged children from nearby slums the opportunity to develop their skills and potentially become a professional athlete.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the Sadili Oval Sports Academy purchased the land they currently operate on in 1992, and after several years of development opened their doors to the public in 1998. The name “Sadili” comes from the Kiswahili term that roughly translates to “well-being,” which guides their current mission to this day. The indigenous, nonprofit and community-driven sports center utilizes the power of sports and education to empower youth to improve their lifestyles and and ensure a better future. Because the Academy borders the largest slum in Nairobi, Kibera, the Academy targets these children and caters its programs toward them. Currently, the Academy is the only place for these children to play sports.

Because the Sadili Oval Sports Academy is a unique social enterprise, it also contains a separate, for-profit branch. Thanks to this separate yet linked branch, the profit that comes from it is then used to help subsidize many of their non-profit programs.

The Academy also has a variety of programs, which includes the Slum Tennis Project (which is designed to help develop talent and potential professional athletes), Sports for Life, African Child Sport and Education Fund, and a Girl Power Club. Through focusing on vulnerable groups like the Kibera slum, the Academy has been able to reach 67 different secondary schools across the city of Nairobi.

Outside of sports, the Academy also has a distinct environmental focus. The land where the Academy currently stands was once a sewage area, which is part of why it took so long to develop and build the facilities. The buildings and gymnasium are constructed of recycled materials, and many of the programs offered by the Academy incorporate environmental themes.

Through capitalizing on the power of sports and instilling important lessons about lifestyle, the environment and leadership, the Sadili Oval Sports Academy has already made a difference in the lives of many and stands to do more of the same in the future.

– Andre Gobbo

Sources: SadiliE, Al Jazeera, Women Win
Photo: Tripadvisor