Gsp Free Footballs Project

GSP FREE FOOTBALLS PROJECT

1. OBJECTIVES

Many public schools in deprived areas of Ghana lack the most basic sports equipment and facilities. Our field research has shown that many primary schools in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana do not have a single football. The objective of our project is simple: We want to improve school enrolment and physical education in rural areas through the supply of free footballs. Specifically we want:

• To promote physical education
• To identify and develop sports talent
• To use sports to improve school enrolment

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Brong Ahafo region is located at the center of Ghana. It is the transition zone between the north and south of the country. The region has a population of about 2 million (2000 Census Report). Majority of the citizens of the region are traders and farmers. The performance of the region in the National Basic Education has consistently being low. There is also the problem of low enrolment in deprived areas. Different measures are being implemented to address these challenges. In an attempt to improve the performance of students, physical education has been neglected. The authorities are focusing on free school uniforms and school feeding at the expense of physical education.

Most students are deprived of sports equipment and facilities. This is the problem we addressing with our project. We will widen the scope and content of the programme if we are able to internally generate funds to sustain it. We have adopted social entrepreneurship principles to sustain the project over the long term. We however need external help in this short term.

1. LESSONS LEARNED

A lot of lessons have been learned over the implementation of the project.

• Students activities in sports have increased in the beneficiary schools
• Students who were skipping school to play football have started reporting for school.
• School authorities in rural areas are maintaining school fields in order to qualify to benefit from the project. This change in attitude has resulted from our decision to supply footballs to only schools which have good and well maintained football fields.

1. PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

1. Asta FM, one of the local radio stations is supporting the project with free air time. This station has been adopted as the electronic media partner
2. Techiman Times, the only print media in the region is providing free print media publicity.
3. The local offices of the Ghana Education Service (GES) are helping in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the project.