Etim-Etim is the founder of The Ballcation Foundation, a social change initiative for underserved public schools in low-income Nigerian communities. This project uses football as a means to improve learning outcomes among young people between the ages of 7 and 16, equipping them with enterprise skills that are relevant for this day and age.

Obasanjo’s football project aims to support and improve the learning outcomes of schoolgirls between the ages of 7 to 11 in the final classes (Primary 4 to 6) of a local primary school in Ota, Ogun State. The main focus of this project is to create a safe space for learning about leadership skills, as well as improving literacy and numeracy skills. In turn, this will improve learning outcomes in the classroom. During football coaching, students will be encouraged to learn collaboration, problem-solving, and responsibility skills.

Through her experiences, Phiona is aware of the sheer volume of girls who become pregnant as they are not yet capable of making informed decisions in regard to their sexual and reproductive health. Only half of the sub-counties in the district have a government health facility where sexual and reproductive health services can be accessed.

In a bid to combat this, Phiona’s football project will be based in Kalongo, a town in the Northern Region of Uganda. It’s one of the urban centers in the Agago District which has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies and school dropouts among girls in the country.

Knowing that soccer is used as a therapeutic treatment for children with mild autism and high-performance autism, Briselba felt compelled to create a football programme that would help equip autistic children with self-regulation strategies.

Her football project will train volunteers to provide football coaching to autistic boys and girls, helping them to improve their motor, social, and frustration tolerance skills. This will promote inclusion and hence, improve their quality of life. Not only will the self-regulation strategies be helpful on the pitch, but they can also be used by parents as an alternative to regulate the behaviour of their child at home.

Recognising that sport can be used as a tool for substance abuse prevention, Desi, alongside his colleague, Estefanía, will use football to reduce school dropout rates by improving concentration levels, increasing school performance, relieving stress, and reducing mental health problems. Since sport generates a greater sense of well-being and optimism amongst teenagers, the football project will strengthen the self-esteem of the children, allowing them to face problems in a more responsible manner.