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GRASSROOT SOCCER PARTNERS WITH LEVI STRAUSS & CO. TO COMBINE SOCCER AND HIV PREVENTION IN WORLD CUP CAMP

By GRSweb on June 24, 2010

Skillz Holiday program delivers HIV prevention education for employees’ children

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (June 24, 2010) — To keep children of Levi Strauss & Co.’s South African employees engaged and healthy during the extended World Cup school holiday, Grassroot Soccer is promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and outreach through the Skillz Holiday soccer camp.

The program is run by Grassroot Soccer-trained coaches and will conclude with a graduation celebration, including a trip sponsored by Grassroot Soccer and chaperoned by Levi Strauss & Co. employee volunteers, to a Cup match between fourth-ranked Netherlands vs. nineteenth-ranked Cameroon.

The program began June 21st and runs through June 25th at the Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha, South Africa, and hosts 85 boys and girls, between the ages of 10 and 16, to a five-day curriculum of soccer and life skills training with an emphasis on HIV prevention. With an estimated nationwide HIV/AIDS infection rate of almost nine percent among fifteen to twenty-four year olds, there is an urgent need for early HIV education and prevention in South Africa.

Through a series of interactive discussions and activities, Levi Strauss & Co. employees’ children will gain a better understanding of HIV/AIDS and get a chance to practice the skills necessary for protecting their health as they enter adulthood. Key topics include learning how to make healthy decisions, avoid risky behavior, build supportive networks, reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS and raise awareness of HIV/AIDS testing and treatment.

“Grassroot Soccer is thrilled to be partnering with LS&Co. to keep the children of LS&Co. employees learning, active and safe during the extended World Cup holiday,” says Bill Miles, Chief Operating Officer at Grassroot Soccer.

The South Africa camp is part of a broader commitment by Levi Strauss & Co. in HIV prevention, treatment and care.  As the first global company to focus on HIV/AIDS in the workplace, Levi Strauss & Co.’s Employee HIV/AIDS program is designed to reach all of the company’s employees and their family members in every country where it operates. “Partnering with Grassroot Soccer in South Africa during the World Cup is an exciting and fun way to invest in our employe es, their families and the future by teaching kids how to stay healthy,” says Paurvi Bhatt, Senior Director, HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care, Levi Strauss & Co., “Reaching out to the next generation is essential to stopping this pandemic.”

Grassroot Soccer (GRS) is a non-profit organization that uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities worldwide to stop the spread of HIV. Founded by former professional soccer players in 2002, GRS trains African soccer stars, soccer coaches, teachers, and peer educators in HIV-affected countries to deliver an interactive HIV prevention curriculum to youth. GRS operates flagship sites in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe and as a technical assistance partner has helped design and launch sustainable projects in 19 countries worldwide. As a direct result of these partnerships as well as flagship programs, GRS has provided comprehensive HIV-prevention and life-skills education to more than 300,000 young people.

What started as a grassroots effort by Levi Strauss & Co. employees and executives to better educate their colleagues about HIV/AIDS in 1982 has evolved into a comprehensive corporate response embracing the company’s employees, their families, nonprofit organizations, public policy, its supply chain partners and consumers. The goal of the employee HIV/AIDS program is to ensure that employees have access to HIV/AIDS prevention, education and comprehensive treatment through the establishment of a global system for case management and reimbursement for HIV/AIDS services. Levi Strauss & Co. remains committed to pushing the limits – from expanded coverage for workers to public policy advocacy – to eliminate this health crisis once and for all.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the world’s largest branded apparel companies and the global leader in jeanswear, marketing its products in more than 110 countries worldwide.  The company designs and markets jeans, casual wear and related accessories for men, women and children under the Levi’s®, Dockers® and Signature by Levi Strauss & Co.™ brands.  Levi Strauss & Co. reported fiscal 2009 net revenues of $4.1 billion.  For more information, go to http://levistrauss.com or visit the new company blog, Unzipped, at http://levistrauss.com/blogs.


Click here to read GRS’s World Cup Blog about the Levi Strauss & Co. Skillz Holiday.

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Castrol’s Skillz Holiday Programmes to empower and educate youth during World Cup

By GRSweb on June 10, 2010

Castrol is rolling out its Skillz Holiday Programme to children around South Africa during the extended school break over the 2010 Fifa World Cup ™.

School holidays are traditionally a risky time for children. They are bored and free to roam without the daily occupation of school attendance, and many children in South Africa are left without adult supervision during this time. Because of this, they can be exposed to potentially dangerous situations. The risk is even higher during the 2010 Fifa World Cup ™, because of the extended timeframe of the holiday period.

In light of this, Castrol, as one of the lead sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa ™, in partnership with Grassroot Soccer, a non-government organisation (NGO) that binds the fanatical impact of soccer with the necessity to get the message about HIV/Aids across to the youth of Africa, will be holding its Skillz Holiday Programmes in June and July this year.

The Programme, launched in September last year, uses the universal language of sport as well as the increased fervour for football as the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa ™ approaches, to reach the youth with important life skills and HIV/Aids awareness messages. Participants don’t necessarily need to be athletes themselves; the programme uses sport as a universal language to reach the youth.

“With the youth of South Africa getting even more excited about sport as our nation gears up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa ™, we believe that the holiday programme leverages this fervour for football to break down social barriers and provide education with impact,” says Bridget Nkuna, Castrol’s Corporate Social Investment Manager. “Our partnership with Grassroot Soccer provides us with the perfect opportunity to empower the youth with positive, life-affirming skills as they grapple with the pressures of adolescence.”

Programmes will be carried out in and around Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria and Soweto, Richards Bay and Phalabrowa mining communities bringing the total number of camps to 45, touching the lives of 4 500 children across the country.

In addition, from research conducted by Grassroot Soccer, it is believed that learners who have participated in the programmes go on to share their knowledge with friends or family – so that the impact of every one person who participates is felt by five additional individuals.

At each camp, 100 learners both boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 16 – participate in a five-day, intense curriculum of life skills education linked with HIV prevention messages using soccer activities to engage and entertain. With an estimated nationwide HIV/Aids prevalence of 10.9% and prevalence among the youth (aged 15 to 24 years) of 8.7%, there is an urgent need for programmes like the Castrol Skillz Holiday Programme to address and educate about this pandemic.

Each programme consists of a series of skills development sessions. For example, in an activity called Risk Field, participants will dribble a ball between cones marked with HIV-related risks like “multiple partners”, “drug or alcohol abuse” or “romantic relationships with older adults”. If the ball hits one of the cones, the entire team will have to “drop and give me three!” to drive home the point that one person’s risky behaviour has impact on their friends, family and community.

The programme is run by Grassroot Soccer coaches and community volunteers – individuals, teachers or even soccer stars. Each week concludes with a “World Cup” final graduation and celebration, which parents and other community members are invited to attend, to positively and publicly affirm the knowledge that these children have gained.

The programme also feeds into the Football for Hope movement, which is a strategic alliance, led by FIFA and streetfootballworld to bring together programmes aimed at children and young people using football as an instrument to promote participation and dialogue.

“Our Skillz Holiday Programme is a manifestation of our commitment to the development of the youth in South Africa,” says Nkuna. “We believe in the power of sport to uplift our nation, and want to ensure that we leave no stone unturned in effecting positive change for the youth of our country at the same time.”

*From the South African National HIV Survey, 2008

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HOPE IS A GAME-CHANGER

By GRSweb on June 9, 2010

Inspired by opportunities to create innovative partnerships, GRS has joined international philanthropist and entrepreneur Bobby Sager and internationally acclaimed musician Sting as the key partner in the “Hope is a Game-Changer” project, through which GRS and its partners in six countries will receive 10,000 indestructible soccer balls for use in programming.  The project was launched on June 8th, 2010 at the graduation celebration for 110 girls who recently completed GRS’ Skillz Street program at the Football for Hope Centre, in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.  “The slightest ray of hope can ignite the human spirit’s ability to overcome,” says Sager, who sees the balls as a symbol of hope and looks to GRS to realize his vision for social change.

In 2009, the Sager Family Foundation joined forces with Sting and inventors Tim Jahnigen and Kevin McCarthy to help develop a soccer ball that can withstand anything. Sting and Sager started Hope Is A Game-Changer, funded in part through proceeds from Sager’s book, “The Power of the Invisible Sun,” to deliver the balls to children in some of the toughest locations around the world. The ball itself is a symbol of hope – it’s impervious to wear, UV, water chemicals and puncture. According to Sager, “Hope is the most important thing that people need to move forward.”  But this project is not about charity. In line with Sager’s philosophy that there are no handouts, every child and coach who receives a ball must earn it.  By working with GRS, the Sager Family Foundation ensures synergy between their mission for the balls and GRS’ work to provide youth with HIV prevention education and life skills. Kirk Friedrich, Managing Director and Co-Founder of GRS, has said that “Grassroot Soccer is thrilled to partner with Hope is a Game-Changer to protect and improve the lives of young people around the world. Both organizations focus on developing and implementing innovative strategies to use sport as a tool for social change.”











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REACHING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DURING THE WORLD CUP

By GRSweb on June 8, 2010

With the kickoff of the 2010 World Cup, GRS is launching an ambitious goal of reaching 1 million youth by the start of the World Cup in 2014.  Our work over the coming month catalyzes these efforts.

In sites across South Africa, GRS will keep more than 5,000 youth safe and learning during the extended holiday period through Skillz Holiday Programs, send close to 15,000 young people to World Cup matches, and be represented by youth from our South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia programs in the Football for Hope Festival 2010.

To amplify our impact, GRS has developed the Skillz World Cup Workbook, a 16-page magazine that has been distributed to over 200,000 children at 2,600 schools nationwide.  The attractive and youth-friendly workbook capitalizes on the excitement around the World Cup with player profiles, a World Cup bracket, and information and activities on the key drivers of the HIV epidemic in South Africa, including intergenerational sex, multiple partners, and gender-based violence.

The workbook also provides GRS with a platform to launch the Red Card Campaign for HIV Risk, which identifies risky behaviours such as “sex with older partners” and “having more than one partner.” Each workbook includes a free Red Card that youth can use as a tool to identify risky behaviors in their daily lives. The Red Card will appear in GRS’ Skillz Holiday programs and has been adopted by partners across the country.  Through a partnership with the wildly popular, animated mass media campaign, “Scrutinize,” a Red Card “animert” will air on national television during and after the World Cup, reaching millions more.

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ESPN & GRS TEAM UP TO CELEBRATE 2010 WORLD CUP

By GRSweb on June 8, 2010

Bob Sager, Angelique Kidjo, and Bill Miles smile during the ESPN event in New York.

On May 12, 2010, ESPN brought the global soccer community together at a private event to celebrate the 2010 FIFA World Cup and to raise funds for GRS.  The event showcased 32 murals, commissioned by ESPN in promotion of the 2010 World Cup, and painted by a collection of Cape Town artists in South African graffiti style. The murals will appear in publications and on subway platforms and billboards in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere from now through mid-July.  Featuring a performance by Grammy-award winner, Angelique Kidjo, the event raised over $25,000 for GRS’ HIV prevention programs in South Africa.


The following article featured in Vanity Fair on May 14, 2010.

Angelique Kidjo and ESPN teamed up in Manhattan on Wednesday night to celebrate the upcoming World Cup and to raise money for Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit group that educates children in Africa about HIV prevention. Kidjo, winner of a Grammy in 2007 for Djin Djin, her 10th album, sang for about 45 minutes, her mesmerizing siren voice like a force of nature that warmed up the city on a raw, damp night.

The event was the latest demonstration of how this year’s World Cup will be used by many to promote positive change in Africa, at a time when the continent will be the center of the planet’s attention more than ever before. South Africa, the tournament’s host, is home to more HIV-infected people—estimated at nearly six million—than any other country in the world, and Grassroot Soccer is hoping to use the World Cup to bring in funds to help fight the spread of the disease.

Like many others, I’m worried about the long-term economic impact that the World Cup will have on South Africa. The country is spending an estimated $5 billion on the tournament—an investment that may quickly become a burden once the games are over. But thankfully some organizations, like Grassroot Soccer, have forgone complaints about how that money could have been better spent. Instead, they’re focused on using the World Cup as an opportunity for exposure.

“The World Cup is about a lot more than soccer,” Sal Masekela told me. Masekela, the action sports enthusiast and son of Hugh Masekela, the great South African jazz musician, will be working as a cultural correspondent for ESPN during the tournament. “The work that Grassroot Soccer is doing against HIV is incredible. People talk about cure, cure, cure. Medicine, medicine, medicine. But education is the key. Grassroot Soccer is using the sport to formulate the building blocks for kids’ lives. The only thing missing for these kids is opportunity and education. Soccer is now so much more than a game for these kids.”

Near the end of Angelique Kidjo’s set, I spoke to Bill Miles, the chief operating officer of Grassroot Soccer. “This is about the coming together of the global soccer community—Major League Soccer, FIFA, Women’s Professional Soccer, ESPN—to celebrate our work in South Africa against HIV,” Miles told me. Grassroot Soccer, founded in 2002, has already put 320,000 kids through its HIV education program, he said. Its goal is to reach one million children by the 2014 World Cup, which will be hosted by Brazil. Before Kidjo’s performance, Masekela had presented Miles with a check from ESPN for $20,000. Add that to the money given by the over 300 invited guests—the suggested donation per person was $100—and Grassroot Soccer pulled in about $50,000 for the event, enough to put about 2,000 more kids through its program.

Miles invited me to join him for a tour of one of Grassroot Soccer’s facilities while I’m in South Africa for the tournament. “Come spend a day with us,” he said. “I think you’ll be amazed at how these kids’ lives are changed. Then we can watch one of the World Cup games that night.”

I think I’ll take him up on his offer.

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