YES! Programme

Sport can transform young lives and communities. Umoja partners with Scottish NGO YES! Tanzania to assist youth development and community sports organisations located in the most disadvantaged urban areas of Tanzania.

 

We work with these community organisations to help them be more sustainable and impactful. These organisations provide opportunities for those who face barriers to participating in sport specifically (e.g. girls and people with disabilities) and vulnerable youth more broadly (e.g. those not in school, employment, or training, and those living on the street). With our support, these organizations design activities that promote leadership, resilience, confidence, self-esteem, positive attitudes, life-skills, and healthy behaviours.

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We build the capacity of the inspirational local leaders that run these organisations by providing a free, tailored package of support through our YES! Programme. The programme consists of three elements:

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• Planning – we help organisations to produce a Sport for Development strategy and annual plan. 

• Programme design and delivery – we help organisations design Sport for Development programmes and activities as well as provide training for coaches and leaders. We provide a small amount of funding to ensure there are adequate resources for the activities. We help them to develop proposals, secure funding and implement projects to build their capacity to deliver their sport for development plans and activities.

• Monitoring, evaluation & learning – we guide organisations in the creation of a monitoring & evaluation framework to measure the impact of their sport for development activities. We also host an annual group training and shared learning event where we encourage organisations to collaborate with each other; other workshops are offered regularly to encourage continual best practice.
   

The Yes! Programme is delivered by a competent team of local Tanzanian staff. All our support is free, tailored to each organisation, and everything we do is based around three pillars: increasing participation and inclusion, youth development, and sustainability.

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The following seven organisations are currently participating in the YES! Programme:

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Tanzania Rugby Development (TRD) aims to promote rugby as a skilful and valuable sport amongst the most disadvantaged youths of Tanzania. TRD uses the sportsmanship of the game as a vehicle to encourage healthy lifestyles and supportive, positive, and respectful relationships within the community. Through high calibre rugby coaching, TRD currently facilitates practical and theoretical sports education to 380 males and 310 females aged between 5 and 19 years.

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Future Stars Academy (FSA) is a non-profit organisation that teaches life skills such as fair play, teamwork, competition, and personal development through football training to disadvantaged boys and girls in Arusha. FSA builds the resilience, responsibility, and leadership potential of these young people and offers them a chance to live their dreams as footballers. FSA insists there is no football without education - ‘no school, no play!’ There are currently 126 young people aged between 7 and 19 years participating in the programme.

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SOVOI Sports Academy is a small, community-based organisation that provides a daily after-school sports programme for young people living in a small community on the outskirts of Arusha. Activities are delivered by volunteer sports teachers and include football, netball, volleyball, rugby, and general athletics. There are currently 90 males and 50 females aged between 11 and 16 years participating in the programme.

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Msimamo Youth Educators aim to provide children and young people located in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Dar-es-Salaam with training in important life-skills through sports and cultural activities. These activities, which include football, gender clubs, life-skills games, events and tournaments, currently attract over 1,100 participants on a weekly basis.

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Songambele promotes good health, education, awareness and social inclusion for women, girls and children with disabilities in the Moshi area of Tanzania. Through sports they invite and connect people with disabilities to participate in different games of their choice, refresh their minds and build confidence and self-esteem.

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Arusha Youth Development Organisation aims to improve the lives of young people and the wider community in Arusha through football and games. Its activities include: football coaching in both communities and schools; life-skills games integrated into football sessions; competitions and events; leadership training for coaches, referees, peer leaders, teachers and women in the community; and games sessions in schools for young people with disabilities.

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The Watoto Foundation supports street children in Tanzania. The children receive education, learn new skills and are guaranteed a paid job after completing their 4-year training. The project is unique, especially considering that unemployment in this country is extremely high. An important element of its programme is the daily sports activities which includes football, volleyball, rugby, boxing and frisbee.