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Raising environmental awareness through football at COP17

Children and youth have a right to grow up and live healthy lives in a healthy environment. They have the right to voice their opinion and to participate actively in decision making processes. The 17th Conference of Parties (COP17), taking place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011, offers the unique opportunity to make effective steps towards fulfilling these rights, as well as to launch the new YDF Manual for Environmental Awareness to the public.

YDF and its partners will host a series of events from 3 to 9 December, bringing together youth, environment and sport.

Follow the events online >>

Welcome to the new YDF website!

The YDF website has gone through redesign and improvements. We have done our best to make the site user-friendly, easier to navigate and find the information you are looking for. Graphic elements have been included to balance the amount of text and interactive elements. The site is now also more accessible to our main target groups, especially youth, coaches and NGOs implementing and spreading the sport for development ideas.

Over the next couple of weeks content and data will be updated and added, making sure you get the newest information and resources on YDF and its partners. Check out the new YDF Manuals under Tools we offer, see how the project works, what we do and who we are under About us, and don�t miss the new YDF movie "Journey to Confidence�!

If you have any comments regarding the new site, please feel free to let us know by sending an email to davide.fiedler@giz.de or call 012 432 0103.

Utilizing the power of football to build a better future

Project Name:	Youth Development through Football
Partner:	Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA)
Duration:	2007 - 2012
Target Groups:	Girls and boys aged 12-20 years, mainly from disadvantaged areas in South Africa and nine other African countries.
Goal:	Non-governmental and governmental institutions and organisations on national and provincial level in South Africa and other African countries use the social and educational potential of football (and sport in general) for the development of children and youths.

Vision

Using football as a tool Youth Development through Football (YDF) strives to overcome discrimination, improve health and combat disease, promote gender equality, fight violence and secure environmental sustainability. Thus, the project contributes actively and sustainably to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Mission

YDF fosters youth development and peace with the emphasis on mutual understanding, fairness and tolerance, using football as a catalyst. To reach this target, YDF supports existing youth development initiatives and assists in establishing new ones in up to 10 African countries. It combines football education and training with development measures for thousands of young people.

The Project

Just like in any other region of the world, girls and boys from disadvantaged communities face complex problems in African countries. They often come from difficult social backgrounds with many families living below the poverty threshold. Due to poor education, many youths lack skills making it difficult for them to find employment. They are exposed to health risks, alcoholism and drugs. Girls and young women especially face violence and crime, more than a few are discriminated and excluded from social life. This is where Youth Development through Football (YDF) comes into play.

Sport for social change

The project recognizes the potential that football and other sports can unleash when systematically included in processes of social change. Football especially has the power to unite people and cultures all over the world. As a team sport it promotes fairness and tolerance, leapfrogs gender boundaries and fosters mutual understanding, thereby contributing to the positive development of personality and character. YDF started in 2007 and runs until 2012. It is implemented in ten African countries by the Deutsche Gesellschaft f�r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Government in partnership with the South African Department of Sport and Recreation. The project is part of the South African � German Development Cooperation and is co-funded by the European Union.

Sport for a strong civil society

YDF focuses on the social dimension of the game. Using football as a tool for education, participation and inclusion, the project strives to overcome discrimination, improve health and combat disease, to promote gender equality, fight violence and secure environmental sustainability. It engages disadvantaged and disabled youth, empowering them with skills to positively develop their personality and character, thus increasing opportunities to tackle their life and enhancing a strong civil society. Primarily intended for girls and boys aged 12 to 20 years, YDF uses a holistic approach and includes coaches, peer groups, families and other important members of the community.

Sport as a tool for extracurricular education

Formal education systems hardly ensure equal opportunities for girls and boys with different social, economic and cultural backgrounds. Often, the social environment determines the individual performance of learners in a way that is beyond the reach of formal education. Although a world-wide challenge, disparities are often more pronounced in the developing world. The number of girls and boys at risk is huge and suited to pose a major threat to social stability. Here, sport can yield its potential. Educational topics can either be integrated into training sessions or single exercises as add-ons.

The coach as role model and the YDF Toolkit

Teams and players rise and fall with their coaches. What is valid in championships applies even stronger, when sport replenishes the formal educational system. Coaches are role models and persons of trust for the youths they train. To play their part well they need to be skilled as both, coaches and educators and they need to commit to positive values. This is where the YDF Toolkit comes in. It comprises manuals for training instructors and coaches illustrating how social competencies can be integrated into football, and accentuates the responsibility of the coach towards the players. The emphasis of the life skills is on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and violence, and on strengthening environmental awareness, but the manuals are intended to be adapted to local needs. To date approximately 100 instructors function as multipliers and �messengers' for the concept of youth development through sport and more than 500 coaches have been trained in the use of football coaching as an extracurricular learning platform to effect social change.

Evolving an intriguing idea into a sustainable tool

YDF builds on existing initiatives and structures which are already successfully working throughout Africa in the field of youth development through football instead of re-inventing the wheel. It offers training and advice to non-governmental organizations and supports the development of networks like the Sport for Social Change Network where exchange of knowledge, information and experiences takes place not only within civil society but also between civil society and the public and the private sectors. The integration of YDF in SRSA's Mass Participation Programme is key to its sustainability. YDF supports the planning and implementation of country programmes on football and youth development and assists in the monitoring and evaluation with a view to evolving an intriguing idea into a self-contained and sustainable �tool', which other initiatives, communities and countries can apply.

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As of 1 January 2011:

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