A local solution for children to learn sports and grow away from home.
The education and talent development of almost every child in East Africa and in the refugee settlements has been seriously hit by the impact of covid 19 , whether through lockdowns or because their parents are unable to support the child to stay in school or join sports programs.
The impact on the learning of children has just begun to be analyzed in Africa with evidence that the learning of younger and disadvantaged children has been hardest hit and left the poorest of the poor children in an even more precarious position than before with many not being able to attend school or access sports playing materials for talent development.
The Solution
Sports aid network is seeking to partner with some of her network to set up creative learning centers in three different regions namely Lugazi central Uganda , Palabek refugee settlement in northern Uganda and Nakivale refugee settlement in Western Uganda . These creative learning centers are expected to provide a bridge point for children who have never been to school or have droped out of school to catch up with their desired talent development as well as get back into the education learning system.
The creative learning centre will be expected to set the kids up with learning strategies so that they can make progress within main stream school whereas they might otherwise have dropped out or fallen behind because of their disadvantaged status.
Whilst many factors raise a child’s achievement in sports and education, there some essentials that we established and plan to follow:
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Safety
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Children learn when they feel safe. Our creative learning centres will have robust child safeguarding policies and procedures in place. This will be done by creating a safeguarding policy that covers children, parents and our workers. We shall also conduct a risk assessment that identifies and mitigates against all the risks.
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Space
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Children need a place to learn. The creative learning centre will be a combination of a study room / area and a playground / field. Having this centre and program close to the children and community that needs it most will give them time to adjust back to learning and provide them with a chance to play. Spaces in the 3 different regions we plan to operate in this program have already been identified. Measurements have been taken for social distancing and keeping in mind of other Standard operating procedures. We have also ensured that there is flexibility for various activities to take place.
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Support
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Success in sports and school is not just about what happens in the class room. Every child also needs a support network that will protect them and help them to overcome the barriers that would hinder them. We are to target the most at-risk children whose life chances are hampered by poverty, abuse and fragility. Our creative learning centre model will be expected to provide coaching, psychosocial support and economic empowerment to children and their families through our mentors and coaches who live in these communities and are trained provide this form of support.
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Locate
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We are to directly work with our local networks and local authorities to identify talented vulnerable children, as well as children who are generally out of school for various reasons. We shall then proceed and go further to talk to the parents / caregivers of these children and get consent for them to attend our programs at the creative learning centers for three days per week.
Activities to carry out at the SAN – Creative Learning Centres;
- Experiential learning for children.
- Coaching, training and teaching sports programs.
- Integrating sports into learning
- Counseling and guidance
- Transition / re-integrating learners from the creative learning centre to main stream schools.
- Teaching life skills.
- Academic support to these learners
- Children and youth leaders taught how to use sports to creatively express and amplify child rights.
- Child / youth ambassadors equipped with knowledge and understanding of safeguarding.
- TRAININGS: Coaches and mentors trained to use appropriate differentiation techniques and experiential learning.
- Peer to peer mentoring in sports development.
