It's (almost) exactly a year since we featured our Pioneer Caro from Zambia for the first time on Club of Pioneers - supporting her so simple idea: bringing underprivileged kids together for environmental education by means of...yep, playing soccer!Now, again, we are in the middle of soccer season - the EM (European Championship) is keeping us all busy. Time for us to have a second look at Caro's project - more so since for me she fits perfectly into our new series changemakers!I met Caro last week in Berlin when she updated me on what's going on with her "soccer clinic": it's success, the changemaking influence and Caro's further vision for it:
In the past year we have been working with a primary school (Grade 6 pupils). We have weekly sessions which are held every friday afternoon. The sessions are held at the school in the class room where the children are asked questions about nature, the environment, tourism and wildlife. Each week we have a different topic. The session is held for 30 minutes then the children form two teams to play football and compete with each other. During the match (break sessions) the children play a quiz game and win prizes. About 90 kids come to the sessions regularly, learning most times through hands-on experiences:

 

Last Friday e.g. the children planted trees at the school and will be responsible for looking after them that way learning how to take care and protect the environment.

 

The programme that we have with the children is a pilot project which we have now run for a year succesfully. Our next goal is to use this programme as a case study to develop it into a project for other schools. We are developing a project proposal with the School, Sport in Action NGO and in consultation with Environmental Council of Zambia and the Football Association of Zambia.

My long term goal is to see the project being implemented in other schools by incorporating sport and environmental education. In Zambia football is a phenomena, right now everyone is talking about the Euro Cup 2008. Football t'shirts of famous clubs are teams are sold openly in markets and on the street. The football 2010 world cup which will take place in South Africa has hightened the level of interest in the sport.Read more about the project and the situation in Zambia.
Caro amongst her team

Hurray, World Environment Day! That means in Lusaka, Zambia: It’s Soccer time! June 5th was a day a lot of kids coming from an underprivileged background looked forward to. Why? Because our pioneer Caro had the idea to invent an initiative called “soccer clinic” for once to celebrate the World Environment Day and also to take the chance to educate kids about their environment.

The Deputy Mayor of Lusaka, Mr. Steven Chilatu, is greeting the childrenCaro’s Blog:

 

Why sport and soccer in particular?

 

The world cup in Germany was watched by millions of people around the world including Zambia where matches were screened live and had people from all walks of life glued to the TV. In Zambia it is interesting to note that prior to the World cup most Zambian youths only wore soccer jerseys of clubs in the UK or Brazil and other African teams. It is evident as one walks around the capital of Zambia that the youths are wearing soccer Jerseys of the German National Team. Germany has certainly won the hearts of many youths in Zambia. Football is a sport that is enjoyed by many people in Zambia and you see children playing on the streets or open fields.
Young people are inspired by people that surround them, in a nuclear family it can be the mother or father, but in the absence of a nuclear family the emotional and psychological support that they could have is not there. HIV/AIDs has had a negative effect on many youths.

 

It is on this basis that I have invited 100 orphaned and underprivileged children around the capital city Lusaka with the assistance of ‘Sport in Action’ (non-governmental organisation) to attend the soccer clinic and to learn about the environment they live in because they are the ones who are living in the areas where they is a lot of pollution especially garbage and leaking sewers and are directly affected.

 

‘Around the world sport, recreation and play are improving health and teaching important life lessons about respect, leadership and cooperation” – Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF.

 

Soccer has enormous visibility, support and enthusiasm in Zambia and is the most popular sporting activity. Even girls are gaining keen interest in soccer which ranks second after. In a recent USAID study, for boys football is by far the most popular activity (Zambia 83%). For girls football ranks second in the list of interests (Zambia: 47% ) after basketball and netball respectively.

 

The Soccer Clinic focuses on the following

 

• Engaging young people by providing a platform for education and information about environmental awareness.
• Using team games and sports to promote a safe and clean environment for children

 

Caro among "her" players
How was it done?
Apart part from playing soccer messages on environmental awareness was embedded into exercises based on traditional games and sports. These exercises range from soccer dribbling exercises, in which the participants have to race to pick up placards with environmental awareness messages on them, to passing exercises that make a link between the importance of passing the ball in a soccer game and the importance of passing on information to friends and relatives about how to protect the environment. A resource person from the Environmental Council of Zambia conducted this exercise. The Environmental Council of Zambia is a government statutory body that aims to protect the environment and control pollution so as to provide for the health and welfare of persons and the environment (environmental council of Zambia).
How was the event organised?The event was officially opened by the Deputy Mayor of Lusaka. It was highly covered by the media and it is envisaged that through publicity the event will create interest and will be replicated in other schools and on a larger scale next year. In future international sports celebrities and local role models can be possibly invited. This will have a huge impact on the event because of the power and magnitude that sports celebrities have to influence young people as opposed to politicians and also the impact of the media coverage.
Indeed, the environment that we live in needs a concerted effort by everyone to get involved and find innovative methods to create awareness so that there will be more people that can take an active role in environmental advocacy and create lobby groups.
What is my role?I have been privileged to live and travel to various countries around the world and a good education and I want so share and implement ideas with people in the community that are underprivileged. I want to make a difference in a small and hopefully significant way.
There are many opportunities that exist to scale up activities on environmental awareness and sport is one such tool. “Sport has the power to change the world. The power to unite people in a way little else can” – Nelson Mandela

About Caro: Caro is an Export Promotion Advisor to the EU Mining Sector Diversification Programme. The project is targeted at small scale miners whose mining activities in Zambia are responsible for large scale environmental degradation. The major objective is to develop mining in a sustainable way.
Caro holds a BA in economics and is currently doing a MA in sustainable development. She travelled and lived in a lot of foreign countries and loves the experience.

Hey, we are not just the nominal Club of Pioneers! No, our pioneers ignite the spark of pioneering for real. The best example: Caro. She just introduced us to the "soccer clinic" concept she developed in Zambia. The idea is simple: educating kids about the environment through what all kids love to do - playing soccer. The event sponsored by the Environmental Council of Zambia, NGOs and Caro herself will be part of the activities taking place at the world environment day on june 5th . The whole event will be covered by local media and is hoped to replicate in other schools and hopefully on a larger scale. To understand where her pioneering spark comes from Caro first gives us some background information on the situation in Zambia. More information on the soccer clinic itself will be posted on CoP as well.
Caro's Blog:Zambia is faced with different environmental challenges and the most predominant ones are the recurrent floods as a result of heavy rains, severe drought, Water pollution and soil degradation largely due to mining activities, inadequate sanitation Soil degradation, Air pollution (especially on the Copperbelt), Wildlife depletion (fish and game) and deforestation.

 

I was shocked to read an article a few months ago that the town of Kabwe (central province) is Africa’s world’s fourth polluted city as a result of lead ore mining. This is due to the fact that for many years the smeltering process was not regulated by government and there were no pollution controls. The mining operation started in 1902 and ceased operating in 1994. The air, soil and water in this area are polluted. The pollution causes a lot of damage to the developmental process of children especially lead which has a hazardous effect on children’s mental development and to pregnant women.

 

This situation is unfortunate because if the local people were empowered with knowledge about what was happening to their environment they would have exercised their rights by voicing their concerns and put pressure on the relevant authorities.

 

The Government established the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) in 1994 however, this plan targets mostly corporate entities and is not packaged to meet the needs of the general public at every level of society. It is also too academic and ambiguous without offering practical solutions.

 

I believe that solutions to Zambia’s environmental need to take a local approach. The approach should suite the needs of the people and must incorporate local knowledge and indigenous cultural beliefs. The youths and children in Zambia make up 60% of the population. There are not many environmental programmes that aimed at educating children about the environment. In fact there is only one established NGO that has programmes that educate children about conservation and wildlife. The children are the future generation of any country and need to be included in environmental programmes.

 

The issue of poverty is sometimes used as an excuse for not coming up with activities for this age group, however, a cleaner environment is necessary for health and economic development and is a basic human right. Children should grow up in a healthy environment.

 

All children like to play and interact well when they are playing a game that they enjoy. They are also good at passing on information to their friends and peers and are therefore good at advertising. The children’s soccer clinic is aimed at providing a platform for playing and educating children aged between 8 and 15 years about the environment.
About Caro:Caro is an Export Promotion Advisor to the EU Mining Sector Diversification Programme. The project is targeted at small scale miners whose mining activities in Zambia are responsible for large scale environmental degradation. The major objective is to develop mining in a sustainable way.
Caro holds a BA in economics and is currently doing a MA in sustainable development. She travelled and lived in a lot of foreign countries and loves the experience.

“I like to be proactive and to initiate or involve my self in community projects. I like the adrenalin! I also like to socialize, open to new experiences, relaxing and I like art.”

Victoria Falls in ZambiaFoto: www.q2travel.co.za