Request for Applications: Strengthening Sports and Inclusive Academies in Africa

Deadline: 12-Jul-2024

With expertise in the sector, an important network in sport and in-depth knowledge of Africa, PLAY International and the Diambars Institute are joining forces to carry out the program “Strengthening Sports and Inclusive Academies in Africa” (hereinafter the “Academies Program”).

This 3-year program aims to support academies in developing effective educational and teaching sectors in order to create job openings and professional opportunities for young people. It aims to support academies to make not only their economic transition but especially their transition in terms of gender equality. This step is possible by encouraging and/or promoting diversity within structures (students and professionals) and by training tomorrow’s leaders in the transmission of societal values (generosity, gender equality, respect, etc.).

Purpose

• This call for projects (AAP) aims to integrate 8 to 10 new sports academies into the program. The objective is to offer technical and educational support in order to promote the development of projects serving hosted young people and their communities.
• The AAP aims to strengthen the role of emerging academies in particular by offering a structured support methodology allowing them to analyze and develop their model in terms of:
  • Gender Equality: particularly on the training and awareness aspects of gender-related issues (gender equality, gender-based violence, fight against gender-based stereotypes) and development of diversity. Emphasis will be given to the participation of women in the governance of the project and the academies and thus the promotion of their contribution to the performance of the academies and their local and national influence
  • Education: increase students’ commitment to their education, support them in their orientation and professional integration, encourage their integration into professional training, particularly around sports professions.
  • Economic model: build a methodology for empowering the academy’s economic model in order to ensure the sustainability of the academy and its projects with a view to exiting the “Academies” program.
  • Child protection: ensuring and providing a healthy and secure environment where rights and the needs of young beneficiaries are respected.
• This AAP aims to support structures that demonstrate a strong desire to carry projects whose values, mandate and vision are focused on sport as an educational and personal development tool for the most vulnerable populations. This is why particular attention will be paid to structures and projects which encourage capacity building and which:
  • Support the young athlete in his/her personal, academic and professional life with a view to making them a citizen of tomorrow
  • Promote the participation and emancipation of women through sport;
  • Develop training and capacity building programs for professionals in the implementation of educational and sports sessions to promote gender, diversity and living together;
  • Develop education programs through sport promoting the empowerment of youth;
  • Support young people in developing transversal skills that strengthen their long-term employability, consistent with the professional opportunities available within the region of intervention.
  • Support young people in the development of their academic project and professional and their professional integration
  • Anticipate the long-term sustainability of the project;
  • Contribute to the structuring of the supporting organization, particularly in terms of governance and economic model,
  • Benefit from the support of professional athletes involved in sport and development, and those worn by athletes of African origin,
  • Ensure and provide a healthy and secure environment where the rights and needs of young beneficiaries are respected in accordance with the principles of child protection. To this end, the academies will be able to propose projects aimed at strengthening their policies in terms of child protection.
• These academies must also meet the conditions set by the procedures to combat corruption, money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML-FT procedures) in force within PLAY International to be eligible for the AAP.
• In addition, the academies will ensure that they propose communication actions to promote the achievements of the project.
• In addition, the academies will ensure that they propose communication actions to promote the achievements of the project.

Themes

• The project falls within the framework of education, social inclusion and capacity building through sport. Sport and Development projects aim to use sport and/or sports games as an educational medium to transmit prevention and awareness messages to children and/or young people.
• The objective of the Sport and Development programs is to promote the use of sport and/or sports games as a personal development tool in order to contribute to the general construction of the individual and their education, through the acquisition of knowledge and the development of psychosocial, social, cognitive and emotional skills in children, adolescents and young adults.
• It is about “transforming” the individual or their situation by transforming their view of themselves (reinforcing self-esteem; the common objective can only be achieved through the contribution and success of each person), on the others (promote inclusion and tolerance of difference; the players win or lose all together, there are one or more possibilities for mutual aid between the players), on the world (on its environment, on society; the participants measure against an external challenge (number of points to reach, time allowed, etc.).

Funding Information

• The grant requested from PLAY International cannot exceed a maximum of €20,000.

Implementation

• The project has a total duration of between 6 and 7 months and starts, at the earliest, on September 1, 2024 and ends, at the latest, on March 31, 2025.

Activities

• Through sport, you carry out activities that:
  • Include audiences of children and/or young people who are vulnerable, marginalized and/or from disadvantaged backgrounds, including children with disabilities,
  • Contribute to the implementation of at least 3 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including:
    • SDG 3 relating to good health and well-being: Practicing physical activity is one of the best ways to prevent physical and psychological illnesses. Furthermore, sport is an ideal event for raise awareness about hygiene, nutrition and communicable diseases. It therefore also helps reduce health-related costs.
    • SDG 4 relating to quality education: Sport can be a source of motivation for schooling and contributes to improving concentration. It also allows the learning of life skills and the cultivation of values which enable young people to have positive personal development. In the long term, sport therefore acts for equitable and quality education.
    • SDG 5 relating to gender equality: The practice of sport encourages gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through its impact on health and well-being, self-esteem, social integration and diversity. In the long term, these themes influence the employability of women and their leadership.
  • Allow access to young girls in the workforce and management teams of academies
  • Demonstrate the desire to include the values of living together, inclusion and gender equality in the young person’s personal development project and in the construction of their academic and sporting curriculum.

Eligibility Criteria

• Structure
  • The applicant structure is a non-profit organization: non-governmental organizations, non-profit associations, clubs, sports federations, national Olympic committees, national Paralympic committees, foundations (public and private), Economic Interest Groups (EIG), unions, cooperatives, other declared groups.
  • The following are not considered non-profit organizations: individuals, public universities and businesses.
  • An “Academy” is considered to be a structure that has one or more of these characteristics:
    • A physical location/secure space bringing together its own educational infrastructure, allowing the personal, academic and professional development of young beneficiaries
    • A physical location/secure space bringing together sports infrastructures in own
    • A physical location/secure space bringing together educational infrastructure and/or sports activities supported by a school
    • If the structure does not have educational and/or sporting infrastructures within its structure, it must demonstrate easy access to secure educational and/or sporting infrastructures nearby
    • Offers sporting and educational activities to young people regularly allowing support for the same audience over time.
  • The structure must be strongly embedded in the local ecosystem (interaction with local sports federations, sports stakeholders, civil society organizations and/or local public authorities), educational establishments.
  • The structure has significant experience in the areas cited in the “thematic” paragraph.
  • The organization has at least two years of legal existence.
  • The organization has an annual budget greater than €45,000 (income statements validated by the last General Assembly).
  • The organization is not linked to (or does not conduct) religious proselytizing actions.
  • The structure must have its own accounting and legal existence as well as be officially recognized by the authorities of one of the States of the African continent, excluding organizations located in areas classified as red by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE)).
  • Structures that have already received initial funding under the Program Academies will not be eligible for this call for projects.
• Human resources: 
  • The structure must have the human resources to implement the proposed project, including trained sports instructors
  • The structure must have and mobilize its human resources in order to take part in the support program proposed as part of the Academies Program and led by PLAY International and the Diambars Institute, to participate in the workshops offered (remote and/or face-to-face) and carry out activities related to this training.
• Geographical area: 
  • The structure deploys its activities in one of the following countries on the African continent:
    • Cameroon
    • Benin
    • Morocco
    • Mauritania
    • Togo

Ineligible

• Volunteering costs (with the exception of costs related to hosting a civic service);
• Costs linked to expenses outside the territory within which the structure carries out its activities;
• Exploratory missions and research costs
• The organization of events outside the themes listed in the “Themes” section.
• Please note that projects which only propose the renovation and/or construction of sports infrastructure will not be eligible.

For more information, visit PLAY International.