Children playing basketball as part of PeacePlayers International- South Africa's "life skills" program.
PeacePlayers International - South Africa (PPI-SA)
Contributed by: Ithar Hassaballa
Originally founded in 2001 to bridge divides among South Africa’s diverse population, PPI–SA launched its life skills program in 2003 to combat a new problem – the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people. The country’s youth are twice as likely to contract HIV as those in the rest of the world, and over 50% will do so before turning 24. Recent estimates by the Actuarial Society of South Africa predict that life expectancy in KwaZulu-Natal, the province in which PPI-SA is based, will drop from 53 years in 1996 to 37 years in 2010 as a result of the disease.
In response, PPI-SA has developed an innovative life skills program that uses basketball to teach children how to live a safe, healthy life. Coaches recruited from target communities are trained as mentors and peer educators, using a curriculum developed with the Harvard School of Public Health’s Centre for the Support of Peer Education. The curriculum addresses topics including safe sexual practices, gender roles, drug and alcohol awareness, diversity, and personal development, all through the framework of HIV/AIDS prevention. Coaches engage players in conversational, interactive lessons – functioning more as older siblings than authority figures – building the trust necessary to discuss such sensitive topics.
Since 2001, PPI – SA has worked with over 25,000 children and trained more than 200 young adults as coaches and mentors in the communities of Chatsworth, Durban Central, Lamontville, Molweni, Umbumbulu, Umlazi and Wentworth. PPI-SA has three core programs; Primary School Programme, Leadership Development Programme, and Professional Development Programme. The Primary School Programme includes 6th and 7th graders from 35 primary schools in the area. The Leadership Development Program includes those from grades 8 to 12, focusing on life-skills and leadership training. The Professional Development Programme includes young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, where they get professional training in topics such as résumé preparation, financial management and interviewing skills.
Increasing membership and participation in the community involved increasing HIV/AIDS awareness, leadership, and community involvement. PPI-SA used many of the tools found in the Community Tool Box to increase participation and membership in South Africa. One of the most crucial points that PPI-SA accomplished was that it identified those who needed to be involved in order to accomplish the group's objectives or specific projects. Since many of the youth in South Africa were exposed to HIV/AIDS, they were the target group for change, and also agents for change to prevent HIV/AIDS. PPI-SA created an atmosphere that fostered continued participation by staff and volunteers. PPI-SA is not only helping individual young people live healthier lives, but also cultivating a new generation of proactive community leaders. Players frequently progress through the program, which serves children from the age of 10 through their young adulthood, to become PPI-SA coaches or staff members. The newest addition to PPI-SA’s staff, for example, is Thobani Khumalo, a ‘graduate’ of PPI-SA’s Leadership Development Programme from Lamontville. He coached with PPI for two years while launching his own community development organization, the Dribbling Academy, and officially joined the PPI-SA team full-time as a local coordinator this spring. PPI-SA works to develop its members with the specific knowledge, relationships, and experiences needed to accomplish their goals.
In order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people, there are many people who need to be involved. With dozens of coaches reaching hundreds of children annually, PPI-SA is populating communities throughout KwaZulu Natal with positive, inventive leaders like Thobani, who can not only continue to help young people avoid the risks they themselves have faced, but also catalyze the development of even more young social entrepreneurs. Given the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the community, it is essential to increase the knowledge of individuals as well as encourage preventative measures.
Consistent with this far-reaching vision, PPI-SA offers programs for children as young as ten that carry them through their young adulthood and ultimately into a position to lead these efforts themselves. Central to this work is PPI-SA’s “Leadership Development Programme” (LDP), which offers teens additional basketball training, further life skills education, and opportunities to plan and implement activities for younger children on their own, all with the goal of empowering them to take over as leaders of not just PPI-SA – though that is encouraged – but of their communities more generally. Following the LDP, players can become coaches, and coaches, too, receive ongoing training: in basketball coaching, in PPI-SA’s curriculum, in mentorship, and in general professional development. Six of PPI-SA’s ten current fulltime staff members are former coaches or players, a number that is expected to increase as more promising young leaders mature and grow in the programs each year.
When Playing for Peace began to implement its life skills curriculum, it was fortunate enough to be able to draw on its pre-existing network of coaches and partners – all of whom were already enthusiastic about the organization and working to improve their communities. Playing for Peace began holding regular retreats and seminars for its coaches, educating them first as individuals, and then as educators. It added life skills sessions to special events, and included positive life messages on courts, jerseys and other materials. Most importantly, it incorporated its curriculum into regular weekly practices. Now, PPI-SA (as the program became known in 2007) devotes one of three practices each week and a portion of all special events to life skills education. For example, at an upcoming tournament (expected to draw roughly 1,200 attendees), PPI-SA participants will make educational presentations to the entire group.
Through the widespread interest in basketball and love for community and youth development, PeacePlayers International – South Africa was able to develop an innovative life-skills program that reached 25,000 youth. It educates youth on how to prevent HIV/AIDS, including positive life messages on the basketball court. This organization not only works on the present, it also coaches new generations of leaders to work for the future by increasing membership and participation among community members.