Country: United States

Organization: PLAY SOCCER

Sport - Soccer

Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2001

Project URL: www.playsoccer-nonprofit.org

What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? - catalyze long term macro socio-economic development by engaging children, youth, communities in a hollstic educational sport for development program

Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? - PLAY SOCCER starts with very young children, particularly encouraging girls, to maximize early childhood learning, life long benefits and cultural exchange. It has a well defined 48 week curriculum that uses an activity based approach to teach and integrate health, social and soccer/football skills in informal community settings, such as the football pitch. PS's replicable model and program rely heavily on volunteerism and volunteer instructors from the communities themselves, primarily youth, and community service as a self help ethic for development as well as to keep the program low cost, affordable and community focused. It provides cultural exchange through its structure that links an international network of affiliated national organizations, common program and organizational structures, and defined reporting systems to monitor and ensure accountability. It also encourages collaborations with others to insure efficiency in the use of scarce resources.

What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change? - To help achieve and support its long term vision for sustainable development, PS needs to create/encourage social enterprise activities in communities around the core sport for development program. PS needs more organizational capacity to provide startup assistance for these activities and to transfer and build skills at the national/local level.

Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? - PLAY SOCCER continues to expand/improve its holistic core program for children while developing and integrating social enterprise activities into the program and organizational structure. It seeks collaboration opportunities with technical experts to create products that benefit communities, generate income and reduce poverty. In Ghana, these activities include a Community Credit Union, established with the Credit Union Association of Africa; a new activity to grow plants and produce products for long lasting mosquito repellants with a collaborator that specilizes in agribusiness of natural African plant products. In Zambia, a nutritional enterprise activity for youth will grow moringa trees whose leave can be sold as a marketable crop, and cooked in home food preparation to add vitamin and mineral value----further exploration is underway to see if cotton byproducts can be used/produce to create affordable sanitary products to improve local female hygiene, health, and employment.

How do you plan to grow your innovation? - we will grow it carefully, balancing growth, quality, critical mass, recognizing development is a long term process that involves "learning by doing"----- we expect to benefit from lessons learned and experience gained to develop and incorporate more effective business models for our small scale social enterprise activities, to find effective partners for collaboration, which will minimize the use of scarce resources and maximize our impact------ and hopefully, accelerate and improve the learning curve and quality of product that we will produce. We will continually assess and monitor our core sport for development program to insure it direcly benefits the children, youth and communities it serves, that our short term program objectives support/synergize with our long term objectives and vision -----which are to catalyze low cost, sustainable development, build community financial and human resources and at the same time help to insure the future of the PLAY SOCCER program.

Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. - PLAy SOCCER has set a goal for 2010 to operate its low cost program in 15 countries , to serve 22,500 children and to train approx 1000 volunteers

What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries? - Our first program that opened in 2001 in Ghana and served 100 children. PS now exists as an established nonprofit entity in 6 countries. June 2007 program statistics that include PLAY SOCCER Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia show 9,145 children registered for the year round program at a total of 41 sites in these countries, and 261 volunteers.

Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation? - PLAY SOCCER has been recognized as one of the first implementing partners of FIFA in Football for Hope, FIFA's corporate social responsibility movement. Its curriculum has been identified and selected among the best practice models that are in use in sport for development programs (for example streetfootballworld and SAD internet platforms)

What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact? - PLAY SOCCER needs to build management capacity to develop the social enterprise activities and core program for the future it envisions, It needs to figure out how to optimize organizational development and funding for future sustainability and to build management leadership beyond its founder / CEO for the long term. It needs to find advisors with technical expertise and business skills, collaborators with complementary vision and objectives----- and funding to help us meet this challenge

How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? - PLAY SOCCER programs have been largely financed since start up in 2001 by private sector corporate funds from a variety of sources, by a few individual contributions, and by the "sweat equity" of its volunteers and full time volunteer founder/CEO. Funding support is not in the form of sponsorships, but has been obtained through grant proposals that have been written/submitted by the founder/CEO.

If known, provide information on your finances and organization. - Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff. Audited results of 2006 show revenues of $107,877 USD
of which 95% was spent on direct program expenditure, 5% on indirect expenditures. Revenues to date in 2007 are $252,957, not including contributions raised in-country.
PLAY SOCCER prides itself on its low cost programm and the delivery of maximum funding/ value to benefit the children/ youth in the program. The USA international umbrella which manages the country office affiliation, program development, financial accountability, etc. is run by one full time volunteer (the CEO) and a paid International Program Coordinator who is located in South Africa, and also currently serves there as Acting Program Director. In each country, the national organizations have a paid national Program Director and part time Program Managers (paid at local country salary scale) along with a corps of volunteer instructors who receive only reimbursement for travel to their community service and program related expense.

What is the potential demand for your innovation? - The demand/market for products from social enterprise activities has yet to be determined---- the demand for the PLAY SOCCER program is enormous and exceeds our capacity, given the large cohorts of children / youth populations in the countries and disadvantaged socio-economic communites we serve. In Malawi alone, for example, we presently run weekly sessions at which more than 1000 young children attend at one site, and many have to be turned away.

What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? - Building management capacity and finding donors for the PLAY SOCCER program who are willing to support its holistic program, not just a single topic like HIV; will provide longer term investment of funds including start up social enterprise activities ; understand that "events" and large scale publicity drain resources and produce minimal long term results; and will commit to the low cost long term program value of PLAY SOCCER

What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - Soccer has always been a personal and family sport, so I am convinced of the power of involvement to promote leadership, knowledge , skills and cultural exchange as well as fun filled days with healthy exercise for children and youth. While traveling in my former UNICEF capacity I saw the ubiquitous presence and power of the football, even in crudely fabricated home made forms, to bring together diverse age groups and socio-economic populations with a common language of sport and recreation . I also saw the need for such activities in disadvantaged communities in many African countries, and the opportunity/possibilities of filling the gap with a low cost and innovative community based model ----and a year round program with a deep commitment and vision for sustainable holistic development. I started PLAY SOCCER after my retirement from UNICEF and have been consumed by it ever since!

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. - I am a grandmother--was first a homemaker for family/3 children before eventually returning to graduate school at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School. My eclectic career path followed my interests to various positions in public health, continuing education for women, banking and finance, international development. PLAY SOCCER and its holistic approach to sport for development puts it all together and continues a life long interest in the mysteries of socio-economic development.