Country: Kenya

Organization: Sadili Oval

Sport - Basketball

Year the initative began (yyyy) - 1995

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Project URL: www.sadili.com

What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence? - To promote survival tactics and value education amongst the youth in relation to HIV/AIDS through a new basketball and reproductive health syllabus

Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field? - We work with youth directly to develop and run a syllabus that influences behaviour change in the following ways:
• Respect and dignity amongst both male and female
• Abstinence before marriage as a way to reduce transmittable diseases as well as unplanned pregnancies
• Reduce sexual violence
• Promotion of family values in order to provide psycho-social support in times of illnesses such as HIV-AIDS
• Promote quality basketball as a way to influence behavioural change and build positive habits

What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change? - 1. Kenyan youth are finding it difficult to cope with emerging social problems in their communities
2. Knowledge on HIV/AIDS is still unclear and mixed up with untruths
3. Pressure to engage in early unprotected sex amongst the youth especially those in high schools
4. Attitude and respect accorded to girls continues to be low
5. Teens do not learn from nor trust their teachers or parents easily
6. Reluctance by both boys and girls to discuss sexuality openly

Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing? - The project is run three times a year during the school holidays as follows:
3 days: Training Camps for youth aged between 11 and 23 years
2 days: Tournaments
The average number of participants is 600 per event.
In addition, we run workshops on the following:
Sensitise youth on reproductive health: promotion of abstinence before marriage, girl-child education, care and respect for eachother and the myths and truths about HIV-AIDS

How do you plan to grow your innovation? - 1. We have developed a basic syllabus and wish to be able to work with an able organisation to publish it , both in print and on dvd, so that others may set up similar programmes.
2. We wish to partner with other organisations to provide basketball hoops to open spaces in estates where youth congregate, churches and schools.
3. We would like to work more regularly directly in schools during the school term, so that we can target more youth

Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact. - We provided opportunity for youth to openly discuss their sexuality in order to encourage behavioral change through an open sport training syllabus.

What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries? - Since its inception, 4800 youth from an estimated 27 housing estates in Nairobi have passed through the syllabus. Approximately 30% are girls

Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation? - There are more girls playing in our tournaments, young people are discussing their sexuality more openly.

What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact? - 1. More basketball hoops and backboards to the communities that we serve
2. Resurface the two basketball courts at Sadili where we run the main training and tournaments
3. Limited funding to go out to schools

How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)? - Well wishers donate balls and refreshments

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. This field has not been completed

What is the potential demand for your innovation? - Basketball remains the most popular sport amongst high school students and any program that appears "hip" will gather support. The syllabus that we have developed has been put together by the youth themselves and is therefore very attractive. It can be spread to any other country in the world, especially in Africa, where emerging issues amongst the youth are similar

What are the main barriers to financial sustainability? - 1. The syllabus has not been published
2. Very few people know about our work
3. The youth lack personal funds

What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - Sadili Oval partnered with students of Malezi School (a sister organisation) to develop a medium that would help young people get more informed about their sexuality and survival, after it was found that high school basketball events run in the country were often plagued with behaviour that was socially inacceptible. Sadili Oval had been running basketball events since 1992 and therefore felt competent enough in tackling the issue, however, the project needed to have the input of the youth themselves in order to effect change. Malezi High School students (who are also members of Sadili Oval) embarked on a mission to improve on what information was available out there, and how it could be made palatable to the youth. Sadili Oval then tried to use the basketball game to include this information in a friendly way. The pilot phase began early 2006 and we are now fairly confident that the programme can work.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. - Dr. Elizabeth Odera is Director and Head Professional at Sadili Oval. She initiated award-winning programmes at Sadili Oval 11 years ago and has continued to run them personally, bringing in various partners including UNEP GSA, France SFD Programme and PTR. She has instilled professional and financial discipline in the projects and often works as a volunteer consultant for UNEP where she has piloted UNEP's Nature and Sports Camps. Her credentials include BEd (Hons), MSc (Human & Medical Parasitology), PhD (Human Immunology), PTR Professional and Sports Medicine Specialist. In 2004, she received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Professional Tennis Registry. In 2006, she was awarded the Head of State Commendation from His Excellency Hon. Mwai Kibaki, President of Kenya, for her work in promoting sports amongst underpriviledged children, as well as the national teams.