Tennis & WASH Improves Health & Schooling
Kibera, Africa’s largest and poorest slum, is characterized by drug & alcohol abuse, violence & crime. Poverty is acute, where 66% of girls regularly trade sex for food & glue sniffing is common practice. A study by Oxfam deduced that 37% of children in Kibera were excluded from the education system, only 30% of the remaining children received free formal primary school education & the remaining 70% only had access to a limited education at community centers. A lack of clean water & poor sanitation & hygiene practices lead to dysentery & diarrhea, particularly from pit latrine usage, which are poorly maintained & the ratio of people to latrine is high at 500:1. 73% of preventable illnesses in the Kibera slums are caused by poor hygiene practice. People without access to improved sanitation are 1.6 times more likely to experience diarrhoea. Our baseline studies (2016) on 672 children aged between 4 and 12 years old, showed that 48.4% kids attend school irregularly due to illness, resulting from unclean water, poor sanitation & hygiene.
Our goal at non-profit Sadili Oval Sports Academy (www.sadili.com) and partner International Inspiration is to use Tennis to promote WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) activities amongst 2100 children aged 4 – 12 years in Kibera, to improve health, school attendance & performance, within three years (April 2016 to March 2019).
Each child is provided with 1-3 hours per week of tennis coaching where life skills are embedded into sessions such as: confidence building, communication, health & relationships. Primary children are invited to receive further training in leadership, where they can assume additional responsibilities such as caring for & mentoring other children, serving as positive role models for the children to emulate & assisting with the delivery of tennis coaching sessions. Children will also attend homework clubs (minimum of one hour per week) so they have a dedicated environment to receive support from their peers & community leaders. Sadili mentors embed life skills across the sessions where each week we focus on a particular theme, including: how to wash hands, use of the toilet, bathing, brushing teeth and hair, preparing for school, unsafe habits, and survival skills. We run each week, a girl-cantered tennis and empowerment session, in coordination with our Girl Power Clubs program, in order to teach girls sexual and reproductive health and survival tools, encourage them to openly discuss and come up with solutions for problems that they face in their community. We ensure that we can provide a nourishing snack to all to improve participation and engagement of children.
Target Beneficiaries:
The following from Kibera in Nairobi, Africa’s largest slum: Direct beneficiaries within a 3 year period (April 2016 – March 2019) are 2100 children (3-12 years old), 30 nursery and primary school teachers. Our first year, April 2016 – March 2017, we reached 672 children (181 nursery and 491 primary) in 16 schools.
Indirect beneficiaries: 2100 Parents (at least 1 per family), 38 Schools , 3400 other primary children (for every direct beneficiary, 2 children will indirectly benefit). 6 Youth coaches, 2 Mentoring trainers, 1 Project Coordinator, 1 Monitoring and evaluation officer, 30 Teachers
Impact In The First Year (April 2016 – March 2017)
When comparing baseline results and end line results between April 2016 and March 2017 amongst 672 children (181 nursery and 491 primary):
· 48.2% (176) of out-of-school children returned to nursery school.
· 48.8% (480) of out-of-school children returned to primary school.
· 50.41% (91) more nursery children (52 boys and 39 girls) showed improvement in test scores in Maths and English
· 50.03% (246) more primary children (136 boys and 110 girls) improved in test scores in Maths and English
· 62.5% (418) children progressed to the next class in primary school.
· Majority of parents and teachers openly admitted that the children were more alert in class. They also reported improved ability to listen and follow instructions.
· 71.1% (478) more children use sanitary facilities where there is a no-cost provision, with 63.3% (426) more children knowing how to correctly wash their hands.
· Parents and teachers confirmed that they observed that their children had improved their understanding from the practical behaviour and actions in hand washing and use of toilets.
· More parents showed support by paying of school fees, buying of uniform, books and other scholastic materials.
· More parents sit down with children to help in schoolwork.
For video on the project, please go to: http://www.sadili.com/assets/ocv.mp4
Acknowledgements: Project Partner: International Inspiration. Funding Partner: Comic Relief.
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