MIES (Switzerland) – On the occasion of the second World Basketball Day on December 21, FIBA Foundation and International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Olympic Solidarity program joined hands to promote Basketball For Good efforts in Africa.
The co-funded project saw Basketball For Good festivals held at five different Olympafrica Centers across Guinea, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zanzibar from 9 to 21 December 2024.
Five Basketball For Good Ambassadors - including FIBA Foundation Youth Leaders and Propose a Project beneficiaries – led the charge in designing and implementing the festival plans, ensuring alignment with Olympism365, the IOC’s strategy for the Olympic Movement to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Virtually supporting these Ambassadors through personalized mentorship were Fellows from Ashoka – Sports For Changemaking, who helped with the project planning.
Besides the financial support from Olympic Solidarity and the FIBA Foundation at each festival, 100 Molten basketballs and more than 150 PEAK jerseys were provided to the Olympafrica centers.
Mixed Gender 3x3 Games
In Guinea, at the Kassa Olympafrica Center in Conakry, working in collaboration with FIBA Foundation’s existing partner WAKE (Women and Kids Empowerment), the focus was on gender inclusion activities. This was reflected by the numbers, with 58% female attendees participating in girls’ empowerment workshops that were led by female coaches and athletes. Mixed-gender 3x3 tournaments supplemented by traditional Guinean music and dance performances added to the vibrant and festive atmosphere.
Continuing with the focus on gender equality, at the Nyanza Olympafrica Center in Rwanda, 150 children aged 10 to 18 participated in games fostering teamwork, inclusivity and mutual respect, with a majority of female participants, underscoring the program’s impact. The current objective is to sustain the positive changes through ‘Train the Trainer’ programs via regular collaborations with local schools, sports clubs and organizations
'Planting' of Hoops
Emphasizing the spirit of sustainability, in Tanzania, basketball hoops made using local materials were installed at two orphanages. FIBA Foundation’s Propose A Project beneficiary Mambo Basketball organized the festival at the Kibaha Center, where fundamental basketball techniques and useful daily life skills such as the importance of proper hygiene, were taught.
At the Basketball For Good festival in the border district of Busia in Uganda, as many as 150 youths were inspired to take up sports and pursue their athletic goals. Among them, 50 teenage girls learned about menstrual hygiene management and were given reusable sanitary pads.
In Zanzibar, the emphasis was on breaking stereotypes associated with gender roles, and encouraging non-traditional career paths. 150 participants – 90 boys and 60 girls aged 5 to 18 – acquired critical digital literacy skills thereby increasing their confidence and expanding the horizon of their possibilities.
Overall, more than 650 kids participated through all five festivals, discovering the joy of hoops, while also becoming educated and empowered. The Late Dr James Naismith, inventor of basketball, couldn’t be happier.
***
The FIBA Foundation is the social and legacy arm of FIBA that addresses the role of sports and particularly basketball in society, preserving and promoting basketball’s values and its cultural heritage.
The FIBA Foundation believes that basketball has the power to empower, educate and inspire youth and facilitates this by implementing Basketball For Good projects around the world.
Olympic Solidarity is the IOC's development program dedicated to ensuring the universality of the Olympic Games by providing funding and technical, financial and administrative support to athletes, coaches, sports administrators and NOCs most in need of assistance.
The International Olympafrica Foundation, which was created in 1988 with the support of the IOC and operates under the auspices of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), comprises a network of more than 40 community sports centers across the African continent that provide children with safe and free access to sport, culture, education and socioeconomic activities.
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit, civil, non-governmental, international organization made up of volunteers which is committed to building a better world through sport. Olympism365 is the IOC's approach to strengthening the role of sport as an important enabler for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which it achieves by collaborating with a range of partners from both within and outside the Olympic Movement. The themes and priority areas for Olympism365 reflect the positive role that sport and Olympism can play in society for the SDGs by contributing to creating healthier and more active communities, more equitable, safer and inclusive communities, peacebuilding, and education and livelihoods.