Grassroot Soccer: Using the Power of Soccer in the Fight Against HIV and AIDS

Posted on 06 May 2010

By Mariana Andrade

This post is part of this blog’s Sport & Development series. It is based on a conversation with Jeff DeCelles, Global Research & Development Manager at Grassroot Soccer (GRS). GRS was founded by Dr. Tommy Clark, Mthembe Ndlovu, Kirk Friedrich and Ethan Zohn.

When Jeff DeCelles first met Ebby Mukandawiri in Zambia, he was amazed to learn that this small 15-year-old had taken it upon himself to teach the GRS curriculum to 50 other children, many of them twice his size, in the Lusaka township of Chawama. Losing his parents, a sister and many other relatives and friends to AIDS spurred Ebby into looking at ways of bringing about change in his community. That is the power of GRS, a program that speaks to children in their language and that gives role models and peer educators simple but effective tools for the fight against HIV and AIDS.

GRS was founded in 2002 by a group of soccer players who had played professionally in Zimbabwe. This was their response to losing friends and fellow players to AIDS and to witnessing how HIV was devastating families, communities and the country.  It was clear to the group that the traditional model of educating youth about the disease in classrooms was not effective; children were bored and apathetic and had little interest in the message.

The founders had first-hand experience in what could be used to grab the attention of children – soccer. In Zimbabwe, professional soccer players were held in the highest regard and, having achieved national hero status, were influential role models.

GRS started out by bringing players from the Highlanders professional soccer team to work with children on interactive soccer-based games that taught them about HIV and AIDS. The organization was able to capitalize on a nation’s love for soccer and its role models to create an innovative approach to fight HIV and AIDS.

Today, GRS continues to use role models (professional players, coaches and youth players) as an integral part of its approach. They are essential in creating awareness and changing behaviors because of the children’s propensity to listen to, trust and emulate their heroes.  

The organization has created an education curriculum entitled Skillz that uses discovery-based learning to address HIV and AIDS issues. This 8-session program, along with those offered by GRS partner organizations, has graduated over 270,000 children who then become peer advisors and spread the word on HIV and AIDS prevention in their communities.

Risk Field is one of the activities on the curriculum. Cones representing HIV-related risks (such as multiple partners) are placed on a field and children have to dribble between them. If they hit one of the cones, the whole team is punished and has to do push-ups. This is to illustrate that when you take HIV-related risks, there is a wider group of people that will pay the price.

GRS has flagship programs in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia. While it does not have the resources to expand further, it does provide partnership and consultancy to other organizations. It has helped set up programs in 18 other countries such as Futbol para la Vida in the Dominican Republic and Sport for Life in Ethiopia. GRS has also engaged universities such as Dartmouth and Harvard, as well as other organizations, to help evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and study behavioral change. 

The general GRS concept is replicable but has to be adapted to local needs in order to be successfully implemented. What worked initially in Zimbabwe does not necessarily work in other countries. Buy-in from the local partners is critical: they need to be engaged and there needs to be an understanding that every community has its own culture and requirements.

Some might want a program that is directed only at girls while others might need 45-minute sessions in a school period. Maintaining the quality and integrity of these partner programs is critical to their success and the GRS staff who are involved in their implementation also follow up to evaluate the quality of the activities. 

The GRS model has proven to be widely successful and the organization is now working on adapting this concept to other issues such as malaria, peace building and HIV education for people with disabilities (through partnership with the Special Olympics and other groups). GRS is keen to share the lessons of its experience by providing consultancy and guidance on using sport as a tool for development.

Mariana Andrade is a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is a big proponent of sport as a transformational agent for social and economic development.