Blog

On October 15th, 2019 the Alive and Kicking Ghana board made the decision to cease operations at Alive and Kicking Ghana and pass management onto a local partner. Since 2013 the operation has worked hard to reach the point of self-sustainability, where ball sales are enough to finance the everyday running of the centre as well as contribute to the donation of sports balls and sports-based health education programmes. Despite the best efforts of the Alive and Kicking network and its supporters, the centre has not managed to breakeven on a regular basis and therefore is no longer fulfilling its mission. Over the past six years Alive and Kicking Ghana has created over 200 ethical jobs for adults facing economic and social disadvantage, given over 1,000,000 young people access to sport through ball donations and given over 20,000 children access to vital health education programmes. This impact is thanks to the fantastic Alive and Kicking Ghana employees and you, the Alive and Kicking supporter network. Moving forward, the health education programmes will continue to be delivered in country with a focus on malaria, HIV and mental health, thanks to the strong relationships the Ghana operation has built with local partners. In order to continue the positive impact, Alive and Kicking Ghana has negotiated a local management takeover. Although Alive and Kicking Ghana no longer operates, locally made sports balls will continue to be produced by Pleimeiker Sports, a Ghanaian-run sports equipment business that operates as a for-profit but will continue to employ people who face social and economic disadvantage while contributing a percentage of profit toward Ghanaian sport for good projects. As part of the takeover, the new owners must continue to offer the same employee benefits to Alive and Kicking Ghana employees, including safe working conditions, a fair wage and access to a pension scheme. As a result, the Alive and Kicking mission can continue to be fulfilled, only this time led by a local partner organisation. Thank you again to the Alive and Kicking Ghana team and our charity supporters who have helped make a significant social and economic impact over the past six years. : 63

Get out of the office And raise funds for an Award-winning Charity When: 31st May 2019 | 13:00 – 18:30 Where: Shoreditch Powerleague £500 per team £900 if entering 1 x Men’s and 1 x Women’s Food and drink (soft and alcoholic) included in price DOWNLOAD AN ENTRY FORM Alive and Kicking is an African social enterprise that manufactures sports balls, creating sustainable employment in Nairobi, Lusaka and Accra, while enabling young people to exercise their right to play and raising health awareness through sport take a look at last year’s event👇 [ngg src=”galleries” display=”basic_thumbnail”] : 77

In the last four years 50 teams and more than 300 competitors have helped to raise over £30,000 to support our work in sub-Saharan Africa. We’re back again in June 2019 for an afternoon of football in support of ethical employment, access to quality sport and delivery of vital health education in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia – and we’d love for you to join us!   When: 7th June 2019 | 13:00 – 18:30 Where: Shoreditch Powerleague £500 per team £900 if entering 1x Men’s and 1x Women’s Food and drink (soft and alcoholic) included in entry fee If you’re interested in entering a team into this year’s tournament, please get in touch with joel.phillimore@aliveandkicking.org We hope to see you on 7th June! : 69

Background Mental health support worldwide is often undermined by a lack of understanding of what mental health is, how to identify signs of poor mental health and where to seek support. One of the main obstacles to improving mental health care is the stigma that surrounds this area. Stigma creates a false picture of what mental health is and can make people unable to admit to themselves and others if they are struggling for fear of repercussions in their personal or professional lives. This stigma around talking openly about mental health manifests itself in similar ways. For example it might be the fear of seeming weak or emotionally vulnerable that prevents people from seeking help if they are suffering from poor mental health. In Zambia, where our pilot programme is based, resistance to seeking support can come from a fear of being rejected by the community. This stigma is problematic because support from family and friends can be so beneficial to people suffering with poor mental health and this fear, whether real or imagined, can be very harmful. The Programme Alive and Kicking undertook a period of consultation to find out how we could strengthen the impact of the education programmes we deliver across local communities. Feedback from partner organisations, local youth leaders and the recipients of our projects showed that there was a clear need for mental health education. This need for education has been supported by the research conducted by PRIME (Programme for Improving Mental Health Care – 2019 Impact Report) that shows good awareness of mental health is key to providing quality mental health support programmes in low resource settings. With buy-in from the local community we created an effective sports-based education curriculum that focuses on understanding mental health and stigma, identifying signs of poor mental health and strategies for seeking support and improving emotional wellbeing. We have partnered with Arsenal Community, the Premier League Charitable Fund and sixteen local sport for good organisations in Zambia to deliver the pilot. The curriculum is now being delivered in Lusaka with the support of local sports coaches, Arsenal coaches and local mental health experts. Having operated in Zambia for more than ten years we had the advantage of being able to rely on our existing networks across the country including schools, NGOs and sports and community organisations. Impact Despite the fact the programme is only a few months old, the initial impact results make encouraging reading. So far we have data on the effect that our mental health education programme has had on local coaches with impact information on young people expected from April. The improvements in knowledge, attitude and behaviour are exciting to see. In terms of knowledge of the issue, coaches have improved by over 50% up to 97%. This has shown that mental health is now less of a scary concept and that everyone recognises that mental health is something that can change and that we all have it. More strikingly, the number of coaches that now know where to seek support with their mental health increased from 35% to 100%. If this was the only legacy of the project it would be significant that people are now aware that help is available if they need it. While we have seen impressive improvements in the knowledge and attitudes of our coaches on mental health, we would not have expected to see improvements at this stage in behaviour around this issue. However, we have seen an increase from 35% to 55% of coaches who have now talked to someone about the other person’s or their own mental health. This suggests the potential dissemination of knowledge about mental health with family, friends and neighbours which in turn is creating some positive conversations that leave people feeling less isolated. Coach Naomi (pictured) from Bauleni said ‘the programme has really changed the mind set of our children. I have seen the lives of those who have poor mental health respected and supported by our players. I personally really appreciate this programme and look forward to the impact continuing’ The Future We have seen the impact that this programme has made and we would like to see this pilot develop into a full time programme once we have assessed the data from the beneficiaries of this project – the young people themselves. We have created our curriculum in partnership with local organisations so they can implement mental health educational activities themselves and we will continue to build a network of mental health-based organisations to help grow the concept sustainably; increasing access to services and support. Together we can foster a generation who understand the importance of mental health and are happy to talk about it openly and seek support if needed. If you would like to know more please contact us using info@aliveandkicking.org Jacob Loose : 75